DK Travel : Milan and the Lakes

Milan is Italy’s economic powerhouse, a bustling city of finance and industry, media empires and fashion houses, backed up by an impressive cultural heritage of important art galleries and ancient churches. Yet a 40-minute train ride takes you to the azure pools of “the lakes”, lined with fishing villages, villas and laid-back resorts.

Franco Maria Ricci

Small but very prestigious Milan publisher crafting the classiest (and most expensive) coffee-table art books on the market.
Frette

Among the highest quality linens in all of Italy: drapes, pyjamas, sheets and pillows.
Fura Club, Lonato

One of the best clubs in Italy, Fura is a visual experience – a screen surrounds the dance floor, so you can watch yourself dance.
Futurist

Italy’s Cubism was obsessed with the modern world of the early 20th century.
Galleria dell’Accademia Carrara, Bergamo

We can thank Napoleon’s penchant for looting the art of his conquered territories for the existence of the Carrara, named after the count who, in 1795, stewarded the emperor’s collection. Pillaged from across Northern Italy, in its ranks are works by Botticelli, Raphael, Bellini, Mantegna, Canaletto, Carpaccio, Guardi and Tiepolo. Above all, though, come to admire the emotion-filled Renaissance paintings of Lorenzo Lotto, a Venetian painter who settled in Bergamo in 1513.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

High-class Italian elegance came to terms with the Industrial Age in such marvels of engineering as this four-storey shopping arcade roofed with a steel-and-glass canopy. It was built in 1864–8 by Giuseppe Mengoni, who fell to his death from its scaffolding just days before the King arrived to open the galleria and lend it his name.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Milan’s glorious 19th-century shopping mall, though small, manages to host a little of everything. You’ll find both the pinnacle of class (Prada) and the joys of mass-market culture (a Ricordi/Feltrinelli super-store of CDs and books). For a shopping break, visit the home-grown bastion of la dolce vita that is Zucca in Galleria (Caffè Miani).
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Before modern shopping centres and malls, there were gallerie . These late 19th-century high-class shopping arcades were roofed by the newest architectural technology of the age: steel-reinforced glass. Milan’s Industrial Age-cumNeo-Classical example connected Piazza del Duomo with La Scala and was so successful it spawned an Italy-wide trend, with copycat gallerie popping up in Naples, Genoa and Rome. (see GalleriaVittorio Emanuele II and Milanese Fashion Boutiques in Milan’s Historic Centre, Other Italian Designer Shops in Milan’s Historic Centre, Other High-Class Shops in Milan’s Historic Centre, Venues, Clubs and Cafés in Milan’s Historic Centre)

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Garda Bresciano

A collection of wines from the lower reaches of Lake Garda, including Gropello and the rounder Chiaretto from the Mincio valley.
Gardaland

Under the icon of a goofy green dragon named Prezzemolo (“Parsley”), the park boasts roller coasters and carnival rides, a water park, jungle safari, ice shows, dolphin tricks and medieval spectacles. Italy’s greatest theme park isn’t quite Disneyland, but it’s a hoot for the kids.