Bellagio on Lake Como

Like the rest of our stay in Italy the weather was sunny but the temperatures seemed a little lower, around the high 20's or low 30's, making our visit to Bellagio very comfortable.

3 July 2012 - We had another early morning start travelling by two taxi's, two trains and a ferry to arrive in Bellagio by 2pm.  We checked into the very nice Hotel Metropole Bellagio where we had a side room with views of the lake and street along the waterfront plus a balcony.

View from our room at the Hotel Metropole Bellagio

At 3:30pm we boarded a water taxi tour to Villa del Balbianello, last owned by Guido Monzino, a Milanese businessman who was a collector and explorer.  

Bellagio Water Taxi, Villa Balbianello Tour

Villa del Balbianello

He created a private museum at the villa, which is now open to tours. Our guide helped to explain the decor, the artworks and artifacts as well as the building's history and its owners. 

One of the rare items in the private museum at Villa del Balbianello.

The villa was also used as the backdrop for a scene in Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones and in two other movies, A Month By The Lake and Casino Royale.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_del_Balbianello  

Backdrop for Star Wars Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

That night we dined at the restaurant at the Hotel Metropole which I chose an interesting selection of fish.  The first fish I ate was bone free, starting left to right but then the middle one had bones which included ones as small as a strand of hair and soft too, maybe you could eat them but I couldn't bare to try so after a long time I picked all the bones out.  The last fish I did manager to eat most of it, the only reason I stopped eating was I was sick of picking bones out.  Yummy but be prepared!

Three fishes at the Hotel Metropole

The next day the weather was slightly cooler and came in cloudy later in the afternoon.  We had a beautiful big breakfast at the hotel, then walked to Villa Melzi to view the gardens,

Gardini del Villa Melzi

Gardini del Villa Melzi

the tickets are for all day so we explored the gardens for a while before heading off to Promo Bellagio located in a watchtower.  This is where we booked our ticket for a tour of Villa Serbelloni's grounds which is owned by the Rockefeller Foundation of New York.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us about the villas past as well as its current use where leaders in various fields of work can spend four weeks concentrating on their work, this meant that we could not take photos of the Villa Serbelloni or any of the people there.  

Top right Villa Serbelloni, stone watchtower Promo Bellagio 

Bellagio from Villa Serbelloni gounds

After completing this tour we walked around to Punta Spartivento at the very tip of Bellagio, had lunch and then returned to Villa Melzi's gardens to finish exploring the perfectly landscaped gardens.  Returning to Punta Spartivento for a swim in Lake Como and had an ice cream in Bellagio's first Gelato shop opened in 1919 and served by the original owners, son.

Where we swam at Punta Spartivento