Villas - Architecture, art and glorious gardens

"When you write the story of two happy lovers, set it on the shores of Lake Como.”  So, Franz Liszt mused as he strolled the serene gardens with Countess Marie de Flavigny, composing his Dante Symphony. Laid out along the Bellagio waterfront it flows with colour from azaleas to camelias, leading to a heavenly chapel.

A testament to the human quest for beauty. Architecture dates back to a 12th century Cistercian monastery. Fourteen rooms are brimming with tapestries, paintings and sculptures representing 800 years of curation. Gardens stretch a mile along the lake, stone statues pose decoratively amid tropical ferns, framed against a vivid blue sky.

Named for the towering cypress trees that stand sentinel throughout the gardens.  Spring is impossibly beautiful when the lilac wisteria bursts into bloom on a cascade of terraces. Famously you can step through the ‘gates of paradise’, the wrought iron entrance leads you onto stone steps and the edge of Lake Como.

You can walk through woodland to reach this sweep of lakeside gardens. The terrace is a scene you may recognise from a Bond or Star Wars film, but the creative treasures within the villa supersedes all fascination.  Former owner, Guido Monzino was an adventurer, Everest explorer and avid collector of exquisite things.

Marquis de Clerici’s 17th century villa is a cultural and botanical glory.  The gardens are a riot of colour and fragrance, resplendent in spring with the maze of azaleas and blooming in summer with hydrangeas. Art masterpieces include the painfully romantic Romeo and Juliet's Last Kiss painted in 1823 by Francesco Hayez.