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.

Ristorante Sociale, Como

One of the best-value set menus on the lake draws a local post-theatre crowd, Como’s soccer team and budget-minded travellers alike.
Riva del Garda

A bustling town, blessed with good surfing and the medieval Torre d’Apponale and Rocca Castle. Just inland lies Arco, home to an elegantly ruined castle (see Lake Garda).
Rocca di Angera

This medieval castle, a Borromeo fortress since 1449, preserves a hall of crude frescoes (1342–54), which count among the oldest surviving Lombard-Gothic works on a non-religious subject. Wooden staircases lead to the tower and lake views. Most of the rooms now house a Doll Museum, with its splendid collection of Japanese figures and 18th- and 19th-century European examples (see Rocca di Angera, Lake Maggiore).

Rocca di Angera
Rocca di Angera, Lake Maggiore

This 8th-century Lombard fortress dominates Angera’s headland. Expanded in the late 13th century by the Visconti of Milan, it later became the seat of its own county, and in 1449 passed to the Borromeo clan. Today the glowering fortress preserves delicate medieval frescoes and a Doll Museum.
Rocca Scagliera, Sirmione

The 13th-century keep is at the narrowest point of Sirmione’s long, thin peninsula. The striking, angular pale grey stone citadel, in use as a fortress until the 19th century, still dominates and protects the town – the only way to enter Sirmione is over the moat on one of the castle drawbridges, then under one of its squat gate towers. It’s worth climbing the 30-m (95-ft) tower for the grand panorama.
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is as classic as the band after which it is named; a no-excuses, party-hard, rock-music discotheque filling a cavernous ex-cinema with huge crowds drawn to hear the best live rock acts of any venue in town. We’re talking everything from Iron Maiden to Van Morrison, Nick Cave to Oasis. Weekends – when there are no international rock stars on the bill – the sound system is turned over to Milan’s top DJs, and the crowd gets a chance to throw down some moves on the floor.
Rolling Stone

The undisputed king of live rock music and a thumping disco has weathered the past 20 years with its reputation firmly intact.
Romanesque

A simple style of architecture in the 11th and 12th centuries defined by rounded arches and crude, expressive carvings.
Romantic

A 19th-century return to the Gothic age and over-wrought décor.
Romantik Hotel Laurin, Salò

A canary-yellow 1905 villa with exquisite detailing, spacious high-ceilinged rooms and a tiny garden pool.

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Hotel price categories

For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
- under €110
- €110-€160
- €160-€210
- €210-€270
- over €270
Restaurant price categories

For a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal), taxes and extra charges.
- under €20
- €20-€30
- €30-€40
- €40-€50
- over €50