Italy has some of the best hotels in the world – and the Italian Lakes, up in the north of the country within easy reach of Milan or Verona, have a tradition of hospitality stretching back 150 years or more. This is not chain hotel territory: there are very few corporate branded hotels in this part of the world, and most properties are family-owned and family-run – often staying in the same hands for generation after generation. History is a way of life here.

Lake Como – a sense of style

Choose Lake Como for a sense of style – and a long history. The shoreline at Tremezzo is where the lake’s climate is at its mildest and the flora is most lush. Lined with cypresses and palms, it’s lovely at any time of year, awash with colour and heady with the scent of flowers. The church here, at Cadenabbia, was the first Anglican church in Italy, built in 1891, still with its golden mosaics and finely decorated barrel vaulting – and, just across the lake, Bellagio is perhaps the most beautiful village on this or any other Italian lake.

Where to stay?
Tremezzo – Grand Hotel Tremezzo Palace: one of the finest luxury hotels on Lake Como, a grand, glittering mansion on the waterfront, opulently appointed but tastefully lightened throughout with pastel styling and period furniture.

Menaggio – Grand Hotel Victoria: a wonderfully atmospheric 19th-century grand hotel, set in its own lakeside grounds at the edge of Menaggio, shaded by giant cedars and offering some of the lake’s most spectacular views, across to the mountains above Varenna.

Bellagio – Hotel Belvedere: set in its own parkland at the top of this bewitchingly attractive village, isolated on a peninsula in the middle of Lake Como, this completely renovated midrange hotel has been in the same family for more than 130 years. Expect a warm welcome and home comforts.

Lake Como

Lake Como

Lake Maggiore – peace and quiet

Choose Lake Maggiore for tranquillity and calm – this beautiful corner of Italy is often less visited than its lake neighbours. Take your pick of hideaways up and down what is the largest, and longest, lake in the country, but make sure you’re within reach of the superb gardens on the historic islands of Isola Bella and Isola Madre, laid out in formal style in the 17th-century Baroque taste.

Where to stay?
Pallanza – Grand Hotel Majestic: this splendid 19th-century grand hotel, with its towering internal atrium and magnificent lakeside grounds, can often feel like the quietest hideaway in the world. Pallanza, a historic harbourfront village, is already slower and more peaceful than most Lake Maggiore resort towns – and this hotel is hidden away on a virtually traffic-free byway. A place to relax and unwind.

Cannero – Hotel Cannero: in the north of Lake Maggiore, a hop and a skip from the Swiss border, is the little lakeside village of Cannero, sheltered from the weather by forested slopes, gazing out across open water. The family-run Hotel Cannero, down on the cobbled waterfront promenade, ticks every box: the warmest of personal welcomes, character and quiet, excellent food and wine – and the lake ferries dock at a jetty directly opposite the hotel restaurant, making for easy car-free excursions.

Lake Maggiore

Lake Maggiore

Lake Garda – natural grandeur

Choose Lake Garda to be wowed by the beauty of lakes and mountains scenery. This is where the world of the high Alps meets the world of the palm-fringed Mediterranean – and Lake Garda epitomises the best of both. From the lazy southern shores, the mountains rear up around Garda’s glittering blue water, narrowing to a point in the north that evokes the rugged grandeur of the Alpine peaks that frame the horizon.

Where to stay?
Gardone Riviera – Villa del Sogno: the “Villa of Dreams” is a vision of Art Nouveau, built by a Viennese silk tycoon in 1904. Boasting fragrant gardens and an enviable position on the lake in this superbly atmospheric south-facing resort, out of the bustle, this luxury hotel retains its air of sophisticated exclusivity.
Gardone Riviera – Hotel Florida: perched some 200 yards above the waterfront, with superb views out over open water, this is a family-run hideaway that combines personal attention with the charm of a four-star luxury retreat.

Lake Garda

Lake Garda

Matthew Teller

The author of the ‘Rough Guide to the Italian Lakes’.