The Hotel

In Viaggio pel lago di Como (A trip along Lake Como) by Gambattista Giovio, issued in 1817 under the pen-name Poliante Lariano, is said:

"Very well known is the Hotel of Cadenabbia, that some other Brentani (other than the famous Brentano family, who became the Von Brentano) had recently built with good luck both for their own profit and for greater convenience of travellers. Several times during winter, here came to spend a few weeks the Royal Archduke, coming from Milan and it is of fashion among the English to spend here whole months at a time. As it is half way on the lake Lario, here get ashore the helmsmen to rest and recover. For that reason it is believed that the name comes from Ca di naulo (House of the boatmen).

The historian Cesare Cantù, in the third volume of his Great Illustration of Lombard Venetian regions writes:

"We remember when there was no other hotel then the Hotel de la Cadenabbia, that is to say house of the boatmen or station. There used to stop the boats that, starting from Como with the afternoon breeze, reached this place in the evening, to pick up their journey on the following day for bringing passengers and goods to Colico or to the bank of Chiavenna. It was a very difficult journey, but its length and uneasiness brought the passengers' souls nearer, turning all of them into friends. Here it was possible to land and taste some local good food together with a glass of wine. Then, later on, the host used to come and instead of bringing in the police book, he handed round an Album on which it was possible to see many names, many trivialities and some gallantries. Not long ago, we were able to go through that creased and dirty book, which came into possession to an acquaintance of ours. We enjoyed reading again a poetry of a lady, whose daughter very frequently comes back here, accompanied by her good looking daughters. A poetry that gives the 50 years' ago atmosphere and yet it does not lack of feelings. A middle-aged man, who has been coming back here every autumn for the last thirty years, overheard the poetry and exclaimed: No verses will ever fulfil the beauty of this paradise."

Antonio Balbiani in his book "Como, its lake, its valleys and its described and illustrated villas", issued in 1877 describes the landing at Cadenabbia in the following way:

"To the passenger that from the steamboat observes the Riviera Tremezzina comes the sudden, usual cry that echoes in the air: Ladies and Gentlemen, here is Cadenabbia! And there is the elegant and charming prospective of Hotel Belle Vue. Indeed, that bank is beautiful with its woods of laurels, yew-trees, oleanders, magnolias, rhododendrons, camellias and many other ever green trees that are the gardens of Villa Carlotta; with that mighty dolomite massif named the Mountain of Tremezzo or Mount Crocione in the background. The Hotel Belle Vue joyfully catches one's eye like a fairy's house. It is a delightful place for the English and for those who come here to sojourn. And today it has become a monument the artist made for himself with his many years' work and on which people put an inscription, to him more eloquent than any other vanity could inscribe: Hotel Gianella. Yes, that palace is a monument that reminds a man who was able to rise himself with the strength of his will and the perseverance of his aims so that that beautiful building seamed to appear as for an enchantment.