Lake Como

Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni is a historic luxury hotel located in Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como in Italy.

Villa Serbelloni is a villa in Bellagio, Northern Italy. Just behind the hill of the promontory into the lake of Como, protected from the winds, the villa dominates the town's historic centre. It can be reached from Via Garibaldi. It was built in the 15th century in place of an old castle razed in 1375. Villa Serbelloni was later rebuilt several times. In 1788 it came into the possession of Alessandro Serbelloni (1745–1826) who enriched it with precious decorations and works of art of the 17th and 18th centuries. Today you can visit only the gardens. On the inside, elegant halls with vault and coffered ceilings follow one another accurately decorated in the style of the 17th and 18th centuries. All around, the park develops along most of the promontory of Bellagio with vast tracts of thick woods where the Serbelloni gardeners had traced paths which nowadays still lead the way amongst the small clearings and English style gardens. As noted by Balbiani, rather than being a garden, it is a real "wood, opened by spacious and comfortable paths, and plants with all generations of high trunk trees"; amongst which, oak trees, conifers, fir trees, holm oaks, osmanti, myrtles and junipers, "but above all trees, here situated is the pine tree, which, with its gnarled trunk acts as a screen against the storms". Occasionally, the vegetation thins out at panoramic points which overlook the two branches of the lake, offering a prospect from the slopes of the hill, where the rose bushes flower during the season. There is a winding path which goes up to the villa, also terraces and flower beds with yews and boxes trimmed geometrically. Along the upper part of the park is a long row of cypress trees and some palm trees. In 1905, the villa was transformed into a luxury hotel. In 1959 it became the property of the Rockefeller Foundation of New York at the bequest of the American-born Princess of Thurn and Taxis (wife of Alessandro, 1st Duke of Castel Duino), who had bought it in 1930. Since 1960 the Bellagio Center in the villa has been home to international conferences housed in the former villa or in the grounds. In addition, outstanding scholars and artists are selected for one-month residencies year-round. In June 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy stopped at the Villa after his helicopter landed in the grounds on a visit to Lake Como.

Castello di Vezio is a castle located nearby Varenna and Perledo, northern Italy. Characterized in the main tower by square merlons, similar to Cly Castle in Aosta Valley, it commands the Lake Como. It was once connected by walls to the village of Varenna below.

Bellagio (Italian: [belˈlaːdʒo]; Comasco: Belàs [beˈlaːs]) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region of Lombardy. It is located on Lake Como, also known by its Latin-derived name Lario, whose arms form an inverted Y. The triangular land mass at the base of the inverted Y is the Larian Triangle: at its northern point sits Bellagio, looking across to the northern arm of the lake and, behind it, the Alps. It has always been famous for its location. It belongs to a mountain community named Comunità montana del Triangolo lariano (Larian Triangle mountain community), based in Canzo.

Varenna-Esino-Perledo is a railway station at Perledo, on the Tirano–Lecco railway in Lombardy, in northern Italy. As the name implies, it also serves Esino Lario (12km away) and Varenna. Originally called Varenna, it changed its name to Varenna-Esino in 1935.The passenger building, on the west side of the line, has two storeys in a classic style, embellished by terracotta decorations typical of the line. The station has two tracks for passenger service. In the past, there was a small freight yard, whose warehouse still exists, and is used as a shop. The station is served by regional trains on the Calolziocorte-Lecco-Colico-Sondrio line, and RegioExpress trains in on the Milan-Lecco-Sondrio-Tirano line.

Villa Melzi (also known as Villa Melzi d'Eril) is a neoclasssical villa located in Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como, Italy.

Fiumelatte is a river in northern Italy. It flows from a cavity in the Grigna into Lake Como, just south of Varenna, it has an approximate length of 250 m (820 ft). The name Fiumelatte, composed from fiume (Italian for "river") and latte ("milk"), is due to the milky white color of its water. Leonardo da Vinci while staying in Lierna studied it for a long time and mentions it in his Atlantic Codex. In the 1600s the sons of the high nobility had to visit it as part of the Grand Tour to form their culture.

Cadenabbia (Cadenabbia di Griante) is a small community in Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Como, on the west shore of Lake Como. The community is part of the comune of Griante, between the communities of Menaggio and Tremezzo. Cadenabbia is a favorite spring and autumn resort, owing to the great beauty of the scenery and of the vegetation, and its sheltered situation. It also serves as a health resort and a holiday place for travellers. A favoured travel destination of the British since the 19th century, it is the site of one of the first Anglican churches built in Italy (1891).

Perledo (Comasco, Lecchese: Perled [perˈleːt]) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Milan and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 900 and an area of 12.5 square kilometres (4.8 sq mi).Perledo borders the following municipalities: Bellano, Esino Lario, Menaggio, Parlasco, San Siro, Varenna. Perledo includes the following "frazione" or hamlets: Tondello, Olivedo, Vezio, Regolo, Bologna, Gisazio, Regoledo, Cestaglia, Gittana, Riva di Gittana, Portone, Panighetto.Pereldo lies on the east shore of Lake Como, across the lake from the municipality of Menaggio.

Tremezzo is a comune (or municipality) of some 1,300 people in the Province of Como, in the Italian region Lombardy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). It is located on the western shore of Lake Como between Mezzegra to the southwest and Griante to the northeast, and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Como. Tremezzo, which has an area of 8.4 square kilometres (3.2 sq mi), also borders the territory of the following communes: Lenno (south and west of Mezzegra), Menaggio (north of Griante), Grandola ed Uniti (inland from Menaggio) and, on the facing shore of the lake, Bellagio and Lezzeno. As well as the capoluogo of Tremezzo, the area of the commune includes the frazione Rogaro, birthplace of the architect Pietro Lingeri. Tremezzo is best known as a tourist resort—it was a favourite of Konrad Adenauer—and for its villas, of which the most famous is the Villa Carlotta with its much-admired gardens, and Villa Sola-Busca. The Brentano family hails from the Tremezzo, in the 17th century the family relocated to the Free City of Frankfurt. Members of the family include 19th century German Romanticist novelist Clemens Brentano and his sister Bettina von Arnim. The comune of Tremezzo was united with Mezzegra, Ossuccio, and Lenno to form a single municipality named Tremezzina following the election of the Major on 25 May 2014.

Villa Carlotta is a villa and botanical garden in Tremezzo on Lake Como in Northern Italy. Today the villa is a museum, whose collection includes works by sculptors such as Antonio Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen, and Giovanni Migliara; painters such as Francesco Hayez; and furniture pieces of previous owners. The villa, whose architect is unknown, was completed in 1745.

Grand Hotel Tremezzo is a historic luxury hotel located on the shores of Lake Como in Italy.