{"id":3759,"date":"2016-10-29T18:21:20","date_gmt":"2016-10-29T10:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/?p=3759"},"modified":"2019-02-03T15:11:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-03T07:11:08","slug":"melzi-como","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/melzi-como\/","title":{"rendered":"Bellagio&#8217;s Grand Garden &#8211; the Villa Melzi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lake Como is dotted with grand villas and for a few of them, the gardens probably exceed the beauty of the villas themselves. Two of the best\u00a0known gardens are Bellagio&#8217;s Villa Melzi and across the lake, near Tremezzo, is that of Villa Carlotta. Since we were staying in Bellagio, we spent a lazy late afternoon strolling the garden of the Villa Melzi.<\/p>\n<p>The villa has been in the same family since it was built in 1810 for Francesco Melzi d&#8217;Eril. While the villa itself is closed to the public, the famous gardens are open to all for a fee (EUR 6.50 per adult) from end-March to end-October. You can enter the garden at its two ends, one which is at the end of Bellagio&#8217;s lake front boardwalk, and the other near the restaurant\u00a0alle Darsene di Loppia on Via Melzi d&#8217;Eril. Since we parked in Bellagio, we entered from the side nearest the town.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few paths in the garden and while you can stick to one, I thought it was nice to be able to meander along and just move from one path to another. You can pretty much cover the whole garden in about one hour. There are lots of scenic points and our walk back to Bellagio coincided with the setting sun giving us some nice pictures\u00a0of the town. Villa Melzi has an informative <a href=\"http:\/\/www.giardinidivillamelzi.it\/GIARDINI_DI_VILLA_MELZI\/HOME_PAGE.html\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a> with lots of nice pictures.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3768\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3768\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/villa-melzi-2016-09-25-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3768\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3768\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-3-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens\" width=\"625\" height=\"469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-3-624x468.jpg 624w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-3.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3768\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oriental Garden &#8211; one of the themed sections with the Japanese maple a bright, fiery red<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3765\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3765\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/villa-melzi-2016-09-25\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3765\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3765\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3765\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Moorish Kiosk, a nice point from which to enjoy a view of the lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3764\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3764\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/lake-como-2016-09-25-at-23-43-53\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3764\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3764\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-43-53--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-43-53--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-43-53--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-43-53--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-43-53--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3764\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plane trees line the lake front path<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3763\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3763\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/lake-como-2016-09-25-at-23-47-49\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3763\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3763\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-47-49--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-47-49--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-47-49--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-47-49--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-47-49--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3763\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sculpture of Apollo dating back to the 16th century stands near the front of the villa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3769\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3769\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/villa-melzi-2016-09-25-1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3769\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3769\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens and villas\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-25-1-624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3769\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Villa Melzi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3761\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3761\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/lake-como-2016-09-25-at-23-58-17\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3761\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3761\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-58-17--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's Villa Melzi garden\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-58-17--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-58-17--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-58-17--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-25-at-23-58-17--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3761\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View of the villa from the other end of the garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3760\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3760\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/lake-como-2016-09-26-at-00-00-46\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3760\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3760\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-00-46--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-00-46--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-00-46--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-00-46--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-00-46--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3760\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another view of the villa from under a giant dogwood tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3770\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3770\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/villa-melzi-2016-09-26\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3770\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3770\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-26--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Como's gardens\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-26--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-26--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-26--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Villa-Melzi-2016-09-26--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3770\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the main path and across Lake Como from the garden&#8217;s upper level<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3771\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3771\" style=\"width: 625px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2016\/10\/29\/bellagios-grand-garden-the-villa-melzi\/lake-como-2016-09-26-at-00-30-11\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3771\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3771\" src=\"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-30-11--1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Bellagio on Lake Como\" width=\"625\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-30-11--1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-30-11--300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-30-11--768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Lake-Como-2016-09-26-at-00-30-11--624x416.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3771\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Great view of Bellagio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lake Como is dotted with grand villas and for a few of them, the gardens probably exceed the beauty of the villas themselves. Two of the best\u00a0known gardens are Bellagio&#8217;s Villa Melzi and across the lake, near Tremezzo, is that of Villa Carlotta. Since we were staying in Bellagio, we spent a lazy late afternoon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,1,19,124],"tags":[46,29,141],"class_list":["post-3759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-home","category-italy-europe","category-italy-northernitaly","tag-garden","tag-italy","tag-lake_como","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3759"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3823,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759\/revisions\/3823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}