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In the shallower parts of Lake Como, the water is like some health-giving broth.
A customized Fiat 500 at Hotel Passalacqua, on Lake Como.Credit:Danilo Scarpati
Open your eyes underwater and youre swimming around in a wine bottle.
In the middle, the water is thick and glossy, like emulsion paint.
So much more elegant than the turquoise bays and lagoons you see on Instagram….
From left: The conservatory at Passalacqua, with its interiors by designer du jour J. J. Martin; Passalacqua, as seen from Lake Como.Danilo Scarpati
They should really make sunglasses with lenses the color of the Italian lakes.
just forgive my sun-lounger musings; Lake Como does this to you.
Passalacqua had a miraculous effect on our boys, too.
From left: Taking in the views from Villa Carlotta, a botanical garden and museum near Grand Hotel Tremezzo; the dock at Grand Hotel Tremezzo, which opened in 1910.Danilo Scarpati
Normally Aubrey, the two-year-old, likes to spend his time shouting and throwing things.
Ive never seen him so calm.
Virgil called it our greatest lake.
From left: Grand Hotel Tremezzoâs Happiness Fountain, designed by Modernist architect Ico Parisi; mixed seafood at its most photogenic in the restaurant of Grand Hotel Tremezzo.Danilo Scarpati
Pliny the Younger owned a pair of villas there, named Comedy and Tragedy.
Mussolini had the good taste to be shot on the eastern shore in 1945.
Nothing recalls the hideousness of civilization.
Varenna, one of the prettiest of the villages that line Lake Como.Danilo Scarpati
The mood is classy, never flashy.
The Passalacqua Villa had long been considered one of the areas most fetching private homes.
(There is a grand piano in the room, should inspiration strike.)
From left: The pool at Passalacqua, a historic Lake Como villa recently converted into a hotel; a lunch of lobster salad with melon at Passalacqua.Danilo Scarpati
The hotels vibe is moreSuccession albeit with a distinctly Italiansprezzatura.
It was such a black time.
The pause did, however, give De Santis time to obsess over the details.
Living near the villa, she found that her vision evolved.
We fell in love with this place more and more, she said.
The hotels vibe is moreSuccession albeit with a distinctly Italiansprezzatura.
You might just be allowed to explore them, if you ask nicely.
It immediately rendered all future vacations bitterly disappointing.
But actually, once those vases were safely removed, all four of us unspooled.
I think you could work through most of the major ice cream flavors in that time.
The lounges are places you might actually want to read a book.
His menus feature things like lobster salad with melon, veal Milanese, vanilla risotto.
Its domestic cooking done with refinement.
We retired inside for zabaglione, that wonderfully old-school boozy custard dessert.
Built in 1910, this 84-room property was one of the first of the grand hotels on the lake.
The whole thing runs like a Swiss watch.
Its also across the water from Bellagio, long renowned as the lakes most picturesque village.
All the essentials of Italian life, really.
I think you could work through most of the major ice cream flavors in that time.
We spent our last couple of nights at the Hilton.
The walk into town from there is known as the Passeggiata Lino Gelpi.
Civilization its not so bad after all.
The 84 rooms and suites have views of the town of Bellagio and the Grigne mountains.
