The Leoni Family: The Courage to Believe in a Dream
1956
Opening
In the spring of 1956, Arturo and June Leoni opened Hotel Du Lac. Their italian warmth and her elegance mixed with a friendly management style which made the guests feel immediately at their ease, gave the Du Lac an unmistakable atmosphere. Tea and cakes at the Hotel Du Lac became a fashionable rite in the area. On Saturdays and Sundays the lake in front of the hotel would be crowded with boats waiting to moor because there was not enough space on the landing stage. Arturo Leoni waved a flag from the terrace when one of his tables under the porticoes became free and a boat would pull in to the shore. The crowds kept on coming in a marathon of work and satisfation. Life passes quickly and every year the hotel was improved to make it more comfortable and to satisfy the new needs of the guests. And the family grew too: Nadia was born in 1956 and Luca in 1959. Lino, Arturo's brother who had shared his adventures in Europe, also came to live in Bellagio to lend a hand.Word-of-mouth knowns no frontiers and many foreign customers elect the Hotel Du Lac as their holiday home. This was how the Garnett family came to leave Wales every summer for a holiday in Bellagio.
1975
The family grows
That youth was Luca, Arturo's second son and heir of his passion for hospitality. After the work experience abroad, which is obligatory for the sons and daughters of hotel proprietors (in London, Monaco and Paris), Luca returned to Bellagio and did the two things that set up his life: he married his beloved Welsh girl, and threw himself into the work of the Hotel Du Lac, bringing with him the ideas he had developed while working abroad. History seemed to repeat itself: the Bellagino and his beautiful English bride had three children, and the atmosphere of the Hotel Du Lac became more and more special.It became the favourite hotel of families: functional but warm and friendly, offering reasonable prices without any of the compromises which would reduce the quality of a stay. This was the teaching of Arturo Leoni and, when he left this life in 1990, he left his family a legacy made of his love for quality and work well done. Luca was ready to take the helm and continue his father's work.The story of the Hotel Du Lac continued on the same course that Arturo had set: many new guests, many who become friends, feeling so at home that they return to the same warm welcome every year. Luca policy is to do everything to make his guests feel that they will want to return, and to make his employees feel that they want to stay.
2003
The tradition goes on
Today he has an enthusiastic team who get on so well together.The barman,the chef,the maitre d'hotel and the room manager have all been with the Dulac for years.And,even if many of them work for important hotels abroad during the winter,as soon as the fine weather arrives,they are back here on the shores of the lake to recreate that big,extended family which keeps the dream,which Arturo and June had many years ago,alive even today
A Little piece of history
