10/12/21: A "Ferry" Fun Day on Lake Como!

 

After some fairly tough hikes each of the past two days around Lake Como, Steven and I decided to "take a day off" and just goof around by getting a day pass on the battello navetta or mid-lake ferry and hop on and hop off whenever and at whatever towns we felt like it on the lake. 

Looking back at Varenna:

High atop Varenna's hills was the Vezio Castle we had hiked up to on our first day in the village. 

In the background were the Swiss Alps towering over the lake.

On the other side of the lake was Menaggio, the first town on Lake Como that we'd arrived in via bus from Lugano in southern Switzerland. 

The boat glided past Punta Spartivento, the large hump in the middle of Lake Como that met up with Lake Lecco on the other side of Punta. 

Don't laugh at me too hard but I always thought that Bellagio was simply the name of a hotel in Vegas, not a real-life Italian town on Lake Como! Since we had the hop-on and hop-off pass, we decided to visit Bellagio later after heading initially to Villa del Balbianello, the southernmost location we wanted to see that day.

Just beyond the Bellagio dock was Grand Hotel Bretagne that sadly was no longer quite so grand as it had been long undergoing a renovation project.

Within swimming distance would have been the scenic Villa Melzi and its lush gardens. 

We were lucky to have the full ferry tour that day as only half the boats stop off at San Giovanni, a tiny lakefront community just along the shore from Bellagio.

The boat then headed across the lake to Villa Carlotta, one of the lake's once-elite mansions whose owners had to (gasp!) open their domains to the likes of you and me after high taxes and high maintenance costs made it prohibitively expensive to continue living in obscurity. 

It was a tough choice trying to decide whether to visit Villa Carlotta or Villa del Balbianello as the former was known to be one of the most beautiful on the lake because of its gardens and neoclassical sculptures. You'll soon see what tipped the scales for us to tour Balbianello instead. 

We could have walked from Villa Carlotta to the next stop, Grand Hotel Tremezzo, in the same time the boat took as it was only ten minutes between the two sites!

Above the town of Tremezzo was a 19th-century villa built in the Romantic Age to mirror a medieval castle nearby.

After Tremezzo, we spotted a public park with a fountain and a balustrade that had been separated from a villa when a new road was built. We looked forward to seeing the fountain up close on our return trip. 

Further along this stretch of the lake was a string of villas with elegant landings and gated boathouses that were now too small for modern lake boats. 

The boat's last stop was Lenno described as a "pleasant resort town with a long arcing bay sheltering lots of little docks."

Just beyond the town, we spotted Villa del Balbianello, our initial destination on our ferry tour of the lake. I can't remember the ferry's cost to Lenno but whatever it was, it was worth every penny or euro, rather, as the lake cruise had been a dream.

Market day in Lenno delayed our approach to the villa!

We had learned a couple of days before that the traditional boat unique to Lake Como for transportation around the lake was called the Lucia. Those of you familiar with American colonial history have no doubt heard of Conestoga wagons that were used to transport American pioneers to the West in search of a better life. A plaque by the boat indicated that the Losavio family had left Lenno in search of a better life in the US but descendants Joe and Ginetta Losavio had reversed the trend and returned to Italy for a  better life on Lake Como. Joe named his Lucia boat Conestoga because of its resemblance to the wagons used by pioneers and also symbolized his efforts to start anew in Lenno. 

These were the first of what would turn out to be many pop-up food trucks or mini-shops we saw at markets in Italian towns that sold cheese or meat.

A look back at Lenno's harbor: 

We had a heart-pumping 30-minute walk to reach the villa on the steep slope of Dosso Lavedo!

A view looking north toward Varenna:

We had missed seeing the magnolia tree in all its splendor as it only blooms through August.

I wondered how many full-time gardeners are on staff in the villa's immense gardens.

This was our first sight of Villa del Balbianello that was built at the end of the 18th century on the foundations of a Franciscan monastery. The estate reflected the vision of its last owner, Guido Monzino, an adventurer and mountaineer who died in 1998 and left his estate to the people of Italy via the Italian National Trust.

Our tour of his home began in the Map Room where the guide explained Monzino had made 21 expeditions to the North Pole! On the table were elephant tusks given him by Inuit.

Almost every inch of the walls was taken up with some of the 200 prints of Lake Como he owned.

The Library Room contained some of the 4,000 books he had covered in leather. He ran out of time to cover his newer books with leather before he died at just 66.

Outside, the guide pointed out an umbrella oak tree on a lower terrace that was especially hard to prune because of its shape and not being able to use a cherry picker. 

Monzino designed the coat-of-arms for his home.

Monzino's office seemed very down-to-earth just like the man himself. It felt like one we could easily have been home in unlike so many palaces we have toured over the years and would have no desire to live in. Granted, Steven and I don't have raw silk covering our study's walls!

In another room was a large collection of African masks, jade, and artifacts from his adventures around the world including a 2,700-year-old mask. I would have loved having more time to view his extensive collection.

The guide explained the curving staircase was a reproduction from an English ship. 

Upstairs was another massive collection devoted to his exploits in the North Pole and Mount Everest. It comprised the largest private collection of Narwhal whale items anywhere!

As Steven and I have quite a collection of Canadian Inuit sculptures, I was especially intrigued to view Monzino's much larger collection. 

Two cases displayed awards bestowed on Monzino by the Italian government.

The bachelor Monzino's bedroom was adorned with velvet-covered walls, immense Flemish tapestries, and a bed that more resembled a couch to us. 

Monzino had a Turkish steam bath installed in his bathroom.

The Guest Bedroom included some of the 150 reversed glass paintings Monzino amassed.

The faux bookcase in the Welcome Room opened up to reveal a complete bar as his visitors would arrive by boat into this room and therefore deserved a proper welcome!

The German glass painting above the doorway was the only one in his collection that was signed. 

The room's chandelier was made of Venetian glass. 

Captivating views of the terrace and Lake Como from the Welcoming Room:

The Smoking Room was the lowest room in the villa and had been built into the rock.

The villa's Green Room contained many more of his collectibles, some of which came from the Ming and Tang Dynasties. 

The Dining Room was small and intimate as apparently was Monzino's style.  Just like the rest of his home, the room looked extremely comfortable and welcoming, not ostentatious and a showpiece. Three beautiful matching tapestries were on facing walls - two companion pieces were in museums in New York and France, according to the guide. 

The almost hour-long tour ended in the Breakfast Room which was dominated by a large clock connected to one in the Green Room! Once again, I was struck by how cozy and comfortable the room and the entire villa was. We never got the sense of touring anything but a well-loved home lived in by an avid collector.

Out on one of the terraces a couple from London were having their engagement photos taken prior to their wedding in December in England! Wouldn't it be fun to be a fly on the wall at their wedding ceremony?!

Steven and I continued to admire - okay really, gape, at the stupendous views at every turn on the villa's grounds!

The villa's boat dock for arriving visitors to the estate was just behind where Steven was standing.

The villa's sublime location has been a favorite for movie directors: scenes from the James Bond film, Casino Royale, were filmed here as was the initial 'kiss scene' between Star Wars characters Anakin and Padme in Attack of the Clones. Monzino only permitted the villa's exterior to be used for filming.

The former ice shed was now the final resting place for Monzino's tomb.

From the stone terrace, we had a better view of the lovely umbrella tree we'd viewed earlier from above:

Even though Villa Carlotta's grounds were supposed to be glorious, I couldn't imagine they could possibly be even more so than those at Villa del Balbianello. We had absolutely no regrets that we'd chosen to make this our one villa tour on Lake Como.

After returning to Lenno, we hopped on the first northbound ferry so we could stop in Tremezzo, our first stop on our way back to our base in Varenna.

Part of the Church of St. Bartholomew in Tremezzo was constructed in the 12th-century but it was extensively renovated in the 17th and 18th-centuries in a Baroque style. Its high altar, originally in the ancient Oratory of St. Francis Xavier in Villa Carlotta, had two twisted columns in the Baroque design. Both the floor and altar contained marble quarried near Varenna. 

In front of the church was another traditional Lake Como Lucia boat.

While on the ferry earlier to Lenno and the villa, we'd seen a fountain and balustrade by Tremezzo. After they had been separated from their villa by a public road, the owners donated them for all to enjoy. We spent close to an hour just reading and taking in the views from the steps by the lakefront. It was as close to heaven as I want to get for a long, long time!

A few steps further, was the early 20th-century Grand Hotel Tremezzo that was characterized by Art Nouveau elements. Shortly after opening, it was confiscated and used as a field hospital during WW I but, following an expansion after the war, it became a popular destination for wealthy international tourists.

One of the neatest things I'd ever seen was the hotel's swimming pool floating on the lake. Can you imagine how much fun it would be swimming there with such stunning lakeside views in every direction?

Our hop-on and hop-off ferry pass didn't include more expensive hydrofoil boats like this one that floated above the water and was, therefore, much faster than the regular ferries. 

Our final view of the Tremezzo hotel and its pool as we headed north:

I doubt we'll ever return to Lake Como but if we do, a stop at Villa Carlotta would be on my itinerary.

Crisscrossing the lake, we had just spectacular views of some dreamy gardens.

Not quite as fun as a swimming pool in the lake but I'm sure this water slide would also be pretty exciting.

There were so many boats backed up at the town of Bellagio dock, our ferryman had to circle for a while just as if we'd been on a plane!

The Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio was a five-star property considered to be the second-most luxurious property on the lake. When we travel to exotic locales, Steven and I always try and walk through the world's grandest hotels. So far, only Raffles Hotel in Singapore, home of the Singapore Sling, has denied us.

I read that the Serbelloni was 'the place to go' for aristocratic Russians in the 19th century!

The Grand Hotel was certainly grand, don't you think?!

Wandering the streets of Bellagio, we stopped in briefly at the Basilica di San Giacomo with its magnificent gold, mosaic ceilings.

The basilica piazza or square:

Bellagio's tiny lanes contained more gelato shops than anyplace else we had or would see, even in the next four weeks here in Italy and we've seen and stopped at a good number of gelato shops!

Bellagio was a delight, not just for its basilica and all the gelato stores, but for its shops selling silk scarves and ties made locally from the silkworms on Lake Como. 

Just a 'bit' of money in Bellagio as evidenced by the Ferraris and other high-end cars we saw.

On the final ferry of our day back to Varenna with the Grand Hotel Serbelloni in the background:

Approaching Varenna after a 'ferry' fun day on Lake Como:

Next post: Onto magnificent Milan for the next three days.

Posted on November 19th, 2021, from Sorrento in southern Italy just before we drive back to Naples to drop off our rental car and take the train to Rome for our last night in Italy and then back home to Colorado in two days. It's been scary to learn that our home state has the worst rate of hospitalizations due to Covid in the entire country - what is up with our unvaccinated fellow Coloradans?