Villa d'Este Like You've Never Seen It Before

For its 150th anniversary, the storied Lake Como property is offering season-long special programming and will finally be bookable for New Year's Eve.

- Sandra Ramani

Few hotels in the world can say they've been operating since Ulysses S Grant was president, so a sesquicentennial milestone deserves celebration. But I when that hotel is Villa d'Este, a standard birthday party simply won't do. Instead, in March the famous retreat on Italy's Lake Como kicked off a year of special events, menus, a programming and more, all culminating in another rare occasion. The hotel will remain open until January to host Christmas and New Year's Eve festivities. Cue a mad scramble for bookings.

Villa d'Este's stunning Mosaic House, accessed through a private courtyard

Revellers on the property's sundeck, circa the early 1930s.

Over its 150 years, Villa d'Este has strived to be an innovator, from deploying the first floating swimming pool on Lake Como to installing charging stations for electric cars and boats.