Lake Como: a place where the hills sweep upward from the shore and love stories are written in Italian. Only problem: Clooney won’t let you stay at his place anymore, after you stole all his stories. Here are a few new places to crash instead.
Your romantic tastes: mercurial, at best. Fortunately, at this Victorian-furnished, chef-equipped villa first built by Swiss nobles, you can paint oil portraits of your bashful lover from a giant, leafy terrace in the afternoon, and entertain up to six more in the patio hot tub at night. The adjacent private dock: handy for quick getaways.
Imagine you’re the Italian Gatsby: olive-skinned, gregarious... throwing the kind of sprawling garden party that only two neighboring mansions connected by a statue-flanked harbor could hold. But if not, Como’s new floating dock service can always come take you and your guests waterskiing. Otherwise, it’s a waste of a lake.
So you managed to unstock the local fish market for last night’s party. Probably why casting a line from the balcony of this lakeside man-pad—furnished with pieces handmade by its owner—seems like such a good idea. Don’t worry, the speedboat paparazzi won’t notice you peeking out of the ivy with that floppy hat.
Dilemma: you’re pro-opulence, but anti-mingling-with-the-public. Solution: renting out all eight brand-new, jacuzzi-appointed rooftop suites atop the Grand Hotel Tremezzo (Como’s palace turned super-hotel) and then hosting a cocktail hour of your own with lake views. Rock-skipping has never been so elegant.
