Where you can legally marry on Lake Como

This page covers six comuni on Lake Como that legally marry couples who live abroad: Varenna, Bellagio, Tremezzina, Como, Cernobbio and Lecco. Each comune (the local council) has its own villas, halls and gardens, its own fees and its own rules. These six are examples: many more comuni around the lake hold civil weddings for couples from abroad, and venues, fees and days change from year to year.

A legal wedding in Italy has to take place somewhere the comune has approved: one of its own buildings or gardens, or an outside venue it has authorised, such as a villa or hotel. Everything below is on a comune’s approved list, so a wedding there is legal and counts at home. Villa Monastero in Varenna hosts symbolic ceremonies only.

Varenna: lakeside gardens at Villa Cipressi

Varenna, on the eastern shore, runs its weddings through its own booking portal, where you choose the venue, date and time slot. There are two settings. Villa Cipressi was bought by the people of Varenna by public subscription in 1980 and belongs to the comune; it now runs as a hotel, and its gardens fall in stairways and terraces down to the lake. The Sala Consiliare “Giorgio La Pira” in the municipio is the indoor option.

Varenna marries every day of the week, with evening ceremonies from 17:30 between March and November. It does not marry on major public holidays or on 24 and 31 December, and arriving more than an hour late cancels the ceremony with no refund. From March to November, couples who live elsewhere pay the comune €1,200 on a weekday, €1,500 at weekends and on holidays, and €2,000 for an evening slot on any day; from December to February the fee is €800 on a weekday and €1,000 at weekends. Couples not domiciled in Italy pay a further €250 (2022 tariff, still charged through the portal in 2026). Villa Cipressi charges separately, so the villa has to confirm the date before the comune booking goes in.

Bellagio: the council chamber or a hotel garden on the lake

Bellagio sits on the point where the lake divides. The comune marries couples in its council chamber at Via Garibaldi 1, with the small garden at the entrance as an outdoor option when the weather allows; the comune’s staff make that call on the day. It has also authorised the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, where you can marry in the lakeside garden or indoors, with the hotel’s own charge on top.

Bellagio marries from Monday to Saturday, never on Sundays or public holidays. The comune confirms its fee when you book.

Tremezzina: Villa Carlotta, Villa del Balbianello and a lakeside park

Tremezzina is the comune that took in Tremezzo, Lenno, Mezzegra and Ossuccio on the western shore, and Villa Carlotta and Villa del Balbianello both fall within it. Its 2026 tariff charges couples who live elsewhere €1,800 in office hours and €2,200 outside them at either villa, and the villa’s own fee comes on top.

At Villa Carlotta, the comune’s registrar marries couples on the Terrazza delle Camelie, a terrace enclosed by old camellia hedges and facing Bellagio across the water. It holds up to 100 guests. For up to 50, the wet-weather option is the Sala Gessi inside the museum; above 50, a marquee goes up on the terrace. The villa’s 2024 conditions charge €2,000 plus €1,500 for up to 50 guests, both plus VAT, with a €500 deposit to hold the date that is not refunded.

Villa del Balbianello, on the wooded point at Lenno, belongs to the FAI, Italy’s national heritage trust, which hosts civil as well as symbolic ceremonies there. Ceremonies take place in the Loggia Durini, an open loggia at the top of the point, seating up to 60. The FAI does not publish its prices.

Tremezzina also holds weddings in Parco Teresio Olivelli, a public park on the lakefront at Tremezzo, for €1,000 in office hours and €1,200 outside them (2026 tariff).

Como and Cernobbio: Palazzo Cernezzi and Villa Bernasconi

The city of Como marries couples for free in the council chamber and the Sala Giunta of Palazzo Cernezzi, its municipio, a few minutes’ walk from the lake. Both are indoors.

Just north of Como, Cernobbio marries couples at Villa Bernasconi, an Art Nouveau villa the comune runs as a museum, and in the Sala Stemmi in its municipio. Couples who live elsewhere pay €1,200 at Villa Bernasconi, or €1,500 outside standard hours, and €500 for the Sala Stemmi, or €750 outside standard hours (2026 tariff). The villa can also cater a reception. Once the comune authorises the date, the fee has to be paid within five days or the booking lapses.

Lecco: halls in town at the southern tip

Lecco, where the eastern branch of the lake ends, publishes its venues, capacities and prices on one page (updated April 2026). The council chamber in Palazzo Bovara seats 60 and costs €50. The Sala Brasilia in Villa Gomes holds 25, 15 of them seated, and costs couples who live elsewhere €488. The Sala Conferenze in Palazzo delle Paure, on Piazza XX Settembre, holds 80 and costs €732. Villa Manzoni, the novelist’s family house, is closed for restoration. Lecco’s venues are all indoors and in town.

What these have in common

In every case the registrar conducts the ceremony in Italian, and if either of you does not speak Italian, the law requires an interpreter, who cannot be one of you or a witness. The paperwork you need depends on your nationality and is the same whichever comune you choose. What changes from one comune to the next is the setting, the price, the days it marries and how far ahead it takes bookings. The outdoor settings on this page are the gardens of Villa Cipressi, the Terrazza delle Camelie at Villa Carlotta, the loggia at Balbianello, Parco Teresio Olivelli, and in fine weather the garden at Bellagio’s municipio or Villa Serbelloni.

If one of these places is the one you are picturing, or you have somewhere else on the lake in mind, book a call or message us on WhatsApp with your date and roughly how many guests, and we will find out what the comune there can offer.

Checked October 2026.

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