A private tour of Villa del Balbianello

Why it is on the list

The villa stands at the tip of the wooded Lavedo promontory on the western shore of Lake Como, where a 13th-century Franciscan convent stood; Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini turned it into a retreat in the late 18th century and built the Loggia, which holds the music room and the library.¹ Guido Monzino, the first Italian on Everest, bought it in 1974 and left it to FAI in 1988. His rooms keep 18th-century French furniture, silver, glass paintings and Beauvais tapestries, and the attic holds his Expedition Museum, with the largest collection of Inuit ivories outside Greenland and the sledge from the 1971 North Pole expedition.¹

It is the wrong day for anyone who cannot manage slopes and steps: the paths are partly gravel, the Loggia Durini is up a staircase, and the lift reaches 3 of the villa's 6 levels.² It is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, and in winter it opens only on set dates.²

How to get it

Write to booking.balbianello@fondoambiente.it and ask for a private guided tour; private and group tours are booked only by email.² The house opens from 10:00 to 18:00, with the last tour of the interiors at 16:00, and from November from 10:00 to 17:00, with the last tour at 15:00.² A standard tour of the interiors takes about 50 minutes, in Italian or English; the public Villa and Park ticket is €25 for an adult.² Come by boat: the taxi boat from Lido di Lenno runs by reservation through Bellagio Boat Service, and any private boat may land; on foot it is a 1 km uphill path from Lenno, about 25 minutes.² There is no café, only water and snacks at the bookshop, and no luggage storage.²

Discretion

A private boat lands at the villa's own dock, away from the footpath from Lenno.² Public tours of the interiors go in groups of up to 16; a private tour is arranged by email with the villa's staff.² With notice, a car can drive up the park road to the ticket office for a guest with limited mobility.²