Angelo Maria Durini

As Cardinal Durini was an important patron of the arts, his villa Balbianello on lake Como became a frequent venue for the most exclusive intellectual and social gatherings of the time.

On one famous occasion, the Cardinal served the first coffee in Italy, which was called "thé nero francese" (French black tea).

[1] The villa was built in 1787 on the site of a Franciscan monastery for the Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini.

A number of feature films have used the villa for location shooting, including A Month by the Lake (1995), Casino Royale (2006).

The villa was also used for the lake retreat scenes in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002); however, CGI was used in place of the building's true exterior.