Swiss elegance – Hotel Villa Principe Leopoldo / Lugano / Switzerland

House & Hotel Magazine features Switzerland.

We checked in at a great former private place which was transformed in a beautiful 5 star hotel.

The hotel makes you feel more in luxerious home than at a hotel and it makes you happy.

As usual Relais & Chateaux places are great. The Villa has 37 large Suites, Junior Suites and Deluxe rooms, all equipped with air-conditioning. Precious curtains and large and comfortable sofas separate the bedroom area from the living room. Bathrooms, with marble pannelling are situated on the side of the corridor.

Lugano is a meeting point for an international jet set community and has attracted a growing number of celebrities, thats why they got the nickname “Monte Carlo of Switzerland”.

The Villa is located at the very top of the ’Collina d’Oro‘, which dominates Lugano and its gulf, owes its name to Federico Leopoldo, a cavalry general, who was a descendant of the Hohenzollerns, a great German dynasty that ascended, in 1701, to the throne of the Prussian Kingdom and from 1871, to the German empire.
The villa, which was inhabited by Prince Federico Leopoldo until his death (1931), had been built at the end of the 19th century as the family’s summer residence.Before being turned into a hotel, (1986), the princely abode witnessed one hundred years of history: illustrious figures coming from the nobility of half of Europe were welcomed here either as residents or as guests.

Lugano is different, its located in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino is the largest Italian-speaking city outside of Italy.

Resto tip: Schauenstein

Schauenstein is located in the Swiss Alps, in the sleepy “city” of Furstenau, in reality an alpine village of 700 inhabitants. It is about 100 miles from Zurich, which by train can be reached in two and a half hours: from Zurich airport change at Zurich central station and take the train to Chur (the oldest town in Switzerland) then change again to reach the station of Thusis, which is a few miles from Furstenau. It is a lengthy journey but a scenic one, as the train goes past an impressive lake and then heads into the snow-capped mountains. The final leg of the train ride is the so-called Glacier Express, which serves assorted famous ski resorts such as Davos. Its name proves that the Swiss do, after all, have a sense of humour, as it should really be called the Glacial Express based on its true velocity. The scenery it passes is certainly very pretty, and you have plenty of time to admire it.

Schauenstein itself is just great, the dining area is split into two separate rooms, with the kitchen in between. This is not mass catering – the restaurant accommodates just 16 customers at lunch and 26 at dinner. The decor reflects the age of the building, with lots of wood paneling and impressively thick doors.

The wine cellar has around 3,000 bottles, presented in a thick tome.

There was a wide selection of Swiss wines, but also plenty of the classics.
Lets talk food:
Canapés included rocket sorbet with apple, with intense and well-balanced flavour. A potato and leek soup also had plenty of flavour.
Churros were excellent, with a spicy dip, while the best nibble was char, served on a cracker, simple but tasting superb.

Bread was made from scratch in the kitchen, a soft, doughy white bread, served warm with local butter. Just delicious.
Our first amuse-bouche was langoustine from Brittany, pan-fried and also served raw, with basil mousse and lemon espuma. On the side were delicate rice crisps and a lovely langoustine jelly with lime foam; the langoustines were of high quality, the lemon and lime elements works brilliant togehter.

Tuna and cucumber in various forms now appeared, including some raw tuna with avocado foam. Some tuna was seared, some served as sashimi, some marinated, each with different preparations of cucumber; all were of excellent quality. Veal tartare was next, served with sweetbread and also a deep fried piece of veal. The veal itself was lovely, but the star was a sweetcorn sauce, which had remarkable flavour and worked really well with the veal, with a sweetcorn powder adding a contrasting textural element.

Yummy and for me enough, so I took just a small dessert.

Marinated mango and pineapple, refreshing, with passion fruit and mascarpone sorbet, but on the side was a dish of spectacularly rich chocolate fondant.

All dishes were well balanced, with appealing combinations of flavours, and some surprises mixed in with the familiar.

Its worth it, lets go for it .