On the waterat Nesso.

It is the gorge running through the village where two streams meet and fall into Lake Como, spanned at the bottom by the arched Ponte della Civera.

It is the reason the village exists in this shape and the reason people visit. The volume of water changes considerably through the year, so the fall is at its most dramatic after rain and in spring, and considerably quieter in a dry August.

Harder than anywhere else on this shore. The village descends from the road to the water in a long series of steps, and there is no vehicle access to much of the lower part.

This is the honest core of the place. Shopping, furniture, building materials and refuse all move on foot or by boat. Households make it work by choosing their level deliberately, taking the road above for practicality or the harbour below for the water, and by having a boat. It is not a village to buy into on the strength of one summer afternoon.

Yes. There is a small harbour at the foot of the village, next to the point where the gorge empties into the lake.

For the lower village a boat is the most practical means of moving anything substantial, and it is by some distance the finest way to arrive. Public services call seasonally rather than continuously, so year-round owners should plan on their own boat and a secured berth.

Access, title and water. Establish exactly how a house is reached, what rights of way exist over neighbouring stairs, and how the slope drains.

Shared stairs, landings and passages here are often long-standing arrangements rather than clean registered rights, and a house on a slope carrying this much water needs its drainage and retaining structure surveyed properly. Both are ordinary due diligence; both are more consequential in Nesso than almost anywhere else on the lake.