Villa d’Este, was built in 1568 as the summer residence of Cardinal Gallio, designed by Pellegrino Pellegrini called “Il Tibaldi”, famous architect of the time; it is surrounded by a vast park of 10 hectares was transformed in 1873 into one of the most luxurious hotels in Europe. The entrance is reserved for guests, but if you have lunch at the Sporting Grill, attached to the hotel, you can see the beautiful architecture of the building from the outside.
It is a large open natural space, built in the last decades of the eighteenth century, as if it were a portion of the garden in the Prealps. Immersing in this environment leads to the materialization of the neoclassical civilization, during which Ugo Foscolo, in Odi (odes) was clear and convincing.

A style perfectly in tune with the tastes of the comaschi and the Milanese aristocrats.
Also in the sheltered gulf of Balbianello, on whose top, Cardinal Gallio built another splendid residence: Villa del Balbianello.
In its gardens there are centuries-old plants where you can admire the Nymphaeum of Pellegrino Pellegrini, the Fountain of Hercules and the Temple of Telemaco, the famous nymphaeum dating back to the first half of the seventeenth century, decorated with mosaic with polychrome pebbles, in Roman Baroque style.

The nymphaeum forms the entrance and the base of the avenue of Hercules, which includes a staircase with a double chain of water that runs through the gardens to the statue of Hercules and Lica, hence the name. Originally, parallel to the avenue grew cypresses today partly replaced by laurels, magnolias.
The villa was built in 1568 by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio and had several owners. In 1814 it was bought by the whimsical Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales, and in 1868 it hosted the Empress of Russia, Maria Fedorovna, who stayed there for two years, although she enjoyed the mild and relaxing climate of the lake.