Falling in Love with Lecco

Lecco was the second town (after Bergamo) on our “where shall we live?” tour of northern Lombardy. Before our trip, we made a list of the qualities of our ideal location: natural beauty, preferably someplace near water and mountains; opportunities for outdoor recreation; a moderate climate; located on a major rail line; with a hospital and routine medical facilities in town and specialized care an hour or less away; within two hours of an international airport; large enough to have a good variety of restaurants, shopping and services, yet small enough to be walkable and not to feel like a big touristy city.

We didn’t want much, did we?

On paper, at least, the city of Lecco seemed to check all the boxes. Situated at the end of the southeastern branch of scenic Lake Como and surrounded by the foothills of the Alps, this town of about 47,000 people (roughly double that in the metropolitan area) is just 31 miles (50 km) north of central Milan and within less than a two-hour journey by train to all three of Milan’s airports. The Province of Lecco, of which the city of Lecco is the capoluogo (the administrative center, like a county seat in the U.S.), ranks 15th among Italy’s 107 provinces in the 2025 Quality of Life Survey by financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Lecco: a lakeside town of breathtaking beauty

The first thing we saw when we stepped off the train after arriving at Lecco’s station on October 29 was Mount San Martino, which rises above the north side of town. San Martino dominates just about every view of Lecco, but from Piazza XX Settembre, in the center of Lecco’s main shopping and dining area and a block from our Airbnb, the sight of the mountain behind the bell tower of the Basilica of San Nicolò positively took our breath away.

Known locally as Il Matitone (literally, “the big pencil”), the Basilica’s neo-Gothic bell tower, or campanile, is one of the tallest in Europe—rising 315 feet (96 meters)—and an unmistakable symbol of Lecco.

Lecco’s lungolago (the area “along the lake”) features a pedestrian and bike path that runs the length of the city, as well as a small marina and several green parks and other peaceful spots for relaxation.

Toward the southern end of Lecco, Lake Como narrows into the River Adda for a short distance before the river widens again into Lake Garlate (where there are several campgeggi, or RV campgrounds, for our RVing friends…hint, hint!). The neighborhood along this stretch of the river is known as Pescarenico, after the fishermen and fishmongers who once made their living here. Some of them can still be found working the river.

Near the end of our stay in Lecco, city workers were installing holiday lights across all the streets in the center of town and an ice skating rink had been erected in Piazza Garibaldi, giving the entire area a colorful and festive atmosphere.

The lake: exploring the villages around Lecco

The shores of Lake Como are dotted with many picturesque villages and hamlets to explore. Fortunately, Lecco has excellent connections to most of them, because a main rail line runs right up the eastern side of the lake, all the way to Colico at the very northern end. Most of the year, a passenger ferry service also connects Lecco with most of the towns on the eastern branch of the lake.

During our first week in Lecco, we took the train to the Abbadia Lariana, one town to the north, to meet one of the U.S. expats whom we had connected with before our trip. We also spent a day on a leisurely ferry journey to visit Bellagio, hopscotching back and forth across the lake to call at several of the small villages along the way.

The scenic town of Bellagio is located on a narrow peninsula, the Tridente Lariano (“Lariano Triangle”), which divides the two southern branches of Lake Como, one flowing toward Como and the other toward Lecco. After climbing up one of the many staircases that lead from the shoreline up to the main street of Bellagio, we walked through the town and then out to Punta Spartivento (“the tip that divides the winds”), where the three branches of the lake meet.

During our second week in Lecco, we rode the train about half an hour north to Bellano, about halfway up the eastern shore of the lake, where another new friend toured us around the village, which is known as the “town of artists” for its strong association with local painters, sculptors, musicians, and writers. 

The food: not just great Italian cuisine

If you’ve followed our blog or our Facebook page for any length of time, you know that we love to eat! As you would expect, Lecco has some wonderful Italian restaurants: we enjoyed Osteria Filet, Trattoria Corte Fiorina, Ristorante Pontile Orestino, and Ristorante Frigerio, among others. And of course, there is plenty of outstanding pizza–including fantastic, made-to-order wood-fired pies for just €10 or less at our new favorite pizzeria, Al Borgo Antico City–and decadent artisanal gelato at shops like Toldo Gelateria, whose Venezuelan fondente (dark chocolate) kept us coming back for more.

But as much as we like Italian food, even with all its regional variations, we’ve realized that eating pasta and pizza every day can get a bit old. So we were excited to discover that Lecco’s culinary offerings weren’t limited solely to Italian food. Because of its location near the Swiss border and the fact that it has attracted immigrants and tourists from many other countries, Lecco also has restaurants specializing in the cuisines of Spain (we had tapas at Todo Bien), Turkey (we tried Sofra Turkish), Japan and Hawaii (J Cafe), and China (Amichevole and Mr. Dumpling), and many more that we didn’t get to try. There is even a decent Mexican restaurant, El Mexicano, so we former Texans won’t have to go through Mexican food withdrawal.

Naturally, Lecco also has a variety of macellerie (butcher shops), salumerie (delicatessens), pasticcerie (pastry shops), and panetterie (bakeries). And like most Italian towns, there is a twice-weekly community market where we’ll be able to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, and baked goods.

Social connections: new friends, both expats and Italians

One of the most daunting aspects of moving to a new country will be the challenges of maintaining our social connections with our U.S. friends across time zones and physical distance. For that reason, what truly “sealed the deal” for us in Lecco was how easy it was to form new relationships there. Several expats who have already traveled the same road we’re now on reached out to us to offer guidance and their own experiences, and many Lecchesi warmly welcomed us to their city when they learned we were considering making it our new home. Hardly a day went by that we didn’t strike up a conversation with someone new in a store, restaurant, or coffee shop. We already feel like we are part of the community!

Lecco felt like home

At the conclusion of our first week in Lecco, we traveled to Como, the third of the four cities we had planned to check out. But after just a couple of days, we found ourselves missing Lecco so much that we decided to return there for our last week in Italy instead of going to a fourth town.

When we stepped off the train back in Lecco, we both said it felt like coming home. And a week later, when we finally had to begin our journey back to the United States, we knew that we had found our place in Italy. We were sad to be leaving, but we knew we would return soon.