Market · Lake Como (Lombardy)

Como City Saturday Market, Piazza San Fedele

While tourists queue for ferries at the lakefront, locals fill the medieval Piazza San Fedele and the streets radiating from it every Saturday morning with a proper working market that sells everything from aged Parmigiano wheels and local salumi to hand-embroidered linens and discounted Como silk scarves. This is the Como that residents actually live in.

Silk, Cheese and Charcuterie

Como has been Italy's silk capital since the 15th century, and the Saturday market is one of the best places to buy silk accessories — scarves, ties and pocket squares — at prices well below the boutiques on Via Vittorio Emanuele II, though you should still inspect quality carefully and ask about provenance.

The food stalls are the real draw for many regulars: look for vendors selling Brianza salami, lariano bread (a dense sourdough loaf from the Triangolo Lariano), local honey from mountain apiaries and seasonal produce that changes week to week — asparagus in April, porcini in September, chestnuts in October.

The Piazza and Its Romanesque Church

The market wraps around the Basilica di San Fedele, an extraordinary 12th-century Romanesque church with a three-apse apse and a carved portal that most visitors walk past without noticing. Duck inside for five minutes — the cool stone interior is a world away from the bustle outside.

After shopping, the café terraces on Piazza San Fedele serve excellent espresso and the local pastry speciality: miascia, a dense bread pudding made with stale bread, dried figs, pine nuts and rosemary that sounds odd and tastes quietly addictive.

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