The quest for privacy sneaks in with age. When you notice the greenness of trees shimmering again the way they did in your youth. When you realize that nature itself has always been waiting for you somewhere…Courtesy Majeli Vassart PropertiesSignor Canepa has lived by Lake Como for 45 years. His previous home was Villa del Balbiano, a 16th-century Cardinal’s palazzo, still the largest private residence directly on the lakeside. A property befitting the Canepa family name as one of the most important signatures in Como’s haute couture silk industry. In 2011—after viewing a total of 70 other properties, he tells me—he exchanged the glitter of the lake for the quietude of seclusion on a forested hillside above the town of Como. Here stands his current residence, Il Campaccio, which now in its own time comes to market for sale.A long private drive, ancient trees, lush planting. First impressions leave their mark at Il Campaccio.Courtesy Majeli Vassart PropertiesWhat it’s like to live here begins when we leave the village of Capiago Intimiano and drive a one-kilometer single-track road up a tree-bedecked hill to where even Google Maps do not intrude. And we arrive at the entrance to an estate of 23.5 acres. (How big is that? A quarter the size of the Vatican City). The enormous grounds and gardens are filled by avenues with planned perspectives, lawns, paths, native vegetation. Over 600 glowing camellia and rhododendron bushes were planted by Sig. Canepa himself. Mature trees donate an encyclopedia of species, including the regional pines and chestnuts planted on instruction of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in the 1700s.Close enough to Como, the lake and the golf course of the legendary Villa d'Este… yet sublimely away from it all on the hilltop amid 95,000 square meters (around 23.5 acres) of private parkland.Courtesy Majeli Vassart PropertiesA tennis court, a swimming pool, a football field with a wooden clubhouse merge into the landscape waiting to be discovered on one of a hundred strolls. Diversion isn’t really the point of Il Campaccio though (campaccio, depending who you ask, is either a ‘rough field’ or a highly regarded Super Tuscan red wine). The point is being absorbed into the natural beauty and the priceless peace and quiet of this privileged spot. The 1,900-square-meter (20,450 square feet) main residence is just one of Il Campaccio's collection of buildings and amenities.Courtesy Majeli Vassart PropertiesWe’re a mere 40 minutes from Milan’s Malpensa airport and 30 minutes from the town of Como, full of tourists of course but also a lively local life of Lombardy charm. Yet up here hardly a sound infiltrates the noble trees that surround the estate. The villa itself is basically a village. Beside the three-story, 9-bed, 11-bath, 1,900-square-meter (20,450 square feet) main property sit good houses for the gardener, the caretaker, various garages, even a small consecrated church. Views give down into Como and across the lake. Symmetry by man. Eternal views by nature.Courtesy Majeli Vassart PropertiesDesigned in 1950, the property benefited from a complete collaborative renovation in 2013 by noted Milan architect Matteo Thun & Partners, a regular fixture on the AD100 list. Their reputation for engineering advanced green technologies into older buildings has created a sustainable living model of A-class energy efficiency, future-proofing the villa for its new owner. Practically every room is lit by floor-to-ceiling windows. Terraces and balconies abound. Enormous stone fireplaces wait for winter.