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.

Scimmie

Part bar, part restaurant, part pizzeria and part jazz club that doesn’t limit itself to jazz. In summer, the party spills out onto a barge moored opposite. Since 1971, “Monkeys” has been shaking up the Navigli nightlife scene with live music daily until 3am.
Seeking out the Region’s Rock Carvings

The prehistoric Camuni tribes etched many rock faces in the pre-Alpine valleys of eastern Lombardy with curious figurative images and symbols. The oldest date back 11,000 years, while the most recent are medieval. Most carvings are in the Val Calmonica Villages. However, if you’re on Lake Garda, detour at Torri del Benaco to the hillside hamlet of Crer, where a trail leads to some nice carvings.
Sesto Senso Club, Desenzano

Popular nightclub with laser lights pouring over a pounding dance floor shaking to house music, pop and Europop.
Settimane Musicali, Stresa

Lake Maggiore’s gateway to the Borromean Islands (see Stresa) hosts five musical weeks of concerts in venues throughout town and up and down the lake shores.
Shoes

Italian shoes range from the practical to the gorgeous and outrageous. Some will last you a lifetime; some are just for very special occasions. All the famous labels offer lines of shoes, but you’d do best to seek out the specialists, whether it be a haute-couture work of art at Ferragamo, a mass-produced Italian brand name or a designer bargain from Rufus.
Silbernagl

An eclectic mix of furnishings, porcelains, 19th- and 20th-century paintings, antique jewellery, Oriental vases and other items for decorating the well-heeled home.
Silk

Como has long been Italy’s chief purveyor of finely spun silk fabrics. The Milanese maestros of haute couture come to Como to finger the fabrics that will soon be draped across a supermodel’s shoulders. These same sought-after silks are available to the public in factory warehouses around Como and in shops across Lombardy.
Silvio Berlusconi (b. 1936)

The founder of the Forza Italia party survived bribery scandals to serve as prime minister in 1994 and from 2001.
Sirmione

The loveliest town on the lake is set at the tip of a long peninsula. It has the ruins of an ancient Roman villa and a remarkably intact medieval castle (see Grotte di Catullo, Sirmione, Rocca Scagliera, Sirmione).
Sirmione, Lake Garda

Jutting into the lake from the southern shore is a skinny peninsula. At its tip sits the postcard-perfect town of Sirmione, guarded by a striking castle complete with moat and drawbridge. It’s a popular resort, with plenty of hotels and shopping, but also some fine little churches and the ruins of a Roman villa at the promontory’s very tip (see Grotte di Catullo, Sirmione and Sirmione).