Friday 24th
Every year in May, I usually take the “straight” road down to Cernobbio from the Engadine Valley, the latter being a kind of sleeping beauty at this time of the year. After driving past the two quiet arctic lakes of St. Moritz and Silvaplana and looking south at the alpine vistas towards Italy, the scenic, spectacular and mythical Maloja Pass quickly unfolds. Most often than not dark and moody, surrounded by high pine trees and made of hairpins turns, this mountain road sets itself apart from all others —bringing different and changing sensations as one goes down it and enters an increasingly urban and normal world. Incidentally, this is also the route taken by the annual Fuori Concorso rallye, the Larusmiani-powered event being our first stop on the map for this weekend in Cernobbio that will include glittering waters, fast cars, speedboats but also architecture gems and a bundle of lake-side Campari spritzes.
Saturday 25th
Since its inception in 2019, Fuori Concorso has set the bar high in terms of event curation, planning and branding. Not only are the cars worth the yearly trip to Lake Como’s shores only, but the ethereal environment, the bundle of activities, the numerous brand pop-ups and Italian delicacies dotted around the lake’s shores offer an ongoing excitement around the timeless automotive masterpieces present. This year, the main sponsor is Chanel, bringing on the lake special timepieces as well as high jewellery from their new Milanese flagship on via Montenapoleone.
One of the weekend’s milestone is assuredly the quite exceptional line-up of Formula 1 cars welcoming guests and visitors in Villa Grumello’s entrance, including Ayrton Senna’s McLaren MP4/4, as well as the 1972 Monza winner Lotus 72. Meanwhile, Villa Sucota’s terrace is proving to be the ideal lookout for witnessing the much awaited Sunday afternoon speedboat race, bringing back with gusto a bit of the glitz Lake Como has always been celebrated for. This year’s curated theme was British Racing Green, offering many opportunities to learn extensively about the history of racing with a focus on English brands. This rather clever choice also suited perfectly the deep green hues of the dense and lush mountain forests that make up Lake’s Como incomparable landscape.
The rest of the night happens in nearby Switzerland, higher up in the “quiet” hills of Morbio Inferiore. In what is an habitually calm and plush neighbourhood overlooking the splendid valley below unfolded a quirky, astonishing and aesthetically over- pleasing house party, hosted by our friends at Officine Fioravanti. The 1963 Peppo Brivio villa is a masterwork of architecture, that was offering its brutalist brick and mortar facades to the warm evening sun. It offered quite the perfect backdrop to the guests dancing just below, in the fully panoramic gardens flanked by vineyards, while the DJ played from the carport where two stunning cars — a pitch-black Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione and a beautiful blue Ferrari 512BB — were nonchalantly parked. Side note: only 500 and 969 units were produced for each car respectively, setting the tone when entering the house for the evening ahead. The house’s open plan, original features and especially its typical mid-century living room conversation pit transported us right back in what could have been a Slim Aarons Palm Springs set, with impeccably dressed party-goers moving along 1970s rhythms and basking in the valley’s pre-summer sun. From a custom sunken bar in the terrace were served what were probably the best Negroni this side of the Italo-Swiss border. The surreal appearance of singers and Brazilian dancers with fireworks polished off this already vibrant evening, morphing the Slim Aarons picture into a Sorrentino party scene.
Sunday 26th
I have breakfast with seaplanes at the city’s Aero Club, in close vicinity with the Yacht Club as well as the Automobile Club. The planes, looking like lake-toys, come and go from the docks, and I find it both entertaining and relaxing to see them move about in the calm, shining water. I witness after a while some staff putting out several stunning Alfa Romeo speedboats, preparing for the afternoon Fuori Concorso race and promising louder action to the lake. On this day I have also discovered the walk from Como to Cernobbio to be the most agreeable on a May morning — slightly off season but with a definitive summer feel in the air, allowing for wonderful sights at both the villas as well as the lake’s eastern shore and its high-perched village of Brunate.
After a half-day trying to keep up with the events unfolding in Cernobbio, I am preparing to head south towards Milan. Sweet then is the relative calm of the lake shores before the bustle of the big city, and I savour the few hours I have left basking in the sun between Fuori Concorso’s ville and Villa Erba. Arriving in Milan from the route passing through Monza, most TV screens in bars and restaurants are broadcasting the live win of Ferrari in Monaco — and Charles Leclerc’s notable first victory in its home city. The week-end is definitely unfolding under good auspices in Italy.
Tonight also marks my first night at the Bvlgari Hotel Milano, which has been a personal praised reference over the past few years in two of my favourite subject matters — architecture and cocktails. I have indeed been going for a long time as a regular to their bar as well as a Niko Romito’s kitchen amateur, while indulging in the impeccable and innovative Antonio Citterio-designed interiors. With its more-than- central location in Milan’s Brera, its pristine, mineral architecture and its sophisticated aura, the Bvlgari embodies my idea of the high-luxury brand hotel, elegantly inserting a spirit, a lifestyle behind every idea and concept. The bar has high-quality drinks, the terrace is as quiet as tuscan countryside, the pastry counter is always full, and the walls are graced with our common Bvlgari icons — Marisa Berenson, Audrey Hepburn and Monica Vitti to name a few. The restaurant also holds an impressive food curation and wine choice; lobster pasta, tiramisu and after-dinner cigars where my selected menu, accompanied by bubbles and a very good Montepulciano.
The other reason I’ve descended to Milan is the opening of La Bayadère for this season — the Nureyev ballet that has been enchanting me with pictures of its sets and costumes for months on end. It was now coming back to la Scala, where it has been performed since 2021 (the Nureyev version of the ballet was originally created for l’Opéra de Paris in 1992), and I had felt an incomprehensible urge to go and see it. It is hard to put into words what la Scala represents to both the city of Milan and Italy and, well, to me. I’ve visited its rooms and empty halls when I first came to the city years ago, but had never attended a performance there, yet a Nureyev ballet. I had coveted with wondrous, envious eye the run of the performance last year and had missed my chance of attending by only a small feat, thinking I’d never have the chance to experience it again. Great was my surprise then when I learned that la Bayadère was showing once again at La Scala, and that the date of the opening night was coinciding with my visit to nearby Lake Como. I took the fast route, and didn’t hesitate a second in booking a box (or posto) as well as my whole trip around what was promising to be an unforgettable night.
After having taken in the most of Como sun I possibly could, I was thus suited for a most enchanting Milanese night on a memorable Sunday, with aperitivo provided at the Bvlgari’s counter just before being whisked into the grand Teatro (for the record: Negroni Sbagliato and Vodka Martini Dry for us). Only a minutes walk from the hotel, la Scala is always a great sight to behold on a performance night. Black cars pull up, long evening dresses swipe the city’s floor… there is an electrifying, eager atmosphere taking over the crowd in a beautiful movement of contagion, extending to the city. The performance had got me under its spell way before this very night though, using the imagery of the Ballet Russes in both its incredible sets and costumes. Having learned extensively about Vaslav Nijinsky’s life over the last years,
I could almost feel as if I was watching him dance on this mythical stage through the amazing evolution of Timofej Andrijashenko, one of La Scala’s primi ballerini, which unsettlingly resembled the dance legend but also and undoubtedly proved to be himself one of the most impressive, perfected god-like dancers I had the chance to witness. I have indeed yet to see again such a level of perfection in costumes, music, decors and athletic performance in my life, all combined. All the poetic evocations and representations of all of the three acts of La Bayadère result in a truly exceptional performance, something the whole audience could feel was the matter of one night only.
