Visit Lake Como in the fall for beautiful scenery without the crowds

One of the most extravagant hotels in Europe, Adam Hay Nicholls, stays at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni on the edge of Lake Como in the best possible season: autumn

One of three grande dame hotels on the ever-glamorous Lake Como in northern Italy, the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni lives up to its Belle Époque image in many ways, not least by serving me a peacock for dinner. Luscious and lean, the stately bird tastes somewhere between duck and pork. They forgot to decorate my plate with iridescent plumage.

That might be OTT, even for this place. But more on that later. Built on the lakefront in 1854 by an Italian count in the pretty, bustling (in the summer months, certainly) town of Bellagio, it’s close to where the tourist boats dock but is an oasis of calm, set in lush gardens. The geography of Lake Como puts us right in the middle. From my room with a small terrace I can look down on the delightfully refreshing electric-blue pool before a small beach and the basil-green lake into which guests can dive via a vintage diving board. The hotel may seem at its most radiant in the summer, but in the autumn it feels all the more intimate, with a morning mist on the lake and the tourists banished back to where they came from. It was during this season that Al Pacino played Martha Keller in the 1977 Formula 1-meets-cancer film Bobby Deerfield.

Further out, on the western side of the lake, are the smaller towns of Tremezzo and Griante, and behind them rise green mountains. The Grand Hotel Tremezzo, on the opposite bank, and the Villa d’Este, which is near the city of Como, are Villa Serbelloni’s counterparts, but the consensus is that the other two are flashier. The GHVS is where the quiet money goes. No one is going to tip off the paparazzi here. An elderly English VIP comes every summer and takes the discreet Garden Suite for two months at a time. He’s been coming for decades. The hotel, which has 94 bedrooms, 22 of which are suites, has been privately owned since 1918 by the Bucher family, from Bergamo but originally from Switzerland.

Lake Como in the Fall: When the Locals Dine Out, Away from the Hordes of Tourists

At one point in the late 19th century they owned 42 hotels, but now all their concentration is on this one. There have been overtures from the big American luxury chains, but they were promptly rebuffed. It is a jewel that the family refuses to sell. In the beginning, most of the Serbelloni’s guests were wealthy Italians like the Pirellis, and during the war it served as a hospital protected by its Swiss owners. In the jet-set era, heavyweights and stylish stars began arriving from across the Atlantic, lured by the cinematic beauty of the landscape and the hotel’s antique charm. Jan Bucher is the 30-year-old general manager and son of the current patriarch. He learned his trade in other people’s hotels in Singapore, where he put in the hours, as he still does. He is always on the work floor in his conservative suit and tie, eating with the staff and could not be more humble or approachable.

In June 1963, months before his assassination, President John F Kennedy turned the hotel into a satellite of the White House, with secretaries, national security advisers and the latest high-tech communications equipment humming in the frescoed ballrooms. JFK’s suite, No. 133, is among the most sought-after, as is Sir Winston Churchill’s, No. 141. Al Pacino is known to favor the latter. Mr Pacino has been a frequent visitor since the film Bobby Deerfield was shot on location here in 1976. The title character checks into the hotel for the night, Al and Swiss actress Marthe Keller having driven across the continent in an Alfa Romeo. Pacino plays a Formula One driver in that film. Another past guest is Michael Schumacher. The Mercedes-AMG GTR supercar and Lancia Delta Integrale rally machine parked on the forecourt during my stay suggest it still attracts boy and girl racers.

James Bond recovered from his ball-bashing in Casino Royale here. I trust he didn’t ride the waves too hard when he checked out

The vast, stately breakfast room, the Salone Reale, has hosted Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Saint Laurent fashion shows, after they’ve cleared away the porridge and sopped up the croissant flakes. In the gardens, Helmut Newton has photographed models in the rain. The lake is a magical playground, if you have access to a speedboat. I take a black wooden dinghy that looks fit for a mafia funeral to the cozy fishing commune of Varenna, with its steep cobbled streets and cluttered, sorbet-colored houses. They inspire a visit to an ice-cream parlor before I head back out on the water in search of more filming locations. Sir Richard Branson’s Villa La Cassinella featured in season three of Succession, as the home of Alexander Skarsgård’s disruptive tech magnate. Nearby Villa del Balbianello was used for the retreat scenes in Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones, while James Bond recovered from his ball fight here in Casino Royale. I trust he didn’t hit the waves too hard when he left.

For casual dining, Bellagio has a range of great, non-touristy options, including fresh lake fish and hearty caserecce pasta at Bilacus. I love retro Italian café-bars and Bar Caffe Rossi is an Art Nouveau dream, with its dark wood panelling and patinated mirrors, marble bar and multi-coloured bottles. Order an espresso, a homemade cannoli and a shot of Averna and they’ll give you change for a fiver. Casual dining is also available in the hotel. La Goletta has a nautical décor and spills out onto a poolside terrace. It serves healthy pizzas (yes, really) and fantastic seafood, washed down with a list of spritzes. The best dining room, Le Mistral, is on the floor above.

Serbelloni is the only luxury hotel on the lake with a Michelin-starred restaurant. The glass veranda under which the restaurant is housed was the largest structure of its kind in Europe when it was built. The Villa has a reassuring reputation for retaining its staff. Le Mistral’s chef, Ettore Bocchia, has been here since 1993 and is known for his groundbreaking molecular cuisine. Le Mistral has held its star since 2004 and occasionally hosts one of the area’s most famous part-time residents, George Clooney.

Our seven-course meal includes ‘ethical’ duck liver pate. The maître d’, Luca, describes the farm where it is made as a country club for the birds, where they are not forced to eat and can fly away at any time, but it is all so cheerful and delicious that they stay and gorge themselves of their own accord. Other dishes include Masala red prawns – the best in Sicily – with avocado ice cream, turbot fried in sugar and of course the peacock. The breast is stuffed with succulent tortellini and served with broad beans in a bowl of peacock broth. It more than lives up to expectations. Football enthusiast Luca rounds it off by making nitro ice cream in front of us, served with pineapple in a Tarocco orange sauce. After the meal a herbal tea trolley full of greenery arrives.

As if that wasn’t enough theatre, the sun has just set and the sky glows as pink as strawberry blancmange. The villa, the setting, the atmosphere; it’s pure La Dolce Vita.

Visit Lake Como yourself

Nightly rates at Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni start at £425 for a Classic Park View Room. For more information visit villaserbelloni.com

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