The sight of slow steamers and snow-clad peaks stirs something deep in most visitors, but especially in the souls of poets. It is of little coincidence that two of the most romantic Roman poets, Virgil and Catullus, came from the lakes and were inspired by the seductive setting. Pliny, too, loved the lakes. Later, the Romantics fell in love with the region. ‘This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty,’ declared Shelley of Lake Como, exploring the lake in 1818. Novelist Edith Wharton, visiting in 1903, was intoxicated by the Romantic poets’ visions of brooding lakes. The German poet and dramatist Goethe was drawn to Lake Garda by its classical resonance, even if it was the lemons rather than the literature that won his heart. ‘What I enjoy most of all is the fruit,’ he wrote in his journal in 1786. He had less fondness for Malcesine, where the Austrian police, spotting him sketching the castle, arrested him on suspicion of being a spy.
Since the 18th century, Lake Garda’s summer villas have lured such luminaries as Byron and D.H. Lawrence. Lawrence said of Limone, ‘as beautiful as the beginning of creation’. Ibsen and Vladimir Nabokov concurred, even if their preference was for the greater Gardone Riviera.
‘One can’t describe the beauty of the Italian lakes, nor would one try if one could,’ wrote Henry James, on catching sight of Lake Maggiore. Few writers have taken the hint, and outpourings of purple prose, particularly from writers fleeing northern climes, are part of the lakes’ legacy.
Books
Travel companions
Desiring Italy, Susan Cahill (ed). Writings by female authors (George Eliot, Edith Wharton, Muriel Spark, etc) on the beauty and culture of Italy.
Italian Days, Barbara Grizutti Harrison. A witty and eloquent look at Italy, revealing a fascinating insight into a nation.
History, society and culture
A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics: 1943–1988, Italy and Its Discontents, 1980–2001 and Silvio Berlusconi: Television, Power and Patrimony, Paul Ginsborg. A masterly history of post-war Italy and its politics is completed with an account of the power of the country’s most powerful politician.
Alps and Sanctuaries, Samuel Butler. The 18th-century traveller describes his journeys around the lakes.
Mussolini, Nicholas Farrell. A biography of the reviled Fascist dictator that pulls no punches. It includes the period of the Salò Republic, when Mussolini’s powerbase was on the shores of Lake Garda.
Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko at the official presentation of the film “Quantum of Solace”
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The House of Gucci, Sarah Forden. A biography of Maurizio Gucci, the last family member to run the luxury-goods fashion empire.
The Dark Heart of Italy, Tobias Jones. Although flawed and obsessed with a Berlusconi era that is now history, this is an intriguing look at the underbelly of Italy, from politics, crime and (lack of) punishment to the Italian way of life.
How the English Made the Alps, Jim Ring. The English love affair with the Alps, from its beginnings in the early Romantic movement, through to its Victorian heyday.
Fiction and travelogue
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway. The novel tells the story of a wounded American soldier in the Italian army who convalesces in Milan, inadvertently deserts while fleeing from the Germans but is reunited with his beloved in Stresa, on Lake Maggiore.
Europa, Italian Neighbours, A Season With Verona, Tim Parks. The novelist observes life in Italy in a series of light-hearted and affectionate tales.
Food and wine
Eating up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa, Matthew Fort. Exploring Italy’s regions on an epic scooter trip, Matthew Fort paints a contemporary portrait of Italy through its food and the people who produce it.
Truly Italian, Ursula Ferrigno. An Italian cookbook with inspirational recipes and a vegetarian focus that features the healthiest northern Italian cooking.
Film
This beautiful area has inspired a number of films including:
A Month on the Lake (1995). This film, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Uma Thurman, is just one of many featuring Lake Como’s magnificent Villa del Balbianello.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002). Villa del Balbianello features again, this time as planet Naboo, where the wedding of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) and Padmé Amidala is held.
Ocean’s Twelve (2004). George Clooney’s attachment to Lake Como has led to films including this one, in which he stars, being filmed in the region. Villa Erba is used as the home of François Toulour, the Night Fox.
Casino Royale (2006). Parts of the acclaimed first James Bond film with Daniel Craig in the title role were filmed on Lake Como. Bond finds Mr White at his estate on the lake, Villa La Gaeta, and Villa del Balbianello is used as the sanatorium where Bond recuperates after being tortured by Le Chiffre.
The famous house used in the James Bond film “Casino Royale”, on Lake Como
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