Villa del Balbianello stands on the tip of the Dosso d'Avedo peninsula on Lake Como. A Franciscan monastery stood there in the 13th century, and two bell towers of its church survive. Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini bought the property in 1785 and converted it into a villa in 1787, adding a loggia with two lake panoramas. The article names no architect or style. Giuseppe Arconati Visconti later improved the gardens and loggia.
Butler Ames bought the villa in 1919 and renovated it. Guido Monzino bought it in 1974, left the exterior largely unchanged and redecorated the interior. After his death in 1988 it passed to the Fondo Ambiente Italiano, Italy's National Trust.
It was the most-visited of the trust's 52 properties, with over 135,000 visitors in 2019. It appeared in Casino Royale (2006).
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