by Susanna Bettoni | Apr 22, 2015 | Como
As a political rival political of Giambattista Sommariva, Francesco Melzi openly challenged him to build a Neoclassical villa and a refined English garden on the opposite shore of the lake with secular examples of the Cedars of Lebanon and suggestive botanical...
by Susanna Bettoni | Apr 22, 2015 | Como
The Clerici villa was bought in1801 by Giambattista Sommariva, an art collector and one of the most powerful men in Italy during the days of Napoleonic rule: he enriched the gardens with exotic plants and the house with works by Canova, Thorvalden and Hayez,...
by Susanna Bettoni | Apr 22, 2015 | Como
The Melzi and Carlotta villas face each other on opposite shores of Lake Como, submersed in the scent of flowers and the shade of the trees: their owners in the 19th century competed with one another to enrich their art collections and exotic gardens, in the beautiful...