Bellagio, the most enchanting place of the lake and most romantic of Italy, stands on the tip of promontory that divides the two southern branches of Lake Como. The old borough consists of a succession of narrow cobbled streets, a pedestrian lakefront, the arched shops and fascinating buildings in pastel colors. The frequency of the boats Bellagio makes an ideal starting point for day trips to the historic villas, the beautiful gardens and the surrounding villages.
Villa Melzi is a neoclassical masterpiece. Take a moment of silence admiring the elegant symmetry of the terrace overlooking the lake or be touched by the triumph of the botanical gardens all year round. An extraordinary profusion of azaleas explodes in spring, while in winter the magic of foliage and of botanical architectures enchant the eyes.
A cobbled stairway connects Bellagio to Pescallo fraction, once a small fishing village. An old borough composed of small amazing squares, a picturesque marina, homes covered with ivy and a tiny enchanting chapel. For over fifty years the nearby Rockefeller Foundation hosts and inspires the greatest thinkers of the planet.
Franz Liszt was a composer, pianist, orchestra leader and Hungarian organist. He studied and played at Vienna and Paris and traveled throughout Europe giving concerts everywhere. It was one of the great piano virtuosos of the nineteenth century, revolutionized piano technique and the relationship between audience and performer.
Liszt stayed in Bellagio with Marie d’Agoult in 1837 and 1838.
There could not be more suggestive place to inspire great works of art (as testified by the continuous flow of painters who immortalized the beautiful landscapes of Bellagio) and neither more romantic place for the birth of a love.
Liszt has combined both leaving the immortal imprint of its passage.
Franz Liszt also spent in Bellagio a long and enchanted honeymoon with Catherine Marie de Flavigny, Comtesse d’Agoult.
It is said still today, in remembering this romantic love story, that nothing brings more luck to a marriage than to spend the honeymoon in Bellagio.
In memory of the period that Liszt spent in Bellagio there is a memorial plaque with the following sentence: “From August to December of 1987 he spent in Bellagio with Madame d’Agoult one of the most fervent moments of passion and of musical creation of all his stormy romantic life”.