Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Welcome to
the Italian Lakes
Formed at the end of the last ice age, and a popular holiday
spot since Roman times, the lakes have an enduring, beguiling
beauty.
Artful Landscapes
Travellers traversing the Alps wind down from the mountains to be greeted by a Mediter-
ranean burst of colour: gardens filled with rose-red camellias, hot-pink oleanders and lux-
urious palms surrounding cerulean blue lakes. It's impossible not to be seduced. Fishing
boats bob in tiny harbours, palaces float in the Borromean Gulf, rustic churches cling to
cliff faces and grand belle époque spas and hotels line the waterfronts. No wonder George
Clooney is smitten.
A Modern Legacy
Since Leonardo da Vinci broke all the rules in his stunning
Last Supper,
the indefatigably
inventive Lombards seem to have skipped straight from the Renaissance to the 22nd cen-
tury. Not only is Milan a treasure trove of 20th-century art, but art deco and rationalist ar-
chitecture abound. Around the lakes, Michelin-starred restaurants push the boundaries of
traditionalism, and vintners and oil producers experiment with the latest technologies and
techniques. Even now, jackhammers are hard at work on the 420-acre Expo 2015 site, pro-
ducing new Milanese neighbourhoods and a futuristic skyline modelled by star-chitects
Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Arata Isozaki and César Pelli.
Living By Design
Though Italian design is distributed glob-ally, seeing it in a home context offers fresh ap-
preciation. From Como's silk weavers to the wool merchants of Maggiore and the violin ar-
tisans of Cremona, this region has an outstanding craft heritage. Today Milan is home to all
the major design showrooms and an endless round of trade fairs. But it's not just a coterie
of insiders who get to have all the fun. Milanese fashion houses have branched out into
