Travel Consultant Absolute 

Standing six feet tall in her bare feet, strikingly attractive, with a relaxing glow of self-confidence and the posture and demeanor of a former fashion model, Celia Abernethy is an expat from Long Island, New York, enjoying an ongoing love affair with Milano and the city of Lecco, her Lake Como home. The ideal Travel Consultant and Itinerary Designer for Milano and Lake Como, she offers remarkable assistance to visitors world-wide. Discovered by a modeling agency at age 16, Celia had her modeling career up and running after graduating high school. She first set foot in Milano as a fashion model and was successfully highlighted in the challenging world of fashion for some ten years, working the fashion trail in London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Tokyo, New York, and Milano, among others.  

After years of being featured  in magazines, fashion shows, catalogs, and showrooms, featuring the fashion houses of Valentino, Gucci, Yves St. Laurent, Yoji Yamamoto, Krizia, Dior, and a fitting mode for Milano’s own Giorgio Armani, Abernethy was informed when she was just 25 that she was too old for modeling. The dramatic edict from a business she loved was heartrending, but ironically was a positive life changer.  

She sadly bid the runway adieu and turned her thoughts toward what would be next: her mind racing in countless directions, she even contemplated returning to the United States—a move her caring father was extremely happy to consider—but the charms of Milano and Lake Como were an overwhelming influence. Appreciating the essence of quality and detail from her years in the demanding fashion industry, Celia enrolled in graphic design courses where she put her intelligence, near-photographic memory, and writing and photography skills to good use before working for a web design company, and becoming immersed in the computer.

 One day, by chance, she met her husband-to-be and a bolt of passion instantly smacked both of them in the heart with a rare love at first sight gift, and after three years of elation they were married. Smiling, Celia says, “My life here in Milano and Lake Como is astonishing. My father visited me for a few days and said, ‘I see why you decided to stay.’” 

After years of answering questions for friends, visitors, and others such as, where to eat, where to go, and what about fashion, antiques, architecture, nightlife, the possibility of a marriage ceremony in Lake Como, and so much more, she said, “So I decided to organize the details of both destinations with specific itineraries, and publish milanostyle.com, to keep readers updated.”

She has a high profile on the internet and with her outgoing personality and fluency in Italian, has hundreds of contacts and friends. “I realized that many visitors were bypassing key aspects of Milano and Lake Como. I’m not a tour guide, but I can open doors to both destinations with itineraries to specific requests with added suggestions. For instance, Lake Como with its immense fabric of sky and water, visitors should first book the Taxi Boat Varenna motor boats for a stunning overview of Lake Como, then explore landside with lunch or dinner at Hotel II Perlo Panorama with a spectacular view and an award-winning chef.  

Lecco, where I live, is also overlooked by Lake Como visitors. I’ve found it’s important to break through the popular façade of  destinations such as Milano and Lake Como and discover what’s beneath.” 

For information, ce***@mi*********.com    

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A cluster of five mountains like ancient trusting friends encompass Lake Como with tales to tell. They tower to the horizon in a domineering maze of peaks, deep irregular valleys, and crusted sheer-sided facings. Deeply sculptured from wind and rain, and often cloud-covered, they stand like faithful world-worn sentinels. Tagged the Pre-Alps, the mountains cast long shadows across the lake’s glacier-formed deep blue water creating a textured moment of sun and shade. Residents and visitors alike recognize that in only a few places on the planet are water and mountains in such remarkable intimacy and the recognition inspires soft expressions of awe and delight.

The mountains of Lake Como, like so much of Italy, refer to the past, where the Romans once roamed, dusty cathedrals with rusty bells abound, and villages and towns such as Como, Bellagio, and other hamlets are entrenched on the shores of the lake or carved into the mountains with steep staircases. Tunnels were dug through granite and sandstone leading to narrow two-lane roadways originally designed for horse and carriage, all magically sculpted into the base of the mountains with a master chisel. The mountains have been compassionate and patient, but for those searching for a parking space is when a lucky moment can happen.

Lake Como, the third largest lake in Italy and the deepest, a short 40-minute train ride from Milan, resembles a scrawny, long-legged inverted “Y”. Master artists with easels in hand are challenged, writers and poets search for their voice, starry-eyed long- awaited proposals ring true, and where many experience a rejuvenation of spirit in the ever-changing and wistful essence of this extraordinary setting. The magic of Lake Como has exerted its pull for hundreds of years; aristocrats, royalty, and people with wealth were captivated and built fascinating palaces, mansions, and villas overlooking the lake with terraced gardens, sculptures, and fountains, some with enough rooms to house a small army, while others are only accessible by boat.

Carefully maintained Taxi Boat Varenna motorboats operated by skippers with immense skills slice through the water leaving a trail of foam cleverly avoiding the reliable ferry and gleaming white sailboats with sails billowing, while taking passengers on a lake tour or to their hotel. Nevertheless, the mountains dominate: as resident and travel consultant Celia Abernethy said, “At any given time there are more hikers in Lake Como than sailors because the mountains offer some of the best hiking in Italy, laced with trails for all levels of fitness and with views forever.“

Cruising the lake via a motorboat or tour boat, villages and small towns appear at lake’s edge like a colorful mosaic.

Lecco Living

On this day in October, the sun glistens on the ruffled water and large groups of tourists have found their way to Bellagio, dining at sidewalk cafes, waiting for a lake tour, and crowding the Bellagio shopping passageway. Energetic servers bustle about to meet their client’s needs, and numerous languages collide in the lake air. To enhance and retain the magic of Lake Como and gently slip away from the tourist trail, the town of Lecco, a 30-minute drive from Bellagio on the eastern branch of the lake, where Lake Como narrows to form the Adda River, is an unspoiled and authentic homebase unfamiliar to most Lake Como visitors.

A great strolling town with pedestrian walkways and a riverside promenade, Lecco is the perfect place to meet Lake Como residents and browse family-owned boutiques not found in Milan, to take pleasure in two large town squares lined with sidewalk cafes, and to see the remains of a Roman wall that once encircled the city and a striking stone bridge spanning the river dating to 1386. Hiking and cycling paths that could take weeks to fully explore can be arranged with or without a guide, and provide a chance to visit farms producing honey, cheese and produce, and with luck catch a quick glimpse of the elusive Lake Como fox. A few days in Lecco is Lake Como validated.

Lake Como Cooking

Remaining off the beaten path, Mandello del Lario, an alluring port village tucked away between Lecco and Varena on the eastern leg of the lake, is home to Mamma Ciccia Cooking Academy. Mamma Ciccia, ala Silvia Nessi, a tall, attractive blonde, has been offering the popular four-hour classes in English for ten years at her restaurant, and often features Michelin-starred guest chefs. For children ages four to ten, a session called “Cooking is a game” pulls them into the fun and art of cooking. Smiling, she said, “For visitors to really understand Lake Como and Italy’s culture one has to fully explore the cuisine.”

In the hills above Bellagio, the 17-room, family-owned, Hotel II Perlo Panorama, circa 1922, offers one of Lake Como’s most spectacular dining vistas from a terrace that seems to be floating in the clouds. The meal itself is a romantic, five-minute-kiss lunch or dinner with award-winning Executive Chef Redolfi Alessandro who sources organic produce from local farms and perch and whitefish from the lake. For hundreds of international travelers to Lake Como the hotel is a priority and enhances the magic of Lake Como.

When You Go

Contact Travel Consultant, Celia Abernethy for Lake Como and Milano itineraries and travel guidance at ed****@mi*********.com ; Mamma Ciccia’s Cooking Academy, in**@ma*********.it ; www.mammaciccia.it; full day lake tour, Taste & Travel, guide, Elena Pettinicchio; www.tasteandtravelitaly.com; water Taxi & Boat, in**@ta*************.com ; Hotel II Perlo Panorama, in**@il*****.com .

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