Varenna is easily reached by boat or ferry, and once you have disembarked you can take the Lovers' Promenade - a footbridge overhanging the water - that is only a few hundred metres long and leads to the centre of the small village. Here you will find the entrance to one of the most famous villas in the centre of the lake: Villa Monastero. It is the result of the transformation of an ancient Cistercian convent dedicated to the Virgin Mary and built at the end of the 12th century.

The villa is surrounded by a garden that stretches for almost two kilometres along the lakefront, rich in rare and exotic botanical species kept thriving by the lake's mild climate. The architectural decorations scattered here and there along the route are of considerable beauty: statues, small temples, reliefs and fountains.