Villa d'Este

A Renaissance villa from 1568, a hotel since the 1870s. 25 acres of formal gardens, the floating swimming pool, a helipad.

Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio commissioned the villa in 1568 as his summer residence on Lake Como's southwest shore; it became a hotel in 1873 and has welcomed guests every season since. The grounds are the argument: twenty-five acres of formal Italian gardens, statuary, a swimming pool that floats out on the lake itself (the Veranda pool, instantly recognizable), and a private mooring for the hotel's classic wooden launches. The villa's interiors are the older formal European register (frescoed ceilings, marble, period furniture, gilt) and the service runs at a level of continental-European formality that's nearly extinct. Bar Canova is the bar; the Veranda is the formal dining room. Forty-five minutes from Malpensa, six from Como S. Giovanni station by hotel transfer. Extended festive season: open through Christmas and New Year until early January, then closed for winter maintenance until mid-March.

• Best for — couples,families

• Neighborhood — Lake Como · Cernobbio
• Rooms — 151
• Price — €€€€
• 151 rooms
• Leading Hotels of the World
• Seasonal (March–January)

From the HALA guide, reviewed August 2026.

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