Bilacus

Bilacus is the Vitali-family-run trattoria on Salita Serbelloni. The cobbled lane climbing from the Bellagio harbour to the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni gardens. And is the village's longest-running family-owned dining room (continuously operated since the 1950s). The space is a converted medieval townhouse with stone-vaulted ceilings, hand-carved larch beams, a wood-burning fireplace at the back, and an outdoor summer garden with a single 200-year-old fig tree at the centre.

The menu is recognisably Lariano. Hand-rolled pizzoccheri with Bitto cheese and Lake Como cabbage; a slow-cooked Lake Como missoltino with Polenta taragna; a hand-cut tagliatelle with Lake Como crayfish and tomato; a wood-fired Lake Como pesce persico (perch) with butter and sage; a Lariano risotto al limone della costa; the famous 'crostata di pere'. A Lake Como pear tart with mascarpone cream.

The wine list runs to 200 references with a Lombardian core. Franciacorta, Valtellina, Oltrepò Pavese. And a tightly chosen Italian-national section. Glass pours start at €6 and the by-the-glass programme is one of the most generous in the village. The cellar's small Champagne section is genuinely interesting.

The garden is the experience. Twelve tables under the fig tree, a 270-degree view of the cobbled medieval lane and the lake-front beyond, and a south-facing afternoon-sun aspect. The kitchen runs continuously through the afternoon, which makes Bilacus the village's most reliable late-lunch destination. Service is family-run and Lariano-warm; the captains have worked the room for decades.

Bilacus is the team-dinner room in Bellagio. The Lariano menu is shared-format, the garden's south-facing afternoon-sun aspect is the canonical Lake Como lunch setting, and the wine list is forgiving on a multi-bottle dinner for eight. It is also the easy-first-date answer when both diners want Lariano atmosphere without the seven-course pacing of a tasting menu. Book the corner four-top under the fig tree.