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The dining room of the Albergo Ristorante Cristallo set for service, with the antipasti counter in the foreground

Cittiglio · Valcuvia · Lake Maggiore 3 km away

Albergo Ristorante Cristallo

Twenty-six rooms, a restaurant and a pizzeria, on the provincial road at the entrance to Cittiglio. The family that owns it runs it in person.

To book now: +39 0332 601336. The owners answer the phone.

  • 26 rooms
  • 3 km from the lake
  • 10 min from the station
  • 40 min from Malpensa

The hotel

Twenty-six rooms, the family at the front desk and your car inside the grounds.

The front of Albergo Ristorante Cristallo on via Provinciale in Cittiglio

Services and breakfast

Your car comes in with you, and the family is at the front desk

People stay at the Cristallo for work, for the lake, for a family celebration. Different needs with one thing in common: nobody wants to find the door locked at ten in the evening, or drive around half the village looking for a parking space.

The car park is inside the grounds and the front desk is open from 6 am to 3:30 pm and from 5 pm to 11 pm. The buffet breakfast is included, from 6 am to 10 am: cold cuts, cakes, juices, hot drinks.

The family that owns the hotel runs it in person. At the front desk you’ll find them, not whoever happens to be on shift.

The story

Luigi and Lisetta, Alessio’s grandparents, opened the hotel on New Year’s Eve 1962, where there was nothing before. Today the fourth generation of the same family stands behind the counter. In the kitchen, the same team for ten years.

  • The family at the front desk

    Open from 6 am to 3:30 pm and from 5 pm to 11 pm. If you’re off early to a building site or to Malpensa, you’ll find it already open.

  • Parking inside the grounds

    Free, and it takes coaches too. Around here that’s no small thing.

  • Entrance ramp and a lift

    Step-free access to the floors, and one room with an accessible bathroom.

  • Pets welcome

    Small ones.

The rooms

You have dinner downstairs and take the lift up

There are twenty-six rooms, from 16 to 24 square metres: singles, doubles, triples and two family rooms with bunk beds. All with a private bathroom, Wi-Fi and satellite TV.

People who come for work often stay the week and eat downstairs. After dinner there’s no getting back in the car, and in the morning breakfast is two floors below your room.

  • In every room
  • Free Wi-Fi
  • Flat-screen satellite TV
  • Fan
  • Private bathroom with hairdryer
  • Telephone

Gallery

The hotel, the dining room, the village


Restaurant and pizzeria

A dining room that fills up with locals, and a pizzeria with the oven in full view.

The reason people in town book a table

The restaurant isn’t a service for the people staying here. It’s a dining room that fills up with locals: at lunchtime the people who work in the area, in the evening the families of Cittiglio.

Traditional local and Italian cooking, with the pizza oven in the dining room. In summer the grill fires up in the garden.

The tablecloths are cloth, even in the pizzeria.

A pizza from the menu card, just served at the table
  • Traditional local and Italian cooking

    Trattoria portions and small-town prices. Book by phone.

  • Pizzeria

    The oven is right in the dining room. Takeaway too.

  • Open-air grill

    Meat over the coals and arrosticini skewers, out in the garden.

Set menu

15 euro

First course, main course, side dish, water, a quarter litre of wine or a small beer or a soft drink, and coffee.

Lunchtime Monday to Saturday, evenings Monday to Thursday.

Open every day. The pizzeria opens in the evening only and rests on Tuesdays.

Lunch
12 noon to 2 pm
Dinner
7 pm to 9 pm

At weekends the kitchen keeps going a little longer.

Banquets and celebrations

The main dining room, the garden, and space for the coach

First Communions, Confirmations, christenings, business lunches, company dinners.

The main dining room is air-conditioned and seats up to 140. The pizzeria holds 50, the smaller room 40. The tables are laid out to suit the party, and there’s a dance floor in the garden, on request.

Coaches park inside the grounds: not something you find often in Valcuvia. And anyone coming from far away sleeps upstairs, without getting back on the road in the evening.

  • Air-conditioned main dining room, seats up to 140
  • Pizzeria seating 50, smaller room seating 40
  • Lobby, bar and TV room
  • Garden with a barbecue and dance floor, on request
  • Private parking, also for coaches
  • Lift and entrance with a ramp
The reception buffet set up in the garden

The area

The lake three kilometres away, the Valcuvia all around, and in March the Binda finish line.

The harbour at Laveno on Lake Maggiore, three kilometres from Cittiglio

What to do in the area

Three kilometres of road and there’s the lake

Laveno, the ferry port. Photograph from the Google listing.

Cittiglio sits at the mouth of the Valcuvia, between the lake and the mountains. Ten minutes by car and you’re in Laveno, with the ferries to the Piedmont shore. A quarter of an hour and you’re at Santa Caterina del Sasso, the hermitage leaning against the rock above the water.

Behind the village, the trails to the waterfalls begin. In front, the main road takes you to Varese in half an hour and to Malpensa in forty minutes.

  • Lake Maggiore 3 km

    Laveno, the harbour and the ferries to the Piedmont shore.

  • Santa Caterina del Sasso 15 min by car

    The hermitage perched above the water.

  • Cittiglio waterfalls on foot from the village

    The trail starts behind the houses.

  • Cittiglio station 10 min on foot

    Trains to Milan, Como and Laveno.

  • Malpensa airport 40 min by car

    Handy for your first or last night.

  • Valcuvia and Campo dei Fiori all around

    Trails and climbs in every direction.

The area page

Cycling

50 editions of the Trofeo Alfredo Binda

In March the finish line is here

The Trofeo Alfredo Binda comes to Cittiglio every March and is a race on the women’s world calendar. The final circuit goes over the climbs of Casalzuigno and Orino.

The car park is inside the grounds, with space for vans and the bikes they carry, and breakfast starts at six. If you come here to ride, the village is the starting point, not a stopover.

  • Breakfast from six

    You set off early and eat first, every day.

  • The circuit climbs

    Casalzuigno, Orino, Cuvignone.

  • Teams and support crews

    Parking inside the grounds, for the vans and the bikes they carry.

The page for anyone arriving by bike

The distances

Distances from the Albergo Ristorante Cristallo in Cittiglio The hotel is on the via Provinciale in Cittiglio. Lake Maggiore at Laveno is three kilometres away, the railway station is ten minutes on foot, the Cittiglio waterfalls can be reached on foot from the village, and Malpensa airport is forty minutes by car. Laveno, Lake Maggiore 3 km Cittiglio station 10 minutes on foot Cittiglio waterfalls footpath from the village Gavirate, Varese to the east Albergo Ristorante Cristallo Via Provinciale 75 Malpensa 40 minutes by car
A sketch of the location, not to scale.

Contact

The owners answer the phone.

Reviews

What people write on Google

4.2 out of 5

830 Google reviews, as of 17 August 2026.

Translated from Italian.

Read all the reviews on Google

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    The management is practically family-run but very efficient, and it’s one of the few inexpensive restaurants where the tables have cloth tablecloths and napkins, always clean.

    Duilio Calura 9 months ago

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Very good dishes, beautifully presented. The staff are very kind and attentive, they spring into action whatever you ask.

    Donatella Valenti 9 months ago

  • Rated 4 out of 5 stars

    The lunchtime set menu is definitely one of the best in the area, wide choice and good quality.

    mat but 3 months ago

  • Rated 5 out of 5 stars

    Extremely kind staff, excellent food, competitive prices.

    Mara Sandoni 3 months ago

Call, or write to us here

For a room, a table or a quote for a celebration. The owners answer the phone.

Availability request

There is no online booking. The form goes to the front desk and a person answers, not a system. In a hurry? Call: it’s faster.

Call the hotel Check availability

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