What It’s Like to Stay at Passalacqua, the New Jewel on Lake Como

There are some hotels in the world that require not an owner but more of a steward: someone who recognizes that what stands before them has lived many lives before and will live many lives to come. Such is the case with Passalacqua, a hotel on Lake Como that, although technically new—it opened its doors this June—is layered with history.

It stands upon lakefront land owned by Pope Innocent IX, who ruled over the Vatican for a mere two months in 1591. In the early 1800s, Count Andrea Lucini Passalacqua built a sprawling villa complete with interiors by famed Swiss designer Giocando Albertolli. It was known as one of the grandest properties in the region: in 1829, Vincenzo Bellini composed two of his famous operas, Norma and La Sonnambula, in the home’s music room. The owners changed over the centuries, each bringing in their fair share of notable guests, from Napoleon Bonaparte to Winston Churchill.

A few years ago, the villa came into the well-manicured hands of Valentina De Santis. The daughter of the owners of Grand Hotel Tremezzo, De Santis recognized that a place like Passalacqua wasn’t meant to be private—and decided to transform it into a boutique hotel.

I pulled up to Passalacqua on a sweltering June afternoon after a much-delayed transatlantic flight that sat for hours on the tarmac. Jet lagged and wearing wrinkled clothing with a pair of dark undereye circles to match, I was prepared to feel like a schlub in a stylish setting, slumped on an uncomfortable couch as I waited for my room to be ready. Instead, I found myself wandering into what felt like the living room of a close—albeit impossibly chic—friend. The reception room was swathed in a warm pear green and a cheerful fig leaf plant sat in the corner. A murano glass chandelier hung from a pointed ceiling. Jars of candy sat on a Breccia Pontificia marble mantle, flanked by antique objets d’art. In the next room over, a bar was home to several plushy loveseats, while the kitchen held an island filled with cakes, fruit bowls, smoked salmon, and freshly baked breads for breakfast.