A perfectly intact Liberty-style masterpiece by the architect Sommaruga, it is set in a park on the Colle Campigli, with views over the lakes all the way to Monte Rosa. All is Belle Époque: the building, entrance canopies, the lobby with its seven-metre tall windows, the halls, bar, restaurant, chandeliers, wall sconces, frescoes, ornaments, forged iron, and marble and wooden staircases. Wilhelmina of the Netherlands spent a month here, Umberto of Savoy came when it was a war hospital, Tamagno played cards with Mascagni and Puccini, King Farouk came with fabulous women, and Nureyev drove people mad with his whims.