July 2013 - Grand Hotel Tremezzo

ITALIAN LAKESThe lakes provide a perfect timeoutduring a tour of Italy — beingless than an hour from Milan andabout three hours from Venice —but I regard them as a destination intheir own right. On a recent trip, wepicked up a car at the Verona airportand drove for 50 miles throughcountryside pink and white withblossom to Salò, a resort town onthe western shore of Lake Garda.Although the nearby Grand Hotel àVilla Feltrinelli in Gargnano has longbeen one of my favorite Italian hotels,it has become extremely expensive— something that doesn’t seemto trouble its increasingly Russianclientele — so it was in the hopes offinding a charming and comfortableplace with good service and moresensible rates that we arrived at the18-room VILLA ARCADIO.Occupying a stone convent,much of which dates to the 14thcentury, the hotel is surroundedby 27 acres of orchards and olivegroves, and is perched on a hillsidethat affords panoramic views of thelake. It was originally bought byan Italian-Finnish couple, who hadintended to make it their holidayhome, but soon decided to convertit into a hotel instead. The propertyopened two years ago, andtoday, it is a place of tremendouscharm, with exposed stone walls,Waterfront in the town of SalòPHOTO BY ANDREW HARPER8hideaway report | July 2013