La vista e' bella

Oh to be transported to Lake Como in the 1800s, when balmy summers were spent villa-hopping: a ball here, a bell-tower inauguration there. A couple of hundred years on and the social scene is somewhat less regal, revolving around George Clooney’s villa. The actor, word had it, had just arrived for a sojourn when we visited.

We were staying on the opposite side of the lake at CastaDiva, the newest hotel in the Como region. Formerly the Villa Roccabruna, it was built by a Parisian dressmaker and then occupied by an Italian soprano. Here the composer Bellini wrote his opera Norma, which features the famous aria ‘Casta Diva’, and Donizetti shut himself inside for a month in 1830 to write his tragic opera Anna Bolena. Now a 75-room hotel with a swimming pool floating on the water and sweeping terraces, it has views over the colourful village of Blevio and, in the distance, the late Gianni Versace’s Villa Fontanelle, now owned by the Moscow restaurateur Arkady Novikov.

We rented a car, thinking it would be the easiest way to get around, but soon ditched it in a car park in the town of Bellagio, after a 45-minute stretch of hairpin bends. The lake-hugging towns we passed along the way were built when the only real mode of transport was a rowing boat, and their ringing bell towers — not to mention the snow-capped Alps — are far better appreciated from the lake, we decided as we boarded one of the regular ferries that chug around the lake.

Bellagio, the so-called ‘pearl of the lake’, sits at the central axis of the three arms of Lake Como, which forms an upturned Y-shape. It is a town of yolk-yellow villas and dusty pink palazzos; in high season it’s tourist central, with shops and boutiques catering to international visitors, but not beyond a bargain. I picked up a Parmesan grater with a wooden collection box for 15 — you’d pay double that for a similar model by Alessi. As we headed down to the shore we could smell the chestnuts a group of giovanotti were roasting over tin-drum fires and selling at 2 a bag. Turning a corner, we passed the gate commemorating the spot where Benito Mussolini was summarily seen off by Italian partisans in 1945 after his escape from prison. Il Duce was en route to the Swiss border, a few miles north of the lake.

From Bellagio we hopped aboard said ferry to Varenna, 20 minutes away. If Bellagio is Como’s pearl, Varenna is its diamond, albeit an unpolished one. Its permanent population is around 1,000, although this swells in the summer months as many of the colourful properties are let out. The best way to navigate the town’s steep stone stairways and shady porticos is via the walkway on stilts that hangs off the rocks, with the lake lapping beneath. Pines swayed in the breeze while fishermen waited patiently for a bite. In the small harbour we ate risotto ai funghi with earthy mushrooms for 8.

The city of Como itself sits on the bottom left arm of the Y of the lake, just 25 miles from Milan. The bells of its great cathedral ring out over the lake, calling you to visit the town’s traditional trattorias and smart shopping streets. We stopped for dinner at the family-run Osteria del Gallo, where we were welcomed by the seventy-something patriarch Giuseppe de Toma. There was no menu, just a handful of dishes of the day, including walnut and sage ravioli, lamb with polenta and rosemary, and lake trout with fried potatoes. We ordered the lot and a bottle of Chianti. As we tucked into a final crème caramel, Giuseppe sat down to his supper next to us.

On Sunday morning we headed to Villa Olmo, a neoclassical palace commissioned in 1797 by an Italian marchese as a summer retreat and named after an elm planted in the middle of its ornate gardens. Dotted along the borders, statues of Roman gods stood sentinel, while inside the villa we wandered around a contemporary sculpture show.

Having enjoyed Como’s culture, landscape and food, we said our final farewell with a Bellini at Harry’s Bar in Cernobbio, just down the road from Mr Clooney’s house. But sadly, we had to leave for home before he had a chance to invite us over. ES

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Classic Collection Holidays offers three nights at CastaDiva Resort & Spa from £1,252pp this June. Price based on two adults sharing a double garden view room on a B&B basis, and includes return flights from London Gatwick to Milan Malpensa and private transfers (0800 294 9315; classic-collection.co.uk)