It was chilly this morning in Bellagio, but now the sun has come out and it’s a gorgeous day. We took a batello across Lake Como to Tremezzo, then walked from there to Villa Carlotta, which is where we are now. The botanical gardens here are spectacular. What a nice way to spend una bella giornata al Lago di Como.
Villa Carlotta
For most of the past 300 years, the villa itself has been a residence of royalty or the royally wealthy. These days, it’s a museum. Special exhibits are shown in addition to the Villa Carlotta’s permanent collection of beautiful things.
Period rooms inside the villa show us how the other half lived back in the day. Other rooms are dedicated to one art form or another. Exquisite statues reside in the “Marble Room.” Tapestries hang in another room, and paintings in another.
Romeo, Romeo…
A special painting in the collection is “The Kiss,” by Francesco Hayez. It’s big – over nine feet tall. Hayez made three paintings of Romeo kissing Juliet. (One of the others is in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, where we were yesterday).
Ah, it’s a tender moment indeed, as we’re reminded by this quote from Juliet, passionately addressing Romeo…
“Yon light is not daylight, I know it, I.
It is some meteor that the sun exhales
To be to thee this night a torchbearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua.
Therefore stay yet. Thou need’st not to be gone.”
— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act III, scene V
Romeo may need’st not to have gone, but we need’st to be gone. We left Villa Carlotta and returned to the real world. We walked down to a path that runs along the lake, then headed toward Cadenabbia.
Lakeside Café
By now it had turned into a bright, warm day. We’d been walking quite a bit, so when we saw a nice-looking place to take a break and have some refreshments, we decided to stop.
The place looked like someone had built a little café on a rocky ledge extending out onto the lake. A canopy of greenery covered the space, so we were able to sit in the shade. There was room enough for maybe ten small tables. We were the only ones there except for a gentleman having coffee and reading a newspaper.
Pretty soon a waitress showed up. We were right on the lake, but the main building was on the other side of a fairly busy road. In fact, it was the road we were on when we arrived at Bellagio. (Was that only three days ago? Seems impossible).
The poor waitress had to cross the road every time she made the hike to our shady café on the lake. I imagine that’d get pretty old after awhile. Better get the order right the first time, eh?
It felt good to sit down. The beer was cold and the vino was great. The scenery around Lake Como is beautiful, and there’s always something to see on the lake, so this spot was like a little piece of heaven.
Bella Musica!
A wild selection of music was being piped in for our enjoyment. Some of the songs being played were American tunes from the forties or fifties. The Andrews Sisters, the Ink Spots – we didn’t know what they were, exactly, but they were fun to listen to.
Those vintage tunes were mixed in with American songs from the fifties and sixties. We knew the songs well, but these were versions we’d never heard. Maybe an Italian guy singing “Heartbreak Hotel” or “Heard it on the Grapevine.” These were mixed in with the occasional Italian song. It was the craziest music selection we’d ever heard.
We were having a fine time sitting out there on the lake, listening to that crazy music and enjoying the view. We’d been on the go for the past couple of days, but this was pure relaxation.
This is our last full day in Bellagio. We didn’t know we’d like it here this much. We should have planned to stay longer, but tomorrow we have to move on. I’m not ready to leave Lake Como. I’m not even ready to leave this little rest-stop perched out on the lake. Hey… maybe Juliet was really talking to me, not Romeo when she said,
“Therefore stay yet. Thou need’st not to be gone.”
Alas!
To be continued…
Notes
The photo at the top of the post was taken at Villa Carlotta, looking across Lake Como to Bellagio.
