Villa Carlotta is situated in the town Tremezzo. The villa and the gardens date from the fist half of the 18th century and were built for the Marchese Clerici as a summer home away from Milan. The 18th century gardens were laid out in the former classical italian style. The neoclassical villa stands above three terraces linked to the lake along the central axis by a series of double stairways with imposing balustrades.

At the entrance, set in within high hedges of camelais, there is a rounded fishpond. The villa was inherited by Giovanni Sommariva in 1795. He enlarged the park and updated the villa with neoclassical stucco work and a clock added to the roofline. The property was purchaged in 1842 by Princess Marianne of Prussia who gave it to her daughter Carlotta on her marriage to Prince George of Sax-Meiningen. They devoted much attention to the gardens and they created an English garden complete with a "jungle dell" banked with trees, fernes and exotic flowers. Lots of exotic trees like palms, eucalyptus, magnolias, sequoias, were planted along lanes. The layout today is much as the Saxe Meiningens left it at the beginning of the fist world war. The Villa Carlotta draws crowds especialy in April and May for its blazing display of colour - with different varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas. Inside the villa there is a museum dedicated to neoclassical art with prominent pieces of art such as statues by Canova; paintings by Appiani and Hayez, gobelins tapestries.

OPENING TIMES: From April till September every day from 9.00 - 18.00. March and October: 9.00- 11.30 and 14.00-16.30

ACCESS: from the landingstage at Tremezzo follow the lake side promenade approx. 600 to the north through the village of Tremezzo.