Lezzeno, Italy – April 2022

The beginning of my month-long trip through Italy is a relaxing one. My friend Kim and I hit the road from Lucerne to Como in the early morning. We watch the sun rising above the mountains on the other side of Lake Lucerne while listening to our road trip playlist. After the 17-kilometer-long ride through the San Gottardo tunnel, we arrive in sunny Ticino. It is at the first highway rest stop where we are reminded that we are now in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. During a small breakfast, we decide to stop once more before crossing over to Italy. After all, the town of Morcote (close to Lugano) was named the “most beautiful Swiss village” in 2016. With its location at the lake, colourful buildings and a botanical garden set up on the hillside, it does not disappoint. We pay a visit to the town’s cemetery with impressive mausoleums and headstones well over 100 years old.

After a smooth border crossing (without showing IDs or COVID vaccine certificates) and a short 10-minute ride on Italian roads, we arrive in Como. Parking the car in one of the city’s parking lots, we head out to the lake. I’ve been here a couple times before on day trips from Milan and Kim is more interested in the food we smell at every other corner than sightseeing. So we only stop at one of the lakeside restaurants and order the first of many tasty meals. 2 Pizzas later, we get back into our car and continue the drive to our final destination: a small village further up the lake. It takes Kim a second to adapt to the Italian driving style (which is characterized by a lot of honking and overtaking on tiny streets). But soon we’re just as impatient with the older lady in front of us who is driving 30 km/h on the 70 km/h speed limit street.

We simply cannot wait to lay down next to the lake and take in every single sunray this late April afternoon has to offer. So once we arrive at the B&B Cherry Rose in Lezzeno, we only take a quick moment to appreciate the view from our room’s balcony, put on our bikinis and head down to the water. A quick walk/climb along the rocky lakeshore later, we arrive at our very own private beach. As it’s still low-season, there are only a few boats cruising between the small villages nestled into the green hills along Lago di Como. The only sounds we hear are the waves crashing and ducks quacking to get each other’s attention.

Thirsty from laying in the sun, we get up for a stroll through the sleepy town. Most of the buildings look like they are vacation homes. However, there is also 1 hotel – which we somehow missed on our walk down to the lake from our Airbnb. Hotel Villa Aurora sports a beautiful terrace with a restaurant, bar and sundeck over the water. Of course, we have to take a break here and have our first Aperol Spritz. We lay in the sun (this time on comfy sunbeds) for another couple of hours and treat ourselves to a small platter of Bruschetta.

Shortly before sunset we finally return to our Airbnb. We have a small aperitif while getting ready for dinner and looking up some restaurants. Kim chooses one close to the water and off we go. The evening is a bit more chilly than expected, but this does not affect our spirits. That the restaurant’s terrace is covered in a plastic curtain however throws us off. Luckily we have more options and so we walk back up the hill and down the next small street. This time the restaurant is not located by the water as advertised and we finally decide to just head back to the Hotel Aurora. And a good decision that was! The view from their candlelit terrace is simply stunning and the food is delicious.

Having by now seen most of the small town of Lezzeno, we take Kim’s car on a little tour to Bellagio. It’s supposed to be the prettiest village in the area (or maybe just the one with the best marketing campaign) and seems at least a little bigger than the one we’re staying in. Unfortunately, the pretty blooming trees which line to quaint streets make Kim’s allergies flare up and so our first stop is the local pharmacy. With the sneezing stopped temporarily – we spend the late morning roaming the small streets and looking at weird souvenir shops. For lunch, we (once again) choose a restaurant right by the water. It’s the perfect spot to watch the different kinds of people holidaying here. Some arrive by private boat shuttles, others with the car ferries or by bike.

Of course, we have to have a gelato while we’re here. So we head up to the main shopping street to get 2 cups of Tiramisu and Chocolate ice cream. Looking for a quiet place in the shadow to eat, we end up in the Parco Martiri della Libertà. It looks like out of Bridgerton, which I mention to Kim while we walk down the curvy stairs. Right at this moment, she trips and in slow motion falls down a few steps. Both of us laugh hysterically, and we decide that it’s time for us to go back to our Airbnb. We spend the rest of the afternoon on Hotel Aurora’s sundeck again and for dinner go back to Bellagio where we’ve seen a nice Pizzeria on one of the side streets.

And the next morning it’s already time to head back to Como where our ways will part, as Kim has to return to Switzerland while my journey to the South of Italy continues. We take the same lakeside road we drove down when we first arrived. Only that now we are the ones going 30km/h in order to take in the incredible views one last time.