With the Obamas hanging out with the Clooneys at Lake Como, revisit V.F.'s 2007 feature on the retreat for artists, writers, aristocrats, and, now, the very newly rich VFArchive
hortly after losing his prime-ministership in the July 1945 elections, Winston Churchill, stunned by the defeat and feeling a strain in his home life, left for an extended painting holiday on the shores of Lake Como. As summer waned, he flew to Italy with his entourage—his wife, daughter, physician, valet, secretary, and detective—in a Dakota belonging to Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the first Earl Alexander of Tunis.
That dreamy sense of unreality is exactly the reason that Como, a narrow, 30-mile-long lake that looks like an inverted Y, has always been a retreat for artists, writers, aristocrats, and, now, the very newly rich. Stendhal was inspired to set part ofApres une Lecture de Dante,Wordsworth, Shelley, Puccini, and Rossini all found inspiration at Como.
"They started buying properties without asking how much they were," says Enzo Pilferi, a photographer and publisher who has photographed nearly all the villas along the lake and has also documented Como's famous silk industry."They had no limits. They bought what they liked." "A man and his family live in the home that was formerly and is perhaps still occupied by his parents," Eves says, speaking generally."Why would one sell his or her home when it is assumed that it will later become the home of the next generation of children?"
Another reason for high prices is that there is only one part of the lake where everyone wants to buy: the"Riva Romantica," or Gold Coast of Como, a five-mile stretch on the western side between the towns of Cernobbio and Laglio, which gets the sun in the morning—"The gold in the mouth," says Ugoni. So the same gang of super-rich are competing for the same limited properties.
In the dining room, which still has the original 18th-century frescoes and a heavy Venetian crystal chandelier, Sri Lankan waiters serve risotto seasoned with fresh herbs from the garden, and homemade fruit sorbet. Canepa—who is one of the silk manufacturers in Como who still do very well despite globalization—admits his life on the lake is rarefied. Would he ever sell Villa II Balbiano? He shakes his head firmly no.
Versace, who had acquired his crumbling villa in 1977, introduced Elton John and Madonna to the lake. Later came Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. They told their friends. Designers such as Bill Blass, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Oscar de la Renta began vacationing in Como. In 2000,was filmed in part at the Villa del Balbianello, which juts out dramatically into the lake. Jennifer Lopez came on her honeymoon in 2001 with her second husband, Cris Judd.
But Eves's story is exceptional. Partly it was his patience, but also his respect and love for Como, which won over the owner. Other old families refuse to sell, no matter how much money is laid on the table. Inside, the villa—built in the 17th century—is tiled and cool. Besana Ciani points out precious objects: the portraits of Enrico Besana, who traversed America and New Zealand on horseback in the 1800s; his maps; his exquisite traveling bar with crystal decanters, tiny golden liqueur glasses; a porcelain collection from China. She tells stories of how her husband's ancestor Baron Ippolito Ciani bought the Villa d'Este in 1834, during the Austrian occupation .
If you close your eyes to the construction of the new swimming pool being built too close to the water's edge at the mysterious Villa La Cassinella , you can imagine Pliny's Lake Como. Or even further back. The prince pulls a heavy key from his vest and leads me inside the dark quiet. His grandfather Duke Tommaso Gallarati Scotti, a diplomat, entertained Churchill here in the 1950s. Another ancestor, the first Duke of Melzi, is thought to have been one of da Vinci's lovers. The rooms are dusty and smell of leather. There are two portraits of Napoleon, one in which he holds a map with his hands all over Italy. There are bronze tables by Manfredini.
There is indeed plenty of stargazing at Lake Como, but part of the reason that celebrities love the area is that locals tend to protect them. At Gatto Nero, the most starry restaurant in the area, the owner, Fausto Fontana, guards clients such as Britney Spears, Daniel Craig, and Kylie Minogue like a mama lion, and says the privacy of everyone, tourists or celebrities, is respected.
The hotel is now partly owned by the Droulers, a French family who arrived in Como in the 1930s to work in the linen industry. The eldest son, Jean-Marc Droulers, the current C.E.O. and president of the hotel, is often credited with spicing up the image of Villa d'Este in the 1980s.
"Frankly, I check the Russians out before they come," says one businessman in the area, who sometimes hosts visitors and relies on an Italian visa agency for intelligence."It's not hard to do. You make a few phone calls and you know who you are having as a guest."
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