Elegant mansion of the eighteenth century on Como Lake, the Villa was donated to FAI (https://www.fondoambiente.it) in 1988 by the entrepreneur, collector and traveler Guido Monzino. The Villa was born with the transformation of an ancient monastery and was purchased by Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini in 1785, who built the famous loggia from which today you have a splendid view of the western part of the lake and of the Comacina Island. The Villa is home to the Guido Monzino museum, with the exhibition of all its hiking businesses, and precious collections of rare objects, such as those of primitive art, geographical
maps, nineteenth-century prints with views of the Lario, books, carpets and rare 18th century glass paintings. The garden is magnificent in all seasons, varied and well preserved, with a magnificent descent to the ancient dock from which you can embark. The only way to get there is by foot (walking on a 1 km footpath which starts from Via degli Artigiani) or by a taxiboat that leaves from the Lenno beach (€7.5 for the roundtrip).
Located in the municipality of Tremezzo, Villa Carlotta is one of the most important and well known villas of Como Lake, not far from Villa del Balbianello. The villa, built in 1960 at the behest of Giorgio Clerici, has passed over the centuries from the Clerici heirs to the Sommariva family and finally to the Saxonian Meiningen family who lived there until 1914.
In 1927 the management passed to the Ente Villa Carlotta, after long vicissitudes and thanks to the intervention of the lawyer Giuseppe Bianchini, supported by the Rotary Club of Milan.
The Ente Villa Carlotta has kept the Villa perfectly and has opened to the public an important museum, the result of the legacy of Giambattista Sommariva, second owner of the Villa and an art collector.
Among the famous works on display are: Palamede, Musa Tersicore and Maddalena Penitente by Antonio Canova, The last kiss given to Giulietta by Romeo by Francesco Hayez, The Entrance of Alexander the Great into Babylon by Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The whole complex extends over to 70,000 m2 (17 acres) area of gardens and museum. You can reach Villa Carlotta by car or on foot easily because it is located on the Regina road that runs along Como Lake, between Tremezzo and Menaggio; or by boat docking at the dock of Tremezzo, which is just a few steps from the entrance.
The Villa, built at the end of the 19th century in Mannerist style, was the holiday home of the Erba family on Como Lake. From the great industrialist Carlo Erba the residence then passed to his daughter Carla and her husband Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone. The Villa was the inspiration and location of the greatest
masterpieces of Luchino Visconti, son of Carla and Giuseppe, who as a young man spent many of his summer holidays there. Today it is a splendid location for events, congresses and parties, thanks also to its famous park and the splendid view it offers on the lake.
The Villa, originally called the Garovo, was commissioned by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio to Pellegrino Tibaldi in the 16th century, with large and marvelous gardens of 25 acres.
In 1815 it became the residence of Caroline of Brunswick who gave it the name of Villa d’Este to remember the homonymous villa of Tivoli, and in 1873 it was converted into a luxury hotel. The whole complex is located in Cernobbio and currently hosts wealthy visitors
as well as world famous celebrities. Villa d’Este is also a high level congress center, as it has housed the Ambrosetti Forum since 1975. The forum is an international economic conference that brings together politicians, intellectuals, and businessmen to discuss the economic outlook and social sceneries of the world.
Villa Bernasconi is a beautiful Art Nouveau villa, commissioned by the industrial textile Davide Bernasconi to the Milanese architect Alfredo Campanini.
The Villa is on two floors with articulated volumes and important decorations. Worthy of note are the entrance staircase on the east side, the loggia on the south side connected to the hall of representation and the central
staircase that becomes a panoramic tower up to the upper floor.
Today the villa is home to an interesting museum.
The important villa in Como, in neoclassical style, was commissioned by Innocenzo Odescalchi to the architect Simone Cantoni in 1782. It probably derives its name from the presence of two large elms in the garden of the property. The villa passed into the hands of the Raimondi and Visconti of Modrone and was then sold to the municipality in 1925, which today
runs an important museum and exhibition open to the public. The villa, which also fascinated Napoleon Bonaparte and Giuseppe Garibaldi thanks to its beauty, still attracts countless visitors.
The site, originally a Cistercian convent, was purchased in 1569 by the Mornico family who over time embellished it with eclectic decorations. In 1980, the villa passed to Walter Kees of Leipzig, who continued to embellish the building in an eclectic style, relying on important architects such as Emilio Alemagna, Achille Majnoni, and Enrico Citterio.
From around 1940 Villa Monastero is a conference center and a museum house as well as the headquarters of an important and spectacular botanical garden that stretches for two kilometers from Varenna to Fiumelatte.
Villa Melzi d’Eril, now a national monument, is a private historical residence located in the town of Bellagio, owned by the Melzi d’Eril family, and more specifically its Gallarati Scotti branch. The villa, built by the architect Giacondo Albertolli in 1808 for Francesco Melzi d’Eril, is a neoclassical building decorated and furnished by important artists such as Appiani, Bossi, Sanquirico, Canova, Comolli, Marchesi and Manfredini.
The complex is large, consisting of the Melzi family’s Chapel, the orangery museum today, a wide pine-wood hill, and the famous English garden designed by Canonica and Villoresi, which extends for 800 m along the coast of the lake between the village of Bellagio and the hamlet of Loppia.