This post has been sat in my drafts for close to 2 months as I’ve been taking some time to myself – but more on that another time! I’m hoping I can do this post justice for the most amazing weekend away in Bellagio, Lake Como, Italy, where my boyfriend and I watched our friends get married, whilst also enjoying the weekend for ourselves.
Firstly, let’s accept that no words can describe Lake Como (and Italy’s) transcending beauty. I might say ‘beautiful’ a lot in this post.
Friday
After rushing from work in the early afternoon to the airport, we took the short 1.5 hour flight from London Heathrow to Milan Linate (it was meant to be 2 hours, but the wind was on our side), where we were greeted by our driver who took us to Bellagio where we would be staying for the weekend. For those interested in costs throughout this post, we booked this through Booking.com for just under £100 one-way, where we also booked our apartment (I think this was about £300). Regarding airport transfers, book these in advance to save you time and stress – although we used public transport in the end, which you can read in part 2.
Fortunately we got to the welcome dinner in time where we met the other guests, friends and family. Here, we were treated to the most beautiful food where I was full up after the first course of fish risotto – although it tasted like chicken! Then it was onto a super succulent mini cut of beef with carrots, followed by a limoncello dessert (not for me), a tiramisu (of course), and an espresso for those who dared consume it at 11.30pm (again, another Italian tradition and one I divulged in many times across the weekend!). Then it was off to bed to get some beauty sleep!
Saturday
The big day! We had the morning to ourselves where we met up with friends and explored the beautiful Bellagio in the daylight where it instantly came to life. Smells of pastries, coffee and pizza filled the air. Church bells rang. Tourists queued for endless cups of gelato. Boats constantly pulled up and away from the pier. Aperol bottles filled shop windows, their bright orange contents exuding attention from within.
My boyf and I had croissants (1 pistachio which is now forever my favourite flavour), espressos and a cappuccino a short walk from the apartment at Art in Flower, all for €4.90! You’ll see a recurring theme of coffee, where we walked down to the lakeside and sat under a canopy of leaves at Bar Sanremo to have a macchiato with a couple more friends (about €6 for a macchiato and espresso).
The morning was calm yet quietly brewing with excitement as we joined more friends to explore a little more of the beautiful, now thriving Bellagio, before grabbing a slice of street food pizza at Bellavita for less than €5.
Come lunch time, it was kick off time! I walked down the cobbly, steep steps of Bellagio in my socks as my heels were so painfully high, where the celebrations started in style with a private boat taking us from Bellagio to the wedding villa, Aura Villa del Lago, boasting chic, alluring views of Lake Como by the water’s edge.
Whilst the wedding day remains wholly private, it was one of the most incredible, magical places I have been fortunate to visit. Not only was the villa truly perfect in every way, the registrar, Fabio, was ultimately dreamy and even told us the story of growing up in Lake Como, along with his own experiences with love.
Nobody’s drink was empty, nor small canapes as we were greeted to the villa where we took photos and had a chance to embrace the peaceful surrounding views as the sun teased us through the clouds. The best man even made me an espresso as I was flagging a bit.
A couple of hours of throbbing feet later (I really should have tested my heels!), it was time to see the bride. And in perfect timing, it was meant to be as the sun emerged upon her arrival. She and the groom looked… wow. I was speechless. The groom already looked handsome and very ‘dapper’ in his green suede suit, but even more so when he saw his beautiful, radiant bride.
After exchanging vows under the influence of Fabio (yep, he is indeed a drug) and comforting my boyf who shed his first tear in front of me (ever), it was onto more pics and then FOOD! Before I overdo it, I’ll just say it was quite possible some of the best food I’ve had for a long time – with a spin of Italy, of course.
Liquid parmesan soufflé with ‘spinacino’ leaf, nuts and caramelised sec pears – the perfect size and balanced so well with the pear
Tagliolini fresh pasta with black truffle and Toma Piemontese cheese – the guy was having the time of his life grating the truffle over the pasta with his special glove!
Beef cheek with asparagus – super juicy and rich that just falls apart. Melts in the mouth
After hours of great food, drink and speeches, it was onto pictures with the happy couple and then cutting the cake. I’m not a massive cake fan, but OMG the cake was out of this world!!! The closest I can describe it was a blend of mille fueille with berries and white chocolate – heaven. All the food porn you could think of.
The day continued into the early hours. Now, I don’t drink and was on the H2O, but it was still such an amazing time. The espresso had worn off by this point, possibly by many hours, where I was using the emergency reserves of my batteries. I blame it on me dancing it out to Cha Cha slide and the Macarena earlier (yes, I am that person who requests those songs).
It truly was the most perfect, happiest day. All in the most beautiful surroundings of the twinkling lights of Bellagio.
Lizzie's Week 
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