Lines in the Marble

The dawn over Lake Como arrived in a majestic cascade of lavender and liquid gold, burning the cool morning mist off the water and illuminating the dramatic granite peaks of the Bellagio promontory. By six-thirty, the quiet bay fronting Villa Bellisima was stirred by the deep, rhythmic chug of two heavy wooden cargo barges gliding across the water from the northern quarries of Val Chiavenna. Moored along the villa's lower…