Lake Como and Ghisallo
A 102 km loop
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Why this ride
A proper escape from Milan with roads worth waking up for. A 102 km loop that starts and ends near Milan, about 1 h 51 of riding. The line favours views over speed.
Roadbook
- Milan
start
Milan does not try to charm you, and that is part of its charm. It is Italy's business capital, a city of fashion, finance and design that works hard and dresses well. At the centre stands the Duomo, a Gothic cathedral begun in 1386 and not finished for about five centuries, a forest of white marble spires and statues, and you can climb onto the roof among them. Beside it, the glass-roofed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a nineteenth-century shopping arcade, and beyond it La Scala opera house.
In the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper in the 1490s, and booking is essential if you want to see it. In the south, the Navigli canals, partly designed by Leonardo's era engineers, now line with bars and restaurants, and the city's aperitivo tradition, a drink with a spread of snacks, is at its best here. The yellow trams of the old city rattle along rails that are treacherous for motorbike wheels, especially in the wet.
South of the city lies the abbey of Chiaravalle, a Cistercian foundation from the twelfth century with a tall tower, standing in the fields at the edge of the suburbs, a peaceful contrast. The ride to the Venetian walls of Bergamo, built in the sixteenth century, leads north-east across the Lombard plain, where fog can hang thick in autumn and winter, then up into the foothills of the Alps. The roads are busy, so go early on a weekday, and be ready for a mix of motorway and small country roads.
Fuel is easy across the region, with plenty of stations on the ring roads, and bike parking is common in the centre, though the old core has traffic limits that you need to check. Try risotto alla milanese, golden with saffron, and ossobuco, braised veal shank, and finish with a slice of panettone, which comes from here. The city is quietest in August, when many locals leave for the sea, and liveliest in spring and autumn.
- Como
food
Lake Como is shaped like an upside-down Y, with the city of Como at the end of one leg, and it is the deepest lake in Italy, plunging to over four hundred metres. The Alps rise straight from the water, with villas and gardens on the shores, and ferries zigzagging between the villages. Como itself is a small and elegant city, with a Duomo that took centuries to build and mixes Gothic and Renaissance styles, a walled old town and a lakefront with a funicular climbing to the hill village of Brunate. It was the birthplace of Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the battery, and the unit of electrical potential carries his name.
For a rider, the lake is a dream and a trial. The roads that follow its shores are narrow, winding and full of tunnels, with stone walls on one side and the drop to the water on the other, and in summer they are crowded with coaches, cars and cyclists. The western shore, with its old road, is slow but beautiful, passing villa gardens and villages of ochre houses. The eastern side has a faster main road with long tunnels and a more modern feel. Go early, avoid the weekends and be patient.
A circuit of the lake takes you through Menaggio, Bellagio at the tip of the central peninsula, Varenna and Lecco, and gives you a good sense of how the shores change from soft southern lakeside to steep northern mountain. The best light is in the morning, when the water is calm and the mountains are clear, and autumn brings colour to the chestnut woods. In summer, afternoon storms build quickly over the mountains.
Como has about eighty thousand people, so fuel is easy in the city, and it is wise to fill the tank before you set off, as stations along the shore are few. Try missoltini, dried and grilled lake fish, or risotto with perch fillets, and an espresso at a lakeside cafe. Silk weaving was the city's trade for centuries, and there are shops selling scarves and ties. Park the bike outside the old town, where the streets are narrow, and walk to the lakefront.
- Milan finish