In search of... Rationalists in Como

Lake Como, ah yes, romantic villas, fragrant gardens ...

Lake Como, ah yes, romantic villas, fragrant gardens ...

Well, not entirely, I was thinking more of reinforced concrete and austere glass façades. During the Twenties and Thirties, Lake Como was the unlikely hub for a revolutionary architectural movement, razionalismo, which rebelled against ongoing revivalist movements such as neoclassicism. Like their contemporaries Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, the Italian rationalists put function above form in their designs and embraced the use of new construction techniques and materials.

Why Como?

Giuseppe Terragni, the rationalists' leading light, grew up around Como. At polytechnic in nearby Milan he launched a modernist architectural clique know as Gruppo 7. Most of Terragni's masterpieces are found around Como city.

The buildings don't sound like a bundle of laughs

On the contrary, Terragni had a wicked sense of humour. His first major commission on leaving college can be found on Via Sinigaglia near Como's lakefront. Aged 23, Terragni was asked to complete a housing project which had been started in neoclassical style. With outrageous gall, he misleadingly submitted a conventional plan, worked secretively, and in 1929 revealed Italy's first modernist building. Neoclassical it is not. The striking Nuovocomum is nicknamed locally "Transatlantico" because it looks like an ocean liner. Five storeys high, it was Italy's first building constructed in reinforced concrete. The 63m-long structure has clean, undecorated façades punctuated by glass cylinders, which radically remove the end flat's square corners, creating an extra sense of space. The fifth-floor apartments project over the cylinders to resemble a ship's bow. The building caused consternation in Como when it was unveiled and it was almost pulled down.

Any other buildings worth seeing?

There are plenty. Terragni's Monumento ai Caduti (1933) dominates Como's skyline, rivalling the city's duomo. This futuristic war memorial is a soaring tower breached by two hollow rectangles. Check out, too, his Asilo d'Infanzia per il Rione Sant'Elia (1937), a still-functioning nursery built like a glass house. Its light and airy space-age interior must be a magical environment for children to play in. Most importantly though is the Casa del Fascio (1936), which is considered the archetypal razionalismo building. At the heart of old Como, its parallel-piped exterior is caged by a concrete grid and clad in botticini marble. It was the local fascist party who commissioned it, to show transparency in its actions - hence the internal glass-brick walls and huge windows. Mussolini was harking back to the Roman Empire, and if you peek inside you'll witness Terragni's take on a typical Roman villa: offices and cantilevered stairways are arranged around a vast marble-floored courtyard, and where there once would have been Roman columns, there are square concrete pillars.

Fraternising with fascists - sounds a bit dodgy

Gruppo 7 has been accused of being card-carrying fascists, but it could be argued that in the prevailing political climate getting commissions for public buildings would have been difficult without having the "correct" political affiliations. Terragni's work has never been popular locally because of this murky association. Yet 2004 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth, and exhibitions in Como and Milan are still planned.

All sounds a bit esoteric. How about a nice trip on the lake to see some beautiful villas?

Did I mention that the rationalists didn't just confine themselves to public works and built several private waterfront villas? Both Villa Amila at Tremezzo, and Villa Silvestri at Lenno, built by Terragni's Milanese collaborator, Pietro Lingeri, are highly desirable waterfront properties. The former is pure South Beach, Miami. A sweeping curved terrace overlooking the lake resembles a ship's stern, while porthole windows and chimneys built as funnels continue the charade. And at Cernobbio, just a couple of stops by ferry from Como, Cesare Cattaneo, another contemporary, caused uproar again by grafting a rationalist-style extension, complete with concrete loggia, to the front of the old family villa.

Actually, I was thinking of something a little more fairytale

Very well, stay on the lake ferry to Villa Carlotta (www.villacarlotta.it). This 18th-century pile could not provide more of a contrast with the rationalists' abstemious interiors. It's a riot of friezes and frescoes with a melodramatic carrara marble statue, Mars and Venus, by Luigi Acquisti in the reception area. The villa is famed for its terraced gardens of tall camellia hedges and exotics ranging from banana palms to New Zealand tree ferns.

Anywhere to jump off and eat?

Try Comacina island's only restaurant (00 39 0344 55083), open March to October, which the ferry calls at on the way to Villa Carlotta. It is a quirky restaurant, but the food is delicious. You're served a five-course meal from a menu unchanged since 1947. The lake trout falls off the bone; a chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano is delivered by knife to your hands, and the meal ends with the restaurant's owner setting fire to the brandy coffee to counteract a 12th-century curse. All meals plus wine cost €54 (£38). After dinner, stroll around the island to discover Lingeri's three abandoned rationalist villas (1938). They combine modernist geometry with vernacular stone and timber materials.

Thought there'd be a catch. I suppose you stayed somewhere designed by Terragni?

Funny you should say that. Lake-facing, and centrally located on Piazza Cavour, Como city's grandest hotel is the 19th-century Hotel Metropole Suisse (0039 031 269444; www.hotelmetropolesuisse.com). Renovating the hotel's façade was Terragni's first architectural foray in 1926. The hotel retained its classical look, yet his touches are clear: a wonderful wavy glass porch, mechanical shutters, and a marble-clad edifice. Double rooms cost from €164 (£115) per night, including breakfast. Como city is a pleasant alternative to staying around the lake's chocolate-box villages. Its old city is attractive and an efficient ferry service makes day excursions on Lake Como easy. Besides, Como has a lively café culture. Enjoying a flute of prosecco in the Piazza Duomo, basking in the 15th-century Gothic façade of one of Italy's finest cathedrals, is a classy way to end any day.

Bellissimo, how do I get there?

A return flight to Milan on Alitalia (08705 448 259; www.alitalia.co.uk) costs from £85. There are bus and train links from Malpensa airport to Como, which take one hour. Bus no 250 is direct and costs €13 (£9.50) each way, while the train involves a change at Saronno and costs 6.95 (£4.90) each way. Full-day ferry passes cost from €14 (£9.90). The tourist office, next to Metropole Suisse, is very helpful (00 39 031 330 0111; www.lakecomo.com), and produces a useful leaflet "Rationalism in Como". With notice, it can arrange a guided tour of Terragni's buildings. For more information, contact the Italian State Tourist Office (020-7408 1254; www.enit.it).

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