Sunday, September 18, 2011

Villa Serbelloni

The Villa Serbelloni occupies the hilltop above Bellagio, Italy. A tour of its gardens allows views on both sides of the lake, as Bellagio is near the tip of a peninsula that divides Lake Como. This is a view of the "other side" of Bellagio, a residential area on the other finger of the lake from the main part of town.
This is a view of the main building at Villa Serbelloni. It is a retreat for scholars owned by the Rockefeller Foundation, to which an heir to the Johnny Walker liquor fortune donated the Villa. The scholars use the Villa to contemplate their studies, and they dine together in the evening to exchange views and thoughts.
In addition to the main Villa building, there are a variety of small buildings that provide a place for scholars to stay on the Villa grounds. This is the roof of one of them.
Lake Como is shaped like an upside down letter "Y." Bellagio sits at center, with views up all three directions of the lake. This is a view from the Villa Serbelloni gardens northward towards Switzerland. We were there in late May of last year, when they had a longer winter and more snow in the Alps than normal.
This is a view from the Villa Serbelloni grounds down to the main part of Bellagio, with the bell tower of the small cathedral visible through the trees. When some friends asked us to plan another trip to Italy for a group of friends to travel together, my husband and I wanted to pick a place that we had been before so we could be comfortable making the arrangements, but it would also have to be a place to which we would want to return. Bellagio was an easy choice, and the 13 people who travelled with us last summer agreed.

5 comments:

FilipBlog said...

Looks like a nice village, we are also just back from Italy.

Greetings,
Filip

glenda said...

Absolutely beautiful. What a great place to study!

Traveling Hawk said...

Superb1 I love the first photo.

Lowell said...

Goodness, that is one beautiful place! I wonder how I could apply for "scholar" status in order to visit and study and share my thoughts?

Lowell said...

Goodness, that is one beautiful place! I wonder how I could apply for "scholar" status in order to visit and study and share my thoughts?

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