Exploring Italy's Alpine Lakes
/We spent the first 10 days of October on the road - a research trip up to Italy’s northern Lakes region. It’s been five years since we published our guidebook to this region. We’re proud of that volume - it’s our best-organized and best-written of our guidebooks.
It’s also the lowest-selling of them all! We like to think that’s because people don’t readily think of the lakes as a destination when they think of Italy. But they’re missing some of the most beautiful landscapes and historic sites that Italy has to offer - and the food traditions are fantastic.
We wanted to patch a few holes, as it were, in our breadth of knowledge in those regions - a new lodging here, a new restaurant there, a few more places to visit and roads to explore between here and there. We won’t do a new edition of the book for a while yet, but meanwhile our recent explorations and discoveries help us design even better itineraries for our clients who travel up there.
Our own itinerary led us up to Lago di Garda in the northeast, over to Lago d’Iseo in the center, and on to Lago Maggiore in the northwest. (We skipped Lago di Como as usual; despite its undeniable beauty, we generally steer clear in favor of the less Rich & Famous lakes.)
The first stop was Desenzano del Garda, where we stayed in a lakeside hotel right in town. Directly next door to the parking lot are the remains of an ancient Roman villa, some of it recently excavated, with 2000-year-old mosaic floors in fascinating designs. The next night we drove up the west coast of the lake, up a steep and winding road to a precipitous clifftop village, with dizzying views of the lake far below.
We then headed over to Lago d’Iseo, for three nights in three different lodgings. The second of those was on the big island in the middle of the lake, Monte Isola. This is Europe’s largest lake island, and it has about seven separate towns separated by woods hills, and lake walks. Cars are not permitted on the island, making for a really quiet evening once the ferry boats took away most of the day-trippers.
On the mainland, we visited a park full of wood-carved gnomes and other fantastical creatures; we sat atop a couple of panchina gigante - giant benches that have been scattered all over the landscape in Italy; we discovered a hidden sanctuary in the Franciacorta hills; and we enjoyed a very chilly pool overlooking the lake and the island.
The last stop was Lago Maggiore - possibly our favorite lake up here. (Though luckily we don’t have to choose just one!) We climbed up the inside of a giant copper statue, the Colosso San Carlo Borromeo. (This site is NOT for acrophobes or claustrophobes!) We visited the decadently ornate palace and gardens of Isola Bella - we even stayed overnight on this island too, at a hotel next door to the palace! We explored Arona, the town at the southwest end of Maggiore - its lakeside town square, its views of neighboring Angera and its castle across the lake, and the ruins of Arona’s own medieval castle in the Parco Borromeo above the town.
Of course we also enjoyed many fantastic meals in the most beautiful settings; and we visited countless ancient churches filled with Renaissance and medieval art. And we even managed to do a little shopping in our favorite kind of store - a monastic shop attached to a monastery, selling products made by monks.
