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Villa Balbianello in Lenno
Villa Balbianello stands on the tip of the Lavedo peninsula in the area of Lenno, in one of the most fascinating spots on Lake Como. The villa was built by Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini in 1787 on the remains of an old Franciscan monastery. It consists of two residential buildings, a church and a portico on the small harbour, from where a steep flight of steps leads directly to the villa. After the death of the cardinal in 1797, the villa became the property of Giuseppe Sepolina; in 1800, Luigi Porro from Milan bought the villa and in 1819, in addition to numerous famous visitors, also accommodated Silvio Pellico there. The next owner was the Marquis Giuseppe Arconati Visconti, and during this time writers such as Giovanni Berchet, Alessandro Manzoni and Giuseppe Giusti stayed at Villa Balbianello, as well as politicians and artists such as the painter Arnold Böcklin.
After various changes of ownership, the villa and its impressive gardens were bought by Guido Monzino in 1975, who bequeathed it to the Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano (FAI) on his death in 1988, together with a donation of two billion lire for future maintenance work. The Villa Balbianello library contains over four thousand works collected by Guido Monzino, including one of the most valuable collections dedicated to Alpine and polar expeditions. The main building houses English and French furnishings from the 17th and 18th centuries, Flemish tapestries, Chinese terracotta and a collection of stained glass as well as a collection of seascapes.
Laurel and boxwood hedges grow in the garden of Villa Balbianello. In fact, the rocky nature of the peninsula on which the villa stands prevented the creation of a typical Italian garden, so the terraced garden features holm oaks, camphor, magnolias and cypresses as well as azalea and rhododendron bushes.
Count Guido Monzino, an Italian explorer and mountaineer of the 20th century, first climbed the Cervino (the Italian name for the Matterhorn) in the 1950s and thus discovered his passion for adventure. Many years later, he led the country's first Everest expedition and was the first person to climb Torres del Paine. By the end of his career, he had completed 21 extraordinary journeys from the North Pole to sub-Saharan Africa.
Monzino became an Italian national treasure and received numerous honours, including the title of Grand'Ufficiale dei Cavalieri Crociati ( Grand Officer of the Crusaders ). His personal pride and glory, however, was the renovation and ownership of the northern Italian estate: Villa Del Balbianello.
Tribute to explorer Guido Monzino on the 50th anniversary of reaching the North Pole by land on 19 May 1971. On the initiative of the Fondo Ambiente Italiano of Lombardy, Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como - the former residence of the explorer and now the Museum of Expeditions - hosted some of the protagonists of the time to pay tribute to one of the greatest Italian undertakings of the post-war period.
It's impressive when a person can follow their dreams thanks to their financial independence. Only his weakness of heart prevented him from climbing Mount Everest, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to reach any limits.
When you visit the villa you get an impression of how he drank whisky in his favourite room in the evening with his friends who had come by boat before. A secret door from the guest room to the bedroom gives you a better idea. He was never married and was a caring son.
We were definitely thrilled to be able to look back on such a life in such a self-created setting of culture, lifestyle and adventure.
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Villa Balbianello, Lake Como, Italy,
Photo by Nonnarena1