Orta San Giulio
Beyond the lush gardens and residences that mark the hill rising behind Orta is a kind of parallel ‘town’ – the sacro monte, where 20 small chapels…
Must-see attractions in The Italian Lakes
Lake Maggiore & Around
Set in the lush grounds of the Toeplitz estate, the Museo Castiglioni houses a surprising collection of ethnographic works. The Castiglioni brothers…
Lake Como West Bank
Once the site of a Roman fort and medieval settlement, Lake Como's only island forms its own little bay with the mainland, just offshore from Ossuccio…
Chiesa di Santa Maria Foris Portas
Lake Maggiore & Around
Just outside the archaeological site of Sibrium, the small pre-Romanesque Chiesa di Santa Maria Foris Portas was built around the 7th century. Inside in…
Lake Como
Piazza Garibaldi is roughly cobblestoned and it's plain from its time-warped nature that nothing much has changed here down the centuries. Many of the…
Lake Garda West Bank
In 1943 Salò was named the capital of the Social Republic of Italy as part of Mussolini and Hitler's last efforts to organise Italian Fascism in the face…
Museo dell’Ombrello e del Parasole
Lake Maggiore West Bank
Those driving to Mottarone or Orta San Giulio (for Lake Orta) from Stresa could stop in Gignese (8km from Stresa) for the intriguing Museo dell’Ombrello e…
Bergamo
One of several towns in Italy with an intact ring of defences, Bergamo’s impressive walls were built by the Venetians over 30 years starting in 1561…
Lake Garda West Bank
It's not often you get to explore such a stunning private island, villa and grounds. Anchored just off Salò, this speck of land is crowned with impressive…
Cremona
Set in the spacious halls of the Palazzo Affaitati, Cremona's finest art gallery houses an exquisite collection of paintings dating from the 15th to the…
Sacro Monte della Santissima Trinità
Lake Maggiore West Bank
The main (some would say, only) reason for stopping in Ghiffa, a blip of a village 4km northeast of Verbania, is to make a pilgrimage 3km inland and…
Lake Como
The Cistercian Abbazia di Piona has a magnificent setting on a promontory stretching out into Lago di Como. There's evidence that a small chapel was built…
Lake Como West Bank
One of the most outstanding stile liberty (Italian art nouveau) villas in the lakes area, Villa Bernasconi was built by successful textile merchant Davide…
Desenzano del Garda
Before the Clooneys and Versaces, wealthy Roman senators and poets had holiday homes on Italy's northern lakes. One survivor is Desenzano’s now-ruined…
Lake Como
Lago di Como's northernmost towns of Dongo, Gravedona and Sorico once formed the independent republic of the Tre Pievi (Three Parishes) and were a hotbed…
Verbania
Set in a stately 17th-century palazzo tucked down one of Pallanza's back lanes, this museum houses an exquisite collection of works by sculptor Paolo…
Como
Hemmed in by houses these days and enclosing one side of what was once a medieval grain market, this Lombard Romanesque basilica dates back to the 7th…
Mantua
The weather-worn, 11th-century, Lombard Romanesque Rotonda di San Lorenzo is sunk below the level of the square, its red-brick walls still decorated with…
Mantua
Piazza Sordello is the oldest square in Mantua, and was probably the location of the Etruscan town. The existing layout is thanks to the Gonzagas, whose…
Lake Como West Bank
Following signs out of central Cernobbio, take the scenic drive that winds 17km up through the residential villages behind Cernobbio to Monte Bisbino …
Como
About 500m south of Como’s city walls is this austere 11th-century Romanesque church, once the seat of a bishopric built on the orders of St Amantius of…
Brescia
The original Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) ran between 1927 and 1957 and was one of Italy's most legendary endurance car races – it started in Brescia and…
Como
Far from being a flashy collection of silk scarves, this highly educational study of Como’s long-standing textile industry explains the full silk-making…
Lake Maggiore & Around
This hilltop north of Varese had long been a pilgrimage site for the faithful. But at the beginning of the 17th century, the Church and Lombardy’s Spanish…
Stresa
For the best passeggiata (afternoon stroll) on Lake Maggiore head for Stresa, where a 2km-long lakeside promenade meanders through florid gardens and past…
Giardino Botanico Fondazione André Heller
Lake Garda West Bank
Gardone's heyday was due in large part to its mild climate, something which benefits the thousands of exotic blooms that fill artist André Heller's…
Mantua
One of half a dozen squares that embellish Mantua's historic centre, the Broletto is home to the Palazzo del Podestà, once home to the city's highest…
Mantua
If ever a theatre were set to upstage the actors, it's the 18th-century Teatro Bibiena. Dimly lit and festooned with plush velvet, its highly unusual,…
Como
A grand villa overlooking the lake, northwest of the centre, Villa Sucota was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been home to various…
Casinò di San Pellegrino Terme
Central Lombardy
Built in 1907, the striking Casinò di San Pellegrino Terme is full of whimsical detail. The stile liberty facade bears reliefs and sculptures of…
Lake Maggiore West Bank
This tiny church on equally tiny Isola Superiore generally gets more tourists than congregation, except on 14 August when its saintly figurine – the…
Lake Como West Bank
A narrow cobblestone lane that was once part of a Roman road along the western side of Lake Como has been preserved in sections. The Antica Strada Regina…
Central Lombardy
The Tempio Civico dell'Incoronata was built in the late 15th century at the prompting of the local citizenry, apparently after a sighting of the Virgin…
Cremona
A few kilometres southeast of the old city, the 15th-century Chiesa di San Sigismondo features a 16th-century fresco cycle that is a superb example of…
Museo dei Tasso e della Storia Postale
Central Lombardy
In the slumbering village of Cornello dei Tasso, this small museum chronicles contributions made by the Tasso family, who back in the 15th and 16th…
Museo Nazionale della Preistoria della Valle Camonica
Central Lombardy
Capo di Ponte's newest attraction, which opened in 2014, delves into the fascinating prehistoric sites scattered around the Valle Camonica. The small…
Orta San Giulio
Here's a picture of how life really should be lived: rise early and head for a coffee on Piazza Mario Motta, gazing across at the sun-struck Isola San…
Lake Garda
This atmospheric museum packs a wealth of history into the rough stone walls of a 14th-century castle. The fortification was built in 1338 as part of the…
Como
One of Como's most charming walks is the lakeside stroll west from Piazza Cavour. Passeggiata Lino Gelpi leads past the Monumento ai Caduti, a 1931…
Lake Maggiore & Around
North off Piazza Monte Grappa, the delightful pedestrianised Corso Matteotti signals the western boundary of Varese's tiny old centre, at whose heart…
