VILLAS ON THE LAKE OF COMO 
PLATES 8, 9, io, n, 12, 13 
l Lake of Como has always been a favourite resort of the Milanese nobility, 
and more especially that arm of the lake lying between Como and Bellaggio, 
probably on account of its accessibility, and also because of its being the 
coolest arm of the lake during the hot summer months. During the seven¬ 
teenth and eighteenth centuries many villas of importance were constructed 
here, but unfortunately few complete schemes have been preserved to the pre¬ 
sent day. The craze of the latter part of the eighteenth century for reducing 
everything to the dull level of the ‘ giardino inglese ’ was here less easily accomplished, for the ground 
invariably rises abruptly from the lakeside and landscape effects are difficult to produce; the garden 
designer had, therefore, usually to resort to the more formal method of terracing. The most extensive 
of these villas still remaining fairly intact is the superb house which Cardinal Ptolomeo Gallio 
built at Cernobbio, a few miles from Como, known in later days as the Villa d’ Este. This villa 
was commenced in 1568 from the designs of Pellegrino Pellegrini of Val Solda. On the death of 
the Cardinal, in 1607, the property passed to his nephew Ptolomeo, Duke of Vito, who, however, 
did not reside here, and eventually the villa was bequeathed to the Jesuit Order, who remained 
there until 1769, when the estate was let to Count Mark Odescalchi, who kept it until 1778. In 
the following year it was let to General Marliani, who afterwards bought the villa and resided 
there for many years. In 1815 it was sold to Caroline, Princess of Wales, who gave it the name 
of the Villa d’ Este, and made many additions to the buildings and also to the gardens. Here for 
several years she lived, surrounded by a pleasure-loving Court, until shortly before her death, in 
1821. After this time the property was much neglected. When the Court finally abandoned the 
villa it became a famous show-place, and in later years was changed into an hotel, in which state 
it now remains. 
On Plate 8 is a plan of the villa as it existed in the days of Princess Charlotte, when, 
although the grounds were partly anglicised and the little classic temples and rustic grottos, which 
so delighted her generation, were mostly constructed, the main lines of the older Renaissance 
garden were suffered to remain. 
Originally the only approaches to the villa were either by means of water or on horseback 
along a difficult and tedious track, a state of affairs pertaining to nearly all these lakeside villas. 
( 45 ) h 
