Staying at CASABIANCA felt like sleeping inside a private art gallery, and it's now one of my favorite hotels in Europe.
The villa is a restored 1930s house on the lakefront, newly opened to house the owners' contemporary art collection. The hospitality grew up around the art, not the other way around, so you're not in a hotel with paintings on the walls, you're inside a real collection, free to wander barefoot at seven in the morning with a coffee. And it doesn't stop in the public rooms: the guest rooms are part of the collection too, so the art is with you when you wake and when you sleep.
The rooms are gorgeous, full of warm, precisely fitted woodwork that wraps around the space. The effect is remarkably like being aboard a superyacht. Snug in the best sense, immaculate, everything where it should be.
The highlight was the tour Federica gave us of the artwork, explaining the artists, the thinking behind the acquisitions, and how the pieces relate to the house. Ask for it. It turns a beautiful hotel into an experience.
The location is close to perfect. You step out the front door and the lake is across the street. Como's centre, its shops and restaurants, and the station are all an easy walk, so we arrived by train and never needed a taxi. If you're doing Lake Como without a car, this is where to base yourself.
Small, personal and considered, with service that's attentive but never fussy. If you care about art at all, book it. We're already planning a return.
