Spend the morning exploring Villa Carlotta’s gardens at Tremezzo, then catch a ferry to Bellagio, the ‘pearl’ of Lake Como, where you can wander the town’s cobbled alleys and stroll in the grounds of Villa Serbelloni or Villa Melzi.
DISTANCE: Tremezzo to Bellagio by ferry: 3km/2 miles; walking in Bellagio: 2–4km (1.25–2.5 miles), depending on sites covered
TIME: A full day
START: Villa Carlotta
END: Bellagio
POINTS TO NOTE: If you are travelling to Villa Carlotta from Como (35km/22miles) allow forty minutes by hydrofoil or about ninety mins by ferry. The last hydrofoil back to Como from Bellagio leaves at around 8pm, earlier off-season. Bellagio is packed with restaurants, but you could also consider a picnic in the gardens of Villa Carlotta (there are two allocated picnic areas).
The inspiration of writers, artists and composers, Lake Como is the most romantic of the three main Italian lakes. It has long been famed for its natural beauty, fine panoramas and sumptuous villas and gardens. The lake is shaped like an inverted Y, caused by the division of an ancient glacier that carved out its valley. The three branches of the lake converge at the Punta Spartivento (the ‘Point that divides the Wind’), the setting of famous Bellagio, ‘pearl of the lake’.
Canova’s ‘Cupid and Psyche’
Mockford & Bonetti/Apa Publications
Henry James was well aware of Lake Como’s reputation for illicit trysts: ‘It is commonly the spot to which inflamed young gentlemen invite the wives of other gentlemen to fly with them and ignore the restrictions of public opinion.’ It was here, according to locals, that President Kennedy romanced Marilyn Monroe.
Villa Carlotta 1 [map] (www.villacarlotta.it; charge) has its own landing stage, but you can also access it via Tremezzo (450m/yds to the south) or Cadenabbia (1km/0.6 mile to the north), which has a car-ferry service.
Graced by magnificent gardens, the villa was a wedding present from a Prussian princess to her daughter, Princess Carlotta of Nassau. Carlotta established a small court here and completed the landscaping of the gardens in the 1860s. As a result, guests are greeted by a prosperous Baroque pile, bordered by a profusion of pink and white azaleas and a theatrical staircase that leads up to orange and lemon terraces.
Fresco detail, Villa Carlotta
Mockford & Bonetti/Apa Publications
Villa Carlotta and Bellagio
Highlights
The villa inevitably plays second fiddle to the gardens; its large formal rooms contain a mixed collection of paintings and Neoclassical statuary by Canova, including the Cupid and Psyche, symbol of the villa and a copy of the original in the Louvre.
Allow plenty of time for the gardens. There are 5.6ha (14 acres) and over 500 species of trees and shrubs, including 150 different varieties of azaleas and rhododendrons. The plants evoke an exotic map of the world: cedars of Lebanon, Egyptian papyrus, Japanese maples and banana trees, Chinese bamboo, Indian tea, Mediterranean agaves, ferns from New Zealand, eucalyptus and succulents from Australia and giant sequoias from South America.
Tremezzo
A short walk south is the resort of Tremezzo. While its heyday was in the 1930s, any thoughts of living on past laurels have been banished since the sophisticated restyling of a very old lady indeed – the Grand Hotel Tremezzo.
From Tremezzo, frequent steamers cross the lake to Bellagio 2 [map]. Walks around this cape afford sublime views of mountains in all directions, most notably north to the often-snow-capped mountains along the Swiss border.
Keen walkers and hikers seeking inspiration for trails should look at www.mylakecomo.co. Also useful is the international site www.alltrails.com, which will send routes direct to your phone. Other outdoor activities include rock-climbing and watersports.
On Bellagio’s bustling waterfront, houses lead to a promenade lined with oleanders and limes. There are red-roofed houses, pastel-tinged façades, steep cobbled alleys, quaint craft shops, a Romanesque belltower and lakeside vistas.
Graceful Tremezzo
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
Shopping along Salita Mella
To explore one of the prettiest alleys, take the steep Salita Mella, just opposite the passenger landing stage. There are some enticing boutiques here, such as Pierangelo Masciadri’s shop, Arte e Moda, at No. 19, where you can buy beautiful scarves and ties with designs inspired by classical mythology, Renaissance paintings and rationalist architecture. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Bill Gates are among those who have commissioned ties from Pierangelo – he has thank-you letters to prove it.
Just before Pierangelo’s shop, on the left at No. 18, is La Barchetta, see 1 [map], a good choice for regional cuisine if it is time for lunch.
Climb to the top of the street for Via G. Garibaldi, the main shopping street with leather and silk to suit all budgets and some very tempting delis. The road leads to Piazza della Chiesa with the much-restored Romanesque Church of San Giacomo and a tower that is all that is left of Bellagio’s medieval defence system.
Villa Serbelloni
For the best views from Bellagio, join an afternoon tour of the gardens of Villa Serbelloni 3 [map] (guided tours only with a minimum of six people and weather permitting; tours start from the medieval tower in Piazza della Chiesa; tickets online www.villagiolakecomo.com; charge). Not to be confused with the exclusive hotel of the same name on the lake, the villa itself belongs to the Rockefeller Foundation and is not open to the public. The steep and winding path takes you high above Bellagio, through fine gardens, for stunning panoramas of both sides of the promontory.
Lakeside dining on Como
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications
Villa Melzi
Having explored some of the steep alleys, return to the lake. You can’t get lost – all the alleys lead down to the waterfront. Turn left at the lake for a gentle lakeside promenade, passing Bellagio’s renovated lido (www.lidodibellagio.com), to Villa Melzi 4 [map] (Lungolario Manzoni; www.giardinidivillamelzi.it; charge), an austere Neoclassical villa set in the first ‘English’ gardens on the lake.
Although the villa is a private residence and closed to the public, the romantic grounds enchant visitors. Beyond the entrance, Japanese water gardens are cleverly concealed from the lake, and an intimate mood is created by an ornamental pool, framed by cedars, maples, camphor and myrrh. On the grassy banks beyond, rhododendrons and camellias create a blaze of colour in spring. Below, standing guard by the lake, is a quaint gazebo that captivated Stendhal and Liszt. Beside this bold folly, an avenue of plane trees leads along the shore to the small history museum in the orangerie, the villa, family chapel and Loppia landing stage.
1 [map] La Barchetta
Salita Mella, Bellagio 15; www.ristorantebarchetta.com
Long-established lake fish and seafood restaurant situated up one of the steep, narrow alleys from the waterfront. You won’t get the lakeside views, but there is a heated bamboo-covered terrace, service is friendly, and the food (creative pastas, creamy risottos and delicious fresh fish) is a cut above the average eatery on the lake. They also serve pizza and other simple dishes downstairs and on the pavement in the more casual Ristoro Forma & Gusto. €€
2 [map] Silvio
Via Carcano 10–12, Bellagio, www.bellagiosilvio.com
This inviting modern fish restaurant above the gardens of Villa Melzi has wonderful lake views. It serves some of the freshest lake fish in Bellagio, caught by the family who run the restaurant. Reasonably priced rooms are also available. €€
3 [map] Bilacus
Salita Serbelloni 32, Bellagio, www.bilacusbellagio.it
No lake views here but there is a delightful arbour for alfresco meals. This family-run restaurant offers attentive, friendly service and inventive, beautifully presented dishes such as risotto with borage, goats’ cheese and scallop or guinea fowl with almonds. €€
Eating options
For lunch or dinner, avoid the waterfront tourist traps in favour of the fish restaurant, Silvio, see 2 [map], a short walk from Villa Melzi, or Bilacus see 3 [map], up from the waterfront. If you fancy an extravagant dinner on a luxury hotel’s lakeside terrace, or perhaps a cocktail in one of its bars, before a water-taxi ride home to reality, consider Mistral in the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni . Otherwise, wait for a ferry in Bar Sanremo on the waterfront.
San Giovanni
In the hamlet of San Giovanni, the Museum of Navigation Instruments (Piazza Don Miotti; www.bellagiomuseo.com; charge) displays over two hundred marine-themed exhibits, including antique sundials, compasses and 18th-century Venetian telescopes, many of them beautiful, even if navigational instruments do not usually raise your heartbeat. The museum is about half an hour on foot in the Villa Melzi direction; alternatively, take the tourist train that departs from the ferry station and does a circuit of the peninsula.
The pastel-hued façades of Bellagio
Neil Buchan-Grant/Apa Publications