Menaggio

Menaggio sits on the western shore of Lake Como at the mouth of the river Senagra, the point where the lake narrows enough for ferries to fork toward Bellagio and Varenna on the opposite shore. Prehistoric finds in the territory go back to before the Gallic tribes that settled here in the fourth century BC; the Romans absorbed them and built the Via Regina, the lakeside road from Como north toward the Splügen. The medieval castle above the Senagra torrent dates to the 10th century and was destroyed in 1523 by the Grigioni, leaving only the towers, the walls and the bridge.

The Chiesa di San Carlo was built on its ruins between 1612 and 1614. The town's later identity is the 19th-century summer resort: a mild climate, lake views across to the Grigne, and villas like Mylius-Vigoni in the Loveno hamlet, now run as a German-Italian centre for European dialogue.