
History
The Bellavista Hotel was inauguarated in 1896, just after
the opening of the Como-Brunate funicular. Tommaso Ghirardi,
a renowned chef from Como, formerly employed at the Court of St James's,
decided to start his own business, benefiting from the increasing
tourism developing throughout the Italian lake district.
After the 1920s, the Bellavista underwent various management changes,
due to declining tourism. The composition of visitors to Brunate
changed in the 1950s, leaving it no longer the sole preserve of
the Milanese industrial haute bourgeoisie, who had created the
village's trademark spacious Art Nouveau villas.
The Bellavista's proprietors are the Cavallanti family, who have
completed a scrupulous renovation of the entire building, restoring
and preserving its original Art Nouveau design.