Known for
The village above the Como funicular: the Volta lighthouse, the church of Sant'Andrea and the Campari fountain stand together on the hill.
The village up the hill
Brunate
Brunate
Piazza Bonacossa, Via Roma, Via Giacomo Scalini
The village above the Como funicular. The Volta Lighthouse, the church of Saint Andrew and the Campari Fountain sit together on the hill.
Why go
On a clear day, in the afternoon. The first morning belongs to the walls and the lake below.
Where to stay
The suitcase stays in Como. Go up, walk the hill, and come down for dinner.
Local guide
Fedor Samorodov · guide
You go up by the funicular from the Como lakefront; the walking hairpins are long. The Campari fountain is on Via Roma by the upper station, Sant'Andrea is higher in the village, and the Volta lighthouse is further still, at San Maurizio.
Places
- Villa Pirotta Bonacossa — Cotton industrialist Attilio Pirotta assembled leading architects and artists to create a miniature Versailles on Brunate’s exceptionally steep hillside. Its theatrical design brings neo-Rococo splendor together with the emerging forms of Art Nouveau.
- Volta Lighthouse in Brunate — A lighthouse in Brunate’s San Maurizio district, built in honour of Alessandro Volta, who once lived in the town above Como.
- Church of Saint Andrew the Apostle — Brunate’s parish church developed from a medieval religious complex and acquired two façades through repeated rebuilding and a twentieth-century enlargement. It also preserves the remains of Blessed Maddalena Albrici.
- Marenghi Park and the Pertugio Spring — A spring with a surprisingly hands-on scientific backstory: in 1785, Carlo Amoretti descended into the Pertugio cave while Volta held the rope. Its water later supplied villas at San Maurizio and is still collected inside the park.
- Bellavista Hotel and Pencho Slaveykov Memorial — Opened in 1896 for visitors arriving by funicular, the Bellavista later became linked to Bulgarian poet Pencho Slaveykov, who spent his final days here. Plaques, a bust and a memorial corner now make its frontage an unexpected literary shrine.
- Campari Fountain — A 1935 village fountain that doubles as permanent Campari advertising, complete with sculpted brand imagery. Designed by Giuseppe Gronchi, it is one of the rare survivors from a nationwide promotional series.
- Chalet Sonzogno — A wooden chalet reportedly exhibited in Turin in 1902, then offered fully furnished as third prize in a newspaper subscription contest. The winner soon sold it, and the Sonzogno publishing family bought it back.
- Former Grand Hotel Brunate — Completed in 1893 with fifty rooms, this grand hotel placed its bet on Brunate’s tourist boom just before the funicular opened. Today its resort façade conceals private apartments.