One of the most extravagant hotels in Europe, Adam Hay Nicholls stays at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni on the fringes of Lake Como in best possible season: autumn
One of three ‘grande dame’ hotels on northern Italy’s perennially glamorous Lake Como, the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni lives up to its Belle Époque billing in many ways, not least by serving me peacock for dinner. Delicious and lean, the stately bird tastes somewhere between duck and pork. They neglect to decorate my plate with iridescent plumage.
That might be OTT, even for this place. But more on that later. Built on the lakeside in 1854 by an Italian count in the handsome, bustling (in summer months, certainly) town of Bellagio, it’s situated close to where the tourist boats dock but is an oasis of calm, set in lush gardens. The geography of Lake Como puts us right in the centre. From my room with a small terrace, I can gaze down to the blissfully refreshing electric-blue swimming pool before a tiny strip of beach and the basil-green lake into which guests can plunge via a vintage diving board. The hotel may appear its most radiant in the summertime, but in autumn it feels all the more intimate with a morning fog on the lake and the tourists banished back to whence they came. It was in this season that Al Pacino squired Martha Keller in the Formula One meets cancer flick Bobby Deerfield back in 1977.
Beyond, on the western side of the lake, are the smaller towns of Tremezzo and Griante, and behind them rise verdant mountains. The Grand Hotel Tremezzo, opposite, and the Villa d’Este, which is situated close to the town of Como, are the Villa Serbelloni’s peers, but the consensus is that the other two are flashier. The GHVS is where the quiet money goes. No one’s going to give the paparazzi a tip off here. One elderly English VIP comes every summer and takes the discrete Garden Suite for two months at a time. He’s been coming for decades. Comprising 94 bedrooms, of which 22 are suites, the hotel has been privately owned by the Bucher family, from Bergamo but originating from Switzerland, since 1918.
The hotel on the fringes of Lake Como
Lake Como in autumn: when the locals go out to eat, away from the tourist hordes
At one point in the late 19th century they owned 42 hotels, but now all concentration is on this one. Approaches from the big American luxury chains have been made, and immediately declined. It’s a jewel the family refuses to sell. In the beginning, most of the Serbelloni’s guests were wealthy Italians such as the Pirellis, and during the war it served as a hospital protected by its Swiss ownership. In the jet set era, heavy hitters and stylish stars began to arrive from across the Atlantic, lured by the cinematic beauty of the landscape and the antique charm of the hotel. Jan Bucher is the thirtysomething general manager and son of the current patriarch. He learnt the trade at other people’s hotels in Singapore, putting the hours in as he still does. He’s always on the shop floor in his conservative suit and tie, takes his meals with the staff, and couldn’t be humbler or more approachable.
In June 1963, months before his assassination, President John F Kennedy made the hotel a satellite of The White House, with secretaries, national security advisors and the latest high-tech communications equipment buzzing in the frescoed function rooms. JFK’s suite, no.133, is among the most sought after, as is Sir Winston Churchill’s, no.141. Al Pacino is known to favour the latter. Mr Pacino has been a frequent visitor since the movie Bobby Deerfield was made on location here in 1976. The title character checks into the hotel for the night , Al and Swiss actress Marthe Keller having driven an Alfa Romeo across the continent. Pacino plays a Formula One driver in that film. Another past guest is Michael Schumacher. The Mercedes-AMG GTR supercar and Lancia Delta Integrale rally machine parked in the forecourt during my stay suggests it still draws boy and girl racers.
James Bond recovered here after his ball-bashing in Casino Royale. I trust he didn’t ride the waves too hard upon checking out
The large, grand breakfast room, the Salone Reale, has been used for Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Saint Laurent runway shows, once they’ve cleared the porridge and hoovered up the croissant flakes. In the gardens, Helmut Newton shot models in the rain. The lake is a magical playground if you have access to a speedboat. I take a black wooden launch that looks well-suited to a mafia funeral over to the cosy fishing commune of Varenna, with its steep cobbled streets and jumbled houses in sorbet shades. They inspire a visit to a gelateria, before heading back on to the water in search of more filming locations. Sir Richard Branson’s Villa La Cassinella featured in series three of Succession, as the home of Alexander Skarsgård’s disruptive tech mogul. The nearby Villa del Balbianello was used for the retreat scenes in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, while James Bond recovered here after his ball-bashing in Casino Royale. I trust he didn’t ride the waves too hard upon checking out.
For casual dining, Bellagio has a range of terrific not-too-touristy choices, including the fresh lake fish and hearty caserecce pasta at Bilacus. I love retro Italian café-bars, and Bar Caffe Rossi is an art nouveau dream, with its dark wood panelling and patinaed mirrors, marble bar and multi-coloured bottles. Order an espresso, a homemade cannoli and a shot of Averna, and they’ll give you change from a fiver. Informal dining can also be found at the hotel. Nautical in its furnishings, La Goletta spills onto a poolside terrace and serves up healthy pizzas (yes, really) and superb seafood, washed down by a list of spritz. The premier dining room, Le Mistral is to be found on the floor above.
Serbelloni is the only luxury hotel on the lake to boast a restaurant with a Michelin star. The glass veranda under which the restaurant sits was, upon its construction, the largest structure of its kind in Europe. The Villa has a reassuring record for holding onto their staff. Le Mistral’s head chef, Ettore Bocchia, has been here since 1993 and is noted for his pioneering molecular cuisine. Le Mistral has held onto its star since 2004, and occasional diners include one of the area’s most famous part-time residents, George Clooney.
Our seven-course menu includes ‘ethical’ duck foie gras. The maître d’, Luca, describes the farm on which it’s made as like a country club for the birds, where they’re not forced to eat and can fly away anytime, but it’s all so joyous and scrummy they stay and gorge on their own accord. Other courses include Masala red prawns –Sicily’s finest – with avocado ice cream, turbot fried in sugar, and of course the peacock. The breast fills succulent tortellini and is served with fava beans in a bowl of peacock broth. It more than lives up to expectation. Football-loving Luca rounds things off by making nitro ice cream in front of us, served with pineapple in a Tarocco orange sauce. After the meal, a herbal tea trolley arrives overflowing with greenery.
If that weren’t enough theatre, the sun has just set and the sky glows as pink as strawberry blancmange. The villa, the setting, the atmosphere; it’s pure La Dolce Vita.
Visit Lake Como yourself
Nightly rates at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni start from £425 for a Classic Park View Room. For more information visit villaserbelloni.com
Read more: Hedonistic thrills and cosmopolitan grandeur in Rhodes