Villa Felice neighborhood

Villa Felice was once a lodge and restaurant with live music, good food, and amazing views of Vasona Lake. I have fond memories of visiting there with family, friends, and on prom night.

Today the large parcel is very pretty Mediterranean style housing, with 14 townhomes in one section and 34 single family homes in the other.

In Italian, Villa Felice means “happy villa” or a happy country home. It’s appropriate that the name stay on in these two communities. The view from the bluff is sure to make visitors smile!

Where is the Villa Felice neighborhood?

These two areas are located between Winchester Boulevard and University Avenue between Vasona Terrace and Milani Court in Los Gatos 95030. The homes are accessed from Winchester Boulevard – there are no driveways or access paths from University. It has a steep embankment. This is about at the midpoint of the reservoir.

The two tracts (and one house not in them)

In the map above regarding Villa Felice Los Gatos:

• The green star was the location of the home owned by Ed and Mary Bersano. Ed was one of three brothers who ran Villa Felice. The house is not part of either HOA.
• The yellow-gold colored area is the townhouse community, Tract 6923, with the HOA name of Villa Felice (there is no subdivision name that I see on county records).
• The darker colored area is the single family home section, Tract 9736, Villa Felice subdivision, and the HOA name is Bella Vista.

For those of you you love plat maps, here’s this same area

The colored lines, boxes, and text were added by me for clarification. Click for a larger view.

Townhomes

In 1984 the 14 townhomes were completed. A few quick facts on them:

• Home sizes average 2147 square feet (the range is 1884  SF – 2534 SF of living space)
• The lots average 3125 SF (the smallest is 2518 SF and the largest is 4315 SF).
• Eight of them have 2 bedrooms and six of them have 3.
• All of them have 2.5 bathrooms and 2 car garages.
• A good sized back patio is found in each one, too.
• The last MLS sale was in 2022 and at that time the HOA dues were $625 per month.

The townhomes are along Winchester Boulevard and Villa Felice Court.

Please note, there are mapping problems with Villa Felilce Court. That street used to go nearly all the way to the bluff, but now stops about halfway there, with the eastern side now part of Bersano Lane. Google maps calls both sides by the old name. Bing maps has the entirely wrong name, with no Villa Felice Court at all – it has this name as Milani Court, which is a very small cul-de-sac just north of this area. The map above is correct!

Houses

Later, Robson Homes developed the 34 single family homes, which were completed mostly in 2007 – some of the county records say 2009 for a few of the houses.

It is a very pretty neighborhood with well tended homes and yards. The front yards are maintained by the home owner association, as are the streets, guest parking, etc. A small park with a paved sidewalk sits at the edge of the community and part of it enjoys a view of the lake. Trees and vegetation block most of the vista, however.

These houses:

• Enjoy a lot of living space with an average home size of 2482 SF (three houses are under 1,000 SF, the largest home provides 3846 SF).
• Include 2 car garages and nice back patios.
• Mostly have small lots. The average lot size is 4897 SF (the range is 2132 – 7543 SF).
• HOA dues are in the low $300s for most homes.

All of the houses in this subdivision are along Bersano Lane.

While the subdivision name is Villa Felice, which makes sense, the HOA name is Bella Vista (“beautiful view” in Italian). The view is beautiful, but this name is a little confusing since there’s a street named Bella Vista closer to Los Gatos High School and that area is usually called the Bella Vista neighborhood. Just below that area, along Alberto Way, there are also the Bella Vista Village townhomes.

Which public schools serve the Villa Felice neighborhood in Los Gatos?

Daves Elementary
Fisher Middle
Los Gatos High

More cool historical info here!

If you’d like to learn more about the history of this site, please read this piece in the Los Gatan from 2021. Great info on the Lodge at Villa Felice and even celebrities who frequented it.

What do homes cost in these two tracts?

Here are any active, under contract, or sold properties from the last year. It’s a small community, so normally there aren’t many to display.

See all Villa Felice.
(all data current as of 6/6/2023)

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Other Los Gatos neighborhoods to check out

• Creffield Heights & San Benito area
• Bluebird Lane (younger homes, also built by Robson Homes)
• Shannon Valley Ranch (younger homes, estate properties)
• View the whole list of Los Gatos neighborhoods that we have written about here

Looking to sell or buy a home in Los Gatos? We’d love to chat with you! The best way to reach out to us is by emailing me at mary@popehandy.com.