TRAVEL
At the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni on the shores of Lake Como, Helena Lang discovers how centuries of family passion have kept this film star favourite at the top of its game
L ake Como. Surely one of the most beautiful and glamorous places in the world with its ro mantic villages, chic and sleek water taxis, an d Italian residences of – swoon – George C looney and many other celebrities?
My longed-for visit had begun the night before at the less swanky but completely comfortable Mercure Hotel at Heathrow. Smart, modern, convenient and functional, it provided a dream-inducing bed, a piping hot morning shower, and tea and coffee essentials, all of which softened the blow of a never-to-berepeated 5.15am check-in time for my flight to Milan Linate airport.
Rested and calm, I even enjoyed the one-hour transfer from the airport to the surely-it’s-a-film-set village of Bellagio, catching glimpses of the lake between trees and down cobbled streets before our car swung through the large cast-iron gates of the primrose-yellow Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni.
The antithesis of sleek, modern, urban hotels, this place revels in tradition and history. With its piped white-icing plasterwork, sturdy columns and pillars, swaggering drapes and chandeliers – dramatic, huge and glistening from every ornate ceiling – this is a hotel to see, and be seen in.
THE FAME GAME
We’re greeted by the charming, handsome Jan Bucher – a member of the fourth generation of the family to own and run the hotel. His parents still live on site, in a charming annexe, and his mother, Dusia, still influences the hotel’s style and decoration, adding all-new glossy, marble bathrooms last winter to the sumptuous rooms and suites, which have original silk quilt covers that were hand sewn by local seamstresses. It’s personal here: guests are provided with luxury but still made to feel right at home.
Downstairs between the spa and the outdoor pool there’s a gallery wall with images and memorabilia from the building’s history, first as a holiday home for a noble family from Bergamo, and then as a hotel where presidents (Roosevelt and Kennedy), prime ministers (Churchill, of course), and the great and the good of the film industry (Al Pacino, Clark Gable, George Lucas and more), have wined, dined and plumped their pillows. Even the piano in the lounge has had its ivory keys tinkled by composer Franz Liszt.
STARRY NIGHT
But it’s not just the guests who are stars. The Mistral Restaurant, in its covered conservatory terrace, is the brainchild of visionary chef Ettore Bocchia – Italy’s equivalent of He
