Villa Melzi is one of the most famous Lake villas. It was conceived as a summer home in a neoclassical style typical of the first decades of the XVIII century.
The architect Giocondo Albertolli planned it for Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Vice president of the Italian Republic and great friend of Napoleon.
Villa Melzi is surrounded by an enchanting garden directly on the lake, which was realized through a vast ground removal and was adapted through terraces and small rises. In this garden you can find every element typical of a noble garden: the cloister, the chapel by Vittorio Nesti, in which is conserved the Francesco Melzi's tomb, two Egyptian statues on a basement from the XIV and XIII century B.C., the small lake with water lilies, the pond with Cupid's statue and another noble chapel with a Renaissance portal by Bramante.
The neoclassical inside of the villa preserves many precious art pieces; there are stucco walls decorated by Albertolli, paintings by Appiani, sculptures by Canova and frescos by Giuseppe Bossi, the liveliest painter among the Lombard neoclassical ones.
The park of the villa is open from spring to autumn.

Distance: in front of the Hotel, on the other Lake shore.
Reachable from Tremezzo by boat or by hydrofoil and from Cadenabbia by ferryboat, in ten minutes crossing.