Passalacqua – Bellini's villa on the shore of Lake Como

Moltrasio is a stone village on the western shore of Lake Como, a short drive north of Cernobbio, and just outside its old gate a wrought-iron entrance opens onto one of the great villas of the lake. Passalacqua was built in the late 18th century for Count Andrea Lucini Passalacqua, and the composer Vincenzo Bellini later lived and worked here as a friend of the family. Today it belongs to the De Santis family, who also own the Grand Hotel Tremezzo further up the lake. They bought the villa in 2018, spent three years restoring it and opened it to guests in June 2022. There are only 24 rooms and suites, divided between the main villa, the former stables and a house on the shore, and seven acres of terraced gardens fall away to a private jetty. The hotel, the restaurant and the gardens are for guests alone. The MICHELIN Guide gives Passalacqua three Keys, its highest distinction.

Here is what a stay is like: which part of the estate to choose, how the days run, and where the lake takes you.

01The house

The estate grew out of land that once belonged to Pope Innocent XI. The villa that stands today was designed and built by the Milanese architect Carlo Felice Soave for Count Andrea Lucini-Passalacqua, of one of Como's leading noble families, and Soave placed a music room at the heart of his neoclassical plan. The count's heir, Alessandro, loved music and became a friend and patron of Bellini, who stayed at the villa and composed La Sonnambula under its roof.

When the last Lucini-Passalacqua count died without an heir in 1890, the house began to change hands. Among its later owners were an Estonian baroness with a passion for fast cars and a reclusive Hungarian anthropologist; Winston Churchill was among its visitors. The De Santis family, natives of the lake, restored the villa and its music room over three years, and kept the sense of a private country house rather than a grand hotel.

02Rooms and suites

The Villa is the heart of the estate and holds twelve rooms, from doubles of around 40 square metres to the suites named after the house's history. Suite Agnese measures 90 square metres, Suite Norma 120, and Suite Bellini, with its view over the gardens and the lake, runs to 250. Expect frescoes, stucco and fine decorative detail throughout.

Insider tip

The estate is for hotel guests only, and the house closes from early January to early March.

Behind the Villa, the Palazz – the former stables – has eight rooms with a more rustic, country-house feel: exposed beams and hand-painted walls, at 37 to 50 square metres. Down by the water, Casa al Lago has four rooms with front-row views of the lake, each with its own garden, and the whole house can be booked for one party. Choose the Villa for the full sense of history, Casa al Lago for the lake at your door.

03Where to eat

The kitchen is led by the chef Viviana Varese, who cooks what the house calls grand villa cuisine: fresh, seasonal, classic Italian dishes in the manner of Italy's noble houses, with much of the produce taken from the estate's own kitchen garden. Dinner is served on the candlelit terrace or in the Sala Ovale, where frescoed gods and goddesses look down from the walls.

Breakfast is a family-style buffet of pastries, cakes, sliced Parma ham and eggs cooked to order – the eggs come from the hotel's own free-range hens – and it can be taken inside or out. At lunch the mood is lighter: a table on the bar terrace, plates at La Double J, the pavilion bar by the pool, or a hamper packed for the boat. If you ask, a table for two can be laid in the garden.

04Aperitivo and the bar

The evening begins at the old-school bar by the pool, indoors or on the terrace, with a Negroni, a spritz, a dry Martini or a glass of champagne. The bar also serves light lunches, and the sommelier is on hand for wine tastings that can turn into an unplanned evening.

05The spa, the pool and the gardens

The spa occupies the ground-floor hall of the Palazz, under high vaults and columns. From there an underground gallery, dug in the 18th century beneath the gardens, leads to a vaulted stone chamber with a sauna and steam bath, and on through a rock-hewn relaxation area to a heated indoor pool that opens onto the Italian gardens. The pool can be reserved privately before or after the regular hours. Treatments – massages and facials – use Seed to Skin, a Tuscan skincare line, and there is an open-air treatment area in the orchard. The gym runs the length of a former greenhouse and spills out into the olive grove; yoga and meditation are held under the old magnolias.

The gardens date from the 18th century and descend in terraces around a winding central axis of water features, between ancient cypresses and cedars. There is a kitchen garden beside the bocce court, a pergola of sweet table grapes, a clay tennis court and a henhouse, and guests may pick fruit and herbs as they go. An outdoor pool and its bar complete the picture.

06The lake and the village

Moltrasio is built of its own grey stone, pietra moltrasina, and hundreds of steps connect the shore with the upper village. Milan is about an hour away and the town of Como about 15 minutes. Passalacqua keeps a small fleet of boats with its own skippers: the Aquariva, a modern homage to Riva's Aquarama; the Riva Olympic, built as a tribute to the 1968 Olympic Games; the vintage launch Giumello II for slow sunset cruises; and Didi, a sportier boat for longer trips. Boat tours take in the historic towns and gardens of the lake, with a picnic on board or a champagne cruise at dusk.

For dinners away from the estate, the house points guests to Crotto Valdurino in Moltrasio, Vapore in Torno, La Tirlindana in Sala Comacina and Trattoria del Glicine in Cernobbio – and to the gelateria Le Giuggiole in the village.

07Making the most of a stay

Daily activities are included and change with the season: on Mondays a tour of the underground tunnels, on Thursdays a gelato-making class. There are open-air film evenings, cooking lessons with the chef in the open kitchen, board games in the library and an original Vespa 50 for the roads above the lake; around the estate, guests are driven in the Spiaggina, an orange open-top vintage Fiat 500. Spring and summer are the classic seasons, but autumn and early winter are quieter and the house stays open until early January. Check-in is from 15.00 and check-out at noon.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.