Castello di Vezio

The falconry is gone, permanently

Start here, because it is the reason a lot of visitors arrive disappointed. The castle's own site states that following the tragic vandalism suffered in October 2022, the falconry activity is definitively suspended. Not paused for a season, not moved: ended.

A large share of the blog posts, listicles and even printed guides that rank for this castle still describe the birds of prey as the headline attraction, and some sell an experience around them. They are describing something that stopped happening four years ago. What survives of it is the owl aviary, which visitors are asked to keep dogs away from.

What the $8.16 (€7) actually opens

The tower is furnished and climbable, and it is the platform for the view down both arms of the lake. Below it there are visitable underground rooms, cut into the rock of the promontory. Around it sit a botanical garden, a set of statues, and a permanent exhibition on the Lariosaurus, the small Triassic marine reptile first identified from fossils found on this lake and named after it.

All of that stands in an olive grove, which the castle describes as one of the most northerly in the world. That is not a throwaway line: olives at 46 degrees north exist here because the lake stores enough heat to hold off the frost, and the same effect is why the villa gardens south of here grow camellias and citrus. The best time to visit page has the climate figures behind it.

The view, described properly

The promontory sits at the fork. Look south-west and the Como branch runs away past Bellagio's point; look south-east and the Lecco branch runs down between steeper, darker mountains. Directly below is the Varenna shoreline with the passenger pier and the separate car-ferry ramp, which are listed as two distinct calling points in the operator's own timetables.

On a clear morning you can watch the traghetto crossing to Bellagio and Menaggio from the terrace, which is the single best way to understand how the centre-lake ferry triangle works before you use it.

Two rules sit on top of the table. Last entry is 20 minutes before closing, everywhere in the year. And the castle is open every day from 1 March to 1 December; from 2 December it becomes a weekend-and-holiday operation and the weather decides.

What the weather rule means in practice

From November onwards, and on every winter weekend, the castle's opening is a judgement call made on the day by the people who run it. There is no published cut-off, no rainfall threshold and no telephone recording. The number to call before setting off in those months is +39 333 4485975.

The reason is obvious once you are up there: the site is an open promontory with an unfenced terrace, a stepped path and an exposed tower, and rain on that combination is a liability rather than an atmosphere. Plan the castle for the first fine morning of a winter stay rather than for a fixed day, and keep the Orrido di Bellano up the shore as the wet-weather substitute, since a gorge is one of the few things on this lake that improves in rain.

The address is Via al Castello snc, 23828 Perledo, in the comune above Varenna rather than in Varenna itself. The official site gives no walking time from the village, so any figure you read anywhere, including here, is somebody's estimate rather than the castle's.

On foot, the route is the old stepped path that climbs from the Varenna lakefront through the hamlet of Vezio, and it is signposted from the village. Our estimate, from the map and the height gained, is 20 to 30 minutes at a steady pace, and it is a genuine climb rather than a stroll: steps, uneven stone and no shade for the middle stretch. In July and August that matters more than the distance does. Anyone who would rather not do it uphill can ride up and walk down, which turns the hard half into the easy half.

By road, Perledo is reached from the SP72 above Varenna, and there is roadside parking in the hamlet rather than a car park at the gate. On public transport, Varenna is one of the best-served stops on the lake: the passenger pier takes both the slow battello and the servizio rapido on which a supplement is payable, the separate ramp takes the car ferry to Bellagio, Cadenabbia and Menaggio at a published crossing time of 15 minutes, and the Milan to Sondrio railway stops at Varenna-Esino. The ferry page explains which is which.

Accessibility is not stated by the castle at all. Given a stepped approach, underground rooms and a tower, anyone with mobility needs should call rather than assume, on +39 333 4485975.

• Address: Via al Castello snc, Perledo, above Varenna
• On foot: signposted stepped path from the Varenna lakefront; our estimate 20 to 30 minutes uphill
• The castle itself publishes no walking time and no step count
• By boat and train: Varenna has a passenger pier, a separate car-ferry ramp and a railway station
• Accessibility: not stated

The site itself is compact, so the variable is the approach and whether you stay for the light. The one routing that changes the whole character of the visit is the summer evening, which almost nobody plans for.

On fair-weather Friday and Saturday evenings in June, July and August, the castle stays open and lit until 22:30. That is three and a half hours past the weekday closing time and two and a half past the weekend one. The lake below goes from gold to black, the lights come on along both shores, and the tower's floodlighting makes the keep visible from the water.

Separately, the castle runs aperitivo and evening events on its lake-view terrace on Friday and Saturday evenings from June to September, and on request. Those are booked on +39 333 4485975 rather than through any ticket page, and no price for them is published anywhere on the site.

Two practical caveats. Fair weather is the condition, judged on the day. And the descent to Varenna is the same stepped path, unlit, so bring a torch or plan the road. Check what is running back across the lake before you commit to a late evening up here: the last departures are timetable business, and the ferry page sets out how the services differ.

- The falconry has been over since October 2022, permanently, after vandalism. Anything selling you a bird of prey display here is out of date [castellodivezio.it, read in Q3 2026]. - Dogs of any size are welcome on a leash, kept off the lawns and away from the owl aviary, which makes this one of the most dog-friendly paid sites on the lake [castellodivezio.it]. - A photo shoot costs €50, a published fee rather than a negotiation, and it applies to anyone arriving with a photographer rather than a phone [castellodivezio.it prezzi]. - Residents of Varenna and Perledo go in free with ID, as do Disability Card holders with more than 67 per cent disability and children up to 5 [castellodivezio.it prezzi]. - The olive grove around the castle is described by the castle as one of the most northerly in the world, which is a climate fact rather than a decoration: the lake holds off the frost that should kill olives at this latitude [castellodivezio.it].

Do it first, and do it early. The climb is the hardest thing you will do that day, the terrace is emptiest before the mid-morning boats arrive, and the light down both branches is better before noon. Come down for lunch in Varenna, spend the afternoon at Villa Monastero on the lakefront, and take the car ferry across to Bellagio or Menaggio in the late afternoon if you want a third shore in the same day.

In summer there is a second pattern that is better than the first: skip the morning entirely, take the fair-weather Friday or Saturday evening opening, and be on the terrace at 21:00 with the lake going dark under you. Bring a torch for the way down. Everything else on the lake that charges an entry is indexed on things to do, and the whole Lake Como guide starts from the homepage.