The Sinigaglia is a beautiful, deeply inconvenient stadium: it sits on the lakefront, inside the city, with the park on one side and the water a few metres away. Which means that on match day Como seizes up, the central car parks are full three hours early and the hotels near the ground double their rates. People coming from outside quickly realise the problem is not the ticket: it is where to put the car and where to sleep.
Villa Galli is in Caslino d'Erba, twenty minutes from the stadium without crossing the centre of Como. It is a period residence with a park and a pool, not an away-day hotel: you arrive, drive into the courtyard, close the gate, and the car stays there, inside the property, until you leave.
For the match you drive down to Como — ten minutes more than someone sleeping in town, but without circling for a space and without paying event rates. Anyone who would rather not drive takes the train: Caslino d'Erba station is a five-minute walk from the villa and the line runs into Como in a handful of stops.
It is what away supporters' groups choose, along with families combining the match with a weekend on the lake, and anyone bringing someone to the ground who would rather spend the afternoon in the garden.
Why staying outside Como works better
The parking space is already yours. Private parking inside the property, behind the gate. Not a space along the road or a paid garage: you drive in and stay in, minibus included, or several cars if you are a group.
Twenty minutes from the ground, no city centre. You come in from Erba and drop down to Como on the lake side, avoiding the bottleneck of the city and the one-way streets of the old centre — the worst part of the journey on match days.
The price does not change because Como are at home. On match weekends the city hotels apply event rates. Here the room costs what it always costs, and booking direct on our site means no portal commission either.
There is something left after the match. Park, pool, silence and large rooms in a period villa. If you travel with someone who is not going to the game, this is the part that gets the trip agreed to.
Getting to the stadium from here
By car it is twenty-two kilometres: you take the Erba road, drop down towards Como and reach the lakefront from the east, on the Villa Olmo side. The satnav says twenty-five minutes; on match day allow forty and set off calmly, because the last kilometre around the ground is what slows you down.
By train, Caslino d'Erba station is a five-minute walk from the villa, on the Milano Cadorna line: change at Como Nord Lago or get off at Como Borghi, and from there it is a twenty-minute walk along the lake to the stadium. For an evening kick-off it is the easiest option, because nobody has to drive back.
People coming from further afield usually land at Malpensa: fifty minutes by car, without going through Milan. From central Milan it is a little over an hour, by car or by train.
Distances from Villa Galli
Parking, the real match-day problem
There are few spaces around the Sinigaglia and almost all of them are paid: arrive an hour early and you circle, arrive half an hour early and you park far away and walk. The lakefront is metered, the Viale Puecher car park fills at once, and the restricted-traffic zone in the centre does the rest.
If you really want to leave the car near the ground, the only window that works is two hours before kick-off: after that you park far from the lakefront and walk twenty minutes anyway. Think about the way back too: everyone leaves at once and the traffic towards the motorway stays jammed for a good half hour. Whoever left the car up here at the villa drives the other way and is on a clear road within a few kilometres.
What works is leaving the car here and going down in one vehicle, or leaving it entirely and taking the train. If you are a group arriving in several cars, the courtyard holds them: tell us when you book and we will tell you how many fit on your dates.
The courtyard is inside the property, behind the gate: not a space along the road, and not a barrier car park charged by the hour. How many cars fit depends on the vehicles — a small hatchback and a five-metre van are not the same thing — so the simplest thing is to tell us in advance what you arrive in: we confirm the space before you pay for the room, not after. Anyone coming by motorbike gets it under cover.
The Sinigaglia, one of Italy's finest grounds
Built in the 1920s in rationalist style, the Sinigaglia holds a little over thirteen thousand: small for Serie A, and full almost every week because of it. The pitch is fifty metres from the water and behind one of the ends you see the mountains closing the Como branch of the lake. First-timers stop and look before they go and find their seat.
The Como end is to the north, the side stand faces the lake, the main stand is the covered one. Tickets for the big games sell out within hours of going on sale, so move as soon as the fixtures are published: the room here can be booked in advance and cancelled under the agreed terms, the ticket cannot.
Away sections are capped and often tied to the supporter card scheme: if you are travelling from another region, check the restrictions on the club website before booking the trip, because they change from match to match.
Como in Serie A
Since promotion the club has changed dimension: international ownership, a manager who played half the world over, players Como had never seen. Games against Inter, Milan, Juventus and Napoli fill the ground and the city, and on those days Como simply does not have enough beds.
People coming for a big fixture usually add a night: the match on Saturday, the lake on Sunday. From here you do both without moving the car twice, because Como is 15 minutes away and Bellagio just beyond. That is why rooms go first on those weekends.
It works the other way round too: if you come for the lake and Como happen to be at home, you have a Serie A match twenty minutes away in one of the most photographed stadiums in Europe. Plenty of guests only find out on arrival — and end up going.
Away fans and groups
For a group the hard part is not finding rooms: it is finding them next to each other, with somewhere to leave the vehicles and hours that do not clash with kick-off. There are five rooms here, all in the same villa, and you can take the lot: it becomes a house for the weekend rather than five rooms scattered around a hotel.
The closed courtyard takes minibuses and several cars. For evening kick-offs we arrange a late return without any fuss: just say so beforehand and we will find a way to let you in without waking the house. And if you want a lie-in the next morning you can have one — there is no breakfast time to keep, because we do not serve breakfast.
Before and after the match
You eat in Como beforehand: the lakefront between Piazza Cavour and the pier is full of places, and it is a ten-minute walk from the ground. Afterwards, if it is an afternoon kick-off, you can stay in town for the Brunate funicular or a boat trip, which is the best way to see the lake without joining a queue.
If instead you head straight back, you are at the villa in twenty minutes: pool in season, shaded lawn, and the silence of the hills in the evening. For dinner the villages around here have real trattorias, the kind where fifteen euros feeds you and you do not book through an app: we will tell you which are open on your dates.
Match and lake in the same weekend
The combination that works best is two nights: arrive Friday or Saturday morning, watch the match, and give Sunday to the lake. Bellagio is twenty kilometres away, Varenna is reached by boat, and the Triangolo Lariano trails start from here for anyone who would rather walk.
It is also how you square the trips where not everyone is going to the game. While part of the group is at the Sinigaglia, the rest stay in the garden, take the train into Como or ride up to Brunate: you meet again at dinner and nobody has spent the day waiting.
Frequently asked questions
How far is the Sinigaglia stadium?
About twenty kilometres, roughly twenty minutes by car through the Valassina valley. The stadium is in central Como, on the lakefront.
Can we come without a car?
Yes. Caslino d'Erba station is a five-minute walk away and the line runs to Como; from Como station it is a twenty-minute walk along the lake to the ground. For evening kick-offs it is the easiest choice, because nobody drives back.
Where do I park on match days?
Your parking space is here, on the property: private and reserved for guests. It is the main reason to stay outside the city when Como play at home.
We will get back late after an evening match — is that a problem?
No, just tell us when you book: we agree how to let you in late without waking anyone. The gate and the parking are inside the property, so you are not leaving the car on the street even arriving at midnight.
Can I reach the stadium without a car?
From Caslino d'Erba station you can reach Como changing at Erba. By car is more practical though, especially coming back after evening matches.
Do you take groups of fans?
Yes, we have several rooms in the same villa. Tell us when you book so we can organise common areas and late returns.
Location photos: Mister No (CC BY 3.0) · Krzysztof Golik (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Fra Casa (CC BY 4.0) · Vale93b (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Byxelized (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Touam (Hervé Agnoux) (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Wikimedia Commons
Carry on from here
The pages guests read before booking: what is around, how to get here and where you sleep.