Villa Balbiano is a late 16th-century residence on the lakefront of Ossuccio, in the comune of Tremezzina. It is one of the largest private villas on Lake Como.
History
In 1596 Ottavio Giovio sold the villa to Tolomeo Gallio, later the first Duke of Alvito. The building reused an earlier structure; the attribution of the design to Pellegrino Tibaldi is reported by Giovan Battista Giovio but is not documented. Inside are Baroque frescoes by the Recchi brothers, from the early 17th century.
In 1787 the villa passed to Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini, a patron and collector. Durini moved his art and book collections here, commissioned new frescoes and had a church, a tower and a lighthouse built, as well as a pavilion on the promontory.
The link with Villa del Balbianello
It was Durini who renamed the eastern estate “Balbianello”: this is the origin of the shared name with the nearby Villa del Balbianello, which the cardinal transformed in the same years.
From changes of ownership to the cinema
In the 20th century the villa belonged to Hermann Hartlaub (1960) and Michele Canepa (1982); a further change in 2011 led to works overseen by Jacques Garcia. In 2021 it was one of the locations for Ridley Scott’s film “House of Gucci”, where it stands in for the home of Aldo Gucci.
Along the Greenway
The villa is on the lakefront of Ossuccio, in the comune of Tremezzina, between the Sacro Monte di Ossuccio and Lenno. It is a private residence. Continuing along the route of the Greenway del Lago di Como you reach Lenno and the Lavedo peninsula, with Villa del Balbianello.