Condé Nast Traveller, July 2005, word of mouth, www.cntraveler.com

We love ... Its Legend Diners on Lake Como's islet, Co- macina, get a tall tale with their Northern Italian cuisine. Locanda dell'lsola Comacina owner Benvenuto Puricelli lets patrons in on a secret The place is cursed. As a refuge for deposed kings, Co- macina was a pawn in the twelfth-century war between Milan and Como, when the bishop of Como decreed that all on the island would meet an unnatural death. Today, Puricelli performs an "exorcism of fire," igniting the coffee and brandy that everyone must drinkto ensure safe passage back to the mainland