The Villa
Napoleon I, a luxury villa rentals in Lake Como, is a national monument for
Italy. It was constructed in the 1700’s by Count Passalacqua who had been
granted the property by the Odescalchi Family—a Northern Papal family.
It’s most
famous long term visitor was Vincenzo Bellini who lived here from 1829-1833 and
wrote his most famous operas here (Norma and Sonnambula). The Swiss architect,
Felice Soave, designed the house to have a simple symmetrical façade with a
richly elaborate interior. The ceilings on the public rooms as well as the
bedrooms are ornately decorated and painted. The floors are a beautiful mixture
of Cotto Lombardo, Seminato, and dark antique wood.
The Villa
is filled with beautiful paintings, sculptures, rugs, tapestries and Venetian
chandeliers. The Villa ha also a smaller sister house, Villa Josephina. The
Kitchen is large and airy with subzero refrigerators and wine coolers, Viking
and Gaggeneau ovens, grills and ranges, 4 disposals, 2 dish washers, a
vegetable and fish steamer and a fryer. The counter tops are made of Verona
marble and the cabinetry is richly decorated, hand-carved wood.
The most
prominent feature of the kitchen is two 8 foot high stone fireplaces that are
original to the Villa and bear the family emblem. The Dining Room is an oval
shaped room with 16 marble columns. The most important fresco in the Villa sits
above the dining room table. It is a fresco by Andrea Appiani who was Europe’s
foremost neoclassical artist at the turn of the 19th century. The Tuscan Dining
Room is more casual and filled with period Tuscan furniture.
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