The Moorish villa at the entrance to town is the most surprising building on the lake. Built in 1879 for the cotton merchant Cristoforo Benigno Crespi, who had made his fortune in Egypt and wanted a home that reminded him of it, Villa Crespi is a riot of horseshoe arches, marble columns, mosaic floors and stencilled interiors imitating Mauresque palaces — set down incongruously among the chestnut woods of Piedmont.
It now operates as a luxury hotel and houses the restaurant of celebrity chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo, a two-Michelin-star institution and tasting menus to match. Non-guests can wander the gardens during the day, peek at the interior bar, and arrange in advance to dine. Either way it is worth a short walk from the centre to see the exterior — a building that has no right to be here, and is all the better for it.