Viola Davis Jokes She’s ‘Still Trying’ to Get Back to George Clooney’s Italian Villa After He Gifted Her Honeymoon

The Oscar winner and her husband Julius Tennon had the time of their lives at Clooney’s Lake Como villa

Viola Davis had a honeymoon like few others.

The Oscar winner married actor and producer Julius Tennon in 2003 after the two met on the set of the CBS series City of Angels three years prior. The couple had a small ceremony at home, followed by a larger celebration in Rhode Island.

Afterward, her Solaris costar George Clooney offered up his Lake Como villa for their honeymoon.

Davis “absolutely” took him up on it, she tells PEOPLE in an interview for the magazine's 50th anniversary special issue. “As a matter of fact, I called him and I said, 'So when can we come?' "

Davis and Tennon flew to Italy and were floored by Clooney’s thoughtfulness over the course of their stay.

“It was the first time that I remember thinking to myself that it redefined how I saw Hollywood,” says Davis. “I always thought, ‘Everyone is fake. No one really means it when they're nice to you.’ ”

Related: Viola Davis on Moments That Changed Her Life, Embracing Her Story and Staying Real: 'I Need to Be Me'

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Clooney proved her wrong. “It's like the first time that someone blew the lid off of that in his generosity,” she says. “Julius and I still talk about that."

"And here's the thing, I'm not going to lie — Julius and I are still trying to manipulate getting back there,” she says with a laugh. "So every time we see him now, we say, 'George, you remember when we went to your villa that time? Can we come back?' "

What was the experience like? “The whole villa is surrounded by the Swiss Alps, and water,” recalls Davis. “So it seems like the best vacation you could possibly imagine, but also very much like home. And I think that's the atmosphere that he created.”

The couple experienced five-star hospitality from the moment they arrived on Italian soil. “We were the only guests in the villa,” she recalls, and had their pick of rooms. “Of course, I said, let me look at each one,” she says with a smile. “And I picked the biggest room.”

Related: Viola Davis and Husband Julius Tennon Smile with Daughter Genesis, 13, in Rare Family Photo on Easter

During their stay, the newlyweds also enjoyed a culinary experience. “We ate four- or five-course meals. I remember at one point Julius looking at me and his eyes were teary, my eyes were teary, and we just stared at each other for the longest time. I remember Julius saying, 'Can you believe his heart?'"

Along with Solaris, Davis and Clooney worked together on 1998’s Out of Sight and Syriana. Before hosting her honeymoon, “I had just bought the place,” Clooney told Entertainment Weekly back in 2012. “And she was getting married, which I tried to talk her out of,” he says with a laugh. “But that didn’t work out, so she had her honeymoon at my place.”

In 2011, Davis and Tennon welcomed a daughter, Genesis, who is now 13. Her advice for her now-teenager?

“What I tell my daughter right now is, 'Genesis, you are the love of your life,' " she tells PEOPLE. “You have to start right now to have a radical love affair with yourself, to be in touch with your inner voice, what you like, what you don't like, what's crossing the boundaries, and you honor that. And through that, that is the seed where everything grows." 

For more on our 50th Anniversary, check out our special digital issue, and pick up a star-studded copy of PEOPLE, on newsstands April 12.

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