Como Lakefront: Piazza Cavour, the Piers and the Volta Shore

A square built on a filled-in port

Piazza Cavour is a strictly pedestrian area facing the lake, with a green area, flower beds and benches. It was once marshland, then a port, and after the basin was filled in it became the square. A large fountain once stood here and was sold, and it now stands in New York. During floods the square is covered by water, and the flood-barrier works have not stopped that yet.

The square is the practical centre of any visit to the walled city, which begins a short step behind it.

The tourist office

The city's main tourist office, the IAT, stands on the square at Piazza Cavour 17, phone +39 031 269712. The office's own opening hours are not published on an official page we could verify, so plan around the staffed info points as a fallback. The Broletto info point at Via Pretorio, beside the cathedral, opens daily 09:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00, and a second one sits in Como San Giovanni station daily 09:00-16:00.

Each summer timetable column shows the Como pier number for the run, so check your departure on the printed board or the Navigazione site before walking to a specific pier. Places are limited to the boat's maximum capacity, timetables can shift with traffic at the piers, and wheelchair users are asked to call ahead on +39 031 579211.

Public Boat Basics

Fares are set by travel band from Como. Cernobbio is band 1 at $3.46 (€3) one way, Bellagio is band 6 at $13.84 (€12), and the urban hop to Tavernola is a band U at $1.73 (€1.50). Return tickets cost double, buying on board where the ticket office is open adds a fixed $1.15 (€1) per passenger, and children 4 to 11 pay a reduced column.

For the full band table, the day passes and the seasonal timetables, see our Como ferry guide.

From Piazza Cavour the shore road runs east as Lungo Lario Trento, which then becomes Lungo Lario Trieste. This stretch carries the bars and restaurants of the lakefront, and it is where most of the tour boats meet their passengers. Sant'Agostino, with its floating pier and its molo, sits on this stretch and is the anchoring name to remember when a booking says to meet by the water.

At the end of the road stands the lower station of the Como Brunate funicular, at Piazza Alcide De Gasperi 4, which runs daily 06:00 to 24:00 and takes 7 minutes to the top. A return ticket costs $8.54 (€7.40). Our Brunate funicular guide covers the ride and the summit.

From the station, Viale Geno continues along the water to Villa Geno, whose fountain on the lake throws a jet over 40 metres high. This is also where the Salimar tour base sits at number 12.

The Breakwater and Life Electric

Crossing to the other side of the square, the Mafalda di Savoia lakefront leads to the Diga Foranea, formally named Diga Foranea Piero Caldirola. At its last section stands Life Electric, Daniel Libeskind's steel sculpture of two opposing sine waves over 14 metres high, representing the voltage between the poles of Volta's battery. It was installed in 2015, is lit by LED lights and forms a triad for Volta with the Tempio Voltiano below and the Brunate lighthouse above.

Walking out the breakwater is free.

Tempio Voltiano and the Monumento ai Caduti

The Tempio Voltiano, built in 1927 for the centenary of Volta's death, sits on the lakeshore in its own gardens. Federico Frigerio designed it and industrialist Francesco Somaini donated it. It opens Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-18:00, last entry 17:30, and closes Mondays.

Admission is $6.92 (€6). Further along the shore stands the Monumento ai Caduti, open only from 2 June to 4 November, Wednesday and Friday 10:00-13:00 and Saturday and Sunday 14:00-17:00, also $6.92 (€6) at the standard rate. See our pages on the Tempio Voltiano and the Monumento ai Caduti.

The Sports District and the Seaplanes

Beyond the monument lies the 1930s Cittadella dello Sport. Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, home of Como 1907, sits directly on the lakefront at Viale Puecher with an official capacity of 7,498 after a Comune-authorised increase. Single-match tickets for recent home games are sold on the club's own platform, tickets.comofootball.com, and our Como 1907 tickets page explains how to buy.

Beside the stadium stands the iron hangar of the Aero Club Como, founded in 1930 on a site that has hosted seaplane activity since 1913. The club states it is recorded by Guinness World Records as the oldest continuously operating seaplane flying school in the world, interrupted only in 1943 by wartime conditions. A seaplane base beside a football stadium, both on the water, is one of the odder pairings on the Como lakefront, and looking costs nothing.

Como's lakefront has been a building site on and off for years. The paratie are anti-flooding barrier works along the lungolago, intended to protect Piazza Cavour and the lakefront from lake-level flooding. The project has closed parts of the lakefront road in phases, with repeated openings and renewed closures, most recently along Lungo Lario Trieste at the Piazza Cavour crossing while crews worked on the underground drainage channel. The new barriers are positioned at the Piazza Cavour bastion and along the first half of the pedestrian area toward the lakeside gardens, and the Navigazione passenger waiting room has been completed.

The practical point is that the problem is not solved. Within days of the most recent reopening, rain showers flooded Piazza Cavour again and forced a temporary traffic closure, reported locally as an unresolved problem of the project. If heavy rain is forecast, expect puddles or worse on the square, wear shoes you do not mind wet, and check the Como weather outlook before planning a lakeside evening.

By Train

Two stations serve Como from Milan, and only one of them is on the water. Trains from Milano Cadorna run to Como Nord Lago, the Ferrovienord station a short walk from Piazza Cavour, in about 60 minutes. Trains from Milano Centrale run to Como San Giovanni, above the old town, in about 40 minutes.

The regional fare is $6.23 (€5.40) on either line under the tariff in force since 1 September. If your plan is a boat or the funicular, Cadorna to Como Nord Lago puts you on the right side of town. The San Giovanni station has its own info point in the atrium, open every day 09:00-16:00.

Both routes are compared on the Milan to Como train page.

By Bus

ASF's bus station is on Piazza Matteotti, with a staffed ticket office Monday to Saturday 07:00-19:30 and on Sundays and holidays 9:30-12:30 and 13:30-17:30. A single urban ticket is $1.73 (€1.50) for 75 minutes, and buying from the driver costs more. The lake lines toward Argegno, Menaggio and Bellagio also start in Como.

Routes and passes are set out on getting around Como.

By Car

Do not plan to drive onto the lakefront. Piazza Cavour is a pedestrian area, the walled city behind it is a camera-enforced limited traffic zone all year, and the lakefront road itself has been closed in phases for the flood-barrier works. Park outside the centre and walk in.

The options and their rules are on the Como parking page.

Our routing estimates below assume you start at Piazza Cavour and stay on the flat. The funicular to Brunate is not counted in these plans.

For the complete shore walk from Piazza Volta to Villa Olmo, which italia.it says covers all the city's most striking spots in just over half an hour, see our promenade guide. To fold the lakefront into a full city itinerary, our one day in Como route starts and ends on the water.