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inspired interiors of Casa al Lago. Design studio Bottega Conticelli from Orvieto crafted the handsome vintage-style steamer trunks, which conceal televisions. In the double-height salon of the grand Bellini suite, a 12-foot-high Ca'Rezzonico-style chandelier glitters high into the domed rotunda ceiling. "We designed a secret dining room with a tufted chartreuse silk sofa and pretty antique chairs and views of the lake, where a couple can be alone for a champagne celebration," Babey says. "We wanted rooms to look like they'd been in the family for centuries." Suites sparkle with handcrafted mirrors by the Venice company Barbini, while many baths are furnished with marble from Carrara and Verona quarries. Life at Passalacqua, pampered and soothed, glows and spins in the sweet fragrance of oleanders and jasmine of this Leonardo-esque landscape. Each day, the hotel offers a program inviting guests to participate in pleasures such as collecting eggs from heirloom chickens in the rustic henhouse, or an afternoon learning to make bread or Italian sweets with the pastry chef. There's tennis on a perfect clay court overlooking the lake, a bocce court, and sunbathing among the fragrant fennel fronds of the vegetable garden. Perhaps spa treatments — or il dolce far niente in the shade of the wisteria pergola. And, this summer, Passalacqua launches an outdoor cinema in the garden overlooking the lake. Visconti watching. Prepare perchance to dream. Passalacqua is skilled at enchantment. Passalacqua is closed January 2 through February 28 and reopens in March. Rooms from $1,500. Passalacqua, Como, Italy, passalacqua.it. Life at Passalacqua glows and spins in the sweet fragrance of oleanders and jasmine. Specially woven Rubelli fabrics enhance a bedroom. A lush lake view through a silk-taffeta draped window RICKY MONTI ENRICO COSTANTINI Grand junior suite in the villa ENRICO COSTANTINI STEFAN GIFTTHALER View over the restaurant terrace