Villa Monastero, Varenna: the Lake Como garden seen from the water
A Lario Water Taxi captain on Villa Monastero from the lake: the botanical garden along the shore, the house museum and how to arrive by boat at its landing stage.
Villa Monastero in Varenna is the villa with the open loggia on the water, at the southern end of the village, and a botanical garden that runs along the shore for almost two kilometres. From Lake Como you take it all in at once. It also has its own landing stage, suitable only for small boats, and our water taxi pulls up there with no trouble.
Villa Monastero in Varenna from the water
Coming across from the central lake, with Bellagio behind us, Varenna appears in one piece: coloured houses packed onto the point, the bell tower, and a little further south a long band of dark green that drops right down to the water. That is Villa Monastero.
I always ease off the throttle along that stretch. You can pick out the rows of cypresses, palm trees you would never expect beneath these mountains, and the garden terraces stacked one above the other. The loggia facing the lake is still the 17th-century original, and in the morning light it is the first thing your eye lands on from the boat.
How to get to Villa Monastero by boat
The villa has its own landing stage, and the villa's rules are simple. Boats and taxi boats may dock free of charge, but only to drop off and pick up people visiting the garden or the house museum, and the boat cannot stay moored during the visit. The ticket office needs to be told in advance. If you would like to get off here during a tour with us, the Classic Lake Tour for example, just mention it when you book and we will sort it out ahead of time.
Otherwise, you can land at the Varenna ferry pier and walk through the village.
A short history of Villa Monastero
The name gives it away. At the end of the 12th century this was a Cistercian convent dedicated to the Virgin Mary, a daughter house of Acquafredda in Lenno. In the 1600s the Mornico family from Valsassina turned it into a residence, known around the lake as Villa Leliana.
What you see today is largely the work of Walter Kees, a businessman from Leipzig, who remodelled it between 1897 and 1909 and extended the garden to its present size. After the First World War it passed to the Italian state, then to the De Marchi family of Milan, who donated it in 1939 so it would become public property. The garden has been open to visitors since 1940. In 1954 the physicist Enrico Fermi gave his last lectures here, in the room that now bears his name.
What to see at Villa Monastero
- 01The lakeside botanical garden
A terraced strip of land almost two kilometres long, from Varenna towards Fiumelatte. More than 900 species, including cedars of Lebanon, citrus trees, agaves, oleanders and rare palms such as the silver-leaved Erythea armata.
- 02The waterfront walk
The path follows the shore past statues, little temples and fountains. At the far southern end stands the Kaffeehaus, the pavilion that closes the garden.
- 03The House Museum
Fourteen furnished rooms with their original furniture and decoration: the Neo-Renaissance Black Room, the Red Room, the Music Room and the Fermi Room.
- 04The Clemency of Titus
A sculptural group by Giovanni Battista Comolli, his final work, brought here in the early 1900s.
- 05Roses and wisteria
The garden keeps a collection of English roses and one of rare wisteria. In spring, that alone is worth the trip.
When to visit Villa Monastero: opening times and tickets
The villa is open for most of the year, with shorter hours in winter and some closing days for the house museum. Times change from month to month, so always check the official website before you set off. There is also a combined ticket with the Villa Cipressi garden, sold only at the ticket offices (not online) and only on days when Villa Cipressi is open.
If I had to pick, I would say spring, when the wisteria and roses are out, or September and October, when the crowds thin and the light on the lake softens. In summer, go early in the morning: the garden is long and narrow, and it fills up in the middle of the day.
Nearby places
A few steps away is Villa Cipressi, with another garden running down to the lake. Heading south you reach Fiumelatte, the milk-white stream Leonardo wrote about. Above the village sits Castello di Vezio, and across the water is Bellagio with Villa Melzi.
