|
|
|
VILLA CARLOTTA
Tremezzo
Villa Carlotta is a place of rare beauty, where masterpieces of nature and human
talent coexist in perfect harmony in more than 70,000 square metres to be visited
in the gardens and museum, and it is one of the most famous villas in this area.
It stands on a hill on the western shore of Lake Como on the Riviera of the Azaleas
in Tremezzo, facing Bellagio. It was built as a country house by Marquis Giorgio
Clerici, an important figure in Milan when it was under Spanish and then Austrian
domination. It was its second owner, Gian Battista Sommariva, who enriched the
villa with works of art and added an English garden to the existing Italian garden,
reaching its maximum splendour and turning it into an important stopping place
on European Grand Tours.
The residence was sold in 1843 to Princess Marianna of Nassau, who gave it to
her daughter Carlotta – who gave her name to it– on her wedding to Grand Duke
George of Saxony Meiningen. He later further enlarged the English garden.
Thanks to the mild climate of this part of the lake, a botanical heritage of
more than 500 species of plants can be admired in the gardens of Villa Carlotta.
The most interesting include a giant sequoia and the trees from which cork, camphor
and myrrh and obtained. There are also papyruses, banana trees and many citrus
trees, forming the picturesque “Citrus Pergola”: orange, grapefruit, mandarin,
citrus, lemon and bergamot trees. In the springtime, colourful azaleas, the symbol
of the season, “dress up” the gardens of the Villa with colours ranging from white
to yellow pink and orange and deep red in more than 150 different varieties.
However, any time of the year is perfect for a visit with an itinerary through
historical specimens of camellias, cedars and centenarian sequoias, huge plane
trees and exotic essences. Lastly, the rock garden, the fern valley, the rhododendron
wood, the bamboo garden, museum of farming tools and extraordinary corners fully
justify the fame of this place, which has been considered “a corner of Paradise”
since the nineteenth century.
About 18 km from the hotel
By boat 20-25 minutes across the lake
OPENING TIMES
Every day from March to October : 9 a.m. -11.30 a.m., 2.00 p.m.-4.30 p.m. From
April to September 9.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.
|
 |
|
VILLA DEL BALBIANELLO
Lenno
Built for Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini at the end of the 18th century, the Villa
del Blabianello stands on the southern tip of a woody headland dropping sheer
to the lake, offering such a spectacular view that it has been immortalized by
many artists and engravers of lake views.
Today it has the appearance given to it by its last owner, the explorer Guido
Monzino, who left it to the FAI (Italian Environmental Fund) in 1988. The garden
is the real masterpiece, built on terraces wrenched from the rocks and conceived
in harmony with the lake and its shores. It is characterized by romantic paths
and dominated by the elegant rock with three arches that stands out at the highest
point. Plane trees, magnolias, oaks, cypresses and wisteria are in the company
of ancient statues. There are also cyclamens, rhododendrons, snowdrops and borders
of azaleas to delight the sense of sight. A thick mesh of climbing plants covers
the rough walls of some paths in order not to interrupt the sense of gentle harmony
that characterizes the whole garden. Box and bay hedges limit the different areas
and the lawns with austere sobriety, in the most classic tradition of the eighteenth
century “Italian” garden, although the rocky subsoil and the rugged conformation
of the land have not made a real Italian or English garden possible.
About 13 km from the Hotel
By boat in about 15-20 minutes across the lake
OPENING TIMES: from 15TH March to 31st October from 10 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.. Closed:
Mondays and Wednesdays except when public holidays.
|
 |
|
VILLA PIZZO
Cernobbio
The “Pizzo” which can be dated to the mid-sixteenth century, was built by G.B.
Speciano from Cremona.
It was then purchased by the Muggiasca family, of the Como bourgeoisie, fabric
and silk merchants, who owned it for about 300 years. The garden of Villa Pizzo
is full of local but also exotic plants, thanks to the villa’s good exposure to
the sun which gives it a particularly favourable climate.
OPENING TIMES: visits on request.
|
 |
|
VILLA MELZI
Bellagio
Built between 1808 and 1810 by Francesco Melzi d’Eril, chancellor of the Kingdom
of Italy, Villa Melzi was to be a summer residence, in the neo-classical style
of the first decades of the eighteenth century. It is completely surrounded by
a charming English garden – the first example of this style in the area – which
goes down to the lake. It was laid out by removing large amounts of soil and skilfully
adapted with terracing and small rises. It has all the elements that typically
belong in an aristocratic garden: a gazebo, the chapel with the funeral monument
of Francesco Melzi, two Egyptian statues, a sculpture portraying Dante meeting
Beatrice, a lake with water-lilies, a pond with a statue of Cupid and another
aristocratic chapel with a Renaissance gateway by Bramante. Inside the Villa,
in typically neo-classic style, there are fine works of art, stucco decorated
ceilings, sculptures and frescoes.
About 19 km from the Hotel to Cadenabbia, then 10 minutes by ferry to reach Bellagio.
About 25 minutes by ferry across the lake
OPENING TIMES: FROM March to October from 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
|
 |
|
VILLA OLMO
Como
Villa Olmo, in neo-classical style, was built in 1780, by S. Cantoni, for the
Marquis Innocenzo Odescalchi. Famous artists worked there on the frescoes which
can still be seen. It consists of a central building which encloses the central
part in five entrances, surmounted by six Ionic style columns. The very pure Ionic
architecture was embellished by the Viscontis’ coats of arms with a ducal crown
on top and supported by cherubs, replacing the original stone with the word "Olmo".
The internal layout of the rooms and, in part, the decoration, was also renewed
by Duke Visconti. The lobby opens on to the large ballroom with statues and frescoes.
There are also: a chapel with magnificent bas-reliefs, a theatre and a music room
with frescoes by Pozzi. In the past two centuries, after the inauguration by
Napoleon, many famous people such as Foscolo, Garibaldi and Metternich have stayed
in the villa.
Today the villa is a venue for major events such as the Autumn Music Festival.
Exhibitions, performances, music and dance recitals are also held in its rooms
and in the garden.
About 5 km from the Hotel
By ferry about 5 minutes across the lake
OPENING TIMES: from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., closed on public holidays.
|
 |
|
VILLA ERBA
Cernobbio
This is a sumptuous building that looks on to the lake and is set in the middle
of a grandiose garden. Built at the end of the 19th century by a wealthy Milanese
businessman, Luigi Erba, whose brother was the more famous Carlo, the well-known
pharmaceutical industrialist, the villa was then inherited by the Dukes of Visconti
di Modrone who lived there until 1939. Since 1986 the villa has been owned by
a company and has been transformed into a conference centre of great interest.
|
 |
|
VILLA PASSALACQUA
Moltrasio
Of the many villas built in agreeable spots of Moltrsio, the grandiose Villa
Passalaqua, set near the lake in a large terraced garden, stands out. The entrance,
anticipated by a spectacular hall, opens on to a scalloped portal framed by two
columns which support a balcony with an artistic balustrade sculpted in stone.
The villa, which formerly belonged to the Odescalchi family, was enlarged by Felice
Soave on the order of the Passalacquas in 1787 and restored in the late 1970s
by Oscar Kiss Maerth. On the edge of the garden there is the neo-Gothic funeral
chapel of the Lucini Passalacqua family, which can be seen from the clearing
in front of the Church of Sant’ Agata. It was built by Leopolda D'Adda in 1861
for her husband Alessandro. The villa, decorated with frescoes by Andrea Appiani
including a Virgin with Child dating from 1790, also has a magnificent Italian
garden with vaulted terraces and walls and a seventeenth-century chapel with medieval
sculptures. Many important figures have been guests at the villa, including Vincenzo
Bellini and it was here that, attracted by the romanticism of the landscape, he
composed La Straniera and part of La Sonnambula.
A few yards from the Hotel on foot
|
 |
|
VILLA FONTANELLE
Between Cernobbio and Moltrasio
This elegant eighteenth-century villa, surrounded by a garden with Mediterranean
plants, is famous because it was the home of designer Gianni Versace.
About 1 Km from the Hotel
A few minutes by ferry across the lake
|
|
|
VILLA OLEANDRA
Laglio
This villa is now famous all over the world because it was purchased and renovated
by American actor George Clooney who has made it his Italian home.
About 2 km from the Hotel
By ferry about 20 – 25 minutes across the lake
|
|
| | |
