Milan looks good

A short drive out of Milan are the Lakes. Belaggio is on Lake Como, where Franz Liszt lived. Pliny the Younger and Virgil lived here as well in Roman times and called it the most beautiful place in the world. From the hills above you can see the Matterhorn. Lake Lugano overlaps into Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is surrounded by ancient towers and castles. Lakes Iseo, Idro and Orta are described as well. Milan Cathedral is the largest in Europe after St. Peters - 450 ft long - and La Scala opera house is here as well, where many of the world's greatest operas were first performed and still are today. Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper is in Milan, along with medieval palace museums filled with art by Michelangelo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Piero della Francesca and other great artists. Historic towns in the shadow of the Alps here include Cremona, where Stradivarius, the violin-maker worked for 70 years, Brescia, Mantua, Pavia, Locarno - almost all retaining their medieval central sections.