Hotels of the world: Mandarin Oriental Lake Como, Italy

Lake Como (also Lario), of glacial origin, located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate, despite its location at the foot of the Alps. For this reason and, no doubt, for the beauty of its landscapes, it has been a favourite refuge for aristocrats and wealthy families since 196 BC, when the army of the consul Claudius Marcellus took the region and the city of Como from the Celtic tribe of the Comenses. From then on and through the centuries, it has been a popular tourist attraction until today.

Indeed, on the shores of Lake Como there are numerous villas and castles of unique architecture. Its waters, its landscapes, its climate have seduced personalities of all times; Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon, Stendhal, Franz Liszt, Giuseppe Verdi, Gioacchino Rossini, Winston Churchill; but also George Clooney, Madonna, Matt Bellamy, John Kerry, Gianni Versace, Ronaldinho, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Branson, Lionel Messi or José Mourinho are some of the celebrities who have had or have a residence here.

This is precisely the setting of the hotel to which we dedicate this space, one of the most beautiful and interesting in the world. It is the 5-star Mandarin Oriental Lake Como, owned by the well-known Hong Kong-based hotel chain Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Although the establishment has added numerous outbuildings in the grounds and gardens on the shores of Lake Como in the town of Blevio, the hotel’s origins date back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the main villa was built.

According to the earliest records, the first owner of what was then, in her honour, known as the Casino Ribiere, was the Frenchwoman Madame Ribier. She was a famous fashion designer who dressed the women of the Milanese nobility with notable success around 1800. It is worth noting, to add spice to the story and according to rumours that have survived to this day, that Madame Ribier was very popular among women for her designs, but also among men for her libertine private life.

Be that as it may, in 1827, the then famous opera singer Giuditta Pasta acquired the property and commissioned the architect Filippo Ferranti, her maternal uncle, to restore it. According to the chronicles, Villa Pasta, as it became known from then on, gained a neoclassical style with spacious rooms and an elegant portico with a loggia. A magnificent garden and tree-lined avenues cradled the outbuildings, which included two small outbuildings for guests. It was said at the time that Giuditta had given Villa Pasta an architecture reminiscent of that of the La Scala theatre in Milan, because she wished to find rest in a place similar to the one that brought her glory.

Thanks to its illustrious owner, Villa Pasta was a meeting place for artists, composers and singers. Gaetano Donizetti completed his opera Anna Bolena in the shelter of its walls and gardens during his stay in 1829 or 1830, according to different sources. Vincenzo Bellini, a regular at the villa and a great friend of Giuditta’s, wrote his operas Sonnambula and Norma (which includes the aria Casta Diva, one of the most famous of the 19th century and even today) for her to star in. However, after the death of the hostess at the age of 67 in 1865, the property fell into disuse, until a family of cotton industrialists of Swiss origin who lived in Turin, the Wilds, acquired it at the beginning of the 20th century. After extensive remodelling in an eclectic Renaissance style by the Milanese architect Carlo Formenti, the mansion became known as Villa Roccabruna. However, the estate fell into neglect and ruin during the second half of the 20th century.

Finally, in 2000, the Rome-based company, Hotel Residence Club SPA, bought the property and created CastaDiva Resort and Spa, a luxury 5-star hotel. In fact, according to news reports at the time, this was the first hotel in almost a century to open its doors on the shores of Lake Como. In 2017, the investment fund Attestor Capital LLP acquired CastaDiva Resort & Spa, from whom it eventually passed, in 2018, to Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. After approximately 1 year of a refurbishment that gave the interiors and décor “a sense of modern Italian elegance with a subtle oriental charm”, Mandarin Oriental Lake Como opened its doors in 2019.

Today, the resort hotel has 73 rooms and suites and 2 separate villas, 2 restaurants, conference rooms and a 1,330 sqm spa. The 12-metre-long floating pool, suspended above the waters of the lake with its sun loungers and attached bar, is another of its special features.