Incentive destinations: a guide to the Italian lakes

Lake Garda: the best of several worlds

Tourists have never been able to resist the charm of Lake Garda and by never I mean not since the Roman Empire. The natural beauty of this area, with its thermal baths and easy climate, made it a special favourite of the upper classes, who could afford to have what we would nowadays call holiday homes. Roman villas were scattered around the perimeter of the lake and some vestiges of those impressive architectures still remain on the site known as Catullus Caves in Sirmione. Starting from the XIX Century, tourism on Lake Garda evolved into the strong industry that it is nowadays, with a large part of the local economy catering to the needs of tourists, without compromising on environmental protection and quality of life. This area is also known for its natural parks and its theme parks, which attract hundreds of thousands of national tourists every year. The rich and largely untouched natural beauty, coupled with the efficient infrastructure and excellent facilities, were among the reasons we chose Lake Garda for one of our recent incentive and teal building projects. In this amazing location, we were able to provide our client with a multi-layered experience, in which adventure sports and luxury created a sophisticated and highly satisfying balance.

Lake Como: your incentive travel destination, half an hour from Milan

We recently chose Lake Como as the location for a corporate sailing, team building trip. We already knew, of course, that we were going to enjoy one of the most beautiful sights in Italy and get to experience Nature at its lushest best, and yet the noble grace of this lake never fails to amaze and humble us. It is no coincidence, after all, that its beauty has spoken to and inspired some of the greatest artists in human history, such as Gustave Flaubert and Giuseppe Verdi. This is the deepest and third largest of the Italian lakes and its characteristic shape (like an capsized letter “Y”) makes it instantly recognisable on maps and extremely interesting to explore. What makes Lake Como an especially convenient incentive travel destination, nowadays, is the fact that it is located a mere thirty miles away from Milan, allowing for quick and comfortable day trips that do not disrupt the flow of a busy working week. If you are doing business in Milan, treating yourself and your colleagues to a weekend on the green and blue shores of Lake Como requires minimum planning and barely half an hour traveling. If you are interested in seeing the local sights, we recommend you visit Villa d’Este, the magnificent XVI Century mansion in which Alfred Hitchcock shot Pleasure Garden. This area is also a particular favourite of international gourmands, because of its peculiar cuisine, largely based on lake-fish recipes, which you are unlikely to taste anywhere else.

Lake Maggiore: the king of Italian lakes

Lake Maggiore is the largest of all the Italian Lakes and it touches two Italian regions (Lombardy and Piedmont) and the Italian and German Swiss cantons. What makes this lake particularly interesting as both a tourist and an incentive travel destination are its eleven islands, some of which host beautiful ancient castles and villas. We chose Lake Maggiore and the city of Stresa as the destination for one of our top-of-the-range corporate travel experiences, which included a yacht tour of the lake and visits to some of its most impressive mansions. If nature is more your cup of tea than man-made architecture, Lake Maggiore has much to offer you. In this area you will find a multitude of parks and gardens, the best known of which is probably the garden of Villa Taranto, which boasts a selection of over 1000 different plant species. If you are after a team building experience in which sports play a vital role, this – as many Italian lakes – is likely to be quite close to your idea of heaven: besides sailing, canoeing, waterskiing and all the other sports that you might normally associate with such a location, you will also be able to engage in mountaineering and hiking on the nearby Alps or golfing and riding in one of several facilities in the surrounding plains.