Colico: Lake Como’s Windswept Northern Frontier

Most of Lake Como stands on its edge — cliffs, hairpin roads, villages stacked up the hillside. Colico is where the lake lies down. Here, at the far northern head of the water, the mountains step back and the shore opens into a flat, bright plain crossed by wind.

It is a different Lake Como from the postcard south. There are fewer villas and more sails, less shade and more sky. People come to Colico to do things — to windsurf, to cycle the level lakefront, to walk out to a Romanesque cloister — more than to sit and be seen.

A brief history

Colico grew up at a crossroads. The plain where the River Adda pours into the lake was, for centuries, the meeting point of the routes north to the Alpine passes and the Valtellina — and therefore something worth fighting over. The Spanish knew it: in 1603 the governor of Milan raised Fort Fuentes on a low hill above the marshes to guard the frontier.

That same instinct returned three centuries later, when a newly unified Italy built Forte Montecchio Nord to watch the Swiss border. Between the two forts, the land itself was slowly tamed — the malarial wetlands drained, the railway pushed through in the nineteenth century — and Colico settled into its modern role as the busy transport hub at the top of the lake.

Where Colico sits on the lake

Colico occupies the north-eastern corner of Lake Como, on the same shore that runs up from Varenna and Bellano through Dervio. It marks the northern end of the main ferry line and the point where the lake’s central arm finally runs out of mountains.

That geography is the whole story. Because the valley opens wide here, Colico catches the lake’s thermal winds full in the face — the northerly Tivano at dawn, the warm southerly Breva through the afternoon — with a reliability that makes this stretch of Lake Como one of the finest windsurfing and kitesurfing spots in the Alps. Across the water lie the upper-lake villages; a short way north, the Adda and the smaller Lake Mezzola.

The 5 best things to see in Colico

1. The Abbazia di Piona

On the wooded Olgiasca peninsula, reaching almost across the lake, stands the priory of Piona — a Cluniac foundation whose great treasure is its cloister, completed in 1252. Arcades of paired columns, each capital carved with a different plant, beast or face, enclose a square of silence that has barely changed in eight centuries. The resident monks still make honey and herbal liqueurs, sold at the little shop by the gate.

2. Forte Montecchio Nord

Built between 1912 and 1914 and never fired in anger during the war it was made for, Forte Montecchio Nord is often called the best-preserved First World War fortress in Europe. Its four 149mm guns still sit in their rotating steel turrets, and a guided tour walks you through the magazines, tunnels and rangefinding gear much as the gunners left them.

3. Forte di Fuentes

A short way off, on the isolated Montecchio hill, are the ruins of the older Spanish fort. Begun in 1603 by the Count of Fuentes and later slighted by Napoleon’s troops, it is now an open archaeological park — broken walls, a chapel and bastions rising from the grass, with wide views over the plain where three valleys and the lake all meet.

4. Pian di Spagna nature reserve

Where the Adda enters the lake, the water spreads into reeds and shallows: the Pian di Spagna reserve, one of northern Italy’s most important wetlands for migrating birds. Herons, grebes and waders pass through in their thousands, and flat, quiet paths make it easy walking for anyone with binoculars and patience.

5. The windsurf and kitesurf beaches

Colico’s real fame floats offshore. The gravel beaches south of town are lined with schools and rental hubs, and on a good afternoon the bay fills with colour as the Breva builds. Beginners take lessons in the shallows; the experienced ride out toward the open lake. Even if you never touch a board, it is a fine thing to watch.

Planning your visit

Getting there. Colico sits at the northern end of the Como–Colico ferry line, and is also a rail hub with direct trains from Milan, Lecco and the Valtellina — see our Lake Como ferry guide for routes and timing.

Best for. Watersports, cyclists, history-minded travellers and anyone after an active, uncrowded day away from the villa circuit. The forts, cloister and lakefront link naturally into a longer day outdoors — our hiking and outdoor guide covers the wider area.

When to go. The winds are most dependable from spring through early autumn; for the windows that best suit sailing, walking or sightseeing, see the best time to visit Lake Como.

Nearby. Combine Colico with Dervio down the eastern shore or Gravedona across the water, and read where to base yourself in our best towns to stay guide.

Colico rewards a certain kind of traveller — the one who would rather do than gaze. Come for the wind, stay for the forts and the old cloister above the water, and you will have found the corner of Lake Como that most visitors never reach.