«In a couple of days I’ll be in Como and I would like to see the magnificent villas of the lake», texted to me Richard, an old friend from El Cerrito, California.
«The best way to enjoy the villas is from the lake, so if you don’t mind I’ll rent a boat. Is that ok with you?»
It was a sunny morning when we start the tour from Como, the boat was just like those taxis in Venice, very woody, elegant and comfortable.
The first villa we saw was Villa Olmo in Como, a neoclassic mansion of late XVIII century, surrounded by a stunning park. After a short while we sailed to Cernobbio where, after Villa Erba (the house of Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti), we arrived in front of Villa d’Este, the “buen retiro” (XIX century) of Carolina of Brunswick, wife of the Prince of Wales (later king George IV).
«Is one of the most famous hotel in the world…»
«I knew it, but tell me, why the name d’Este? The princess wasn’t Italian at all, she was German…», remarked Richard (by the way is an History professor at UC Berkeley).
«She adopted the name by her Italian family members, the Este family, dukes of Ferrara, and the elder branch of the House produced dukes of Saxony, of Brunswick and so on… The House of Este gave to UK the Hanoverian monarchs, like Queen Victoria…»
«Every corner in Italy is so full of history…» Richard commented thoughtfully.
«Perhaps too much…», I added.
Zigzagging on the lake first we approached Villa Pliniana, just after the cozy village of Torno where Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major English Romantic poets, use to spend his holidays; and second in Moltrasio Villa Fontanelle, which belonged to Gianni Versace. Of course I showed to Richard George Clooney’s Villa Oleandra in Laglio.
«Before the villa was owned by Heinz family…»
«The ketchup family?», asked Richard.
«Yes, the mayo family».
After Comacina Island we sailed to Campo, a tiny village before Lenno, with two very seductive private villas: Villa Balbiano (the owner is a Russian oligarch) and Villa Cassinella (nobody knows who is the current owner, some people says it belongs to Richard Branson, the Virgin Records boss, but a lot of people think is a fake new). After a few minutes of sailing on the lake we arrived in front of Villa Balbianello, probably the best vista point of the lake.
«What a place!», remarked Richard.
«Yes indeed», I added, «did you know this villa was one of the location of James Bond’s Casino Royale?»
«No kiddin’… What a place! What a wonderful place!», Richard was really ecstatic.
In Tremezzo I showed to Richard one villa after another: the monumental Villa Sola Cabiati (a private mansion owned by an aristocratic Milanese family), the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, a liberty palace and now a luxury hotel, with Villa d’Este the best hotel of the lake.
The well known Villa Carlotta with its park, a wonderful botanic garden, ended the villas collection of this side of the lake.
«Hei Richard, do you know that this villa was a wedding gift to Carlotta, the daughter of princess Marianne of Prussia?»
«Nice present…»
«Yes especially for the works of art inside it, like Canova’s and Thorvaldsen statues… Yes a really nice wedding present.»
In Bellagio we saw Villa Melzi and its fantastic park, and on the hill Villa Serbelloni, owned by the American Rockefeller family.
«In June 1963, few months before his death, John F. Kennedy had been a guest of the Villa. Did you know that, Richard?»
«And do you know that in Vegas we a Bellagio resort and casino?», replied Richard.
«A fake Bellagio in Las Vegas… sometimes you Americans are so amazing!»
After a stop in front of the cypress trees of Varenna’s Villa Monastero,we returned back to Como.
«Why so many villas and why so many aristocratic family builded up such a magnificent mansion on the lake? I didn’t know Lake Como was such a tourist destination in the past…»
«Do you want to know why so many aristocratic and millionaires built those villas? Well, in the past centuries one of the most common illness was the melancholy, and the lake and its peaceful atmosphere was the best medicine.»
