The mystery of the Grand Hotel Tremezzo's love letters

"Verrai? Verrai come mi hai promesso? Hai riso quando ti ho ripetuto la domanda e rivedo i tuoi occhi adesso, mentre esco dalla mia camera e percorro il grande scalone in silenzio."

Will you come? Will you come as you promised? You laughed when I repeated the question, and I see your eyes again now as I leave my room and walk down the grand staircase in silence. 

This is a fragment of one of the ten love letters from the early twentieth century that were found hidden behind the wallpaper on the walls of the library of the Grand Hotel Tremezzo, located on the western shore of Lake Como. 

The Grand Hotel Tremezzo is an elegant Belle Époque establishment built by the Gondola family in 1910. Its founders, Maria and Enea Gondola, fell in love, got married, and spent their time traveling around Europe visiting the great hotels of the time. When they returned to Italy, they wanted to build a hotel as the ideal vacation spot for the upper-class couples and families of the time. 

Thus, in the early twentieth century, the Grand Hotel Tremezzo welcomed Italian high society, as well as aristocrats, bankers, artists, and American celebrities such as actress Greta Garbo, who was a regular client of the hotel and even had a suite in her name. 

The hotel, surrounded by the idyllic scenery of the lake and its mountains, was the ideal setting for love affairs, declarations of love, secret relationships, and honeymoons in the 1920s and 1930s. 

Coinciding with hotel renovations that took place in the 70s, the current ownership, managed by Valentina de Santis and her family, found a packet of handwritten love letters, hidden in the wall of the library. Some were dated and signed, but others were anonymous. It is believed that perhaps it was the initial owner, Maria Gondola, who may have hidden them there with the intention of keeping those love stories captured in ink and paper, in the heart of the hotel.

Now, the owners leave copies of fragments of some of these selected letters on the pillows of the guests along with some chocolates, as a tribute to the love stories that the hotel witnessed in its golden age.

Today, the Grand Hotel Tremezzo remains a "must" for anyone who travels to Lake Como and wants to stay in an establishment that has it all: exclusivity, elegance, beauty, history, a fascinating environment, and a personal and familiar treatment. 

The hotel has a park of 20,000 square meters with palm trees, azaleas, geraniums, and hydrangeas, and evocative names such as the "Fountain of Happiness" or the "Pool of Flowers". It is also possible to enjoy a private beach in the Italian Lido style of the early twentieth century overlooking the lake and the mountains, as well as a swimming pool built on the water of the lake itself. 

At the hotel, different activities and experiences are offered, such as painting or cooking classes, Italian wine tasting, cycling or trekking routes, and tennis or golf. As well, private boat tours to discover the most romantic corners of the lake and exclusive visits to the most fascinating villas in the area are available. These villas are a wonderful opportunity to go back in time and rediscover the emotion of the great European travelers of the past who have lived here and have written, composed, painted, loved, and dreamed, inspired by the charm of this small Italian paradise.