Varenna

Sitting directly on the eastern shore of Lake Como in Lombardy, Varenna is a modest lakeside village with a heritage-dense centre of medieval churches, historic villas, and steep staircase lanes opening onto lake terraces. The 11th-century Villa Monastero — now a botanical garden, museum, and physics conference centre — and the hilltop Castello di Vezio are the main draws, alongside the gardens of Villa Cipressi. Founded in AD 769 as a fishing settlement, the village retains a pedestrian lakefront walk and a concentration of restaurants and cafés strong for its size.

• Population764
• Nearest water0.4 km
• Nearest mountain1.6 km
• UNESCO within 50 km12