"This is Italy"

Day 9

Villa Balbianello

Waking up, I discover the cold wind is still here today, and the high mountains were dusted with snow overnight. I could tell today's ferries would be a rough seas adventure!

I took the fast ferry to Lenno, which was on a slow schedule, running 25 minutes late. The water was crashing over the bow, causing me to wonder if the taxi boat to the Villa would be running?  There is a walkway but it is only open Friday - Sunday (and today is Thursday, I am pretty sure). 

 At the taxi launch to Balbianello, I check if the taxi is running. "You can go by path, it's closer than the boat", he says with a laugh. I believe he has translated the incorrect adjective. Safer...dryer...I'm sure he meant, since even the pier is clearly going to launch me into the rough water. 

I'm so excited that the Villa, the path, is actually open that I want to run all the way there (a 20 minute slow walk). I can't believe I am here and have the place to myself. I dash around the gardens giddy as a school girl, in disbelief of all the beauty surrounding this place. I might as well be Padme getting married here (in Star Wars II) or Eva kissing James Bond in Casino Royale. I believe this is the most beautiful castle, palace or home I have ever traveled to. Every garden view and every window is a postcard view.  This is my dream home. 

The loggia, with its columns entwined with a climbing fig, offers extraordinary views of the lake from 2 sides. 

Breath-taking view

View towards Como

Exploring the gardens

Originally built in 1788, today the Villa - it's splendid furnishings and the magnificent gardens  - are owned by the FAI (Italian national trust).  

I wish my mom made this journey with me - Mom, you would love it here as much as I do.  The previous owner traveled all over the world collecting amazing momentos - even artifacts from 2000 BC.  The Villa exists as if he had just left it.  The special library in the loggia has 4,000 books about travel and his expeditions. His father owned the 1st big chain of supermarkets in Italy, which apparently generated some serious cash flow. 

The one thing - other than his desire to travel - that I have in common with the previous owner ... The spice rack from my childhood (he died in 1971).

Villa Balbianello was worth every ounce of effort I made to journey to Lake Como. 

My next plan was to walk the Green Walk Way to Tremezzo but I happened chance to discover that the ferries were no longer running (due to this rare wind). He tells me, "this is Italy," clearly meaning nothing goes as planned and everything is flexible.  How can I get across the lake to my train??  The most helpful man I have met yet told me how: the autobus to Como. Here starts the rest of my day of waiting and traveling - all interesting. 

I wait on the side of the road for an hour for the bus. As I realize it does not announce its stops, and I don't even know quite where to get off (there is more than one station in Como), I start asking passengers. Someone has given me bad advice: ask teenagers because they know English. So I try it. Their snarky reply gives away their juvenile ignorance, "Yes, do you speak Italy?"  Thankfully a nice man interferes to help me, and I end up following the snarky teenagers to the train station. In the end I make it home to Florence for ~13 euro more than planned. And through this detour I experience Italy, shop, and discover: avoid Como, if you can - if you want to see the real Lake Como.