Grand Hotel Tremezzo

Grand Hotel Tremezzo has no golf course, and its activities are clay-court tennis, horse riding, cycling, kayaking and boat trips. To play at Menaggio, book directly with the club.

Golfers still have a landmark nearby: Golf Club Menaggio e Cadenabbia at Grandola ed Uniti, above Menaggio. It has 18 holes and plenty of history: founded in 1907, it is described as the second oldest in Italy. The par-70 layout was redesigned in 1965 by John Harris on hilly, undulating ground with glimpses of the lake.

Two stretches are worth remembering: the back-to-back par 3s at the 2nd and 3rd, and the consecutive par 5s at the 13th and 14th. The club is independent of the hotel.

It was founded in 1910 by Enea and Maria Gandola, who moved from Bellagio to Tremezzo with three young children after touring Europe's most celebrated hotels. The building combined Art Nouveau lines with cutting-edge technology, including two lifts and an electric sign. More than sixty years later it passed to a second family, which still owns it.

Today there are 77 rooms and suites with lake views, park views or both. They include the Suite Greta, one of the historic suites each dedicated to a woman tied to the hotel's story, and Rooftop suites with a Jacuzzi mini-pool. Separate from the main building is Villa Sola Cabiati, a 16th-century residence with six suites, reachable by car or boat. The park holds, according to the hotel, five acres of olive and palm groves and botanic garden.

The T Spa occupies Villa Emilia, an 18th-century building that was once the library of Villa Carlotta, with original mosaics and frescoes. It has an infinity pool with whirlpool, a Mediterranean bath, a sauna, a steam room with lake views and an Italian hammam in white Lasa marble. Treatments use the Santa Maria Novella line.

There are three pools: WOW, floating on the lake in front of the private beach, the Flower Pool in the garden and the spa's infinity pool, where children are not admitted. The three-floor fitness area, La Malpensata, is also closed to children.

La Terrazza Gualtiero Marchesi reopened in spring 2019, eight years after the 2011 visit that started the chef's partnership with the owners. The MICHELIN Guide presents it as the only place in Italy serving Marchesi's signature dishes, such as saffron risotto with 23-karat gold leaf.

Other addresses: L'Escale, a trattoria and wine bar in a former cellar, Da Giacomo al Lago for seafood by the water, T Pizza by the pool with Naples-trained pizza makers and a wood-fired oven, and the Belle Epoque T Bar.

According to the MICHELIN Guide the hotel is open from mid-March to the end of October. The hotel says it is about an hour's drive from central Milan and its international airports; Bellagio is a 10-minute boat ride away and Varenna 15 minutes.

• A diva as guest. The hotel recalls Greta Garbo among its guests, who left it «traces of glamour».
• A library turned spa. The T Spa rooms were the library of Villa Carlotta.
• A bear as mascot. Along the belvedere path lives Bobo, a bear the hotel calls its mascot.
• Vintage boats. Two private jetties shelter vintage speedboats, used for excursions with a captain.