After walking such a lot yesterday, I planned a slightly lazier day for Jane’s birthday. We were going to visit the famous Villa del Balbianello Gardens. These are right near our hotel. I hadn’t realised that we’d need to book in order to get in so had only just managed to get tickets a few days ago and we were lucky to get in. I booked a tour of the house as well as time in the gardens.
On our last Day in Italy it was Jane’s birthday and the sun made an early appearance which was nice. After opening her cards and reading lots of WhatsApp messages, we had our breakfast on the terrace. It was a little chilly but once again we enjoyed the Valtelinna treats of honey, fresh raspberry Jam, blueberry Jam and pancakes. The tiny fresh figs are also my new favourite thing. The couple that we chatted to in the hotel restaurant last night both wished Jane a happy birthday before they went off to Como to buy him a new pair of shoes.
I wanted to catch the little taxi boat that goes from Lenno to the Villa but when we got there there was a hand written sign saying he wouldn’t be starting until 12 noon today. I’d read online that he’s a bit unreliable. Hm. Now we needed to walk and it takes about 30 mins to walk up the hill of the promontory and to the Villa’s entrance. We were quite early and in fact weren’t allowed to even start the walk for 30 mins and it was then a fairly steep walk up to the entrance proper.
Once in, the gardens are immediately spectacular and we had a quick look before it was time for our house tour at 11-15. The guide spoke great English and there were only 15 people in the group so it felt very exclusive.
We worked our way down from the fifth floor through a series of wonderful rooms, not particularly large but all filled with history and fascinating artefacts. The Villa was built in the 12th century but it was the last owner who held the most interest. Count Guido Monzino was the son of the owner of Standa Department Stores and extremely wealthy. Guido too was a businessman but his passion was exploring. He’d bought Villa Balbianello in 1974 and wanted to turn the house into a cross between a well organised museum and a school for explorers. He’d been to The North Pole and organised the first successful climb of Mount Everest by an Italian (although he actually couldn’t make the summit due to heart problems). My favourite room had glass cabinets full of of really ancient and priceless masks including ones from Greece (5000BC), Thailand, Greenland and Mexico. It was like a collection from the British Museum.
Other floors had tiny Inuit monster carvings and memorabilia from his expenditions like the sled he’d used in the North Pole and clothes he wore on Everest.
Other rooms were ‘just’ his living rooms like the cocktail room, the bedrooms, dining room and even a very lush blue smoking room! These were covered in the finest fabrics, with French and Italian chandeliers and paintings done in reverse on glass. The views from every window down to Lake Como and her surrounding mountains are sublime. There was a unique way of stopping us tourists sitting on any of the chairs…they’d placed a spiky sweet chestnut on each of them.
Guido Monzino died in 1988 (lung cancer) and donated the whole house and gardens to the Italian National Trust or FAI. Next we explored the gardens. They’re not huge but the paths wind around the house and the promontory and again has the most beautiful views from the terraces across and down to the Lake. There aren’t many flowers but it’s the trees that are so famous for their fabulous ‘Blobby’ shapes. Well that’s the Holm Oak and a couple of Camphor Trees. They’re huge and take a whole team of people a month to prune them. There are also enormous Cyprus Trees and an incredible creeping fig that climbs all over the walls in a well trained manner.
The gardens are also famous for appearing in films. Notably a scene from Stars Wars 2: Attack of the Clones where Anakin and Padma steal a kiss by the balustrades! People were queuing up and moving the benches so that they could have their photo taken in the exact same spot today. Someone was even wearing a cloak…..
The other really famous film is Casino Royale with Daniel Craig as James Bond.
People can pay to use the gardens to get married and today there was indeed an American Bride and Groom having their wedding photos taken here. Despite all of the Instagram/Tik Tok Influencers here today, we really enjoyed our visit but now it was time to catch the boat back home. We had a little wait on the steps at the back of the Villa , where I did another sketch. The boat ride is in one of those really nice old boats and can only hold 12 people. It takes just a few mins to whizz back to Lenno and costs 8 Euros per person but it’s well worth it for the chance to see the Villa in all its glory from the water.
We celebrated being back in Lenno with a Gelato from our favourite shop. Today I had Pear and also Apple and Cinnamon. Jane meanwhile had Marsala and also Sicilian Almond. All were declared absolutely scrummy and tasted exactly like the real thing, in ice cream form. Delicious!
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel. We’d contemplated sitting by the pool and maybe I’d even go in for a swim. However, the sun had gone again and so we just sat at the front of the hotel, enjoying the views and doing the crossword! We then had a FaceTime with Mum before it was time to get ready to go out for tonight’s meal. I know…..we were venturing out! We’d booked this restaurant that I’d found on TripAdvisor from back home but I hadn’t really realised quite how far it was from the hotel. Or that getting about is not as easy as you’d think. Taxis are like hen’s teeth and have to be booked at least 24 hours in advance and cost a fortune. Taxi boats are out of the question unless you have time to organise a mortgage. I have been fascinated to see who does actually have enough money to book these and I can report that it is American and Chinese folk.
Anyway, I digress….after discussing our predicament with the lovely lady on reception at our hotel a couple of days ago, we knew we needed to catch the 17:50 bus towards Como. Well, we were there about 10mins early and waited and waited and waited…..until 18:15. Nothing. There were people at the stop opposite who seemed to have the same problem but no way of knowing when , if ever, the bus would come. Eventually, knowing it would take us 40mins to walk, we gave up and decided to go on foot. I have to say, I am very proud of Jane for being prepared to give this a go on her birthday. She’s a good girl. ❤️
The walk would require us to walk all along the very busy and narrow main road. Once again, in parts there is no pavement at all and on a couple of occasions we dipped off down cobbled paths towards the lake to avoid the fear of oncoming traffic. It was taking ages to get there and even though it turned out we were now walking a different part of the flipping Greenway, we weren’t terribly interested in its picturesqueness! I just wanted us to get safely to the Restaurant Locanda La Tirlindana! Eventually, we made it and the sight of the pretty restaurant in the cobbled square of Sala Comacina , right next to the Lake and its peaceful harbour, was a very welcome one. We sat under the ancient plane trees, listening to the sound of the church bells and watching the night sky darken and all the lights twinkling in the villages on the opposite side of the lake. The lovely Harvest Moon even made an appearance. And the food was our favourite of the whole holiday. Their Ravioli filled with Marscapone cheese and in a lemon /butter sauce was worth all the rave reviews and the lamb chops with mint sauce and veg was a welcome change and perfectly cooked. The desserts weren’t half bad either..I chose a taste of 4 different things and Jane had the White Tiramisu. Well who knew such a heavenly dish existed!
Just as we were contemplating ordering a coffee our lovely taxi arrived. Thank goodness we hadn’t planned to get the bus back. 18915 steps was enough for today.
Where shall we go to next? 