19 Unforgettable Movies Set on Lake Como To Watch During Lockdown — Lakeside Real Estate
Lakeside Real Estate
Let’s face it: Lake Como is a natural movie set with an indisputable appeal. That’s why our lake shores and villas have always been chosen as set for famous movies of national and international appeal.
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Lakeside Real Estate
Hardened cinephiles, this article is for you.

Let’s face it: Lake Como is a natural movie set with an indisputable appeal. That’s why our lake shores and villas have always been chosen as set for famous movies of national and international appeal.

After all, there’s nothing quite like an Italian backdrop to frame class and luxury, vivid action, or just looooove.

An interesting fact to know is that the Chamber of Commerce in Como has produced a very cool guide called “Le stelle del Lago di Como”, an unmissable review of all the locations on the lake that have been chosen as sets for international and national movies: Villa Balbianello, Villa d’Este, Teresio Olivelli park in Tremezzo, up to the charming lakes in the Brianza area.

You can download the guide here!

In our view, a trip to Lake Como should start far before jumping on a plane to Milano: it can easily start on your couch, watching an absorbing movie where our stunning lake with its vibrant colors and soothing vibe is on the background.

That’s why we have thought to make up a list of 19 movies shot on Lake Como between 1925 and 2019: what better moment than the lockdown, after all, to escape with your mind to our little paradise!

“The Pleasure Garden” (1925), by Alfred Hitchcock

This is considered one of the best movies of Italian cinematographic history: it’s been recently restored by The Film Foundation by Martin Scorsese, together with the support of Gucci.

The movie tells the tragic story of a poor family from the South of Italy who seek a better life in the thriving industrial economy of Milan.

The scenes in Bellagio with Nadia (Annie Girardot) an Simone (Renato Salvatori) are the happiest of the whole movie. Walking in the area now known as Lungolago Europa, Nadia talks about Hotel Gran Bretagna hotel to her fiancé Simone: “[...] it’s a hotel, but a perfect one, my dear. [...]". And Simone promises: “Before the end of the year, I’ll bring you there”.

Fun fact: the two actors got married after this movie!

This was by far one of the finest movies made in Italy in the ‘60s, and here at Lakeside we are big fans! Not by chance, this movie has been included in the famous “100 film italiani da salvare”, a list (made by Cinecittà Holding and Giornate degli Autori at Mostra del Cinema di Venezia) of 100 movies that have made an impact on the collective memory of Italians between 1942 and 1978.

Lenno (Tremezzina) is one of the main settings: the movie indeed opens on the spectacular beach of Golfo di Venere. Among the various venues we also find Cerano d’Intelvi (with its cozy windmill along the Telo river where Silvio, Alberto Sordi, and Elena, Lea Massari, spent a night together), and Dongo, northern Lake Como.

The movie depicts an international chess championship set in the stunning Villa Erba in Cernobbio, during the 1920’s. John Turturro acts as always: just spectacularly.

To all intents and purposes, the villa is one of film’s co-stars. The reception room in which the awkward, absent-minded Luzhin first appears, the bedroom in which the chess genius shuts himself to play out his obsessions, the park where he falls in love with Natalia, and the dock from which they set off for a romantic boat ride on the lake, play a key role in creating the overall vibe of the movie.

Tremezzo public park is also featured.