Villa d'Este

Villa d'Este was built in 1568 as a summer residence for Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio and has been receiving guests as a hotel since 1873, making it not merely a grand hotel on Lake Como but the institution against which the lake's hospitality is measured. The estate at Cernobbio spreads across some 25 acres of gardens—a Renaissance mosaic and nymphaeum, avenues of plane trees, cypress-lined ascents—running down to a waterfront where the hotel's famous floating pool sits moored on the lake.

The Cardinal's Building and the Queen's Pavilion hold rooms of genuinely museum-grade decoration: antiques, silks, chandeliers and lake views that have drawn aristocrats, film stars and financiers for a century and a half. Nothing here is minimalist and nothing is accidental; the house style is high classical Italian, maintained with total conviction and formidable staff numbers.

Dinner at the Veranda, with its glass walls onto the lake, remains a jacket-required ritual, while the Grill and terraces handle summer's longer, easier meals. The sporting club, spa and gardens fill days without leaving the estate, and Como town and the lake's villa circuit are minutes away by car or boat. As a piece of living hotel history on Europe's most beautiful lake, Villa d'Este stands alone.