Villa del Balbianello

Villa del Balbianello is a villa on a wooded peninsula on the western shore of Lake Como, in the comune of Lenno in the Province of Como, Italy. A Franciscan monastery had occupied the site from the 13th century, and two campanile towers from that era still stand. Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini bought the property in 1785 and converted the monastery buildings into a summer villa in 1787, adding a loggia for viewing the lake. The estate later passed through several owners, including Luigi Porro Lambertenghi, Giuseppe Arconati Visconti, American businessman Butler Ames, and the explorer Count Guido Monzino, who acquired it in 1974. Monzino died in 1988 and left the villa, most of the surrounding Dosso d'Avedo, and an endowment for its upkeep to the Fondo Ambiente Italiano, the National Trust of Italy, which now runs it as a museum and one of the country's most visited heritage properties. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/