Typical Products of Lake Como: PDO, IGT and Traditional

In the regional list of traditional agri-food products, which in the 7 July 2026 version has 274 entries, 32 name Como or Lecco among their production areas: from missoltino to the Brunate onion, from the Resta of Como to the Toc of Bellagio. Among products with a European or national designation, nine have a production area that includes Como or Lecco, and none of them belongs only to the lake.

The difference matters, because a traditional product is listed by the Lombardy Region but has no guarantee of origin, while a designation imposes an area and a specification. This guide keeps the two levels apart. It first explains the acronyms, then covers the products with an official designation, and finally the traditional products by food family, with the complete list at the end. The typical products of Lake Como are described here as the official texts present them.

It names no restaurants, shops or prices: they are third-party data that change constantly, and the Where to Stay & Eat section of the site is not a directory. The texts were read on the official sources on 6 October 2026: the regional list and technical sheets of the Lombardy Region, the production specifications and the Gazzetta Ufficiale.

Typical products of Lake Como: how to read the acronyms

The acronyms stand for different guarantees, and the difference shows on the label.

Acronym	What it guarantees	Source
PDO (DOP, Protected Designation of Origin)	All raw materials come from the stated area and every processing stage takes place there, under a specification	Regione Lombardia
PGI (IGP, Protected Geographical Indication)	It is enough that only part of the raw materials or some working stages fall within the delimited area, again under a specification	Regione Lombardia
IGT (Typical Geographical Indication)	Acronym used for wines: the Terre Lariane specification sets area, grape varieties and yields	Terre Lariane specification
PAT (traditional agri-food product)	Processing, preservation and ageing methods established for at least 25 years and applied uniformly	Regione Lombardia

According to the Region, Lombardy has 34 products with a PDO or PGI (20 PDO and 14 PGI), while the regional list of traditional products has 271. The number of traditional products changes with the yearly revisions: the list attached to the decree of 23 December 2025 runs to entry 274, and we state the difference in the section on method.

One thing applies to all traditional products. The ministerial decree of 18 July 2000, recalled in the regional decree, establishes that any reference to a geographic name does not constitute recognition of origin or provenance of the product from the area. In other words, a listed product with “Como” in its name does not guarantee that what you buy is made in Como. The area is imposed instead by the PDO, the PGI and the IGT, each with its own rules.

Products with an official designation

We checked on the specifications nine products with a designation whose area includes territory in Como or Lecco: the table below describes four of them one by one, and five more with very wide areas follow further down. None belongs only to the lake, and other products with areas spread over several regions could include the two provinces: we have not checked them one by one.

Product	Acronym	Production area	Source
Laghi Lombardi extra virgin olive oil, Lario mention	PDO	Lakeshore zone of Lario in the provinces of Como and Lecco, plus the Sebino zone in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia	Registration application, eAmbrosia; Consortium
Salame Brianza	PDO	The Brianza, from the Ghisallo foothills to the Villoresi canal, from the Adda to the Comasina road	Reg. EU 872/2013
Taleggio	PDO	Twelve provinces, including Como and Lecco	Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 169 of 21/7/2022
Terre Lariane	IGT	Hill and mountain municipalities of the provinces of Como and Lecco	Specification, DM 17/7/2008

Laghi Lombardi olive oil, Lario mention

The Laghi Lombardi PDO has two geographic mentions, Sebino and Lario. The European recognition dates from 1997 (EEC Regulation no. 2325/97, according to the Consortium), and the voluntary protection Consortium was founded on 30 July 1999. Its website lists 22 members, among producers, mills, bottlers and packers.

The registration application describes the area as the lakeshore belt of lakes Sebino and Lario, in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia on one side and Como and Lecco on the other. The olive groves lie on hilly ground, in small plots, with a mild climate tempered by the nearby lakes, and the oil is described for its low acidity and richness in phenolic substances.

Two cautions. The text we read is the original application, and the specification in force may differ. The Consortium’s website, moreover, does not publish the list of municipalities of the Lario mention, so we do not give it: checking it is up to the Consortium.

Salame Brianza

Salame Brianza has been a PDO since 1996, under Regulation (EC) no. 1107/96 published in the Official Journal of the European Communities L 148 of 21 June 1996. The consolidated single document sets the production area: the Brianza, bounded to the north by the foothills of the Ghisallo, to the south by the Villoresi canal, to the east by the Adda and to the west by the Comasina state road, with an outer strip of 2 km.

The northern limit therefore lies at Magreglio, in the Triangolo Lariano, where the Madonna del Ghisallo stands, the first stage of our Monte San Primo itinerary. Making, ageing, slicing and packing must all happen inside the area, while the pigs may be raised in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont. The specification was amended by a ministerial decree of 27 September 2024, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 237 of 9 October 2024.

Taleggio

Taleggio is a PDO cheese, and its area is far wider than the lake. Article 3 of the specification, in the text amended in 2022, names the whole territory of twelve provinces: Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Lecco, Cremona, Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza, Pavia, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Treviso. The 2022 change only updated the list to administrative changes (the provinces of Lecco, Lodi, Monza and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola were created after the recognition): the boundaries stayed the same, as the European Commission writes in its notice of 14 February 2022.

For a visitor to the lake, this means a Taleggio bought in Lecco may come from another province. Valsassina has its own cheeses on the traditional list, described below, and one of them, the Stracchino della Valsassina, is considered by many to be the ancestor of Taleggio, according to the regional sheet.

Terre Lariane IGT

The Terre Lariane specification was approved by a ministerial decree of 17 July 2008 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 177 of 30 July 2008) and amended in 2009 and 2011. Article 3 lists the hill and mountain municipalities of the provinces of Como and Lecco where the grapes may be grown, with the whole administrative territory of each. Those on the lake include Cernobbio, Bellagio, Menaggio, Dongo and Gravedona on the Como side, and Lecco, Mandello del Lario, Varenna, Bellano and Colico on the Lecco side.

The area is wider than the lake, though, and includes the Brianza: the list has, for example, Erba, Oggiono and Montevecchia, where according to eccoLecco most of the vineyards are. The specification provides for white, red and rosé wines, also sparkling, raisined or new, and fifteen wines named after the grape variety, from Verdese bianco to Chardonnay, from Pinot nero to Merlot, from Marzemino to Schiava. We do not name wineries, because this guide is not a list of producers.

Other designations with very wide areas

Five specifications published by MASAF include Como or Lecco in production areas that go far beyond the lake. The texts we read do not give an approval date, so they may not be the latest version in force.

Product	Acronym	What the specification says about Como and Lecco	Source
Gorgonzola	PDO	Production and ageing area: the whole territory of fifteen provinces, including Como and Lecco, plus some municipalities of other provinces	Specification, art. 2
Grana Padano	PDO	Production and grating area: a long list of provinces in several regions, including Como and Lecco	Specification, art. 3
Quartirolo Lombardo	PDO	Area of origin of the milk and of production: the administrative territory of ten provinces, including Como and Lecco	Specification, art. 2
Salva Cremasco	PDO	Production area: the whole territory of six provinces, including Lecco but not Como	Specification, art. 3
Bitto	PDO	Besides the whole province of Sondrio and alpine pastures of the Alta Valle Brembana, it names the Varrone, Artino and Lareggio pastures in the Lecco municipalities of Introbio and Premana	Specification, art. 2

As with Taleggio, the name of the cheese says nothing about the lake: the PDO guarantees an area and a specification, and these areas are much wider than the Lario. Bitto is the most limited case, with three pastures in the Lecco part of Valsassina.

From the lake: missoltino, pigo and Lenno whitefish

Three products on the regional list come from the water, and all are preserved fish. Missoltino is the best known. According to the regional sheet it is made with agone, salt and bay leaf: the fish is scaled, gutted and opened, passed through brine (the amount of salt varies with size, temperature and humidity), dried hanging and then pressed for at least three months in tin containers. It keeps for up to a year, and the fish measures 20-25 cm, in a shiny grey colour.

The area given for missoltino is the “zone of the lakes of Como, Iseo and Garda”, not only Lario: the list entry shows the provinces of Como and Brescia. On its origin the sheet gathers several stories, and says the tradition is probably much older than the legend of the Swedish tourist of the late 1800s, perhaps going back to Roman times. It also calls missoltino a “Slow Food Presidium”: we report this with its source, because the Slow Food page could not be read automatically.

Pigo follows the same procedure, but it is boned (it is also called squartone, or Italian roach) and, because of its low fat content, keeps for more than a year; it is eaten with polenta. Lenno whitefish, from Lenno, today part of Tremezzina, is instead a salted and smoked fish: the sheet gives as raw materials the bondella (introduced in 1970) and the lavarello (since 1885), a 20% salt brine for 6-7 hours, two hours of drying and 8-12 hours of smoking with wood sawdust. The sheet adds that in recent decades whitefish has been threatened by the eutrophication of the water.

To see missoltino at work, or to taste it, two festivals have a page on the site: the Sagra del Misultin in Dervio, between late June and early July, and the Sagra del Missoltino in Mezzegra, in late August. The dates change every year and must be confirmed with the local pro loco.

Cheeses: from the alpine pastures to Valsassina

Traditional cheeses number nine out of 32: four that the decree assigns to Como and five to Lecco.

Zincarlin is a flavoured ricotta from Alto Lario, Val d’Intelvi and the Lepontine Alps. It is made with cow or goat whey and the whey of the previous year, with lemon leaves and wedges, green plums, salt and pepper. The forms are ball-shaped (balòt) and weigh from 250 grams to 3.5 kg: fresh, it is sold right after production, aged it can last over a year, and the sheet gives it a scent of vanilla.

Semuda is a lean cow’s-milk cheese from western Alto Lario. The milk rests 48 hours in a basin and ageing exceeds four months. The sheet states that today it has almost disappeared, because artisan butter is no longer made, and that some producers in Dosso del Liro are spreading it: it is a product to look for, not to take for granted. The municipality is on our itinerary From Peglio to Dosso del Liro.

Casoretta comes from Val d’Intelvi, is semi-fat and ages at least one month; according to the sheet, raw milk and tools in wood, copper and cloth are indispensable to its character. Magro of the Triangolo Lariano is made with local milk, pasteurised and partly skimmed, and ages at least one month at 10-12 °C: the sheet lists it among the seasonings of pizzoccheri, polenta uncia and tocc.

Valsassina has the Stracchino della Valsassina, the Robiola della Valsassina and the Fiorone della Valsassina. The robiola is aged in the natural caves of the area, and the fiorone takes its name from the curd that, once cut, opens like a flower. The list also includes Mascherpa d’alpe (valleys of Sondrio and Lecco) and the Stracchino tipico of the province of Lecco.

Cured meats, meat and poultry

There are five meat entries. For two we read the regional sheet, for the other three only name and area. Salame di testa (provinces of Como and Lecco) is a sausage made from parts of the pig’s head, to be eaten cooked. Salamini di capra (Como and Varese area) are raw small salamis with a third goat meat, a third pork and a third lard or bacon, aged for 3-4 months.

The other three entries are Agnello di razza brianzola (provinces of Lecco, Como and Monza and Brianza), Pollo brianzolo (Martesana, Brianza and the valleys of Lario) and Prosciutto crudo Marco d’Oggiono (Oggiono). For these we did not read a text describing the preparation, and we do not invent one. For cured meats with a designation, the Salame Brianza PDO described above applies.

From the garden and the oven

Vegetable and baked entries are the richest part of the list, and the part tied to specific places.

The Brunate onion has been on the national list since 2016. The bulb is 6.5-7.5 cm across and the pickling onions 2-2.5 cm; it is sown in early March and picked by hand around mid-July. The sheet tells that the village has grown and sold onions since the sixteenth century and that its inhabitants were called “scigulatt”, onion sellers.

Production today is mostly family-run and in small quantities: to promote it, the Cipolle di Brunate association was founded in 2015. The village is reached by the Como-Brunate funicular, and its page is Brunate.

The Resta of Como is a leavened cake, similar to panettone, with an olive stick in the middle and the shape of a fish bone (“resta” in dialect), which the sheet links to Easter but not only. The Masigott belongs to Erba: a cake with buckwheat flour, sultanas, pine nuts and candied orange, which the sheet connects to the feast of Sant’Eufemia and to the festival of the third Sunday of October. In 2025 the 39th edition ran from 16 to 19 October in Piazza Mercato (Mentelocale), with events also in the church of Sant’Eufemia at Incino; for 2026 we did not find the official programme. If the third-Sunday rule holds this year, the Sunday is 18 October: this is an inference to be confirmed with the Municipality of Erba.

The Nocciolini are the product of Canzo: hazelnut, sugar and egg-white biscuits that the sheet dates to 1922 and says spill over into nearby Asso. The Meascia, or miascia, is a stale-bread cake with milk, eggs, apples and sultanas (there is also a savoury version): the sheet says every village on the lake, from Bellagio to Domaso and from Lezzeno to Varenna, has its own. The Braschin is a sweet flatbread from the Valle Albano, whose name comes from the brasca, the embers under ashes on which it was once baked. The Pan meino is traditionally eaten on 23 April, the day of San Giorgio, and is made with yellow flour and dried elderflowers.

The Toc is from Bellagio and has been on the national list since 2022, according to the regional sheet. It is polenta with butter and alpine cheese, cooked in a cauldron and eaten, according to the sheet, by everyone together sitting in a circle, with a wooden spoon and by hand. The Magro sheet mentions it as tocc, a dish of the cuisine of Bellagio and the Triangolo Lariano.

The complete list: 32 entries for Como and Lecco

The table gives every entry of the regional list that names Como or Lecco in its area, with the name as it appears in the decree of 23 December 2025. Entries with several provinces also name areas outside the lake.

Product	Area in the list	Category
Agnello di razza brianzola	Provinces of Lecco, Como, Monza and Brianza	Meat
Pollo brianzolo	Martesana, Brianza, valleys of Lario	Meat
Prosciutto crudo Marco d’Oggiono	Oggiono	Meat
Salame di testa	Provinces of Como and Lecco	Meat
Salamini di capra	Provinces of Como and Varese	Meat
Casoretta	Val d’Intelvi	Cheeses
Fiorone della Valsassina	Valsassina	Cheeses
Magro	Triangolo Lariano	Cheeses
Mascherpa d’alpe	Valleys of Sondrio and Lecco	Cheeses
Robiola della Valsassina	Valsassina	Cheeses
Semuda	Valmalenco, western Alto Lario	Cheeses
Stracchino della Valsassina	Valsassina	Cheeses
Stracchino tipico	Province of Lecco	Cheeses
Zincarlin	Alto Lario, Val d’Intelvi, Lepontine Alps	Cheeses
Burro di montagna	Provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Varese, Lecco, Sondrio	Fats
Cipolla di Brunate	Municipality of Brunate	Vegetables
Farina per polenta della Bergamasca	Provinces of Bergamo, Lecco, Cremona	Vegetables
Patata comasca bianca	Province of Como	Vegetables
Rosmarino di Montevecchia	Montevecchia regional park	Vegetables
Salvia di Montevecchia	Montevecchia regional park	Vegetables
Braschin	Valle Albano	Pasta and bakery
Caviadini	Valsassina	Pasta and bakery
Masigott	Erba	Pasta and bakery
Meascia dolce o salata	Western Alto Lario	Pasta and bakery
Nocciolini	Municipality of Canzo	Pasta and bakery
Pan meino	Provinces of Lecco, Como, Milan	Pasta and bakery
Resta	Como	Pasta and bakery
Torta di latte	Brianza	Pasta and bakery
Coregone	Lenno	Fish
Missoltino	Zone of the lakes of Como, Iseo, Garda	Fish
Pigo	Zone of the lakes of Como, Iseo, Garda	Fish
Toc	Bellagio	Gastronomy

Source: Regione Lombardia, decree of 23 December 2025 no. 19066, annex with the list of traditional agri-food products (twenty-first revision).

What is not on the list

A dish can be traditional without being on the list. The decree has no entry for perch or for risotto with perch, and lavarello appears only as the salted and smoked preserve of Lenno, under the name of whitefish. Tradition and official recognition are two separate things, and this guide reports only the second.

How to recognise a product with a designation

For the PDO and the IGT, the label and the specification count. The single document of Salame Brianza, for example, requires the name to appear in clear characters followed by the words “Denominazione di Origine Protetta”, and the designation to be in Italian. For a wine with a typical geographical indication, the name to look for is “Terre Lariane”, possibly followed by the grape variety.

For a traditional product there is no mark that certifies it. A buyer can ask the producer where it is made and with which ingredients, remembering that a place name in the title is not a guarantee of provenance.

When to taste

Some products have a season, and this table gathers the ones the sources indicate. Festival and event dates change every year and must be confirmed before you travel.

When	Product or event	Source
Between late June and early July	Sagra del Misultin in Dervio	Site page, to confirm with the pro loco
Mid-July	Harvest of the Brunate onion	Regional sheet
Late August	Sagra del Missoltino in Mezzegra	Site page, to confirm with the pro loco
Third Sunday of October	Sagra del Masigott in Erba (in 2025 from 16 to 19 October)	Regional sheet and Mentelocale
23 April	Pan meino, feast of San Giorgio	Regional sheet
Easter	Resta of Como	Regional sheet

Method and sources

The guide was written by the Lario editorial team with the help of artificial intelligence tools and checked line by line against the sources listed at the end. The facts on traditional products come from the technical sheets of the Lombardy Region (October 2025 update) and from the list attached to the decree of 23 December 2025. Those on designations come from the specifications and the Gazzetta Ufficiale. We did not use commercial sites or cooking blogs for facts.

Where sources differ or are missing, we say so:

• The Region’s page counts 271 traditional products, but the list attached to the decree of 23 December 2025 runs to entry 274. The count of 32 entries is based on the list attached to the decree. The 7 July 2026 version of the list has the same number of entries and the same 32 entries naming Como or Lecco; some wording of the area changes, for example for Rosmarino and Salvia di Montevecchia.
• In the technical sheet of the Resta the “area” field says “Bergamo and province”, while the decree’s list and the text of the sheet speak of Como. We followed the decree and the text.
• For four other products the area in the list and the area in the technical sheet do not match: Stracchino tipico (province of Lecco in the list, provinces of Como and Bergamo in the sheet), Magro (Como in the list, provinces of Como and Lecco in the sheet), Semuda (Valmalenco and western Alto Lario in the list, only western Alto Lario in the sheet) and Torta di latte (Como, Lecco, Milan and Monza and Brianza in the list, provinces of Milan and Lecco in the sheet). The table gives the area from the list.
• Missoltino and pigo are products of “Como, Iseo and Garda”, not only of Lario.
• “Slow Food Presidium” for missoltino is the regional sheet’s statement, not verified on the Slow Food site.
• The designations we verified are nine (four described one by one and five with wide areas): we do not rule out that other products with areas spread over several regions include the two provinces.
• For Laghi Lombardi oil we read the registration application, not the specification in force, and we do not have the list of municipalities of the Lario mention.
• For Pollo brianzolo, Agnello di razza brianzola, Prosciutto crudo Marco d’Oggiono, Mascherpa d’alpe, Stracchino tipico, Burro di montagna, Farina per polenta, rosemary and sage of Montevecchia and Torta di latte we report only the name and area from the list.

Frequently asked questions

Is missoltino a PDO product?

No. It is a traditional agri-food product on the regional list, on the national list since 2000, and the regional sheet also calls it a Slow Food Presidium. Its area is the zone of the lakes of Como, Iseo and Garda.

What does PAT mean on a lake product?

That the processing, preservation and ageing method has been established for at least 25 years and is on the Region’s list. It does not guarantee that the product on sale was made in the place of the name.

Is Taleggio a Lake Como cheese?

It is a PDO cheese whose area includes the provinces of Como and Lecco, but ten others as well. It is no more tied to the lake than to the other provinces, and for a Valsassina cheese it is better to look for the traditional cheeses of the valley.

Is there a Lake Como wine with a designation?

Terre Lariane IGT, which the 2008 specification reserves for hill and mountain wines of the provinces of Como and Lecco. We have not checked other designations.

Where can I buy these products?

We do not name shops or restaurants. For PDOs the reference is the protection consortia, and for traditional products the municipalities and pro loco that organise the festivals, such as those of Dervio, Mezzegra and Erba.

Is the information up to date?

The texts were read on 6 October 2026. The regional list is revised every year, and festival dates change: if you find a different figure, write to info@visitlario.com.

What next

For fish and festivals, the itinerary The Missoltino Route; for the cheeses of Alto Lario, From Peglio to Dosso del Liro; for Erba and the Masigott, Erba on foot. To choose where to stay, Where to Stay on Lake Como, and if it rains, Museums on Lake Como.