VILLA
pliniana

Established in 1573 Villa Pliniana and its famed spring, that gave its name to the villa have attracted some of the most illustrious visitors including Leonardo Da Vinci, Benedetto, Byron, Stendhal, Liszt, and Bellini, as well as heads of state and monarchs, Joseph II of Austria and Margherita of Savoy among them. The property underwent times of great splendor, with great Italian families such as the Visconti, the Canarisi and the Belgiojoso contributing to its beauty. Over the years its famous guests left their imprint on the premises. 

Percy Shelley wrote to Thomas Love Peacock 
" But the finest scenery is that of the Villa Pliniana, so-called from a fountain which ebbs and flows every three hours, described by the younger Pliny, which is in the courtyard. This house, which was once a magnificent palace, is built upon terraces raised from the bottom of the lake, together with its garden, at the foot of a semicircular precipice, overshadowed by profound forests of chestnut. The scene from the colonnade is the most extraordinary, at once, and the most lovely that eye ever beheld. On one side is the mountain, and immediately over you are clusters of cypress-trees of an astonishing height, which seem to pierce the sky. Above you, from among the clouds, as it were, descends a waterfall of immense size, broken by the woody rocks into a thousand channels to the lake. On the other side is seen the blue extent of the lake and the mountains, speckled with sails and spires. The apartments of the Pliniana are immensely large but ill furnished and antique. The terraces, which overlook the lake, and conclude under the shade of such immense laurel-trees as deserve the epithet of Pythian, are most delightful. " 

Gioacchino Rossini composed Tancredi in the villa itself whereas Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have played on the still existing billiard. Antonio Fogazzaro who adopted the villa as the set of his novel Malombra, later transformed by Mario Soldati into a homonymous movie in 1942 set in the villa itself. 
In fact, the property is corseted by lush vegetation and nestled into the rock. Very close to the Villa, the stream of Colorée Valley dives into the Como lake after a waterfall of seventy meters. 
The establishment is anchored to the rock, in the bottom of the lake, from both the upstream side and the front side. The main floor is separated into two extensive halls, by the loggia. The reception, the billiard hall the dining room and the kitchen are a marvel of architecture. Walking along the courtyard the statue of Neptune overlooks the scenery, while right in front of the loggia the rocky facade of the intermittent spring whose water flows through the villa empties on Lake Como. An ornate spiral wooden staircase leads to the upper chambers, with a chic elevator connecting all levels to the parking area.