The Italian Lakes
The ‘Royal Gardens’ run to a modest 40 hectares and couch the Villa Reale in a sea of artfully cultivated greenery. They were one of Northern Italy's…
Must-see attractions in The Italian Lakes
Studio Museo Achille Castiglioni
Milan
Architect, designer and teacher Achille Castiglioni was one of Italy’s most influential 20th-century thinkers. This is the studio where he worked until…
Pavia
Dominating the town centre is Pavia's red-brick Duomo, topped by the third largest dome in Italy. Leonardo da Vinci and Donato Bramante contributed to the…
Pavia
Pavia's most important church isn't the Duomo, but the beautiful Romanesque San Michele, where medieval Lombard kings came to receive their iron crown and…
Milan
Massimiliano Fuksas’ brilliantly engineered exhibition space was built on the Agip oil refinery in Rho-Pero, around 40 minutes out of town by metro. In…
Lake Maggiore West Bank
A wooded wilderness set amid a little-visited stretch of the Italian Alps, the Parco Nazionale Val Grande is far removed from the more domesticated beauty…
Milan
Built in the 4th century to house the bones of the Three Kings, Sant'Eustorgio is one of Milan's oldest churches. Its harmonious exterior belies its…
Milan
Aiming to be a place of dialogue between people and world cultures, Milan's Museum of Culture, housed in the ex-Ansaldo factory, has an ambitious remit…
Lake Maggiore West Bank
The cable-car trip up Monte Mottarone (1492m) from the northwestern end of Stresa offers pretty views over Lake Maggiore, including Isola Bella and Isola…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Home to the Italian stock exchange (Palazzo della Borsa), this square is a famous hub of financial activity. But that’s not all it’s known for. In the…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Against a backdrop of shimmering skyscrapers and the Bosco Verticale, this modern urban park bustles with activity. Sprawling lawns, a rich variety of…
Duomo & San Babila
Stepping through Guido Canali’s glowing spaces in the Duomo's museum is like coming upon the sets for a Game of Thrones episode. Gargoyles leer down…
Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli
Milan
A life story unfolds as you follow pebble paths past bumper cars and a carousel, onwards past games of football, kissing teens, a beer kiosk, babies in…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
The 8th-century Monastero Maggiore, once the most important Benedictine convent in the city, is now home to Milan's archaeological museum. Access is via a…
Corso Magenta & Sant'Ambrogio
Behind the 15th-century Casa degli Atellani, home of Renaissance courtiers dell’Atella, lies one of the most interesting gardens in Milan. Set within them…
Milan
Situated at the northwestern edge of Parco Sempione is Napoleon's 25m-high triumphal arch. Designed by Luigi Cagnola in 1807, it echoes Paris' Arc de…
Duomo & San Babila
Giuseppe Piermarini's 2800-seat theatre was inaugurated in 1778, replacing the previous theatre, which burnt down in a fire after a carnival gala. Costs…
Milan
Though born a few centuries too late, the Bagatti Valsecchi brothers, Fausto and Giuseppe, were determined to be Renaissance men, and from 1878 to 1887…
Palazzo Morando Costume Moda Immagine
Milan
Dominating Via Sant'Andrea is the baroque facade of the Palazzo Morando Attendolo Bolognini, home to the Bolognini family until 1945. The personal…
Civico Planetario Ulrico Hoepli
Milan
Deep stargazing has found its place in Italy’s biggest planetarium. Not only will it open your eyes to the wonders of the universe, it does so in very…
Milan
Annually, nearly 100 million people pass through these hulking portals and onto train platforms beneath a cinematic cylindrical glass roof. Begun in 1912…
Milan
It's difficult not to be bowled over by this oft-ignored hotchpotch of towers, lodges, apses and domes. In spite of appearances, it really is the one…
Porta Garibaldi & Isola
Italy’s tallest skyscraper (231m) is home to its largest bank, Unicredit, which occasionally allows the public to visit its dramatic top-deck viewing…
Milan
It’s said this former cemetery to the poor was once the burial site for nearly 150,000 people. Now it’s the charming setting for a picnic, read or wander,…
Milan
Napoleon’s temporary Milanese home, the 18th-century Villa Reale, now houses Milan's modern art collection. Made up of bequests from leading Milanese…
Milan
Studio BBPR’s 1958 skyscraper is an iconic Milanese landmark. The top-heavy tower camply tilts at Castello Sforzesco and the Duomo’s lovely buttresses…
Milan
Housed in a fiercely contemporary concrete building created from a defunct grain silo, Giorgio Armani's eponymous museum showcases his love of elegant…
Milan
Construction began in 1956 on Milan’s tallest grattacielo (skyscraper). The 32-storey Pirelli Tower sits on the site of the company’s 19th-century factory…
Santuario della Madonna del Soccorso
Lake Como West Bank
On the heights above Ossuccio, this lavish sanctuary is the destination for devoted pilgrims who make the steep 30-minute climb, passing a series of…
Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea
Milan
Art and design intertwine at the city’s ground-breaking contemporary galleries. Leading the pack is PAC, which mounts experimental exhibitions in…
Milan
Casa Galimberti, with its ceramic tiles depicting bourgeois beauties, is one of the finest pieces of fin-de-siècle Liberty architecture in Italy.
Milan
The former Cinema Dumont, with its concrete garlands of flowers, is a fine example of fin-de-siècle Liberty architecture.
Milan
One of Milan's fin-de-siècle Liberty treasures, with intricate wrought-iron balconies.
Lake Como
High above the terracotta rooftops of Varenna, the imposing Castello di Vezio offers magnificent views over Lake Como. The 13th-century building was once…
Mantua
Easily usurping Mantua's cathedral, this towering basilica safeguards the golden vessels said to hold earth soaked by the blood of Christ. Longinus, the…
Fortifcazioni di Pizzighettone
Central Lombardy
Pizzighettone's big attraction is its well-preserved rampart wall, which still encircles its small historic centre. The walls were designed in the 12th…
Abbazia di San Pietro al Monte
Lake Como
Birdsong and the rush of a mountain stream accompany you as you make the pilgrimage to the Romanesque Abbazia di San Pietro al Monte (St Peter on the…
Lake Maggiore & Around
From the 17th century, nobles and the rich, many from Milan, began to build second residences around Varese's historic centre. Of these, the most…
Lake Orta
This picturesque region northwest of Lake Orta makes for a splendid day's drive. West out of Omegna, 14km of winding valley road follows a deep river…
Lake Maggiore West Bank
When Milan's superstar bishop San Carlo Borromeo (1538–84) was declared a saint in 1610, his cousin Federico ordered the creation of a sacro monte in his…
