Lombardia · Lecco
Bellano
An eastern shore town where the Pioverna cut a gorge through fifteen million years of rock before reaching the water.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Bellano is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Bandiera Arancione and Cittaslow.
Subscribe and you get Bellano's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 24 min from Milan
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 3,364
- J10°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M21°
- J26°
- J28°
- A28°
- S23°
- O19°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Bellano sits at the outlet of the Valsassina, on the eastern shore of Lake Como, the point where a inland valley meets the water. By 905 the town was under the Archdiocese of Milan; the Torriani and then the Visconti held it through the Middle Ages, long before the gorge became a destination or the mill brought industry. The commune joined the Borghi più belli network in 2021, and in 2020 absorbed Vendrogno, a former commune higher up Monte Croce di Muggio, so the modern boundary reaches from the lakefront up into the mountain behind it.
The town's identity comes from this stacking of inland and shore: a valley torrent cutting down through the rock, a medieval settlement governed from Milan, a nineteenth-century industrial mill at the gorge mouth, and a lake promenade with ferries to the far shore. Each layer sits on the last without replacing it, which is why a walk from the pier to the gorge and up toward Vendrogno crosses centuries of the town's uses in a short distance.
How to get there
From Milan Bergamo (BGY), about 1 h 22 min by car.
Verona (VRN) is about 2 h 30 min away.
By car from the center of Brescia 1 h 49 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming by train into Monza? Bellano is about 1 h 2 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Milan Bergamo airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Orrido di Bellano
A slot canyon a few hundred meters long, the catwalks bolted directly into the cliff face so the water runs beneath the visitor's feet on both sides at once.
Chiesa dei Santi Nazaro e Celso
Fourteenth-century parish church on Piazza San Giorgio, with a rose window and façade in alternating black and white stone.
Cotonificio Cantoni
The brick chimney still stands at the gorge mouth, the one surviving marker of the mill that once made this a working lakeside town rather than a resort.
Ca' del Diavol
Sixteenth-century house at the gorge entrance, built by Tommaso Grossi, ornamented with grotesque masks that gave it its name.
Lakefront and ferry pier
Long promenade along the eastern shore with car-ferry service to Varenna and Menaggio across the lake.
Living here
Could you live here?
Bellano is at the end of the road.
- A village of 3,364. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Colico, is 22 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Lecco, a city of 47,233, is 46 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 3,364, down 6.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Lecco, 46 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Menaggio, 6 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,250 to €1,800 per m² to buy, €5.00 to €7.20 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 21% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Milan Linate airport (LIN), 1 h 19 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Milan, 1 h 24 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Morocco, Romania and Egypt, against 9% across Italy. 30 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. There are 305 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 61% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Lecco province ranks 15th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Menaggio, 6 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Lecco, 23 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Gravedona ed Uniti, 14 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Como, 38 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is English Gate School, 36 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.05% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds between 0.5% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Lombardia spends about €2,410 a month, €510 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €415 a year for water, on the Lombardia average. In Lecco, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.27, a meal in a pizzeria €13.18 and a man's haircut €22.20.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 6% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 10% in a high or medium one. 8% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
ORRIDO
Gorge of the Pioverna, walked on suspended catwalks, the natural attraction that has drawn visitors to Bellano since the nineteenth century.
COTONIFICIO CANTONI
Cotton mill opened in 1870 at the gorge mouth, making Bellano one of the rare industrial centers on Lake Como.
ANDREA VITALI
Novelist born in Bellano in 1956, who has set most of his fiction in the lakeside streets and characters of his hometown.
Common questions
- What is Bellano known for?
- Bellano is an eastern shore town where the Pioverna cut a gorge through fifteen million years of rock before reaching the water.
- Where is Bellano?
- Bellano is a comune in the province of Lecco, in Lombardia, at 202 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Bellano?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Milan Linate (LIN), about 1 h 19 min by car.
- Can you get to Bellano without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Brescia to Bellano?
- About 1 h 49 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Bellano?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 18 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Bellano?
- Laveno-Mombello, Stresa and Baveno.
- How many people live in Bellano?
- 3,364 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Bellano a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Bellano is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Colico, is 22 min away. The nearest city, Lecco, is 46 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Menaggio, 6 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 21% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 202 m
- Population: 3,364
- Surface area: 22.03 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Featured on
Bellano appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Bellano
What all six share with Bellano: lake towns · between 3,000 and 10,000 people · hill towns
Laveno-Mombello
Province: Varese
both have a railway station in the comune
Stresa
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
both have a railway station in the comune
Baveno
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
both have a railway station in the comune
- Written about. No. 61.
Passignano sul Trasimeno
Province: Perugia
both have a railway station in the comune
Castel Gandolfo
Province: Roma
both have a railway station in the comune
Bolsena
Province: Viterbo
The letter
Bellano is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Bellano comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Rapallo, 188 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.