Cafés in Como: Where to Drink Coffee and Eat Breakfast

Bar, caffetteria and pasticceria: which one to walk into

A bar in Italy is a café: you can order an espresso, a cappuccino, a cornetto and often a glass of wine at the same counter. A caffetteria leans on coffee, sometimes with a wider range of brews, while a pasticceria is a pastry shop that usually has a few tables and a coffee machine. For a fast, cheap coffee before a train, a bar wins; for a slow breakfast with a proper brioche, choose a pasticceria.

The line also matters at lunch and in the evening. Bars fill up standing customers who drink and leave, so a table at a pasticceria may let you linger while a queue builds behind you at the bar. If you want a seat and a second coffee, ask for a tavolo rather than joining the counter.

How to order and pay for coffee in Como

The routine catches out plenty of visitors: you pay first at the till, take your scontrino (the printed receipt), then hand it to the barista at the counter and say what you want. Some bars take payment at the counter after your coffee, but the receipt-first habit is common enough that you should watch what the person ahead of you does. Keep the scontrino visible until your drink is in your hand.

The distinction between standing and sitting is the other rule to know. At the banco you pay the bar price; at a table, especially on a terrace, you may pay more for the same espresso. If the price matters, stand. If you want to read the paper or watch the lake, sit and accept the difference.

The breakfast order to copy: cappuccino and brioche

Order a cappuccino and a brioche and you have the standard Como breakfast. In much of Italy the pastry is called a cornetto; in Como, as locals will tell you, it is a brioche, and both words point to a crescent-shaped sweet yeast pastry. It can be plain, filled with jam, cream or chocolate, and it is eaten in a few bites while the coffee is still hot.

Drink your cappuccino in the morning and switch to espresso later in the day; ordering a milky coffee after a big lunch is a foreigner's move that baristas notice. For something cold and sweet, ask for a caffè shakerato, a coffee shaken hard with ice and sugar until frothy, which appears on menus at the lakefront hotel bars in Tremezzo alongside espresso and caffè americano.

Pasticceria Vago Fabio on Viale Giulio Cesare

Ask for Pasticceria Vago in Como and you will be asked which one, because two well-known branches share the surname. The Fabio branch on Viale Giulio Cesare has been running since 1960 and combines a pastry counter with a panetteria (bakery counter) that stays stocked with brioche, salatini, pizzette, focacce and small pastries through the day. That breadth makes it useful for a quick breakfast as well as a box of savoury nibbles for the lake.

At holiday times the counter carries local sweets such as pan dei morti, a dark spiced biscuit-style cake, and resta di Como, an Easter speciality that is barely known outside the province. Buy them to take away rather than planning a sit-down cake stop.

Pasticceria Vago Antonella on Via Leone Leoni

The second Vago, run by Antonella, sits a few metres around the corner on Via Leone Leoni, and the mood is different: wood-panelled walls and a small, old-fashioned bar atmosphere. Come here for a classic cornetto with jam at breakfast or a tea with shortbread biscuits in the afternoon, alongside cannoncini and cakes made in-house. It is the more old-school of the two, and the one to pick when you want to sit down.

Pasticceria Dolciamo on Via Borgo Vico

Dolciamo is a laboratory and caffetteria at the start of Via Borgo Vico, a street of workshops, osterie and food shops that is close enough to the centre and the lungolago to reach on foot yet quieter than the main drags. It suits an early croissant for anyone who prefers a croissant-style dough to a classic brioche, and a later stop for tea and small pastries. The caffè americano is on hand for anyone who wants a longer, milder cup. For more sit-down breakfast options in the city, see our breakfast in Como guide.

Pasticceria Fuin and Pasticceria Martesana in the centre

Pasticceria Fuin on Via G.B. Grassi was founded in the early 1960s by Domenico Verga, known as Fuin, and has two addresses in the city; the Grassi branch pairs homemade cakes and well-made cappuccini with a bright, modern room. It is a straightforward place to sit down for a traditional breakfast before a day of walking the centre.

Pasticceria Martesana on Piazza Volta takes its cues from Milan, with rich cappuccini, hand-made pastries and a lively room on one of the city's central squares. Use it when you want a breakfast that feels like an occasion rather than a fuel stop, or a smart pastry to take away.

Arso Forno di Quartiere on Via Carloni

Arso is a bakery rather than a bar, but you can sit down for cake and coffee in the morning. It works with lievito madre and sourdough, and the counter runs from focacce rooted in local tradition to chocolate babka and cinnamon rolls in a more international register. Cakes here are simple and genuine, and the speciality coffee or takeaway cappuccino is a step away from the classic Italian bar brew.

Il Pane di Sandro on Via Carso

Il Pane di Sandro is a didactic bar opened in 2022 by the Cometa association, which runs a training school and work-placement courses and staffs its bars with people with disabilities or frailty. The simple pleasure here is a filled brioche with a cream filling and a croissant-style dough, balanced and soft, alongside excellent filled white pizzas. It is a good stop if you want a savoury breakfast as well as a sweet one.

Come for a morning coffee and a quick bite, but also consider the white pizza if you are after something closer to lunch. For a fuller meal later, our guide to the best pizza in Como and our pick of the best restaurants in Como cover the sit-down side of the city.

Cova Casabianca on the lungolago

Cova Casabianca brings the Milanese pastry house, which traces its history to 1817, to a lakeside address a short walk from Como Lago station. It occupies a 1930s villa turned into a house museum, with a contemporary art collection inside, so breakfast comes with an unusual setting. Sit down for a cappuccino and a pastry, or take something away for the walk along the water.

Cafés with a view: Cernobbio and Sala Comacina

Outside the centre, the lakeside cafés trade on their setting. In Cernobbio, Dascanio Café on via Regina 33 is a bistro-style room with hand-decorated walls, a flower boutique next door and Liberty styling, serving Lavazza coffee with a pastry and food menu from breakfast onwards. It is the stop for a slow morning if you are staying on the western shore.

On the other side of the lake, MUSA in Sala Comacina offers a V60 pour-over with a view, which suits anyone who wants a filter coffee instead of an espresso. For a lakefront address with a wider menu, the bars at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo include T Bar, where espresso, caffè americano and caffè shakerato are all listed among the drinks.

Which café suits which morning

For an espresso before a train, pick a bar near the station and drink it standing. For a slow Sunday breakfast, book nothing but head to a pasticceria with tables such as Fuin, Martesana or the Antonella branch of Vago, and order a cappuccino with a filled brioche. For a pastry box to take to the lake, the counter at Vago Fabio or Arso is the more practical choice.

If your day in Como runs past lunch, line up a proper meal after coffee: browse the best pasta in Como and our cheap eats in Como picks, and save an aperitivo in Como for the early evening.

Where to Start Your Como Morning

Start at a bar counter for the first espresso, then move to a pasticceria for a sit-down cappuccino and brioche when you want the morning to slow down. Vago Fabio, Dolciamo and Fuin give you three different characters within a short walk of the centre.

If you are heading for the water, bookend the day with a lakefront coffee at Cernobbio or Sala Comacina, and keep the receipt in your pocket until the cup is in front of you.