The pearl of Como
You fall in love with Lake Como from the first moment you drive up to it. The emerald expanse of the lake, high mountains and a scattering of red tiled roofs. And you can no longer take your eyes off the train window, risking passing your stop. No wonder Lake Como is called one of the most beautiful in Europe. Also, it has an odd shape. Someone sees an inverted Y in it, someone calls the lake a “triangular star”, but it reminded me of a running man. The lake is formed by three divergent arms: Colico in the north, Lecco in the southeast and Como in the southwest.
Where the two “legs” join, on the top of the very cape that cut the lake into 2 parts, the charming city of Bellagio is located: old multi-colored houses entwined with ivy, streets descending to the lake, a spacious promenade along the lake - all this makes the city is the most popular among tourists, the city is often called the "pearl of Como".
Bellagio has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological finds indicate that the first settlements on the territory of modern Bellagio appeared about 30 thousand years ago. And in the 5th century BC. the ancient Roman “castellum” (castellum) appeared on the cape, to which the surrounding villages obeyed, and where they exchanged goods and worshiped the gods. The Romans began to grow olives and laurel here. The strategically advantageous location of Bellagio made it one of the most important settlements on the lake and the subject of constant strife. At the end of the 13th century, the city became the property of the powerful Visconti family and became part of the Duchy of Milan.
At the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries, the city became one of the most popular holiday destinations among the noble families of Lombardy. Luxurious villas are being built here (Melzi, Serbelloni, Trotti, Giulia, etc. ), gardens and parks are laid out, and expensive shops are opening. The glory of Bellagio as a luxury resort has spread far beyond the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. Almost all European nobility of that time sought to relax among the gardens of this beautiful town. The most famous guest of Bellagio was the composer Franz Liszt, who chose this city for his honeymoon with the Countess d'Ago Marie-Catherine de Flavini.
The first hotel - Hotel Genazzini - in Bellagio was opened in 1825. Over time, other hotels appeared: Firenze, Grand Brittany, Grand Hotel Bellagio and the most famous today - Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni.
Villa Serbelloni was built in the 15th century. on the site where the villa of Pliny the Younger used to stand. At one time Emperor Maximilian I, Leonardo da Vinci, Cardinal Borromeo, and later Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm, Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy stayed here. For more than a century, Villa Serbelloni has been the 5-star Grand hotel Villa Serbelloni and is famous for its luxurious antique interiors, spacious rooms with lake views and a huge shady park, fragrant with the scents of roses, camellias, bougainvilleas and lemon trees. You can get into the park from April to November only with a guide - excursions are held twice a day.
Another villa that played an important role in the history of Bellagio is Villa Melzi, built for Duke Francesco Melzi d'Eril. About Villa Melci - http://www.turpravda.ua/places/it/como_lake/Villa_Melci-s6332/r185552.html
For those who want to sunbathe and swim in Bellagio, there is a small equipped paid beach, there is a whole beach complex Lido di Bellagio. And if you go through the park of Villa Melzi, you can get to a large free beach. Like the entire coast of the lake, it is stony and pebbly. Judging by the number of people, both local residents and vacationers in Ballaggio and neighboring San Giovanni tourists come / come here to swim.
