Adventure Guide to Milan & the Italian Lakes (Adventure Guide Series)

No competing guides exist that provide in-depth hotel, restaurant and other practical information for the region of the Italian Lakes and Milan (Lombardia). Culinary delights abound here. Risotto, polenta, minestrone, ossobucco originated in the region. The little town of Gorgonzola is here as well, where you can get the best you-know-what in the world. The wines are fabulous. Milan is a world leader in fashion and boutiques are everywhere. We give full details on what to buy and where. A short drive out of Milan are the Lakes. Belaggio is on Lake Como, where Franz Liszt lived. Pliny the Younger and Virgil lived here as well in Roman times and called it the most beautiful place in the world. From the hills above you can see the Matterhorn. Lake Lugano overlaps into Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is surrounded by ancient towers and castles. Lakes Iseo, Idro and Orta are described as well. Milan Cathedral is the largest in Europe after St. Peters - 450 ft long - and La Scala opera house is here as well, where many of the world's greatest operas were first performed and still are today. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper is in Milan, along with medieval palace museums filled with art by Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Piero della Francesca and other great artists. Historic towns in the shadow of the Alps here include Cremona, where Stradivarius, the violin-maker worked for 70 years, Brescia, Mantua, Pavia, Locarno - almost all retaining their medieval central sections. Music and dance festivals take place in all of them. This is an in-depth guide to every aspect of the region, written by a long-term local resident.