Como Travel Guide
Is Como Safe? Emergencies, Hospital, Pharmacies and the Lake
Is Como safe? No official crime figure for Como city could be found on an ISTAT or Ministero dell'Interno page, so this guide prints no crime rate and makes no claim either way. What it does print is the part of safety a visitor can act on: the single emergency number 112, the 24-hour emergency department at Sant'Anna Hospital, the app that finds a pharmacy on duty, the office where a theft is reported, the rules on swimming in the lake, and the fines that visitors actually receive. Every address, number and hour below comes from the authority that runs the service, from AREU Lombardia to ASST Lariana and the Questura di Como. Where an authority publishes nothing, the page says so. For the city itself start from the Como Travel Guide home page, and for the order in which planning decisions arrive read Como travel tips.
Quick answer The emergency number, the hospital and the swimming rule in three lines
No official crime figure for Como city is published on the government pages checked, so none is printed here. For any emergency dial 112, free from any phone, with telephone interpreters for foreign callers. The emergency department at Sant'Anna Hospital, Via Ravona 20 in San Fermo della Battaglia, is open 24 hours every day. Swimming is banned in the Villa Olmo park by ordinance.
Key takeaways
- Not sure of the streets? A two-hour guided city tour puts a local guide beside you on the first day, meeting at Piazza Cavour 5.
- For a supervised swim, the pools at Lido di Villa Olmo are the option to check first, though its 2026 prices are not published.
- Late returns depend on the last funicular at midnight and the last trains, laid out on getting around Como.
- Save 112 and the 116 117 out-of-hours doctor line before you arrive, both listed in the numbers table.
Numbers and Addresses to Save Before You Arrive
The table compares every emergency and help service a visitor to Como might need, with the number or address, the hours each authority prints and the official page it comes from. Save the first three rows to your phone before the trip.
| Need | Number or address | Hours | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any emergency: police, fire, ambulance | 112 | 24 hours, free from any phone | AREU Lombardia |
| Doctor out of hours, not an emergency | 116 117 | Out-of-hours service, routed by location | ATS Insubria |
| Hospital emergency department | Ospedale Sant'Anna, Via Ravona 20, San Fermo della Battaglia, switchboard 031 5851 | 24 hours, every day | ASST Lariana |
| Pharmacy on duty | Farmacia Aperta app or farmacia-aperta.eu | Searches by place, date and time | Federfarma Lombardia |
| Report a theft | Questura di Como, Viale Roosevelt 7, 031 3171 | Monday-Friday 08:00-14:00 and 14:00-20:00, Saturday mornings | Polizia di Stato |
| Municipal police | Polizia Locale, Viale Innocenzo XI 18, 031 252700 | Front office Monday-Friday 08:30-12:00 | Comune di Como |
| Tourist info, old town | Info Point Broletto, Via Pretorio, +39 031 304137 | Daily 09:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00 | Comune di Como |
| Tourist info, station | Info Point, Como San Giovanni atrium, +39 342 0076403 | Daily 09:00-16:00 | Comune di Como |
The info points answer in English, French, German and Spanish at the station, and hand out city maps. The Questura's reporting office is the one to use for an insurance claim.
Is Como Safe? What the Official Record Says
The question most visitors type first has no official answer, and that is the most useful thing to know about it.
No Crime Figure Is Published for the City
No ISTAT or Ministero dell'Interno page read for this guide publishes a crime rate or index for Como city or its province in a form a visitor can use. The figures that circulate in search results come from forums, aggregators and opinion sites, none of which says how it was counted. Printing one of them would dress an opinion up as a statistic, so this page does not.
What can be said from official pages is narrower and more useful. The city runs a single emergency number with interpreters, a 24-hour emergency department, a pharmacy rota searchable by app, a police reporting office open into the evening on weekdays, and two tourist info points open every day. Those are the services that decide how a bad moment turns out.
What This Page Does Instead
- Gives the numbers and addresses in one table, so nothing needs searching on the day.
- Explains how the 112 call works for a foreign phone and a foreign language.
- Sets out the swimming rules, since the lake is the place where Como's real physical risks sit.
- Lists the fines visitors actually receive, on trains, buses and in the traffic-limited zone.
- Names every question no authority answers, in the last section.
Is Como Safe for Tourists? The Practical Reading
Our reading, not an official finding: the ordinary precautions for any Italian city with busy tourist squares apply here, around Piazza Duomo, the Piazza Cavour landing stages and the trains from Milan. Keep a bag closed and in front in a crowd, and keep a photo of your passport separate from the passport. None of that needs a statistic.
The page on Como luggage storage helps if you would rather not carry a suitcase through the old town at all.
Sources: Questura di Como opening hours, AREU Lombardia NUE 112
Calling 112 From an Italian or Foreign Phone
Lombardy runs the European single emergency number as its only entry point, so there is one number to remember, not four.
How the Call Works
In Lombardy a call to 112, 113, 115 or 118 reaches the same NUE 112 centre. The operator locates the caller from the landline data or the mobile network, filters out calls that are not emergencies, and passes the rest to the police, the fire service or the ambulance service. The call is free from a landline and from a mobile.
For a foreign-language caller the centre adds a telephone interpreter in real time, so start in English and say the language you speak. Deaf callers have a chat channel.
The Where ARE U App
AREU Lombardia's free 112 Where ARE U app starts an emergency call and sends your GPS position with it, which is more precise than the position the mobile network gives. It also allows a silent request by chat when speaking is not possible. It is available for iOS and Android.
Install it before the trip rather than on the day, since it is only useful once it is set up.
What to Say
- Where you are: the street, the square or the landing stage, or the name of the boat or train.
- What happened and how many people are hurt.
- Your phone number, then stay on the line until the operator ends the call.
Sources: AREU Lombardia NUE 112, AREU Where ARE U app
Sant'Anna Hospital and the Emergency Department
Como's main hospital is not in the city centre. It sits in the neighbouring comune of San Fermo della Battaglia, and knowing that before you need it saves time.
Where It Is and How to Reach It
Ospedale Sant'Anna, run by ASST Lariana, is at Via Ravona 20, 22042 San Fermo della Battaglia, switchboard 031 5851. ASST names ASF bus lines 2 and 6 as stopping at the hospital entrance. ASF's own line list shows N2 running from Stazione S. Giovanni to Ospedale S. Anna and N6 from Maslianico to Ospedale S. Anna.
A city bus ticket costs €2 for 90 minutes, and a contactless card tapped on the validator works too, as explained on getting around Como. In a real emergency do not take the bus: call 112.
The Emergency Department
The Pronto Soccorso e Medicina d'Urgenza at San Fermo della Battaglia is open 24 hours a day, every day. Patients are seen in order of clinical severity assessed at triage, not in order of arrival, so a minor injury can wait a long time behind serious cases. The department's secretariat is on 031 585 9143.
The hospital also has a paediatric emergency service with its own entrance, but the age limit is not stated on an ASST Lariana page read for this guide, so ask at triage.
Before You Go: Cards and Insurance
ASST's pages read for this guide do not set out charges for non-resident visitors. Carry your European Health Insurance Card if you have one, and your travel insurance details in any case, and ask the department about costs when you register.
Sources: ASST Lariana, Ospedale Sant'Anna, ASST Lariana, Pronto Soccorso, ASF lines
Pharmacies on Duty and Out-of-Hours Doctors
Most health problems on a trip need a pharmacist or a doctor, not an emergency department. Both have an official route in Lombardy.
Finding a Pharmacy Open Now
Pharmacies in Como take turns to stay open outside normal hours. Federfarma Lombardia's Farmacia Aperta app and website, farmacia-aperta.eu, cover about 3,000 pharmacies across the region, including Como. Search by your current location or an address, and the tool shows the nearest pharmacy that is open or on duty, with the schedule for any date and time you choose.
No single night pharmacy for Como is named on an official page, which is why the app is the answer rather than an address here.
A Doctor Outside Surgery Hours
For a problem that cannot wait but is not an emergency, call 116 117, the Continuità Assistenziale service that replaced the old guardia medica. The regional centre routes the call to the right post for where you are. In the ATS Insubria area the service is run through ASST Lariana, ASST Sette Laghi and ASST Valle Olona.
The Tourist Medical Service: No Current Schedule
ATS Insubria has run a seasonal tourist health service for occasional visits in the Como and Varese areas. The notice on its site is marked expired and gives no dates, places or fees, and the linked detail page no longer loads. No current schedule is published, so for a visitor today the route is 116 117, or a pharmacist for minor problems.
Sources: Federfarma Lombardia, Farmacia Aperta, ATS Insubria, Continuità Assistenziale, ATS Insubria, tourist health notice
Is It Safe to Swim in Lake Como at Como?
The lake is where a visitor to Como meets real physical risk, and where the rules are least known. Here is what the health authority and the Comune actually publish.
The table compares the places a visitor might think of swimming in or near the city, with the rule that applies and the official page behind it. Nothing here is permission to swim anywhere the table does not name.
| Place | Swimming | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villa Olmo park shore | Banned | The park ordinance bans bathing, along with picnics and ball games | Comune di Como ordinance |
| Lido di Villa Olmo, Via Cernobbio 20 | Pools, including a children's pool | 2026 hours and prices not published, operator site offline | Touring Club Italiano |
| Other lake points | Only where not banned | Bathing season 1 May to 30 September, bans by ordinance after bad samples | ATS Insubria |
| The city basin by the piers | No ordinance text found | Boats use the landing stages, do not swim among them | Not published, our advice |
How Water Quality Is Checked
ATS Insubria samples the bathing water on the lakes in its territory from April to September, and the official bathing season runs from 1 May to 30 September. When a sample shows pathogens, potentially toxic algae or harmful chemicals, the mayor of that comune issues an ordinance banning bathing, and the ban is lifted after the first good analysis. The result for each sampling point is published on the Ministero della Salute's Portale Acque map, which has to be opened point by point.
Check the point nearest you before going in.
The Supervised Option
Lido di Villa Olmo has grass and sand sunbathing areas on the shore, adult pools and a children's pool, a bar and a restaurant, according to the Touring Club Italiano listing. The operator's own website was offline when this guide checked, so its season dates, hours and prices are not printed. Local press reported that the historic manager keeps the lido for the 2026 season.
The detail, and anything published since, is on Lido di Villa Olmo.
On the Water Instead
If the aim is to be on the lake rather than in it, the public boats from Piazza Cavour are the simplest route. Navigazione Lago di Como refunds the ticket if a departure is delayed by 60 minutes or more or the run is cancelled. Under-4s travel free if they do not occupy a seat, with one adult for every three children.
Fares are on Como ferry, and self-drive boats on boat rental in Como.
Sources: ATS Insubria, bathing water, Villa Olmo park ordinance, Touring Club Italiano, Lido di Villa Olmo, Navigazione Lago di Como tariff
The Fines Visitors Actually Get
For most visitors the realistic risk in Como is not a crime but a fine. Each of these is printed by the authority that issues it, and each is avoidable.
- Trenord: no ticket or an invalid ticket costs €35 plus procedure costs and the fare if paid within 5 days, €50 plus costs between 6 and 60 days, and far more after that. Digital tickets activate on their own, paper tickets at a station without a validator are validated by hand with date, time and station.
- ASF city buses: a red light on the contactless validator means your card was not accepted and you have no ticket. Tap again or buy one before the inspector does the asking.
- The ZTL: Como's traffic-limited zone covers the whole walled city, the Piazza Roma and Piazza Verdi area, Piazza Volta, Via Grassi and Via Garibaldi, all year, watched by electronic gate cameras. Permits are applied for online by category, and hotel guests have their own category, so ask your hotel before driving in. Parking is covered on Como parking.
- Navigazione boats: buying a ticket on board when the pier's ticket office is open costs €1 extra per passenger. It is a surcharge, not a fine, but it is the same lesson.
Where the Figures Stop
The Comune's ZTL page describes the zone and the permit system but a fine amount for entering without a permit was not read on it, so none is printed. The same goes for fines under the Villa Olmo park ordinance. Treat both as real and avoid them rather than price them.
Sources: Trenord penalties, Trenord tickets, ASF Swipe on Lake, Comune di Como ZTL
Is Como Safe at Night? Getting Home
No authority publishes a separate night-time safety reading for Como. What decides a comfortable evening is if your ride home is still running, and those times are published.
The table compares the last departures that decide a Como evening, read from each operator's timetable. Check the day's timetable in the operator's app before you commit to a late dinner.
| Service | Last departure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Brunate funicular, both ends | 00:00, daily | A Brunate base works until midnight, then the hill is cut off |
| Train from Como Lago toward Milano Cadorna | 22:16 | The lakefront station closes the evening early |
| Train from Milano Centrale to Como San Giovanni | 21:43 | The last arrival from Milan on that line |
| First train from Como Lago | 05:16 | The earliest way out in the morning |
| Taxi | No tariff published | The Comune publishes no taxi fare or rank list |
Planning the Walk Back
Our advice, not an official finding: pick an evening route along lit streets and the lakefront promenade, and agree a meeting point if your group splits. Trenord's own page gives two different last departures from Milano Cadorna in two paragraphs, so confirm that one in the Trenord app on the day. The station choice is explained on Milan to Como by train, the hill on the Brunate funicular page, and taxis on Como taxi.
For where to spend the evening itself, see bars in Como.
Sources: ATM funicular timetable, Trenord Milano Cadorna-Como, Trenord Milano Centrale-Como San Giovanni
If Something Is Stolen
A theft report (denuncia) is what insurers ask for, and in Como the office that takes it keeps long weekday hours.
Where to Report
The Questura di Como is at Viale Roosevelt 7, 22100 Como, phone 031 3171. Its reporting office is open Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 14:00 and from 14:00 to 20:00, and on Saturday mornings. Bring an identity document, and write down what was taken, where and at what time before you arrive, since the report is only as useful as its detail.
The Polizia Locale on Viale Innocenzo XI 18 keeps its front office open Monday to Friday 08:30-12:00, and the Comune also takes online reports of urban problems through segnala.comune.como.it.
Cards, Phones and Passports
- Block bank cards through your bank's own emergency line first, then report.
- For a lost or stolen passport, the report comes first, then your country's consulate.
- For a stolen phone, note the IMEI number before the trip, since the report asks for it.
- If a bag goes missing on a boat or train, ask the operator's staff at once, then report.
Sources: Polizia di Stato, Questura di Como hours, Comune di Como, Polizia Locale
What No Authority Publishes About Como Safety
Each of these was looked for on the official page that should carry it. None of them was found, and here is what to do instead.
- A crime rate for Como city: not on the ISTAT or Ministero dell'Interno pages read. Use the practical precautions above rather than a borrowed number.
- A tourist medical service schedule: the ATS Insubria notice is expired. Call 116 117.
- The upper age limit of Sant'Anna's paediatric emergency service: not found on an ASST Lariana page. Ask at triage.
- Lido di Villa Olmo's 2026 hours and prices: the operator's website is offline. Check Lido di Villa Olmo before going.
- An ordinance on swimming in the city basin: not found on the Comune's site. Swim only where the rules are published.
- A taxi tariff: the Comune publishes none, and neither do the Milan airports for the ride to Como.
- Charges at the emergency department for visitors: not set out on the ASST pages read. Carry your insurance details.
Sources: ATS Insubria, ASST Lariana, Comune di Como
Tours That Put a Local Beside You
On a first visit the easiest way to learn which streets lead where is to walk them once with a guide. Prices are in US dollars as listed by each operator, and all three cancel free up to 24 hours before.
from $43.56
Como: Guided City Tour
A two-hour guided walk through Como's historic centre, taking in the Cathedral, the Social Theatre and the medieval walls from the outside. Entrance tickets to any monument are not included.
Check Availability
from $46.33
The Iconic Como City Tour • 2-Hour Golf Cart Experience
A two-hour tour of Como and Cernobbio in an open electric golf cart with a driver and a seven-language audio guide, stopping for photos at Villa d'Este and Villa Erba.
Check Availability
from $66.49
Como: Lake Como and Brunate Guided Walking Tour
Four hours on foot around Como with a guide, capped at five people, taking in the cathedral, the lakefront and the funicular ride up to Brunate.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own. dollar figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
Where to Go Next
Three pages that answer the practical questions this one raises.
Getting around Como
Buses, boats and the funicular in daily use, including the contactless tap that decides if you hold a ticket. It pairs with getting home at night.
Lido di Villa Olmo
The city's supervised swimming option with pools and a children's pool, next to the park where swimming is banned. Read it with the swimming rules.
Como luggage storage
Where to leave a suitcase so you are not dragging it through crowded squares, with the fact that Como San Giovanni station has no left-luggage office.
Is Como Safe: Questions
Is Como safe for tourists?
No official crime figure for Como city is published on the government pages checked, so no rate can be quoted honestly. Take the usual big-city precautions in the busy squares and on trains, and save 112 and the Sant'Anna Hospital address from the numbers table.
Is Como safe at night?
No authority publishes a night-time safety reading. The practical question is getting home: the funicular's last departure is at midnight and the last train from Como Lago leaves at 22:16. Plan around the last departures.
Is it safe to swim in Lake Como at Como?
Swimming is banned in the Villa Olmo park by ordinance. The bathing season runs 1 May to 30 September, ATS Insubria samples the water, and a mayor bans bathing at a point after a bad result. The supervised option is Lido di Villa Olmo, with pools including a children's pool.
What is the emergency number in Como?
112, for police, fire and ambulance alike. It is free from any phone and adds a telephone interpreter for foreign-language callers. For a doctor out of hours when it is not an emergency, call 116 117. Both are in the numbers table.
Where is the hospital in Como?
Ospedale Sant'Anna, Via Ravona 20, 22042 San Fermo della Battaglia, switchboard 031 5851. Its emergency department is open 24 hours every day, and ASF buses N2 from Como San Giovanni station and N6 stop at the entrance. The detail is in the hospital section.
How do I find a pharmacy open at night in Como?
Use Federfarma Lombardia's Farmacia Aperta app or farmacia-aperta.eu, which shows the nearest pharmacy open or on duty for your location, date and time. No single night pharmacy is named officially, as the pharmacy section explains.
Staying Safe in Italy, on Film
No video covers Como's safety specifically, so these three take the wider view: general travel safety in Italy and a before-you-go list for the lake. Use them for habits, and the tables above for Como's own numbers.
How to stay safe in Italy - from an ex-cop!
Everyday precautions for Italian cities from a former police officer, the habits this page recommends.
Video: Ms BritalyFAQ: Is it safe to travel in Italy?
A general answer to the safety question for Italy as a whole.
Video: Travel ItaliaLake Como, Italy - 10 Things to Know Before You Go
A before-you-go list for the lake that covers the practical side of arriving.
Video: Brad Ball TravelsVideos load from YouTube only when you press play.
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