Gargnano
Italy


The Experience

When crack hotelier Bob Burns sold his Regent hotel chain in 1997, he turned right around and bought this historic former home of the famous publishing family. It's easy to see the attraction: Through grand gates in sprawling, manicured grounds, the imposing, crenellated villa commands the shores of Italy's Lake Garda. It dates back to 1892, when staircases were grandly carved in stone and windows cut large to take in the lake views and breezes. Burns soon put his Rolodex to work, calling in designers from around the world to turn the home into one of the most exquisitely restored small hotels on the planet.

The Rooms

Antiques and art coexist harmoniously with satellite music systems and 100-channel LCD-screen TVs in every guest room. These have their various architectural flourishes, from etched glass to coffered ceilings, perfectly preserved: In the main Villa, for example, 7 of the 13 rooms feature frescoed ceilings hand-painted by the Lieti brothers, and the largest, Al Lago, has a huge lake-view balcony big enough for lounge chairs. The eight guest rooms in the park buildings are lighter and more rustic in spirit -- more silk taffeta than heavy brocade -- but no less elegant, with the same hand-crafted Venetian glass bedside lamps, original antiques and custom furnishings. Burns is credited with making bathrooms a highlight in hotels, and here he's continued the tradition, with heated marble floors and French porcelain soaking tubs big enough for two.

The Service

You'll be welcomed as if arriving in a friend's home -- if your friend has an impeccably trained staff of 75, from pool butler to boat skipper. Registration is discreetly done in the guest room, where you can refresh with a complimentary drink from the minibar while your clothes are unpacked and suitcases whisked away to storage. Laundry service is also complimentary.

The Highlights

The entire ground floor of the Villa is open to guests: You can borrow a book from the library or raid the pantry at any time. Dinners are an all-evening affair, beginning (and ending) with drinks in the octagonal paneled bar or mirrored salon, or on the lakeside terrace. Dinner, which features local ingredients, is served either in the fanciful tented pergola outside by the lake or inside by the fireplace. Days are spent in the swimming pool, surrounded by gardens of lemon and olive trees, strolling the gravel paths along the lakefront or taking a tour in the Villa's private lake boat -- a Riva (the Rolls-Royce of private launches). Various tours, tennis, golf and tickets to the nearby Verona opera are arranged in minutes, as are therapeutic massages in the privacy of guest rooms or outdoors in the scented limonaia.

-- Kathleen Beckett

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