Cernobbio — Villa d Este, Lake Como's Grand Hotel Tradition & George Clooney's Lake
Cernobbio (the small town 5km north of Como city on the western shore, population 7,000, famous as the location of Villa d Este — the most celebrated grand hotel on Lake Como and one of the most famous hotels in Europe) is the starting point for understanding the lake's role as the playground of European and American wealth since the 18th century.
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Villa d Este — the 16th-Century Cardinal's Villa Turned Grand Hotel
Villa d Este (Via Regina 40, Cernobbio, the most celebrated luxury hotel on Lake Como, originally built in 1568 by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio as his lakeside retreat, converted to a grand hotel in 1873, the hotel remaining open April-November, one night in the cheapest room starting at €600 in season, the restaurant open for lunch and dinner to non-guests at €80-150 per person reservation required) is the reference point for the Lake Como grand hotel tradition. The floating swimming pool (the pool built on a pontoon on the lake surface, the earliest example of a floating pool installation in a European luxury hotel, the view from the pool of the Swiss-Italian Alps and the lake surface making it the most photographed hotel amenity on Lake Como) and the baroque garden (the formal Italian garden behind the villa with the water staircase, the cypress allees, and the 500-year-old neoclassical grottos) are the hotel's two defining elements.
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George Clooney's Lake — the Star Presence at Laglio
George Clooney has owned Villa Oleandra (the 18th-century villa in Laglio, a village 10km north of Cernobbio on the western shore, not open to visitors but visible from a passing boat) since 2002 — the Clooney presence on the lake (the actor's summer residency, the subsequent star tourism of the lake by American celebrities) transformed Lake Como's marketing from a traditional European aristocratic retreat into a global celebrity destination. The effect on the lake (accommodation prices that tripled 2002-2015, the motorboat traffic on the Laglio stretch visible from the ferry) and the actor's relationship with the local community (Clooney's participation in local events, the Villa Oleandra as the location for the announcement of his relationship with Amal Alamuddin in 2014) are the practical context. The ferry passing Laglio (the standard ferry from Como to Bellagio passes the Villa Oleandra dock, visible for approximately 90 seconds) is the closest most visitors get.
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Villa Erba — the Clooney-Proximate Conference Centre
Villa Erba (Via Regina 23, Cernobbio, the 19th-century neo-Renaissance villa adjacent to Villa d Este, converted to the largest conference and exhibition centre on Lake Como in 1991, not open for general tourist visits but the grounds accessible during the annual exhibitions) was the childhood home of Luchino Visconti (the Italian film director, 1906-1976, La Terra Trema 1948, Senso 1954, Il Gattopardo 1963, Morte a Venezia 1971 — Visconti's family owned Villa Erba from the 19th century, Visconti himself growing up in the villa before his career took him to Rome and Milan). The Villa Erba park (accessible along the lakefront from Cernobbio public beach, the 19th-century garden design with mature Himalayan cedars) gives a sense of the villa's scale without requiring an event ticket.
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Grand Hotel Tremezzo — the 1910 Art Nouveau Hotel
Grand Hotel Tremezzo (Via Regina 8, Tremezzo, the 1910 Art Nouveau hotel in the Floral Liberty style, the floating pool on the lake directly opposite Villa Carlotta, open April-October, hotel rooms from €500/night in season, the T Restaurant open for non-guests for lunch Tuesday-Sunday, reservation required) is the most architecturally distinguished hotel on the lake — the original Art Nouveau interiors (the stained glass windows, the ceramic tile work, the wrought-iron balustrade) and the 300m lakefront position (the hotel's floating pontoon T-pool on the lake surface visible from the Bellagio-Menaggio-Varenna ferry) make it the Lake Como property most successfully combining historical architecture with contemporary luxury. The hotel's speedboat (the vintage wooden mahogany motorboat available for private charter at €400/hour) is the most stylistically correct form of Lake Como transport.
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Lugano and the Swiss Border — 30 Minutes North
Lugano (the Swiss city of 62,000 on the southern shore of Lake Lugano, 30 minutes north of Menaggio by PostBus through the Valsolda valley on the Italian-Swiss border, the cultural capital of the Swiss Italian-speaking Canton Ticino) is the correct half-day excursion from the north end of Lake Como. The Lugano-Paradiso shopping district (the highest concentration of Swiss watch shops and Italian fashion brands outside Zurich and Milan, with prices marginally lower than Italian retail for Swiss goods), the Monte San Salvatore (the rocky peak above Lugano, the funicular from Paradiso to the summit at 912m, the 360-degree view of Lake Lugano, Lake Como, and the Po plain to the south), and the Lugano LAC Cultural Centre (the museum and performance venue on the lakefront, the collection of 20th-century Swiss and Italian art) are the city's three essentials. Swiss franc required; card payments accepted everywhere.
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Lake Como by Motorboat — Private Navigation
The traditional Lake Como motorboat charter (the 1950s-1970s wooden mahogany boats — the Riva Aquarama, the Riva Ariston, the Bertram — that became the definitive symbols of Lake Como luxury after appearing in 1960s Italian film and in Alfa Romeo advertising) is available from 5 operators based at Como, Bellagio, and Menaggio: rates for a full-day charter (8 hours, skipper included) range from €800 for a small fibreglass day boat to €2,500 for an original 1960s Riva Aquarama. The 3-hour half-day circuit (departing Bellagio, north to Colico and the Piona Abbey, south to the Tremezzina gardens, return to Bellagio via Varenna, the standard half-day route used by all boat charter operators) at €400-800 depending on the boat is the most efficient private navigation option. The boat-to-garden landings (Villa Balbianello and Villa Carlotta both have their own private ferry docks, the boat landing allowing a direct approach to the garden gates without the overland walk from the village) are the specific advantage of private boat access.