In a nineteenth-century spinning mill in Pianello del Lario, the Museo della Barca Lariana (Lake Como Boat Museum) preserves a collection of over 400 historic hulls that tells the story of life on Lake Como through its boats.
The boats cover a very wide range: rowing boats, gondolas, fishing, hunting and smuggling boats, pleasure and racing motorboats, sailing boats and old working barges. Alongside the hulls are over 300 engines and a library of over 2,500 books and historic magazines. The museum, founded in 1982 on the initiative of Gian Alberto Zanoletti, closed in 2000 and reopened in the summer of 2018 after eighteen years. Since 2024 it has been recognised by Regione Lombardia as a museum collection.
Practical information
- Address: Via Regina 1268, Pianello del Lario.
- Open Thursday to Sunday, 10:00-18:00; closed Monday to Wednesday. Paid admission, with tickets also available online through the museum’s website.
- Contact: telephone 0344 87235, info@museobarcalariana.it, museobarcalariana.it.
- Listed by Regione Lombardia as fully accessible.
- Hours are from the official source (checked in September 2026); ticket prices are not reported consistently by the sources, so check them on the website.