Safe rooms and panic rooms on Lake Como and the lakes
NetCom Security Group
Safe rooms and panic rooms on Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and Lake Garda: the secure room for villas with access from the lake. Confidential site visit, our own technicians.
For the full picture, see safe rooms and panic rooms.
Safe rooms and panic rooms on Lake Como and the lakes: NetCom Security Group designs and builds, with its own technicians, the secure room of the house, in historic villas and fine houses on Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Lake Garda and the smaller lakes.
A safe room, also called a panic room, is the room where the family locks itself in and stays protected, with communications active, until help arrives. A villa with two fronts, road and water, is not protected with one more armoured door: what is needed is a system of envelope, access, air, light and procedures designed around the people who live in it. On the lakes the people change with the seasons: the family in summer, the staff all year round. The room is designed around this life at more than one speed.
Request a confidential site visit
In brief
Where it is done on Lake Como and the lakes
Access from the lake
A lakeside villa has two fronts and both are entrances. From the road come the gate, the drive, the lodge. From the lake come the jetty, the boathouse with the boats, the steps up from the shore, the low terrace on the water. Whoever protects only the road side leaves half the house open. The perimeter therefore covers the water too, with cameras and sensors designed for damp, fog and changing light, and the boathouse enters the access control like a garage.
Then there are the terraced gardens: levels, stairs, greenhouses and outbuildings that offer hiding places. They are mapped at the site visit and watched where needed, without turning the park into a barracks. And there is the household staff: gardener, caretaker, housekeeper, whoever looks after the boats. They must know what to do and have their own access rights and procedures. For foreign owners we work remotely, with documents and procedures in Italian, English and German, site visits agreed with those who manage the house and a system that can be checked from any time zone.
How we design it
- Confidential site visit. We look at the house from the road and from the lake, who lives in it and in which months, and the time it takes for help to arrive.
- Scenario analysis. Intrusion with people at home, home robbery, emergency situations: for each one we decide where to lock in and for how long.
- Design of the room. Position, size, continuous envelope (walls, ceiling, floor), door and lock, air, light, backup power, independent communications.
- Integration with the system. Alarm, cameras, access control and home automation talk to the room: whoever is inside sees and communicates, whoever is outside does not get in.
- Installation and testing. Our technicians carry out the installation; structural works are signed off by licensed professionals. At the end we test everything together with the people who will use the room and hand over the written procedures.
What makes a room secure
Safe room, strongroom, bunker
They are three different things. A safe room protects people for minutes or hours. A strongroom or vault protects valuables, resisting break-in for a long time. A bunker or shelter is for external events, for days, with filtered air. The needs can be combined in a single project: we decide after the site visit. For an overview read safe rooms and panic rooms.
Connected to the rest of the house
The secure room works if it talks to the rest: a perimeter alarm that warns early, cameras that show who is there, access control that closes gate and boathouse, home automation that switches off lights and blocks lifts. We design everything together, with our own technicians, and connect the system to selected external monitoring centres.
Confidentiality
We sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving floor plans or documents. We ask only for the data needed for the project. Our clients' homes remain confidential, even after the works.
Where we work
We follow projects on Lake Como, Lake Maggiore, Lake Garda, Lake Iseo and the smaller lakes, all over Italy and, by project, in Europe. Our office is in Negrar di Valpolicella (Verona), a few kilometres from Lake Garda and a few hours from Como: we arrange the site visit within a few days. The other areas: where we work in Italy.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a panic room cost in a villa on Lake Como?
On Lake Como the cost of a panic room, in the experience of NetCom Security Group, depends on the size of the room, the level of protection of the envelope and the door, the air, light and communication systems and the building works needed in the house. After the site visit NetCom prepares a written bespoke proposal.
Is a safe room tax-deductible in Italy?
In part it can be: anti-theft works, such as armoured doors and reinforcements, are among the measures admitted by the Italian Revenue Agency. For expenses in 2026 the deduction is 50% for the owner's main home and 36% in other cases, up to 96,000 euros per property, in ten annual instalments. The specific case must be checked with an accountant.
The villa has access from the lake: how is it protected?
By treating it as an entrance: NetCom covers jetty, boathouse and shore with cameras and sensors suited to the lake, connected to the secure room, so from inside you also see what comes from the water.
Does the household staff need to know about the room?
Yes, to the extent you decide together: those who live and work in the house must know what to do in case of alarm. NetCom writes separate procedures for the family and for the staff.
We live here only in summer: is the safe room useful even when the house is empty?
Yes, because the system stays on all year round: the room protects the family in the months of presence and, in the closed months, alarm and cameras connected to selected external monitoring centres keep watching over the house.
We are foreign owners: how does remote working go?
With documents and procedures in Italian, English and German, site visits agreed with those who manage the villa and a system that can be checked from the phone from any country. NetCom follows the project from start to finish, with its own technicians.
See also
Text by NetCom Security Group. Last updated: 23 October 2026.
Let's talk about your project
Tell us where the property is and what you want to protect: we will get back to you to arrange the site visit. You can also call +39 045 245 7879.
