Best Pasta in Como: Where to Eat It and What to Order
Where to eat the best pasta in Como, from choose-at-the-counter bowls to sit-down bistros, with the sauces people order and what they cost.
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The best pasta in Como is eaten at a counter as often as at a table: you pick your pasta and your condimento (sauce) at the bancone, pay, sit down and eat. The format that started it all is L'Ora della Pasta, now on via Diaz, and a cluster of pasta counters, bistros and pastifici has grown around the centre since. This guide runs through the addresses worth seeking out, what to order at each and what a pasta lunch in the middle of Como costs.
It helps to know that several of the busiest names in the centre belong to the same La Pasta family, which began with the pastificio (fresh-pasta workshop) on via Garibaldi. If you are weighing up where to spend a sit-down meal, our guide to the best restaurants in Como sets pasta in the context of the wider dining scene.
What pasta in Como looks like now
Pasta is no longer a single shop's speciality in Como: it has become a small industry in the walled centre. L'Ora della Pasta, the address long described as the format's capostipite (the original of its kind), moved to via Diaz and still draws a queue outside. Around it, pasta counters, bistros and pastifici have opened in former bakeries, clothes shops and historic cafés, several within a few minutes' walk of each other.
The result is that in central Como you can eat spaghetti and rigatoni at almost any hour, and the menus in different venues can look near-identical. Treat that as useful information rather than a complaint: it means a good pasta lunch rarely requires a long walk or a booking, and you can choose by format instead. Counter service suits a quick solo lunch, a bistrot suits a longer sit, and a pastificio lets you take fresh pasta home to cook.
L'Ora della Pasta in via Diaz: choose at the counter
L'Ora della Pasta is the benchmark for the format. You queue outside, then choose your pasta and your condimento at the bancone, perhaps add a plate of vegetables, take a drink from the fridge and sit at plain tables. The routine is choose, sit and eat, so do not arrive expecting a host to seat you at a laid table.
You can also buy pasta fresca (fresh pasta) to take away, exactly as you would in a traditional pastificio. That makes it a sensible double-purpose stop: lunch at the counter, then a bag of fresh pasta for the evening. The queue is the price of its popularity, so go early or accept a wait.
La Pasta Bistrot on via Carcano and its dependance
The La Pasta name is the one you will see most often in the centre, tied to the pastificio of the La Pasta family on via Garibaldi. On via Carcano, La Pasta Bistrot opened where a haberdashery used to be and has since added a dependance in the neighbouring former clothes shop. The name leaves no doubt about what is served, and the bistrot format means a seat and a table rather than a stool at a counter.
The same family runs other formats nearby: a Taverna on the site of a long-standing Como restaurant and a Locanda in via Odescalchi, on the spot of a pizzeria that had served the centre for more than twenty years. They are not independent finds but branches of the La Pasta chain, so treat them as one family of addresses when planning where to eat. Prices and opening days change with the season, so check current details before setting out. If pizza is what you are after, our guide to the best pizza in Como covers that side of the city.
Wow Pasta on via Cinque Giornate and Piazza Cavour
Wow Pasta describes its offer plainly as pasta fresca fatta in casa, fresh pasta made in house. Its main address is via Cinque Giornate 56, on the edge of the historic centre, and it has a second address on Piazza Cavour with its own phone line for booking a table. A separate Wow Lasagna on via Pietro Boldoni 2 concentrates on lasagne.
The Piazza Cavour address is the one to aim for if you want to eat close to the lakefront, and it is the only one of the three that the company invites you to book by phone. The via Cinque Giornate site occupies premises that were long a vegetarian and macrobiotic restaurant, which shows how quickly the centre's dining map has changed.
Pastificio Da Pietro 1955 near Piazza Duomo
Near Piazza Duomo, on the corner of via Ballarini, Pastificio Da Pietro 1955 is the pasta shop attached to the Da Pietro restaurant. It occupies premises that once housed the historic bar Nova Comum, closed for almost fifteen years before this opening. The appeal here is the combination: a pasta lunch or a purchase from the shop, with the restaurant's kitchen next door.
For a visitor, a pastificio is the most flexible stop of the lot. You can buy pasta fresca to cook in an apartment, or use it as a quick stand-in for a restaurant meal on a day when you would rather eat later. It also sits closest to the cathedral end of the centre, so it fits naturally into a morning in the old town.
Santa Pasta under the Portici Plinio
Santa Pasta sits under the Portici Plinio, the arcade at the heart of the shopping streets, and its name is as direct as the others. It is one more address for a pasta lunch in the centre, and its position under the arcades makes it a practical stop in wet weather or when you are already moving between the piazza and the lake.
With so many similar names in a small area, it is worth deciding on format before you set out. A counter is fastest, a bistrot is calmest, and an arcade address is the most sheltered. None of them requires a long detour from the centre.
Donnarumma on via Garibaldi: pizza with pasta alongside
Donnarumma is a pizzeria first, run by Agostino Donnarumma and known for its pizza napoletana. It has added pasta to the offer on via Garibaldi, with a board outside advertising gnocchi, spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti alla bolognese and spaghetti alle vongole, alongside a Spritz. If your group cannot agree between pizza and pasta, this is the address that solves the argument.
Its position on the route from the station into the centre explains the appeal, and it means you will pass it on the way in rather than having to seek it out. Judge it as a pizzeria that also does pasta, not as a specialist pasta counter. The pizza is the reason to choose it, and the pasta is the convenience.
How much a pasta lunch costs in central Como
Across the eleven or so pasta venues in the historic centre, the price bands for the three most common sauces sit close together. Spaghetti al pomodoro e basilico (tomato and basil) runs from about 12 to 16 euros, spaghetti alla bolognese (meat ragù) from about 14 to 18 euros, and pasta al pesto from about 14 to 18 euros.
Read those as ranges across the centre rather than a fixed price at any one address, and expect the simplest tomato sauce to be the cheapest route to a sit-down bowl. A plate of vegetables and a drink from the fridge add to the bill at counter-service places. For a cheaper lunch, the counter format and a shared vegetable plate keep the total down.
How to order and eat at a pasta counter
At a counter-service pasta place the routine is: choose the pasta shape, choose the condimento, then find a table. Vegetables are ordered as a separate plate, and drinks usually come from a fridge rather than a drinks list. Knowing this in advance stops you hovering at the counter waiting for someone to seat you.
At a bistrot or a place with tables, it works like any other restaurant, and the Piazza Cavour address of Wow Pasta takes bookings by phone. If you want a coffee afterwards, remember that in Como as elsewhere in Italy you often pay at the till before drinking it at the bar.
Matching the sauce to the shape
The pasta on offer in central Como is not especially local. Spaghetti al pomodoro e basilico and pasta al pesto are the everyday choices, while carbonara and fettuccine Alfredo are Roman dishes that appear on menus aimed at visitors rather than dishes from Como or Lombardy. That is not a reason to avoid them, but it is a reason not to treat them as the local speciality.
A simple rule when the menu looks the same everywhere: pick the sauce that matches the shape in front of you, and choose tomato or pesto if you want the version most people in the city actually eat. If you want a Lombard accent to the meal, look at what else is on the menu rather than at the pasta itself.
Which pasta address in Como should you pick?
For the experience that defines pasta in Como, queue at L'Ora della Pasta on via Diaz, choose at the counter and take a bag of fresh pasta home. For a sit-down lunch near the lake, book the Piazza Cavour address of Wow Pasta by phone. For a shop rather than a meal, Pastificio Da Pietro 1955 near Piazza Duomo is the most flexible stop.
If you are travelling with people who want pizza, Donnarumma on via Garibaldi keeps everyone happy, and the La Pasta formats on via Carcano and nearby are the dependable fallback when the counter queue is long. Budget for a bowl of one of the three most common sauces somewhere in that central range, and expect the total to rise once vegetables and a drink are added.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to book pasta places in Como?
The counter-service addresses such as L'Ora della Pasta work on a queue rather than a booking, so you turn up and wait. The Piazza Cavour address of Wow Pasta invites bookings by phone. For table-service bistros, booking ahead is sensible at busy lunchtimes.
Can you buy fresh pasta to take home in Como?
Yes. L'Ora della Pasta sells pasta fresca to take away, as a traditional pastificio would, and Pastificio Da Pietro 1955 is a pasta shop as well as a place to eat. Both suit a self-catering lunch or dinner.
Is carbonara a local Como dish?
No. Carbonara and fettuccine Alfredo are Roman dishes that appear on tourist-facing menus in central Como rather than dishes from the city or Lombardy. The everyday choices on the city's pasta menus are tomato and basil or pesto.
What food is Como famous for?
Como is known for its lake, its silk and its setting rather than for a single pasta dish. Pasta counters and pastifici are a recent addition to the centre's food scene, and the most common sauces are tomato and basil, bolognese and pesto.
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