Villa Feltrinelli is a historic country property on the western shore of Lake Garda - in northern Italy - offering the highest possible hotel service for discerning traveller in search of beauty, graciousness and peace. The Villa and its grand park were built in 1892 by the prominent Feltrinelli family and served as a summer escape. Since then the villa and its lakeside views have been admired by the statesmen and artists alike. Mussolini resided several years at the villa during World War II.

 In 1997 Bob Burns, legendary hotelier and founder of Regent International Hotels, bought the villa, gave it new life and offers it today to demanding travellers worldwide. Design teams from around the globe were consulted about period features and stylistic coherence in the modernisation of the villa to give the visitor the best of both antique elegance and modern comfort. Mr Burns made it a labour of love restoring the villa and everything to the highest standards imaginable. No expense was spared to raise the standard of quality of restored furniture and of the smallest architectural details.

 The ville's Chef focuses his talent and creativity on the abundance of local products. The wine cellar abounds with both regional and some of Italy's most famous vintages. The San Francisco team of Babey Moulton Jue & Booth have brought back the feeling of a family home. From the rustic elegance of the rooms in the park buildings to the grand style of the more formal rooms in the villa, the gracefulness of the past blends with the needs of the modern traveller. Spacious bathrooms offer heated marble floors, English nickel plated brass fixtures and Acqua di Parma bath products. Here, style and functionality are the backdrop to delightful pampering of the senses. The secluded library gives the villa's guests a feeling of being a world apart, far from the madding crowd. It also serves as the villa's screening theatre, as the custom-designed furniture reveals audiovisual technology to rival the very best. The historical park with century old trees has been carefully restored to bring back the classic Italian garden style, with its olive groove and tiered lemon garden. The swimming pool, tiled in the grey-green granite, fits into the landscape as a cool, inviting garden feature.

When the history and luxury style and serenity, are found in every corner of the house, beautiful moments abound.

Here are some additional pictures I found, Click here! here are some pictures of the area and other hotels, Click here!

We spent the UK Bank Holiday at this property by Lake Garda. It was the first time either of us had ever been to this area and, to be honest, we would never have come if it wasn't for trying out Feltrinelli. In the end, though, we found the whole area very pleasant for a relaxing couple of days despite the poor weather which was affecting most of Western Europe that weekend.

 Feltrinelli set a new personal high for me in terms of cost per night for a hotel room - Euro 1,300 ($1,750) + 5% service. There are cheaper rooms, to be fair - we had a 1,500 square foot villa on the ground floor of a three storey building in one corner of the property. There are 2 similar buildings on the other side of the villa - Bob's Boat House (a 2 storey villa directly on the lake) and a smaller block behind that. Think of a shoe-box plot with the villa in the centre and the outbuildings in three of the corners. It was only a 60 second walk from our villa to the main building.

The rooms in the main building are 'grander' in terms of painted frescos on the ceilings etc. They are also smaller, however - we had a look at the top suite and it was smaller than our villa despite being twice the price. We also had two private patios, whilst only the top suite in the main house has a private balcony - albeit one directly looking out over the lake. There are only 21 rooms in total and occupancy seems to be very high - we saw the weeks bookings on the house computer systems. That said, it is still hard to believe it makes money given that it is only open for part of the year, cost $20m to renovate and has a huge number of staff. It's difficult to fault this property.

 Bob Burns (who sold up in February to a Russian oligarch who has never even visited the place, at least knowingly to the staff) cut no corners. Or, more accurately, you can fault it (no fresh fruit in rooms, no spa, no indoor pool, TV a little small) but it doesn't matter. What does matter is: a) the amazing location. It is 10 minutes walk into Gargnano village, where you can wander around and also get ferries to the larger towns around the lake; b) the ludicrous amount of time and money that went into the renovation, but also goes into the day-to-day landscaping and maintenance; and c) the highly impressive staff, including the excellent kitchen. We ate 2 of our 3 evenings meals elsewhere and both were disappointing, although Gargnano has a Michelin-starred place we didn't try. We should have taken more meals at the villa. The chef is ex-El Bulli and it shows in the ludicrous number of amuse bouche.

 This is simply a very adult place to come, although babies are welcome in the cottages (they are less tolerant of children). No silly hotel signs or logos in the rooms, no signing for anything, no loyalty scheme. Just a group of people going out of there way to make your stay as happy as possible. Free laundry and free mini-bars are sensible anywhere with high room rates, but you so rarely see it. Same with good quality toiletries (Aqua di Parma), silk-linked robes, an Asian-style pool service, fantastic in-room music system etc. If you want a computer they will give you a free laptop for the duration of the stay - full wireless in the grounds. The quality level is almost funny at times - rose petals sprinkled in your loo during turndown, Faber Castell pencils in the rooms, your check-in details presented in a Mont Blanc leather folder, Euro 50 pots of AdP bath crystals (which we used up in two days!). The pathways are made of sparkling white crushed marble, the pool from grey granite. We flew on BA from London to Verona, where the hotel picked us up in a house Mercedes (Euro 200 one-way). Brescia is nearer if you want to fly Ryanair from the UK.

 Leaving, we had them drop us at the railway station an hour away where we took a train to Verona (2 trains per hour, 25 min journey) and saw the sights before taking the late flight back. I think its fair to say that we both felt something very special about this place. Only the Mandarin Oriental in Chiang Mai has had a similar effect on me - a feeling that you totally enveloped in a different world. If you are planning a trip to Italy it is well worth a detour - the excellent and cheap Italian train network means it is easily reachable from Milan, Venice etc.