Lake Maggiori
Golf Holidays to the Italian Lakes feel like a deliciously clandestine north Italian affair, yet scattered across Lombardy they are surprisingly close to Milan, Verona and the Swiss Alps.
It’s all about fresh-from-the-lake fish straight onto your plate in elegant restaurants against a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, crisp white wine enjoyed on a yacht as you sail down the wind, and those very European narrow pebbled shorelines where sunbathers relax, intermittently paddling in the deep blue. Expect hot sulphur springs and Roman Ruins in seductive Sirmione, Belle Époque spas and decadent hotels dripping in glamour in Lake Como and sleepy fishing villages juxtaposed with wild beauty in Lake Maggiore.
There’s that ‘dolce vita’ macchiato for breakfast, seafood brunches under olive trees in a glorious garden and starry evenings in Michelin-starred Moorish Palace restaurants. Studded with the private homes of European aristocracy and Hollywood celebrities and punctuated with luxurious resorts, spring cedars and age-old churches and palaces, this is how the Italians do idyllic lakeside living.