Lake Como’s Villa Passalacqua, near Grand Hotel Tremezzo, set to open
One of Italy’s loveliest villas and most expensive slices of real estate will open as a boutique hotel in June.
One of Italy’s loveliest villas and most expensive slices of real estate will open as a boutique hotel in June, presenting the ultimate Lake Como hideaway for the paparazzi averse. The romantic Passalacqua is nestled in the pretty village of Moltrasio on Como’s glamorous western shore above lush gardens terraced down to the lake. It’s a secluded retreat that assures guests’ privacy courtesy of a “secret underground entrance”.
Sister property to the famous Grand Hotel Tremezzo, the villa is operated by one of Italy’s best known hotelier families, Paolo, Antonella and Valentina De Santis, who are lovingly restoring this landmark building to offer 24 guest suites, including the largest on the lake.
This building’s history is intriguing, having been expanded and decorated in the 18th century by Count Andrea Passalacqua, and played host to a string of important figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill. Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini penned some of his most famous operas here.
Ornate reception rooms feature Venetian chandeliers, intricate carvings, museum-quality objets d’art and original frescoes by the Italian neoclassical painter Andrea Appiani, court painter to Napoleon.
The 24 suites will be spread across the villa, old stables and the Casa al Lago perched on the lake’s edge. No two suites will be the same, however each will feature a lavish, marble bathroom using stone hand-selected in Verona. The largest suite incorporates the double-height balustraded music room where Bellini once played.
Perhaps the real glory of this storied property is the classic terraced garden featuring ancient olive, cedar and cypress trees, formal parterres, a 200-year-old greenhouse and historic orchard. Set among the ground’s many secret nooks, which include a network of tunnels and catacombs, is a swimming pool and lakeside tennis court.
The hotel’s wellness program will make the most of the grounds, with an open-air gym in the olive grove and spa treatments in the orchard.
And the icing on the cake? A fleet of vintage motor boats hitched to the private dock. Perfect for a spin around the lake.
Rooms from €1000 ($1620) including breakfast.
CHRISTINE McCABE
Book club
THE PASSENGER SERIES
Europa Editions
Anthologies are perfect grab-and-go snacks for readers on the move but I’ve finally stopped dipping and diving and recently have completed two well-produced titles in a Europa Editions/Allen & Unwin series of nine titles that kicked off in late 2020. The Passenger is the overarching theme and the duo covers Japan and Greece. So, a destination where I have lived, and know well, and another I have visited just twice and never to its fabled Aegean Islands.
The collection is intended “for explorers of the world” but these are not conventional guides. Even the litany of facts upfront are quirky, rather than altogether helpful. Japan has 56,000 convenience stores, for example, and the average delay for Shinkansen (bullet train) services is 24 seconds. Contributors are mostly novelists and essayists, either natives of the destinations or with abiding connections, so it’s a “literary holiday” approach, especially in the Japan volume, which features well-known contemporary scribes of the ilk of Banana (Mahoko) Yoshimoto, and delves into post-tsunami emotional responses and depression, religion, urban alienation and loneliness, alarming suicide rates, cultural oddities and sexism. It doesn’t sound much fun, for sure, but understanding more about a society, even if only superficially, can dispel prejudices and make better travellers of us all.
The Greece title demystifies a similarly diverse range of issues. There’s longevity among island dwellers (Ikaria, for starters, with its stress-free environment, unpolluted diet, invigorating herbal teas and famously long-living residents), unfathomable bureaucracy, illustrious history, political machinations, film and music, the economy (the 21st-century colossus in the room, for sure), changing food influences and migration patterns (to and from). There are graphs, illustrations and decent photography (ditto for Japan). The series is a fine achievement from US/Italy-based Europa Editions, which publishes “international fiction”, much of it in translation, and has a stated aim of “creating bridges between readerships, between cultures, and between peoples … deepening awareness and knowledge of a particular country”. I am off next to Brazil, the third in the line-up.
SUSAN KUROSAWA
In the news
Australians travelling to Fiji can use rapid antigen tests taken within 24 hours of flying to enter the country rather than more expensive PCR tests. Other restrictions have eased, including Fiji’s nationwide curfew and capacity curbs on transport and venues. Bars, however, are still restricted to 80 per cent capacity. Fiji has reached a 90 per cent vaccination rate for people aged over 15.
Mat McLachlan Battlefield Tours has rejoined the tourism fray after a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic. The operator is commemorating the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin on February 19 as part of a five-day tour in the NT.
Australia’s UNESCO City of Design, Geelong, will celebrate creativity, innovation and resilience during a 10-day festival next month. Geelong Design Week puts artists, designers, Indigenous culture, manufacturing and much more in the spotlight. The event, centred around the Wadawurrung word “taur”, which means “belonging”, starts with an evening featuring singer Claire Bowditch; March 17-27.
Game of Thrones fans can enter the mythical land of Westeros at a new tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. The imposing Dragonstone throne and the Great Hall at Winterfell are two of the highlights of the tour at Linen Mill Studios, an original filming location in Banbridge, County Down.
PENNY HUNTER
Spend it
Tangent GC (Garment Care) eco-friendly organic formulations are made with essential oils and designed to neutralise odours. The Swedish brand also has an oud-fragranced denim wash and a super-soft rinse for cashmere. A delicate detergent suitable for silk and wool plus a fabric spray are each blended with delicate yuzu. They also have a parallel line of body care items. From $35-$39 for garment care; $19-$59 for body care.
SUSAN KUROSAWA
