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00 Varenna
Stemma di Varenna

Lombardy · Lecco

Varenna

A fishing village founded in 769 on the Lecco arm of Lake Como, with a steep grid of streets falling into the water.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
1 h 22 min from Milan
By train
Station in the comune
Population
693

Known for

  • VEZIO

    Lombard watchtower above the village, with falconry demonstrations and a view down the Lecco branch of the lake.

  • VILLA MONASTERO

    Twelfth-century Cistercian convent turned lakefront museum, with two kilometers of botanical garden along the shore.

  • FIUMELATTE

    One of the shortest rivers in Italy, 250 meters of milk-white water in the frazione south of the village.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J10°
  • F13°
  • M14°
  • A17°
  • M21°
  • J26°
  • J28°
  • A28°
  • S23°
  • O19°
  • N14°
  • D11°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: San Giorgio, 24 April

Why come

Varenna sits on the eastern shore of Lake Como at the point where the lake forks into the Como and Lecco branches, opposite Bellagio and Menaggio. Local fishermen founded the village in 769. In 1126 it was destroyed by Como during the wars between the lake's communes, and in 1169 it absorbed the refugees from the destroyed Isola Comacina.

The streets fall in a steep grid toward the water, with the lakefront passerella running between the houses and the lake. The Castello di Vezio, above the village on a spur reached by a 30-minute climb, was a Lombard watchpost reused through the Middle Ages. Villa Monastero, on the lakefront, started in the 12th century as a Cistercian convent and now runs a two-kilometer botanical garden along the shore. The frazione of Fiumelatte hosts one of the shortest rivers in Italy, 250 meters from spring to lake.

The Sunday letter

Varenna 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 every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Varenna comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.

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Read on

Varenna in our articles

How to get there

From Milan (BGY), about 1h 22m by car.

Verona (VRN) is about 2h 30m away.

By car from the centre of Brescia 1h 48m.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Milan or Verona?

Coming by train into Monza? Varenna is about 1 hour away by road.

Every town within reach of Milan airport.

Varenna, photo 1
Varenna, photo 2

What to see

  • Castello di Vezio

    Lombard-era watchpost on a spur above the village, reached by a 30-minute climb with 160 meters of elevation gain.

  • Villa Monastero

    Former 12th-century Cistercian convent on the lakefront, now a museum and convention center with a 2-kilometer botanical garden along the shore.

  • Villa Cipressi

    Sixteenth-to-nineteenth-century lakefront villa next to Villa Monastero, with terraced gardens descending to the water.

  • Fiumelatte

    Frazione of Varenna with a 250-meter river, one of the shortest in Italy, named for the milky white color of its waters in spring.

  • Centro storico

    Steep grid of stone streets and houses sloping into the lake, with the Passeggiata degli Innamorati running along the waterfront.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Varenna fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

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We recommend

Where to eat

Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.

  • Hosteria del PlatanoRistorante

    Hosteria del Platano holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • VisteriaRistorante

    Visteria has a spot in the Michelin Guide to its name.

Living here

  • Population 693, down 16.5% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest public hospital Menaggio, 5 km as the crow flies
  • Fibre to the street cabinet; no full fibre mapped yet
  • No primary school in the comune's register
  • Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
  • Nearest airport Milan, 1 h 22 min drive
  • Regional capital Milano, 1 h 22 min drive

Could you live here?

Varenna is at the end of the road.

  • A village of 693. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Mandello del Lario, is 19 minutes away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
  • Lecco, a city of 46,871, is 33 minutes 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 centre.

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. The rest of the series, and the best towns to move to, arrive in the Sunday letter.

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The button takes you to the letter's own page on Substack, where you leave your email. About the letter

Common questions

What is Varenna known for?
Varenna is a fishing village founded in 769 on the Lecco arm of Lake Como, with a steep grid of streets falling into the water.
Where is Varenna?
Varenna is a comune in the province of Lecco, in Lombardy, at 220 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Varenna?
Milan (BGY), about 1h 22m by car.
Can you get to Varenna 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 Varenna?
About 1h 48m by car.
When is the best time to visit Varenna?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 18 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Varenna?
The town keeps its patron saint's day: San Giorgio, 24 April.
Which other towns are like Varenna?
Cannero Riviera, Dervio and Porto Ceresio.
How many people live in Varenna?
693 at the 2023 count.
Is Varenna a good place to live?
By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Varenna is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Mandello del Lario, is 19 minutes away. The nearest city, Lecco, is 33 minutes away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Menaggio, 5 km as the crow flies. Fibre reaches the street cabinets; no full fibre is mapped yet.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

  • Elevation: 220 m
  • Population: 693
  • Surface area: 12.57 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.

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