December 26, 2023
Villa Camilla, San Siro, Largo Como, Italia
Buongiorno. It has turned a little bit cooler today. Today the light weight long-John’s come out of the suitcase. It will be another relaxing day. Serra, George and Luisa are heading back to Torino this morning. George has a meeting with his Bar Mitzvah advisor, Luisa need to get out of the limelight and get some sleep, and Serra probably needs some sleep as well. Pietro is staying here with us to command the ship. And yes, he needed some sleep as well.
Today we will go and visit Villa del Balbianello in Lenno, 17 kilometers down State Route 340 along the western lake shore. Many of you will know Villa del Balbianello although you may not recognize the name, you may recognize it in photos. A number of feature films have used the villa for various scenes. Some of these are, A Month by The Lake (1995), His Demise (2016), Casino Royal2 (2006), Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002). Some of you may know the Indian movie star Ranveer Singh. His wedding to Deepika Padukone too place at the villa in 2018.
The villa is located on the top of the small wooded peninsula of Dosso d’Avedo on the western shore of the south-west branch of Lake Como. The villa is not only famous in the movies but is also famous for its elaborate terraced gardens. Since the 13th century there was a Franciscan monastery on the tip of the peninsula. The remnants of the two campanili (bell towers) still remain on the property.
In 1785 Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini purchased the property and converted the monastery into a summer home. He added a loggia so views could get two different panoramic views of the lake. His nephew, Luigi Porro Lambertenghi became the owner in 1796. In 1820 Lambertenghi was force to leave Italy for political reasons.
Eventually Lambertenghi sold the villa to Giuseppe Arconati Visconti. Visconti made improvements to its gardens and the loggia. Even today, the balustrade in front of the church bears the Visconti emblem of a serpent with a man in its mouth. During the period of Visconti ownership, the villa hosted politicians and writers Giovanni Berchet, Alessandro Manzoni, Giuseppe Giusti, as well as the artist Arnold Böcklin. The gradual decline of the family resulted in a neglect of the villa for more than 30 years.
Just before World War I, the American businessman Butler Ames saw the villa for the first time. He made an offer to purchase it from the Arconati Visconti family and was initially rejected. He kept returning with ever-larger cash offers, until in 1919 he was successful in obtaining ownership. Ames then renovated the villa and its garden.
In 1974, Ames's heirs sold the villa to businessman and explorer Count Guido Monzino (leader of the first Italian expedition to climb Mount Everest). While Monzino left the exterior essentially unchanged, he had the interior of the villa completely re-decorated, installing artifacts acquired on his expeditions as well as important pieces of English Georgian and French antique furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries, Beauvais tapestries, French boiseries and Oriental carpets. After the assassination of Aldo Moro in 1978 by the Red Brigade, Monzino became worried about his safety, and added a system of hidden passages, linking parts of the property.
Monzino died in 1988 and left the villa along with most of the Dosso d'Avedo and an endowment to pay for maintenance, to the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI), the National Trust of Italy. Its grounds now form part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani. Today, the Villa del Balbianello is the most visited among the 52 FAI properties with over 135,000 visitors in 2019.
In 2016, the Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano commenced a €413,000 project to restore and improve the villa’s jetty, install new signage, new security, emergency lighting and fire prevention systems. The villa's existing diesel fuel system will be replaced with a modern heating system, new visitors' bathrooms and drainage systems, and improvements to the bookshop and ticket office space.
It is still a little hike from the parking lot to the villa itself, but it is very much worth it. Both Grace and Harry IV thought it would make a great destination wedding site. Their father was thinking more of the VWF in Kansas City. Villa Camilla is also used for weddings. Just another thought.
Just in case you are interested Villa del Balbianeallo is only available for events like weddings. However, sharing the Punto di Laredo with Villa del Balbianeallo is Villa la Cassinella. Villa la Cassinella is, without doubt, a place that offers guests unique and unmatched views of Largo Como.
The villa has undergone a complete restoration. It provides a first class blend of modern convenience and amenities that is surrounded by natural beauty and furnished with the highest quality Italian antique furniture, fine art and objects chosen from across Europe.
Adjacent to the fully heated infinity edge swimming pool, finished with 22-carat gold reflective tiles lies the state-of-the-art cinema and a spa style bathroom which services the fully equipped Technogym gymnasium.
The floodlit tennis court is located a short walk away through the Villa’s perfectly kept gardens. The Terrace House with panoramic lake views, private terraces and dining area is quietly situated beyond the tennis court. It is one of those places where is you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. You can get more information at: https://www.villalacassinella.com/about/. I didn’t even bother to ask.
We left the Villa del Balbianello and went right back to the villa. Tomorrow is a transfer day for all of us. Some going to Milano, some to Sicily and some of us to Torino. Tonight’s dinner consisted of all the delights of the Valtellina. Sciatt – an irregularly shaped buckwheat flour-based fritter filled with cheese. This was served on a bed of arugula with slices of barsolia around the edge. Then there was Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese. Pizzochcheri is actually a type of tagliatelle, a flat ribbon pasta, but what distinguishes it, is that it is made of a blend of buckwheat’s flour and wheat flour. Pizzoccheri alla Valtellinese is a dish which uses the Pizzoccheri pasta. The dish is the pasta, potatoes, cabbage and cheese. One bit and you are full or have sufficient energy to go out a pull a freight train. Love the stuff, but after a couple forks full and you are done.
Polenta taragna varies a little from village to village. Basically, it is mush made from somewhat equal parts wheat, corn and buckwheat flour. Cooked in salted water, with lots of butter and cheese. Traditionally it is semi-firm. Not runny, but not quite completely still. You will see polenta on the menu in more restaurants these days, but it usually lacking the buckwheat, is very yellow and as a result and generally is served fairly runny. Polenta taragna holds together. Leftover polenta taragna is sliced and fried for breakfast and served with maple syrup. Yum.
Dessert was nice cream, vanilla or cream, or pistachio, served over fresh fruit. If that wasn’t to your liking there was one of the five pantone to chose from. Or, Nonna’s fudge. Or left over birthday cake. There is probably more but I am full.
People relaxed, packed and drank a little more wine. Then it was off to bed. There was an extra half hour or so when my phone went missing. Knowing there would be no sleep without knowing where it was, every step was retraced, until at last it was found outside ont he smoking porch. Way too obvious.
Bounanotte, ciao Enrico
Sciatt
Piazzaccheri
Harry IV Serving himself Polenta. All 14 of around the table. Leander is hidden.
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