If you’re going to celebrate a birthday, do it right. No, not with cupcakes in your kitchen or a bottomless brunch with overly enthusiastic mimosas. I mean properly. As in: Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Lake Como. A hotel so unapologetically opulent, so cinematically positioned, and so unapologetically Italian that even your most cynical inner voice will hush, sip its prosecco, and sigh, “Well played.”
Let’s set the scene: You arrive. The lake sparkles. The chandeliers twinkle. The concierge knows your name, and possibly your blood type. You glide (not walk—glide) into the ARTE Suite, your new birthday headquarters. And not just any suite, mind you. This is the ARTE Suite—ground floor royalty with unobstructed lake views that make your soul weep a little with joy. Inside? A mood board of elegance and bold personality. Biedermeier furnishings meet Andy Warhol cool. A Kandinsky-esque rug splashes color beneath your feet, while Prada design flourishes whisper that you’re living very much in the now. It’s like waking up in an Architectural Digest fantasy curated by a Milanese art dealer with a sense of humor and expensive taste. And just when you think things can’t get more fabulous—you meet Alessandro.
Now, Lake Como has many talents: alpine-meets-mediterranean scenery, George Clooney, and ferry timetables that defy logic. But what it truly excels at is cocktails—especially when Alessandro, the hotel’s spectacular head bartender, is involved. This man isn’t just a mixologist; he’s an alchemist. His gin and tonics? Transcendent. No, really—don’t just order one. Ask for the full gin and tonic experience. You can thank me later when you’re blissed out under the Italian stars wondering if you’ll ever accept a sad little slice of lime and tonic back home again.
Alessandro crafts each drink with such flair, precision, and borderline sorcery that the bar becomes a stage and he, its charismatic lead. Want a Negroni? Oh, he makes Negronis—bold, balanced, bitter in the way that all great art (and great aperitifs) should be. His presence is reason alone to book a return trip—yes, even if it’s your dentist’s birthday and not your own.
The days unfold in a dreamlike haze of poolside lounging, artful dining, and impromptu photo shoots against 19th-century frescoes because when in Bellagio, one does not miss an opportunity for glamour. Breakfast is served in a ballroom so majestic it practically demands you wear pearls with your pancakes. Mistral tempts you with tasting menus that make every dish feel like a declaration of love. And La Goletta? Ideal for when you need pasta to feel casual but still Instagrammable.
The service? Impeccable. Not in that robotic, over-rehearsed way, but warm, genuine, and somehow always there with exactly what you didn’t realize you needed. The staff doesn’t just take care of you—they celebrate you.
In short, my Bellagio birthday escapade wasn’t a trip. It was a performance. A glittering, gin-soaked, fresco-framed production where I was the spoiled lead and Lake Como was my backdrop. And while the ARTE Suite offered me stylish seclusion and Alessandro kept me perfectly hydrated, it was the entire Serbelloni experience that turned a birthday into a full-blown cinematic event.
Next year? I might come back. Or I might never leave.
By: Lucas Raven (a Newly Minted Connoisseur of Dolce Vita Living)
