Como’s Christmas Spirits

Como Città dei Balocchi 2024 – Polar bears sing and cavort on the walls of the Teatro Sociale

The lake and territory of Como seem increasingly to be lending themselves to commercial ‘branding’ with a number of products trading on some perceived local quality. The product range extends beyond football (Como 1907) and clothing (e.g. Breva e Tivan Republik) to include a selection of alcoholic drinks. These are ripe to be tried out over the holiday period and we will take a closer look at them later. But firstly let’s look at the city of Como itself and how it is projecting a Christmas spirit.

Como’s Spirit of Christmas

Basilica di San Fedele

Over the last two years Como has suffered a commercially disappointing winter holiday season. The main cause for this was the lack of illuminations normally organised by ‘Città dei Balocchi’ (City of Toys) – a consortium of local trading interests. Back in 2022 they decided to break with a long established tradition by not bidding for the contract to provide the city’s Spirit of Christmas. Rumours suggested this was due to disagreements with the city’s newly appointed mayor, Alessandro Rapinese. Como’s loss was Cernobbio’s gain with Città dei Balocchi and their illuminations camping out in the park of Cernobbio’s Villa Erba over the last two years. The neighbouring provincial capital of Lecco took advantage of this absence, boosting its winter appeal by lighting up the city while Como remained dark and drab.

But all is well this year as Città dei Balocchi are back with all the favourite seasonal ingredients including ice skating in Piazza Cavour, the Christmas market, the traditional carousel, and of course, the illuminations. This year there is even a musical accompaniment for those strolling the main shopping street with Perry Como and other crooners singing how Como is ‘beginning to look a lot like Christmas’.

The Broleto in Piazza Duomo

The last full year that Città dei Balocchi adorned the city was in 2019, prior to the two years when Covid closed down everything. And compared with then, this year’s show is more restrained. This may be just as well since success in 2019 brought its own problems. The streets in the old town became so full that the city council had to instigate a one way system for pedestrians and place controls on the numbers allowed into Piazza Duomo. And truth be told, the illuminations had become a bit too Disneylike for the cultural sensibilities of many residents.

The Museo Civico in Piazza Medaglie D’Oro

Back to now, the traditional carousel has moved location again starting off in Piazza Volta back in 2019, then beside the Teatro Sociale last year and now this year placed in the shadow of the austere edifice of Porta Torre. The Christmas market is contained within the piazza that fronts onto the old Banca D’Italia. Thankfully the ice skating rink has returned from last year’s exile on the far edge of the lake gardens to its preferred location in Piazza Cavour.

The carousel below the Porta Torre

Como Whisky, Gin and Other Spirits

The talking and singing trees in the gardens of Villa Erba Christmas 2023.

Moving on from Como’s spirit of Christmas to its Christmas spirits, there are now a few liquors that trade on their close association with Como and the lake. One of these is Tivan Whisky, named after the lake wind that blows south from the Valtellina in the morning, heralding good weather. It is a 100% barley single malt that comes in two varieties – Sera aged in acacia casks and Lago aged in oak beer barrels. Their advertising copy on http://tivanwhisky is in the hyperbolic style that seems a standard feature of all of the publicity for our selected products, as in:

“When a gentle breeze descends from the majestic peaks of Valtellina and caresses the timelessly beautiful landscapes of Lake Como, TIVAN is born.”

Absolute nonsense but it’s the price at over €100 a bottle that is most likely to put you off. If still undeterred Tivan can be bought at Soldati – the large wine store in Tavernerio on the south-eastern edge of Como,

Rivo Foraged Gin and Rivo Sloe Gin

Rivo gin is ‘Lake Como’s magic in a bottle’ so it must share some of the qualities that gave birth to Tivan. However it is more realistically priced and its flavour is actually influenced by the herbs foraged from the hillsides bordering the lake. They too can reach hyperbolic peaks in their publicity as in:

“The mountains, the wind, the water. We distilled the essence of Lake Como to create a gin worthy of this very special place.”

But they can at least be forgiven some purple passages because; a) they really do include herbs foraged from the hillside to flavour the distillation, b) the price is in line with other artisan gins at about €35 and c) I can vouch that it tastes good. It has also won a number of accolades in global trade competitions. It is readily available in many of the local wine stores in Como, including at Gustosè on Via Rusconi.

Rivo also produce an ‘amaro’ (bitters) that breaks free from their gin’s local associations to include twenty different herbs collected from the twenty different regions of Italy. Hence its name ‘Venti’.

Gustosè on Via Rusconi stock local products including Rivo Gin and Amaro Seta as well as selling various liquors from the barrel

There is a Como-inspired amaro liquor called Seta (Silk) so called because its main ingredient is mulberries. The silk cocoons were produced by caterpillars chomping away on mulberry leaves. Mulberry trees used to be everywhere when Como still spun and weaved silk. It is still an important local industry (equivalent in value to tourism) but spinning and weaving are done elsewhere leaving Como firms to specialise in silk printing and finishing.

Amaro Seta with its silk foulard, inspired by Como’s historical local industry

Amaro Seta can also be trusted to indulge in extraordinary flights of fantasy in its publicity material as in:

“Amaro Seta is a story that celebrates the uniqueness of a territory. A story in which ancient popular traditions merge with the most prestigious industrial legacies. The memory of a landscape enriched by centuries-old mulberry trees and the scent of their precious fruits….. The unmistakable soul of Amaro Seta lives in the skilful processing of mulberries, a tree sacred to the Como silk industry, whose leaves constitute the silkworm’s only nourishment. When the soft and delicate taste of this precious fruit meets the clear and firm notes of saffron and bitter orange, a unique bitter with a refined flavor is born. The balanced and elegant tones of Amaro Seta escape any attempt at classification: sweet but not excessive, decisive but not overbearing, Amaro Seta is the amaro that goes over the top.”

Amaro Seta can also be bought at Gustosè alongside many other local products.

Nero di Como finishes off our range of local liquors uniting honey from around our lake with liquorice from Calabria and rum from the Caribbean. This results in a dark, thick and sweet concoction whose origins are colourfully explained as follows:

The anonymous bon viveur sampling his concoction

‘The history of Nero di Como is intertwined between bright nocturnal parties and the discovery of a surprising recipe, the result of the union of the sweet flavors of the lake and the aromas of unknown exotic spices. It all began with the curiosity and intuition of an entrepreneur from Como who made his fortune at the time of great trade with overseas colonies. He was a world traveler always looking for fine products, such as coffee, tea, spices, cocoa and sugar, to offer to his prestigious customers. When he returned from travels he reopened the halls of his villa on Lake Como to his friends and every evening he gave life to sumptuous receptions that lasted all night, with music and laughter that echoed in the large villa until dawn. The host loved sharing with his guests the new flavors and distant aromas he discovered.”

It’s a pity that this mysterious entrepreneur and his sumptuous villa remain unidentified since he seemed the very embodiment of ‘Lake Como lifestyle’. Never mind, presumably the suggestion is that we can also participate in this lifestyle by sipping nonchalantly on a glass of the black stuff as dawn breaks over the lake.

Conclusion

The Christmas light show, ice rink, market and all associated activities run up until January 6th. Most of the liquors can be purchased online in addition to where else is mentioned.

Click on the following to link to their website: Tivan, Rivo Gin, Amaro Seta, Nero di Como.

Como Companion wishes all readers and subscribers a wonderful, relaxing holiday season with a chance for all to enjoy the company of friends and family and to eat and drink in excellent company.