When you have all the money and choices in the world, where do you go to get away from it all? Roald Rynning tracks down Hollywood’s A-listers to their holiday hideaways.

THE home of Oscar-winning actor George Clooney has become a hot European tourist attraction. But if you think you have to go to Los Angeles to spot the big Hollywood stars, you’re wrong. A trip to Italy will do nicely, especially if you head up north to the forested foothills towards the Alps and Switzerland. It’s there, at Lake Como, that George spends three months of the year.


The Syriana star bought Villa Oleandra — a 25-room, 18th century mansion in the tranquil village of Laglio — for 10 million dollars in 2002. Every summer he brings his Hollywood pals over. Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and husband Michael Douglas have all visited. 

“Buying a home here has been the best thing I’ve ever done for myself,” says George. “In Italy you eat and drink well. You celebrate lunchtime! You are supposed to take your time over lunch — you are supposed to think about what you are eating. You see people go home for lunch with bread and flowers. I love it.

“Before, lunch was something I gulped down,” he adds. “In LA I’m always on the go, working and networking. In Laglio, I understood there’s more to life than just a career. I became fascinated by the idea of slowing down and celebrating life. It’s something we don’t do in America.”

George’s yellow-painted villa (pictured) sits on the long, scenic Via Regina and the front of Number 20 is visible to all. Security guards are often stationed all around it, especially when the superstar has celebrity visitors. Then the paparazzi swarm the place. When Brad Pitt, his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Matt Damon were all there filming Ocean’s Twelve, fans and paparazzi parked themselves outside. 

“Entire families were there. People even slept in their cars, trying to get a glimpse of the stars,” says Daniele Riva, whose family rents out motorboats on the lake.

As a result, the mayor forbade people to stand near the house and the parish priest asked the media to leave George in peace. Daniele was also asked by the authorities not to rent out boats to ‘the curious’, so that the stars could speedboat on the lake undisturbed.

All the hoopla didn’t stop the stars from enjoying their stay at Villa Oleandra.

“We had such fun making the film there,” recalls Brad Pitt, who rented a speedboat on Lake Como. “In fact, I wasn’t really aware that we were actually making a film. I thought we were all just kind of hanging out. I’m glad (director) Steven Soderbergh was there to make sure something got on the screen!”

Most of the time, though, George leads a normal life in Laglio and is left in peace.

“Most of my friends aren’t celebrities,” he explains. “I have a group of male friends who aren’t in the film business. I call them The Boys. We have been hanging out for 20 years. When I’m in LA we meet at my house on weekends to play basketball, drink beer and watch sports. We’re a little family. We’ve all crashed on each other’s couches after break-ups. We’re all supportive of each other, which means we all know we’ll never be completely alone. And they often visit me in Italy.”

George Clooney is not an average Hollywood star. Starting out on TV’s medical drama ER, he now has a successful production company with Steven Soderbergh (together they made Out Of Sight, Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve), and he has starred in hits like Three Kings and The Perfect Storm, as well as directed the acclaimed Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. For his second directing effort, the black-and-white drama Good Night, And Good Luck, George put up his house, worth seven million dollars, to insure the movie himself.

And unlike most Hollywood celebrities, he does not seem obsessed with fame and fortune. He doesn’t even think of himself as a movie star. 

“If anyone actually thought of himself as a movie star he’d stop being an actor, and that’s no fun,” he says. “The danger if you decide you’re a movie star is you start to protect an image you’ve created. And then all you’re going to do is repeat the same parts over and over.

“For a long time I thought work was the only necessity,” George continues. “But now I think the only necessity is not to wake up at 65 years old and not have done something that you really wanted to do. As I get older, I realise my priorities are changing. There has to be room for friends and family and things like that.”

So in Laglio, George shoots basketball with the locals, mountain-bikes with The Boys, and zips across the lake in his boat to dine in other towns (the mansion has a private dock). He frequents the five-star Amstel Inter-Continental’s restaurant La Rive. Extra security is put on when the star arrives with his Hollywood pals for a night out. It’s still the best bet to catch a glimpse of the superstar who is now filming Steven Soderbergh’s The Good German — a post-World War II mystery — close by.

“It’s an unbelievably romantic place,” says George of his beloved Villa Oleandra. “I’m in love with four geese that wander through the house all the time, even ending up in my bedroom.”

He clearly loves the tranquil pleasures of Laglio and its surroundings. The only frustration he has there is with the Italian language. He is trying to learn Italian from CDs but finds it a slow process.

“It will take an eternity,” complains the 44-year-old actor, who once was voted The Sexiest Man Alive. “Maybe the reason is that I’m getting on! But it’s embarrassing to live in a country where you don’t know the language.”

You’d think all the media attention surrounding George would upset the locals around Lake Como. In fact, they’re happy about the pilgrimage of fans and even the paparazzi. 

“It’s great for business,” says Nearco Folloni the owner of Bar Lanterna, a local spot just up the road from George’s villa where a glass of wine costs one euro. “Before, Laglio wasn’t on the map. Now it is, and we like that.”

Where do other Hollywood stars spend their summers? 

Many pick THE HAMPTONS — America’s French Riviera, where the mightiest own or rent beach mansions for the summer. 

It’s situated just outside New York, on the East End of Long Island and it boasts endless beaches, gigantic villas and sleepy villages. The King of Hollywood, director Steven Spielberg, usually invites his pals there to spend time with him and wife, Kate Capshaw. Visitors to his Hampton estate include Tom Hanks, Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, as well as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. 

“With seven kids, holidays are heavily family orientated,” says Steven. “But I’ll take some time to hang with friends, watching basketball, playing computer games and talking politics.”

A waterfront place costs about half a million dollars a season. Barbra Streisand, Robert De Niro, Faye Dunaway, Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews, Bette Midler, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell all return year on year. Their real estate agent, Tina Fredericks, says, “When people find a great rental, they tend to keep it. They immediately decide to take it for another year.”

The Hamptons also has its own film festival and a buzzing social scene so most of young Hollywood visits during the summer. Actresses Kate Hudson, Winona Ryder and Natalie Portman are regulars and singer Jennifer Lopez always hits the beach.

And the Europeans love the place just as much. Sting has a house there, Elton John visits and Chocolat star Juliette Binoche loves it there because, she says, “it’s a place where anyone can join in the fun.”

Tina Fredericks agrees, “It’s not a playground for only the rich and famous, one that ordinary people can’t enjoy. It’s the variety that attracts people. It’s an easy place to meet people of all kinds.”

Another favourite location for Hollywood stars is MAINE, situated a two-hour car ride north of Boston. The beautiful coastal area was the setting for the hit film The Perfect Storm.

Ocean’s Twelve star Matt Damon will spend part of his holiday in his hometown of Boston and visit family and friends in Maine, while John Travolta, who has a home with a 350-degree view on an island in Maine, will spend summer there with his actress wife Kelly Preston and their son Jett.

Actors like Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Hugh Jackman and Heath Ledger have taken Hollywood by storm, but they return home to AUSTRALIA for the holidays and often take Hollywood pals with them.

“I can’t wait to get back on the ranch,” says Russell Crowe. “There, I get up in the morning and check out the cows. It’s the things I do outside acting that fuel my art.”

Nicole Kidman, whose parents and sister live in Sydney, wants to relax. “I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family,” she admits. “It’s been a tough spring.”

Most stars want to keep their destinations SECRET, but they will talk about their holiday activities. Many seek daredevil sports as a way to cope with the pressures of fame and the competitiveness of a Hollywood career. 

Actress Cameron Diaz loves racing cars. 

“I find it so exciting, trying to find my limit with the car,” Cameron explains. “It’s what people always want to do, take a corner and nearly lose it, but on the track it is perfectly safe to do.”

Tom Cruise also loves speed and danger. He likes horse riding, motorcycles, white-water rafting, rock-climbing, car racing, parachuting and, most of all, flying. 

“For me life is an adventure, and flying is freeing and a lot like acting — you never know all of it, and you always learn something new,” says Tom.

Sandra Bullock prefers rock climbing.

“It makes me calm,” explains the Crash actress. “When I come down from the mountain, I feel like I have conquered the world. I think I’m capable of doing anything when I’ve done that. Then it’s easier to face the hassle of Hollywood after the holidays.”

The golf courses of northern California will see the likes of Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery and Michael Douglas with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones. 

But sometimes there’s no place like HOME, and many Hollywood stars spend so much of the year on location that they can’t wait to live a routine life and sleep in their own beds during the holidays.

Los Angeles homebirds Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves are horse-owners who will spend time riding in the north of the city.

Harrison Ford is going to his beloved Wyoming with partner Calista Flockhart. “I’ve been travelling all over the world and Jackson Hole is the only place that refreshes me totally,” says the LA-based celebrity. “My life there consists of fishing, tennis and working on the house. I can just hang out without being interrupted.”

By Roald Rynning/Planet Syndication.