Boating from Bellagio to Como

If you boat on Lake Como from Bellagio to Como, you will pass several interesting buildings.  Most of them on are the western side of the lake.

1 --You see the Villa Carlotta.  Construction began in 1690 on grounds of ten acres.  The villa changed hands from political leaders to wealthy merchants.  The gardens were designed by the Sommariva family who owned the villa in the early 1800s.  In 1856, it became the wedding present to Charlotte of Nassau, Prussia.  Charlotte being Carlotta in Italian, the villa became known as the Villa Carlotta. Several years after the wedding, German unification was achieved and Prussia became a part of that confederation.  The Italian government confiscated the villa in 1915 as a result of Germany’s declaration of war against Italy.  Inside the villa are several 19^th century sculptures by Canova, including Cupid and Psyche. 

2- Across on the Bellagio side is the neoclassical Villa Melzi known for its azalea park.  It was built from1808-10 during Napoleon’s occupation as a summer residence for an Italian administrator.  The architect was Giocondo Albertolli.  Guests have included Franz Liszt and Stendhal. While a national monument, it is still private property.  

3- Jutting out on its own peninsula is the Villa del Balbianello, which you will see after several minutes of traveling south on the lake.  You may recognize the villa if you have seen the films: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, A Month By the Lake, or Casino Royale.  The villa was built in 1787 on the site of a Franciscan monastery for the Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini. After the cardinal’s death in 1796 Giuseppe Arconati Visconti bought the villa and made improvements to its gardens and the loggia. By the early twentieth century the buildings had fallen into a state of neglect when a U.S. general, Butler Amos, purchased and renovated the villa and its garden. The Italian mountain climber, Guideo Monzino bought it in 1974.  When he died in 1988, he left it to the National Trust of Italy.

4-Villa Rosa is only accessible by boat.  It appears just after Villa del Balbianello.  Richard Branson bought it in 2006 for 22 million euro from an English lord.  It has four permanent gardeners.   He rents it out for 100,000 euro per week.

5—A minute or two after the pyramid tombstone in the local cemetery, you will see the Villa Oleandra, which George Clooney bought from the estate of the Heinz family (John Kerry’s wife Teresa) for 8 million euro in the late 1990s.  He also bought the next two villas around the same time. The closest one to Villa Oleandra he bought for two million euro and sold it in October 2006 to Tom Cruise for 5.5 million euro. 

6- Village of Carate Urio. Look for yellow villa.  It is the seat of Opus Dei.  Also notice areas of the hillsides along the lake where there are terraces.  Cultivation was common here until World War II.  Even today’s forests along the lake were once cultivated.

7—A few minutes later, you will see the Villa Fontanella, which was part of the Versace estate.  Notice the private chapel at the southern end of the grounds.  It was sold in March of 2008 to Arkady Novikov, a Russian, for $52 US million.  It was built in 1776. Gianni Versace bought and refurbished it in 1977.

8—In Cernobbio, you will find the Villa d’Este, which was built in 1568 by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio, a native of the town. The name dates back to the 1810’s, when Caroline of Brunswick bought it.  She believed she was a descendant of the ancient lords of Ferrara (the Este family). The landscaped gardens in the English style are a product of this period.  It changed hands several times before the last owner (Empress Fedorowna, mother of Czar Alexander II) decided to convert it into a hotel in 1873.  Today the Villa d’Este is known for attracting celebrity guests.

9- Villa Erba was featured in “Oceans 12” and features a tower.  Remember the French acrobat who stole the fake Fabergé egg?  This was his residence in the movie.

10-  Villa Olmo – was built in 1797 with its own park directly on the lake.  It is frequently used for artistic exhibits (Picasso, Miro, Magritte, etc.)

11—Upon approaching Como, you will see a 1950 monument to the Italian soldiers who died during World War II.

12—You will also see a rotunda called the Volta Temple, dedicated to the physicist and inventor of the capacitor and battery, Alessandro Volta 1745-1827, after whom the volt is named.  Volta was from Como.  He was self-taught and learned from the experiments he conducted.