· 7 min read · by Salimar Boat Tour
Villa del Balbianello, the most cinematic villa on Lake Como
If one villa on Lake Como is recognised by everyone even without knowing its name, this is it: the twin-arched loggia framing the lake in two opposite directions, the candelabra-pruned plane trees, the promontory reaching into the water opposite Isola Comacina. It is FAI's most-visited property in Italy, with about 170,000 visitors in 2022 and around 200,000 in 2023.
From monastery to villa
A Franciscan monastery stood on the promontory from the 13th century: the two bell towers you still see belong to its church. In 1785 Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini, after failing to buy Isola Comacina, bought the property and between 1787 and 1793 turned the monastery into a summer villa, adding the panoramic loggia with a library and a music room flanking the portico. It became a literary meeting place: Giuseppe Parini was among the guests.
It passed to his nephew Luigi Porro Lambertenghi and became a hub of Carbonari activity: Silvio Pellico tutored his sons here and was arrested on the property in 1820. After decades of neglect, in 1919 the American general Butler Ames bought and restored it.
Guido Monzino, the explorer who left it to FAI
In 1974 it was bought by Count Guido Monzino, heir to the Standa department-store fortune and an explorer: in 1971 he reached the North Pole by dog sled, in 1973 he led the first Italian expedition to climb Everest and was the first Italian on the summit. He died suddenly in 1988, aged 60, of a hereditary heart malformation, and left the villa to FAI. He is buried on the estate.
Inside you can see his collections — Chinese and pre-Columbian art, English and French antiques, oriental carpets — and the Museum of Expeditions, with his Everest gear and the sledge from the North Pole.
Hours and tickets 2026
- Park: full 13 euros, reduced (6-18 and students up to 25) 10 euros, family 38 euros
- Villa and park (interiors by 45-minute guided tour only): full 22 euros, reduced 12 euros, family 65 euros
- Free for FAI members and Tremezzina residents
- Open mid-March to end December, daily except non-holiday Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00-18:00 (until 17:00 in November and December)
- In February, weekends only
How to get there
By taxi-boat from the Lido di Lenno, about 5 minutes and 10-15 euros return, or on foot from Lenno along a woodland path of about one kilometre, 20-25 minutes. Public ferries do not stop at the villa: the nearest stop is Lenno. Address: via Guido Monzino 1, Tremezzina.
The films
Star Wars Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002): Anakin and Padme's secret wedding is set on the loggia, and the dock you see is the real one. Casino Royale (2006): Bond's recovery scenes with Vesper Lynd, near the Loggia Durini. Earlier still, A Month by the Lake (1995) with Vanessa Redgrave.
How we see it from the boat
The three-hour tour with a stop in Bellagio passes the Lavedo promontory: it is the point where almost everyone stops talking and reaches for a phone. From the water you take in what you cannot see from land: the loggia, the monastery bell towers, the terraced gardens dropping to the dock.
Curiosities
Cardinal Durini's motto, carved on the loggia, is "Fay ce que vouldras": do what you will. On the balustrade in front of the church the Visconti emblem survives, the serpent devouring a man. Durini is also popularly credited with serving one of the first coffees in Italy, which he called "French black tea".
