Still, tourism has been on the rise for more than a decade hence the new tunnel and Como experienced a mini-boom in the summer of 2022, when three years' worth of COVID-era weddings filled the villas and hotels with guests and the nighttime skies with pyrotechnics. Como's newfound "it" status is largely attributable to the De Santis family, who own Passalacqua and Grand Hotel Tremezzo, a spectacular Belle poque institution located at the Y-junction of the mid-lake. Apparently, the lodgings are the only locations on the lake where Clooney will send his visitors for dining. When we arrived at Passalacqua, we learned that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez had just completed a lunch on their honeymoon at a plum table overlooking the water.

Long ago, the Passalacqua Villa was regarded as one of the area's most attractive private residences. The majority of the present property was constructed in 1787 by Count Andrea Lucini Passalacqua, based on a design by architect Carlo Felice Soave; it features a magnificent central staircase and frescoes by Neo-classical artist Andrea Appiani. Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, dordle and Vincenzo Bellini, who composed his operas Norma and La Sonnambula in what is now the enormous, double-height Bellini Suite, are among its many illustrious visitors. (A grand piano is present in the chamber, should inspiration strike.) In each of the hotel's 23 other suites, there is a dial to adjust the volume of Bellini's arias; however, I accidentally hacked into the Bluetooth interface and broadcast Kate Bush's "Running up That Hill" throughout the hotel one night.

After the original family departed the property in 1885, it was first possessed by a Swedish baroness and then by a European pseudoscientist who spent the majority of the 1970s promoting the theory that humans are descended from cannibalistic, brain-eating primates. James Cantwell, an American investment financier, was its most recent occupant; he placed the property up for auction in 2018. The successful bidders were reportedly the De Santis family, who spent over $100 million plus an additional $22 million on enhancements. J. J. Martin, the designer of the moment from Milan, was hired to conduct a maximalist redesign of the pool and bar area, and an endearing orange Fiat 500 was placed between the villa and the water both of which have been social media sensations.