Botanical gardens and sculptures by Canova
At Tremezzo, facing Bellagio across the lake, Villa Carlotta is one of the most visited villas on Lake Como, famous both for its art collection and for its spectacular botanical garden. Built at the end of the seventeenth century for the Milanese marquis Giorgio Clerici, it was bought in the nineteenth century by Gian Battista Sommariva, a politician and art collector, and then by Princess Marianne of Nassau, who gave it as a wedding present to her daughter Charlotte, from whom it takes its name.
The villa houses masterpieces of neoclassical art: sculptures by Antonio Canova, including a copy of Cupid and Psyche by his pupil Tadolini and the original Palamedes, works by Thorvaldsen, including the great frieze of the Triumph of Alexander, and paintings by Francesco Hayez, including the Last Kiss of Romeo and Juliet. The gardens, covering eight hectares, are famous in spring for the extraordinary blooming of over 150 varieties of azaleas and rhododendrons, but also have a valley of ferns, a bamboo garden, a rock garden and ancient camellias and citrus trees.
Tip: the best time is April and May, when the azaleas are in bloom; from the villa, a short walk takes you to the Greenway del Lago, a lakeside path to Colonno.
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