Villa Melzi d'Eril Gardens
Stretching along the western shore of Bellagio's promontory, Villa Melzi's gardens are among the oldest English-style parks on Lake Como, laid out in 1808 for Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Napoleon's vice-president of the Italian Republic. Azaleas, camellias and ancient plane trees frame jaw-dropping views across the water to the snow-capped Alps.
A Garden Designed for Dreamers
The grounds unfold in a series of romantic set-pieces: a Japanese garden with a stone pagoda, a Moorish-style chapel, and a small museum pavilion housing Egyptian and Greco-Roman sculptures collected by the Melzi family over two centuries.
Strolling the lakeside path in late April, when the azaleas erupt in coral and magenta, is one of the most photogenic experiences on the entire Italian Lakes — and it remains blissfully uncrowded before 10 am.
What to Look For Inside
Don't skip the neoclassical orangery, which displays Canova-school sculptures alongside family portraits, giving the estate a personal intimacy that grander villas on the lake lack.
A bronze statue of Dante and Beatrice sits beneath a weeping willow at the water's edge — it has been photographed so many times it has become an unofficial symbol of Bellagio itself.
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