An Americana in Milan: My Fourth “Last” Lunch, Como-style

You can’t fault anyone for feeling “over” the current COVID-19 situation. Even for those of us who tried to stay positive over the past year by acknowledging blessings when they appear, it’s still natural to feel fed up with it all. But you can, however, fault those who pander to their weariness with a complete disregard for the safety regulations.

The first spring-like weekend of 2021 arrived during, what was for Lombardia, the last weekend in the yellow zone. With Monday’s demotion to the orange zone looming, I wasn’t the only one with the idea of fleeing Milan for the tranquility of Como. I was, however, one of the few who (not to sound like a martyr) didn’t slack on prioritizing the safety regulations.

So instead of joining the non-socially distant, carefree crowds that jostled along the Lungo Lago, I hopped in a car for yet another “last” lunch before the restaurants reclose – this one lakeside. Once out of Como, the traffic thinned and the car cruised along the Strada Stale 340 from Cernobbio to Laglio. I rolled down the window in order to maximize every glorious possible second of the crisp lake breeze on my maskless face. Lake Como glistened on the right, the dark water reflecting the pastel-colored facades of the villas stacked into the foot of the cliffs. The occasional protruding snow-capped peak served as the only evidence that it was still February.

When we reached Laglio, we took the 180 turn off the highway onto Via Vecchia Regina and descended to Osteria Vecchia Molo. We had reserved a table, but not soon enough for outside seating – but that didn’t matter. I found plenty of joy in just simply being there, and it was there I stayed for a couple of hours – in the present, lunching on a lake fish-centric meal and chatting away. 

I immediately decided on spaghetti with missoltini, preserved agoni fish with an assertive potent flavor, elated by the idea of swirling forkful after forkful. I wasn’t the only one to whom it appealed as the restaurant had already run out of it, but I did get to have missoltini as an appetizer served with triangle-shaped slabs of polenta tarragna. For my main, I went for the riso con persico.

In its most basic form, which is how Vecchio Molo served it, riso con persico is boiled white rice topped with fried fillets of persico, a perch fish found in Lake Como. A popular preparation in and around Como, riso con persico comes in many iterations at various lakeside restaurants, from risotto-style to imaginative riffs. Normally, I might have felt a bit underwhelmed by the simplicity of it, but I dug in and finished every last rice grain without a second thought. 

As much as I enjoyed the meal, I valued, even more, the reprieve from the reality of what this pandemic – which has brought us all to uncontrollable tears at some point – has destroyed for everyone. The opportunity to just chat, smile, laugh, and quote The Big Lebowski (The dude abides) and Fantozzi (Io sono stato azzuro di sci!), transported me, albeit briefly, from the dizzying uncertainty of everyday life. 

After lunch, we ascended the hill out of Laglio nearly blinded by the sun as we bewilderingly giggled at a daredevil cyclist wheelie-ing his way downhill. When we rounded the curve flanking the majestic Villa d’Este, Como appeared. The white light cast pierced through the holes in the clouds to cast an angelic-like aura over the city and lake, and Daniel Libeskind's Life Electric sculpture glistened at the end of the Diga Piero Foranea Caldirola walkway – it was magical.

This past year has permanently altered our lives, and as much I look forward to reaching the other side of this, there’s no going back – no undoing. Yet, we're still surrounded by immeasurable beauty, kindness, generosity, smiles, and love, a testament to how the pandemic can't rob us of everything. To partake in some semblance of “normality,” whatever that means these days, felt indescribably gratifying – if only for an afternoon.