Difference between revisions of "Lombardy"

Revision as of 10:28, 4 April 2009

Lombardy or Lombardia is a northern region of Italy.

Regions

Cities

• Bergamo - contains what many believe to be the most beautiful piazza in the whole country
• Brescia
• Lecco- a little and charming city situated on Como's lake
• Mantova - the Ducal Palace has a cycle of frescoes by Mantegna that no art lover should miss
• Monza - a small city overshadowed by its race track, yet it has pleasant pedestrian streets and a cathedral.
• Milan (Milano, the capital) - shares with Paris the title of fashion capital of the world
• Sondrio

Other destinations

• The magnificent lakes of Lake Como - take boat trips in the shadow of the Alps to the picturesque villages of Bellagio, Varenna and Tremezzo - Lake Maggiore, Lake Garda and Lake Lugano.
• The tiny village of Erbusco, home of the award-winning wines of Franciacorta and L'Albereta, the country inn of Gualtiero Marchesi, one of Italy's premier chefs
• Moltrasio
• The peninsula of Sirmione, on the south shore of Lake Garda
• The Caves of Catullo, an archaeological site of a former Roman villa situated on the tip of the Sirmione peninsula
• The Sirmione Spa, the largest privately owned thermal treatment centre in Italy
• San Donato Milanese
• Val Camonica: UNESCO heritage site, medieval towns, castles, holy art in chuerches, roman sanctuary and theatre/anphiteatre, ski sports.

Understand

The Longobardis occupied the Peninsula in the 6th century, and the territory has been named after them ever since.

Lombardy is a prosperous region with fertile soil and a temperate climate. As in Piedmont, the Po Valley is the site of much heavy industry. High mountains in the north, marking Italy’s frontier with Switzerland, provide excellent skiing and climbing.

Get in

Milan is serviced by two airports, Malpensa and Linate. Check their website for information. There are also smaller airports in Brescia (Montichiari airport) and Bergamo (Orio al Serio airport, which is the destination of many low fares flight).

Road and train links connect the region with Switzerland. As Switzerland is not part of the EU, there is a possibility that you will be delayed by checks at the border, although these are infrequent and usually not rigorous. Remember your passport.

Get around

You can use cars or catch Trains

Eat

Lombardy’s most famous culinary inventions are minestrone soup and osso buco (literally "ox knuckles"). To the west of Milan lie miles of rice fields, where the rice for risotto alla milanese is grown.

Drink

The wineries in Franciacorta, around Erbusco, produce many excellent wines. The region has been elevated to the status of DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata). Other remarkable zones for wine are Oltrepò Pavese (which is the zone around Pavia on the south banks of Po river) and the countrysides around Garda Lake.

Valtellina also produces excellent wines, famous for their strong taste and flavour.

As every big city in the world, Milan has also many high quality restaurants, wine bars and Enoteche (wine store) where you can find high class wines from all over the world.

Sleep

Stay safe

Get out

To the east is Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto, to the south is Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont is to the south and west. Switzerland lies to the north.