Want to hang out with George and Amal Clooney on Italy’s Lake Como and be pampered to the hilt, all for a good cause?
In August, the couple will be hosting an exclusive five-day fundraiser for the Clooney Foundation for Justice, hosting 16 guests who are passionate about philanthropy but also eager to indulge “in the most incredible aspects of Lake Como,” according to Emma Ponsonby, CEO of Satopia Group, which is organizing the event.
Participation starts at €160,000 ($173,000) per room (based on double occupancy) at the Passalacqua hotel, an opulent 18th century villa with frescoed suites, grand staircases and fountains overlooking the lake on land once owned by Pope Innocent XI. There’s also a required minimum $60,000 donation per person to the non-profit Clooney Foundation for Justice, “ensuring immediate impact from each participant’s contribution,” as promotional materials put it. The goal is to raise more than $1 million in direct support.
The Passalacqua Hotel
Courtesy Satopia Group
The Clooney Foundation for Justice was founded in 2016 and currently works in 40 countries. According to its 2022 Internal Revenue Service filings, the foundation received nearly $10 million in donations and grants and spent nearly $4 million on its programs.
Highlights of the experience include dinners prepared by world-class chefs, a lakeside garden party hosted by George and Amal Clooney — albeit not at the Clooney’s own 18th century Villa Oleandra — private access to historic villas, cultural landmarks, scenic boat journeys on the lake and a night at Como’s Teatro Sociale. Live music and intimate performances will be “woven throughout the experience, celebrating storytelling, music and artistic expression in the pursuit of justice,” according to promotional materals.
One of the dinners will be held at the romantic Villa Del Balbianello, which served as a location for “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” and for the 2006 Bond film “Casino Royale” with Daniel Craig.
Ponsonby pointed out that, while the Clooney’s have hosted smaller charity events in Como at Villa Oleandra, they are doing it on a larger scale this time.
Most of the guests who have already signed up – slots are still available – “have an interest or are active in their own philanthropic foundations,” she said. “They have their own objectives that they’re trying to work on and they want to collaborate with the Clooney Foundation.”
She described the Lake Como fundraiser as “a much more proactive event” compared with the Clooney Foundation’s Albie Awards, held annually in New York to honor individuals who have devoted their lives to justice at great personal risk.
But besides philanthropy, Ponsoby noted that this will also be about “experiencing Como through the eyes of George and Amal and understanding just why they love this destination.”
Courtesy Satopia Group
