September 19, 2019

September 19, 2019

Our time on Lake Como is really feeling like a vacation after our power tour of Spain and Italy. Aimee and I get up late with no pressing schedule of tourist sites. I spend a lazy morning having coffee on our private terrace while soaking up the scenery. I can see why the rich and famous like having villas on Lake Como!

Mid-morning we gather with my relatives and buy a day pass for the commuter boat that traverses the mid-lake area of Como. We take the next run west getting off at the village of Lenno. There we walk a mile further west to the little promontory that holds Villa Balbionello and buy tour tickets.

We watch part of a film about the last owner of this estate. An avid mountaineer and explorer, he left this property to the National Trust of Italy. We take a guided tour of the interior spaces. It is mostly a museum of his expeditions. Besides being decorated with artwork, there are artifacts from his travels, including the sled used on his trek to the North Pole. He was an avid collector of statuary from places he visited. This included a huge collection of Inuit walrus tusk carvings and funerary figures from indigenous tribes around the world.

The most prominent building is the Loggia, or gallery, with its vine-wrapped colonnade with views in both directions. It is flanked by the library and map rooms. Interestingly he added a couple secret passages ostensibly for protection against Red Brigade terrorists. Aimee thinks they were more likely for late-night trysts.

While the interior spaces were interesting the highlight was walking around the elaborately manicured garden, candelabra trees, and statuary surrounded on three sides by water. It is so unique it has often played the part of a wealthy estate in movies, including Star Wars and Casino Royale. I was hoping to take a photo of me sitting on the lawn as 007. Unfortunately there were signs to stay off the grass.

From Villa Balbionello, we walk into Lenno village peeking in the 11th century church before having a delicious pasta lunch. Less than a mile away is the spot where Mussolini was shot in the waning days of WWII as he tried to flee north from Milan. Back in Bellagio, we window shop before walking to The Point where Lakes Como and Lucca join.

I buy a couple bottles of wine and we pretend to be Villa owners and have a soiree on our hotel room terrace. Ahh! Living "La Dolce Vita". We are in good company as Mark Twain and the composer Franz Liszt once sat in this same spot contemplating the universe.