Villa Pliniana is your very own private sanctuary in Lake Como

From intimate gatherings to grand family vacations, Villa Pliniana offers an exciting blend of heritage and splendour, world-renowned cuisine and outstanding service. Villa Pliniana is the grandest and oldest villa in Lake Como, but it is so much more than that.

Villa Pliniana was built in 1573 around the spring that carries the same name. The name “Pliniana” is inspired to the famous naturalists native of Como, Plinio the Elder and Plinio the Younger, whom, first described the spring and its peculiar intermittence in the first century A.D.. Through time other distinguished scientists, including Leonardo Da Vinci and Benedetto Giovio, studied the spring as well.

The construction of the villa is due to the will of Count Giovanni Anguissola, governor of Como, whom decided to transform the spring and the surrounding land in a place of delight. Through the centuries the villa went through alternated periods of great splendor and abandonment. The Visconti, the Canarisi and the Belgiojoso are among families who contributed to the splendor époques of the Villa.

Many famous guests over the years visited the Pliniana: among them the poet Percy Shelley, who left a wonderful description of the villa, Gioacchino Rossini who composed Tancredi in the villa itself , Napoleon whom “is said” to have played on the still existing billiard, Antonio Fogazzaro who adopted the villa as the set of his novel Malombra, later transformed by Mario Soldati into an homonymous movie in 1942 set in the villa itself.

The villa has been visited by many famous writers (Byron, Foscolo, Berchet, Stendhal) musicians (Liszt and Bellini), scientists (Volta, Spallanzani and Ghezzi) and monarchs Joseph II of Austria and Margherita of Savoy. After a long and meticulous restoration work, today the villa has been returned to its former splendor.

The wonder of the intermittent spring, the ceaseless sound of water, the quietness of the woods, the breathtaking view, the echoes of the history… All of this turns staying in the Villa Pliniana into a unique and incomparable experience. The restoration of the existing buildings allowed realizing four wide suites with eighteen bedrooms and three independent houses.

The four suites are located in the main building while the independent villas are spread in the eighteen acres of the park surrounding the villa. All apartments have a view on the lake and have been designed to grant the highest standards of comfort. They are provided with satellite TV, internet connection, air conditioning and safe; moreover all of them are also equipped with private kitchen and laundry. Some of the outbuildings have separate entrance, useful for the access of the domestic personnel.

The Villa Pliniana spa is located on a terrace above the garden and entirely occupies a dedicated building. The infinity pool gives the beautiful illusion of swimming in the middle of the lake and is actually supplied with water filtered and conveyed from the lake at fifty meters depth. The Wellness center of Villa Pliniana also offers sauna, steam bath and emotional showers with comfortable locker rooms.

For centuries Lake Como has seduced visitors with its natural beauty and dramatic vistas of the southern Italian Alps. Villa Pliniana is the ideal springboard to explore the picturesque villages and historical sites of Lake Como by boat and indulge on the local flavors by taking wine tastings and cooking classes.

Guests can also explore the beautiful nature of the area by hiking, biking, water skiing or horseback riding, whereas no Lake Como experience would be complete without a shopping spree at the range of boutiques, designer shops and department stores.

For further information, visit serenohotels.com/property/villa-pliniana/