Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni

Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni has no golf course, and golf is not among the hotel's services. The activities it lists are different: discovery walks, kayaking, tennis, watercolor classes and Venetian boat tours.

On the lake, the reference for golfers is Golf Club Menaggio e Cadenabbia, on the opposite shore: 18 holes, par 70, over 5,482 metres. Founded in 1907, it is described as the second oldest club in Italy. The ground is very undulating, set high with views of the lake, and the club motto, coined at its opening, is «far and sure»: long, but above all accurate. The club has a driving range, putting and pitching green, and golf cart hire; tee times are booked directly with the club.

Bellagio is linked to the far shore by ferries, which the hotel lists as running from Menaggio, Cadenabbia, Varenna and Como.

Count Frizzoni of Bergamo started work in 1850 for his wife; the villa was finished in 1854 and opened with a party for the countess's birthday. In 1873 a major extension turned it into the Grand Hotel Bellagio, blending Empire, Neoclassical and Art Nouveau styles. Since 1918 it has been run by the Bucher family, who marked a century and four generations of ownership in 2018.

There are 94 rooms according to the MICHELIN Guide, with lake, park or village views. Categories are Classic (29 m²), Deluxe (34 m²) and suites, among them the Churchill (83 m²), Kennedy (80 m²), Queen of Sweden (80 m²) and Helmut Newton (79 m²). At the top is the Franz Liszt Imperial Suite, 340 m², which the hotel presents as one of the biggest on Lake Como.

The Luce del Lago spa covers over 1,500 m² and opened in 2024, together with a new beach club, after a €4 million renovation. It has a blue-marble hammam with fountains, a pink-marble chromotherapy room, floating hydropools, VIP hair and nail cabins and a paid private Spa Suite with sauna and Jacuzzi. Products come from the Italian MEI line.

There are three pools: the outdoor pool with bar and private lake beach, the Serenity Pool, heated to 32 °C with three whirlpools, and an indoor children's pool at 32 °C and 70 cm deep. The pools are reserved for hotel guests.

Both restaurants are led by chef Ettore Bocchia, whom the hotel calls «the father of Italian molecular cuisine». Mistral is the gourmet room, evenings only, with a seven-course tasting menu, a cellar of over 400 labels and side-table service by trained maîtres. The MICHELIN Guide describes modern cooking from a villa at the tip of the promontory.

La Goletta is the informal option, with a lake terrace, open daily from noon to 10.30 pm. The kitchen, says the hotel, uses tomatoes from its own orchard in Sicily, lake fish from the hotel's fishermen and handmade pasta.

The hotel is open from April to November. Distances stated by the hotel: Como 30 km, Lecco 20 km, Milan 70 km, and for airports Lugano 40 km, Bergamo Orio al Serio 60 km, Milan Linate and Malpensa 70 km. The building lies in a restricted traffic zone: guests can drive in, and staff register the licence plate.

• A hotel that inspired Las Vegas. According to the MICHELIN Guide, the villa inspired the design of the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
• Suites with famous names. Suites carry the names of Churchill, Kennedy, Helmut Newton and the Queen of Sweden; the hotel also lists Clark Gable, Mary Pickford and Al Pacino among its guests.
• A staff of 150. In 1918, when the Buchers took over, the staff numbered 150, according to the hotel.
• Round anniversaries. In 2023 the hotel marked 150 years, and in 2025 it joined Relais & Châteaux.