A vivid village

Put extra gas in your time machine if you want to get ahead of this lakeshore's tourism boom: The mild microclimate created by Lake Como has drawn posh throngs since ancient times. Imperial Roman bigwigs and Hollywood stars alike have relished the lake's pleasant ambience that reminds of the Mediterranean, even though we're roughly 100 miles from that great sea's ample warm air. Here at the edge of the Alps, warm weather is much more scarce, so properties set along northern Italy's humid subtropical lakes have always been hot items—like these dazzling buildings on the Varenna waterfront.