Laglio is where Clooney and his wife Amal live, at Villa Oleandra, and Villa La Cassinella has long been rumored to be owned by Sir Richard Branson, who denies it. Villa Fontanelle in Moltrasio, once owned by Gianni Versace, was sold after his death to Arkady Noviko, arguably Russia’s most successful restaurateur and a man known colloquially as the “Blini King.” You can observe it from the water, as you can Villa le Rose, where Churchill retreated post World War II. Indeed, as you travel the lake, many grand private villas have names to match. Lake side villa with beautiful gardens on Lake Como, Italy getty It drops you at Tremezzo to explore the gardens and artwork at one of the lake’s masterpieces, Villa Carlotta, a favorite of 19 th-century writers Edith Wharton and Henry James. It allows you to explore quiet fishing villages such as Pescallo. For those who don’t have access to a private boat, the ferry system will do, as it crisscrosses that lake and provides access to the bustling waterfront and narrow shop-filled lanes of Bellagio. If your budget allows, the boat trip should be in a sleek wooden Riva speedboat heading up the lake to meet friends in Lenno, or the more touristed Varenna, where a jumble of ochre-colored buildings is the backdrop for café life and the slow sipping of prosecco. Regardless of the season, the perfect day on Lake Como is spent on the water, looking at the villas, stopping at those that can be visited, having lunch, and swimming. What is the perfect time to go? I like early summer when the high mountain snow and a fringe of white on the peaks to the north still feed waterfalls. Every season is distinct, and I see things I did not see before every time I visit. You can’t visit Como without hearing cultural name-dropping: how Leonardo painted here, how Verdi composed part of La Traviata there, how Bellini worked on his opera Norma, and how writers as diverse as Wordsworth, Longfellow, and Hesse wrote poetry extolling the lake’s singular virtues. The wealthy Milanese merchants built villas, and then, in the fashion of the day, they became patrons of the arts.

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