What to Eat on Lake Como: The Lake’s Food, Explained

The short version: Lake Como eats like the mountains that surround it — freshwater fish, risotto, polenta and buckwheat. Know missoltini (the sun-dried lake shad), risotto with perch fillets, lavarello whitefish, and the Valtellina classics pizzoccheri and bresaola, washed down with Nebbiolo from the valley up the road. Here is what to order.

At a glance

The lake fish

Como is a fishing lake, and its kitchens still cook the catch. The signature is missoltini — agone, a small shad, salted and dried in the sun, pressed in tins, then grilled and served with polenta and a splash of vinegar (our missoltini guide explains it). The dish everyone remembers is risotto con pesce persico — creamy risotto crowned with perch fillets fried in butter and sage. Look too for lavarello (whitefish), tench and agoni fresh, grilled simply and eaten by the water. This is the food you cook in a Lake Como cooking class — most in Varenna’s home kitchens (see our Lake Como cooking classes guide) — often after a look at the morning catch.

Mountain food from the Valtellina

Behind the lake rises the Valtellina, and its hearty food is all over Como’s menus. Pizzoccheri — short buckwheat tagliatelle layered with potato, savoy cabbage and melted Valtellina Casera cheese and butter — is the one to order in autumn and winter. Bresaola, air-dried salt beef sliced thin with oil and lemon, is the classic antipasto, and sciatt, cheese-filled buckwheat fritters, the bar snack. Polenta appears with everything, often with mountain cheese or game.

The sweets, and what to drink

Finish with miascia, the lake’s rustic bread-and-fruit cake, or the resta di Como, a sweet bread with an olive twig baked in. Como grows almost no wine of its own, so tastings and dinners pour from nearby: Valtellina Nebbiolo (called Chiavennasca here) making Valtellina Superiore and the powerful dried-grape Sforzato, and Franciacorta, Italy’s great traditional-method sparkling, from just south (see how Franciacorta compares). Taste the dishes yourself on a cooking class, and see where to base in our Varenna or Bellagio guide.

Frequently asked questions

What food is Lake Como known for?

Freshwater fish above all — missoltini (sun-dried shad) and risotto with perch fillets — plus lavarello whitefish, and the Valtellina mountain classics pizzoccheri, bresaola and polenta, with Nebbiolo and Franciacorta to drink.

What is missoltini?

Missoltini are agone, a small lake shad, salted and dried in the sun, pressed, then grilled and served with polenta and a little vinegar. It’s Lake Como’s signature dish — order it once.

What wine do they drink on Lake Como?

The lake grows almost none, so glasses come from nearby: Valtellina Nebbiolo (Superiore and the dried-grape Sforzato) from the mountains north-east, and Franciacorta sparkling from just south.

Taste Lake Como

Cook the lake’s dishes in a Lake Como cooking class, read up on missoltini, or plan the trip from the Lake Como hub.