Colico (Colic in lariano-colichese) is a city in Lombardy. Located between the two Montecchios, at the border of the provinces of Lecco, Como and Sondrio, it's Lake Como's fifth largest town by population with 7,700 inhabitants (2018). The town is well-known for the famous Piona Abbey, a sublime architectural complex of the first Romanesque. Colico is also cited by the illustrious writer Alessandro Manzoni, as the first place hit by the plague.
Get in
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Get around
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See
[edit]- Fort Montecchio
- Fort Fuentes
- 1 Abbazia di Piona, Via Abbazia di Piona, 55, ☏ +39 0341 940331. Daily 09:00-12:00, 14:30-18:00. A real monastery with 11th-century church, 14th- and 15th-century frescoes in the cloister.
Do
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The town plays host to the famous annual musical event Musica sull'Acqua (Music on the Water) in July. Over a hundred concerns are held over two weeks.
- Colico Beach (Lido di Colico). Cove and beach on Lake Como, green beach with free access; bar facilities, large parking, kitesurf and windsurf rent service. The town of Colico (Lecco), on the eastern shore of the lake, offers a very wide flat grassy beach. The location is easily reachable on foot from the Colico lakefront and offers a beautiful view of the surrounding Alps. Access to the lake is safe. Furthermore, the area is among the windiest on Lake Como and therefore ideal for sailing enthusiasts. Therefore the beach, in addition to being used for seaside tourism, is an excellent starting point for activities such as kite surfing or wind surfing. There is a large lawn near the lake, with the possibility of renting sunbeds. Paid parking available.
- 1 Piona Beach (Spiaggia di Piona) (a 2.5-km, 7-minute drive west on via dei Ciacc). Cove and beach on Lake Como, which offers a splendid view of the Upper Lake Como, at the foot of Mount Legnone. Nearby is the famous Abbey of Piona.
Windsurfing & kite surfing
[edit]There are two windsurf and kitesurf spots in Colico. The best is north of Colico train station. A small creek delimits the windsurf from the kitesurf spot. Until around 13:00 there is gentle breeze from the south without any waves, excellent for beginners. In the afternoon there is good north wind. There is good infrastructure (toilets, showers, restaurants and a gelateria). The beach is big with some shady places under the trees. Although the place gets crowded especially during the weekends, there is always enough place for everybody, even with all their equipment. For renting equipment see next section under Sun of a Beach.
The much smaller surfspot is at the Lido, south of the pier. For more information about rentals go to Bit of Salt in the next session.
Windsurfing
[edit]Son of a Beach (owned by Nautica & Sport SNC) offers windsurfing lessons for beginners in the morning (09:30). Price for 3 hours in groups of 4 to 6 including all equipment (including board, sail, wetsuit, lifejacket) is €55. The price listed on the website does not include the almost compulsory insurance of €5. The staff are not very friendly. The equipment is rather old.
The cheaper option is Bit of Salt, which is in the Lido. They have less equipment, but most of it is very recent. The staff is very supportive and extremely friendly.
Buy
[edit]There are several small shops in town.
A big supermarket, Iperal Fuentes, including approx 50 shops are in the industrial zone. The supermarket can either be reached by private car or with a shuttle bus leaving Monday and Wednesday at 15:55 at Colico trainstation and returning 18:00 from Iperal Fuentes. At Thursday and Friday the bus leaves at 14:55 and returns 17:00.