Villa Balbiano Lake Como: the cardinal's villa seen from the water
A private villa you can only really see from the lake. How to see Villa Balbiano by boat, what to look for and when to go, from a captain who passes it every day.
Villa Balbiano, Lake Como: it's one of the facades my guests photograph most, and yet you can't visit it. It's a private residence, rented out for weddings and events. The reason for all the photos is simple: the villa sits right on the water at Ossuccio, in the bay between Isola Comacina and the Lavedo headland, and from a boat you see the whole thing in a way the road never shows you.
Villa Balbiano, Lake Como, from the water: how to see it by boat
As we come along the Ossuccio shore, with Isola Comacina just a short run away, the villa appears almost all at once. It's long and low against the mountains behind it, and it looks straight out over the water. The facade is restrained: grey stone around the windows and a rusticated doorway.
Behind it you can make out the Italian garden and the tall crowns of the plane trees and cypresses the villa has been known for over the centuries. On the water there's a private boathouse. You can't land there and we don't go close. I ease the Venetian water taxi down to almost idle, well offshore, and let the villa do the rest.
A short history of Villa Balbiano
This land belonged to the Giovio family as early as the 1500s; the historian Paolo Giovio wrote about houses and fields of mulberry and olive trees at Balbiano. Towards the end of that century the estate passed to Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio, who had the building designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi. In 1637 Marco Gallio remodelled the facade and levelled the slope behind it to make room for the garden. Inside, the Baroque frescoes by the Recchi brothers are still there.
In 1787 Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini bought it and turned it into his pleasure villa: parties, concerts, poetry readings and a library that drew the scholars of the day, the poet Parini among them. In front of the villa he built a lighthouse tower for boatmen, with bells and a clock, which no longer stands. On the nearby Lavedo headland he also built the villa we now know as Villa del Balbianello. He didn't get long to enjoy it: he died in 1796.
Then came years of neglect, a silk mill in the west wing in the late 1800s and a restoration after the Second World War. In 2021 Villa Balbiano was one of the filming locations for Ridley Scott's House of Gucci, and these days some guests recognise it before I've said a word.
What to see at Villa Balbiano from the water
- 01The lakefront facade
Simple lines and grey stone. When the lake is flat the whole front is mirrored in it, and that's the photo everyone wants.
- 02Plane trees and cypresses
The entrance avenue runs between box hedges, plane trees and cypresses. From the boat you see their crowns rising behind the house.
- 03The Italian garden
More than two hectares of grounds, with the statues and fountains Durini added. From the lake you can make out its layout, with the avenue and the hedges.
- 04The mouth of the Perlana
A little further on, where the Perlana stream meets the lake, you can still see the embankments and channels the cardinal had built.
- 05The Comacina, Balbiano, Lavedo triangle
A few minutes on the water give you the island, the cardinal's villa and the Balbianello headland in one view.
When to go: the best time to see Villa Balbiano on Lake Como
From April to October the garden is at its best and the villa feels lived in. Early in the morning the lake is often calmer, before the breva wind picks up, and on still water almost the whole facade is mirrored. In the afternoon the wind ruffles the surface and the reflection is gone. If you want the photo, come early.
In winter it's a quieter run: an almost empty shoreline, clear air, and on cold days snow on the peaks. In summer you may pass while an event is on, and then we keep even further out, out of respect. If you'd like to see it from land as well, the Greenway del Lago di Como walking trail goes right past the villa in Ossuccio. For events and up-to-date information, check the villa's official website before you set off.
Places near Villa Balbiano
A lot of Lake Como is packed into a few minutes from here. Isola Comacina is right in front, Villa del Balbianello sits on the Lavedo point, and then there's Lenno and its bay. Heading north you reach Tremezzo and Villa Carlotta, and across the lake Bellagio. Our Classic Lake Tour strings most of it together in two hours.
Classic Lake Tour
The Classic Lake Tour passes Villa Balbiano, Isola Comacina and the Balbianello. If you want the villa reflected in a still lake, we'll set off early in the morning.