When you are after a literal example of “living the dream”, being handed a glass of perfectly chilled prosecco while on board a 1961 Riva timber speedboat that’s skimming across Lake Como on a cloudless day is hard to beat. So breathtaking is the combination of the boat’s streamlined retro beauty, the water’s otherworldly glimmering, the magnificent Swiss Alp backdrop and the passing parade of glorious villas and picturesque, hill-hugging towns that it’s hard not to believe you’ve fallen down some kind of Alice-like rabbit hole and landed in an actual dream.
Lake Como is one of those exceedingly rare places that not only lives up to its considerable hype but is also capable of surpassing it. The beautiful northern Italian lake has a long-time reputation as a playground for the glamorous, the artistic and the powerful – a rollcall of Italian aristocracy, Napoleon Bonaparte, the great opera composer Vincenzo Bellini and, in more recent developments, celebrities like international lawyer Amal Clooney and her movie star husband George. All that inherent hype may have you girding yourself for a bit of lily gilding and faded glory.
Instead, and particularly after last year’s opening of Lake Como’s newest hotel, Passalacqua, a lovingly, meticulously restored 18th-century villa sitting above seven acres of terraced gardens that run down towards the lake’s shore, you quickly understand the glory is anything but faded.
Bought and re-invented by the De Santis family, owners of Grand Hotel Tremezzo, the operatic shorefront resort hotel 20 minutes further north that’s an obvious design inspiration for film director Wes Anderson, Passalacqua is a hotel that succeeds so spectacularly by not feeling like a hotel at all.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von Gourmet Traveller.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von Gourmet Traveller.
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Barossa Valley
We hit the road for a weekend escape, exploring the best regional Australia has to offer. This month we head to the Barossa Valley in South Australia.
Legends of reinvention
As ultra-luxe hotel group Rosewood takes on three benchmark New Zealand lodges, MICHAEL HARDEN gets the read on this next chapter.
EVERYDAY
Easy entertaining, weeknight dinners and suppers to share, all made with speed, without sacrificing flavour.
Australia's most wanted
For love or money, building a wine collection pays dividends. NED GOODWIN reveals the Australian fine wines to put away.
MEET THE MAKER GREG LAMBRECHT
When US-based engineer Greg Lambrecht invented wine preservation system Coravin a decade ago, he changed the way we drink premium wine.
SANDALFORD
Following its recent reboot, this historic WA winery restaurant is ready to wine and dine a new generation of guests, writes MAX VEENHUYZEN.
PITZI
The team behind Fico trot out a chic new pasta bar which makes simplicity something special, writes ALIX DAVIS.
BATHERS' PAVILION RESTAURANT
A new era is dawning at a lower north shore landmark, writes MATTY HIRSCH, with an astute new recruit leading the way
VUE DE MONDE
A Melbourne icon emerges from a makeover refreshed and energised, writes MICHAEL HARDEN.
STEPHANIE ALEXANDER
Kylie Kwong celebrates the individuals helping to grow a stronger community. This month, we meet chef, author and original cook's companion, Stephanie Alexander AO.