We had to spend a night in Milan before taking the morning flight Back to Beirut the next day. Choosing to enter Milan or find a hotel around the airport was an obvious decision... Entering and leaving Milan would have been too complicated and time consuming, so we decided to explore the are near the airport.... Lake Maggiore.
Only 25 minutes away from Milan airport is a small city called Varano Borghi. It looks like the governor or prince of this city used to live in this castle that was recently transformed into a hotel. We reached a metallic door, where a water fountain separated us from the villa's facade. Surrounded by a wide area of greenery, Villa Borghi is a 20 rooms hotel all facing a view on the lake Camabbio. Hotel Villa Borghi is a seventeenth-century ancient residence, the only one of its kind, has twenty rooms, divided into categories De Luxe, Junior Suite and Suite.The villa once inhabited by the Family Borghi, which today is located the Hotel Villa Borghi, was built in the small town of Varano Borghi (Varese) on the eastern shore of Lake Comabbio. The breathtaking palace in 1800 was subject to a fine restoration that gave the graceful lines, typical of the Art Nouveau style, which characterizes the entire structure.The Hotel is surrounded by a park of 65,000 sqm, full of trees and easily walked through the presence of convenient paths. Inside the park is also a garden of rare beauty.
Villa Borghi is a unique discovery:
With a hint of added professionalism to this hotel, it can be known worldwide... From the minute I decided to book this hotel, until we entered our rooms, I experienced some mismanagement from their part which can be can easily be fixed. Bad pictures, dark alleys, down and gloomy unwelcoming staff to help with the luggage - a true ambiance of a haunted house. But never the less this hotel is great on many levels, the room, the bathroom, breakfast and dinner. After spending a night at Villa Borghi, I felt sad to see a majestic hotel like this one - that has the ability to be part of Les Relais & Chateaux- with only one occupancy on a Sunday night. It does have a lot of potential... If you have a night to spend near the Milan airport, I encourage you to visit the small village of Varano Borghi.
The place is more of a museum:
- Beautiful areas and scenery next to the lake
- A villa where you enter on a stone pavement around a water fountain
- A villa it is, like an old castle
- A large lobby where a reception welcomes you
- Saloons on the left
- Old design marble tiles cover the floor
- A long house where the kitchen is in the middle, the restaurant, the breakfast area and the reception glass terrace
- Large stairs on the left, where on the first floor a long corridor occupied with rooms with large doors
- Huge suits, I really didn't feel like leaving
The suites, for only 200€ a night:
- A large 40sqm room
- A 50inch screen
- A working desk
- A long sofa
- Two cupboards
- A large 12sqm bathroom with all the needed amenities
- A bathtub in the middle of the bathroom, like the old ones you see in movies
- A massage shower tower
A wonderful hotel with all its amazing details:
- Soft classical music plays around the hotel all the time
- The Borghi family handles it. I would suggest they improve their English
- Check the beautiful paintings and specially the genealogical tree of the Borgui family
- Two security lines are installed in the rooms in case of a fall
- The LCD screen we had in our room is 50inch: Huge
The minuses:
- One person does it all: The same girl works as a receptionist, a breakfast preparer, a coffee server and a room attendant: Logical in a four stars hotel?
- Their are no tissue boxes in the rooms
- The staff doesn't speak any other language than theirs. French or English? Anyone? Bizarre for a hotel, isn't it?
- A bit more marketing, some minor improvements, and this hotel can have its deserved fifth star
- More than a hundred Italian TV channels and but no international TV stations? CNN, EuroNews, BBC? You must add these the soonest for all international travelers.
A simple breakfast and a superb dinner, an air conditioned hotel, relaxing beds and amazing bathrooms. Classical music plays the background. A beautiful region in an authentic building. I'm coming back to this hotel at the first opportunity available.
