Several of the Italian Lakes are within an hour or two of Milan. 

We stopped first in the Swiss town of Lugano, on the shores of Lake Lugano.

The town is known as the Monte Carlo of Switzerland and is very picturesque.

Chocolate shops and food markets abound

We walked to to the Santa Maria degli Angioli Church on the waterfront.

The paintings inside, including this Last Supper, are by Da Vinci’s apprentice, Bernardino Luini.

The magnificent ‘Passion and Crucifixion’ fresco by Luini

Ricci—a chestnut is inside.

Beautiful gardens and artwork by the lake.

Next, we moved on to Lake Como.

One wonders how they built some of the places up in the mountains and how you get to them today.

We took a short ferry ride to the pretty town of Bellagio on Lake Como.

We docked, took a short walk and had lunch at a restaurant on the lake.

Ferry docks like this one are around the lake.

After lunch, we took a two hour boat ride around the lake seeing many luxurious villas including those of George Clooney and Versace.

Two days later, we took the train from Milan to another Italian Lake, Maggiore.

We spent the day in Stresa, Italy, where we first had lunch at the Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées & Spa and later explored its beautiful gardens. 

The hotel opened in 1863 and was favorite both royalty and other wealthy patrons. Stresa at one time had a stop on the Orient Express route.

Monument to the Alpini, an Alpine militia charged with defending Italy’s northern border

Monument to the war dead of the past century

We had lunch in the garden of this hotel when we returned to Stresa the next week.

On the speedboat to the Isola Bella

Inside the villa on the Isola Bella

Puppets at the villa

Garb for the horses

The gardens were the villa’s highlights.

Isola Bella is one of the Borromean Islands and is only 1,200 feet offshore from Stresa. The islands were developed by the wealthy and powerful House of Borromeo family in the 17th century.

Many white peacocks were in the gardens.

Overall, it was a beautiful place.

Heading back to the mainland to catch the train to Milan