Viewed from the gardens, the grand staircase ascends to the villa's neoclassical facade.
The villa was built between 1690 and 1745 by the Clerici family, Milanese silk merchants and textile magnates who owned ancestral lakeside land at Tremezzo. Marquis Giorgio Clerici began construction in 1690 his great-grandson Anton Giorgio completed it in 1745.
The Italian garden with its geometric beds, steps, fountains, and sculptures was laid out during the Clerici era, designed to be admired from the villa's upper terraces. In the early 19th century, Gian Battista Sommariva, a politician and art collector, purchased the property and added much of the art you see today, commissioning works from Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. Sommariva added the clock to the facade, installed balconies to take in the lake view, and built a domed family chapel and mausoleum near the lake shore.
Princess Marianne of Nassau (wife of Prince Albert of Prussia) bought the villa in 1843 and gifted it to her daughter Charlotte (Carlotta) on her wedding to George II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, in 1850. George II was a botany enthusiast who enriched the park with rare and exotic species, creating the landscape garden that made Villa Carlotta famous.
The museum today houses original neoclassical furniture, paintings by Francesco Hayez, and Canova's celebrated marble group "The Kiss" (a later version). The vaulted ceiling of the main salon was decorated by Lodovico Pogliaghi (1857–1950) under Duke George II's direction.
Interesting facts...
The garden staircase includes a simple shower feature built into the stonework, a cooling station for hot summer days, allowing visitors to refresh themselves while walking the terraces.
The citrus arches on the lake terraces produce five different fruits at different times of year: mandarins, bitter oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and bergamot like a harvest calendar.
The villa's name honours Princess Charlotte of Prussia, but she only visited once after receiving it as a wedding gift in 1850.
The ancient camellias in the garden have been blooming continuously for two centuries ,some specimens date to the early 1800s. The gardens cover 70,000 square metres and boast over 150 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas — one of the largest collections in Europe. The rock garden, ferns valley, and bamboo garden were all additions by George II, who personally selected each exotic species during his botanical expeditions.
The villa became a mandatory stop on the Grand Tour circuit, with writers like Stendhal, Gustave Flaubert, and Lady Morgan all dedicating chapters to it in their travel memoirs.
Location: Via Statale 56, Tremezzo, Lake Como, Italy
