Villa Carlotta on Lake Como was owned by Giovanni Battista Sommariva. He was in direct competition with Francesco Melzi d' Eril across the water at Villa Melzi. As a consequence both men fought to out do each other in terms of garden splendour.
At Villa Carlotta you will find a wealth of trees and shrubs that came in from all over the world. Large specimen trees and Rhododendrons to name a few. The plant range is breathtaking and helpfully almost every plant is labelled to aid identification. We visited the Carlotta and Melzi mid April which in hind sight is a touch to early. By early to mid-May the Rhododendrons and Azaleas will be stunning and a mass of colour. Thats not to say that when we visited the Magnolias where not worth seeing alone!
The main difference between Carlotta and Melzi is that Carlotta only allows selected views of Lake Como whereas Melzi incorporates the whole vista of the lake into the garden.
The striking difference between gardens in the lakes region and say Rome or Florence is the maintenance aspect. The attention to weeding and pruning far outstrips most gardens southwards. Pruning is an art and carried out to the highest level that I have ever seen in Italy. There are more gardeners per garden and all it seem take a pride in their respective gardens.
The gardens of the lakes are more for the plants person than any other gardens in Italy. I suggest any visit is planned for May/June but watch out for the hottest summer months, the traffic and visitor numbers I would think will be heavy and the gardens will be past their best with mid- Spring being the best time to visit.
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