The popular ideal of a Lake Como getaway invariably involves its unbearably scenic shores bristling with sprawling manses.
The 4.5-acre Villa Peduzzi, bookable through design house specialsts Welcome Beyond, stakes the literal high ground with a perch 881m above lake level and breath-catching views of corrugated green-cloaked hills and limpid blue.
With admirable restraint, Singapore-based Studio Daminato realigned the footprint of the original Liberty Style family villa – built in 1909 for the Italian engineer Rocco Peduzzi on the foundations of a medieval watchtower – into an elegant retreat whose suite of rooms and public spaces, including eight creamy-hued bedrooms and yoga studio, have been furnished in oak, hand-woven textiles of hemp, silk, wool and jute, and linen wall panels.
Diversions include a private chef who whips up Italian fare alongside a broad L-shaped infinity pool, but in the unlikely event of cabin-fever, a funicular descends to a private Axopar 28 Brabus boat for lake-side excursions.§
