ITALY'S LOMBARDY REGION – LA DOLCE VITA

By Maurice Louis

Several travel trade journalists were invited by VLM (www.flyvlm.com) to test their services and discover a part of the Lombardy region, the area close to Malpensa Airport which includes both Milan as well as the Italian Lake District with the towns of Como and Varezze.

Ancille Lanzarini, Fiera Milano Congressi & Catherine Van Stuyck, VLM Airlines

‘Fiera Milano' and one of their daughter companies ‘Spazio Villa Erba', a convention centre on the shores of Lake Como opened their doors to the northern guests. Several objectives were combined: updating the press with information about the construction of the world's largest fairground in the Rho-Pero district just outside Milan, providing information about Ferrovie Nord Milano. The regional railway network that connects Malpensa airport to the centre of Milan. Since the newly opened Domodossola station is operational it also offers a direct transfer to the Fiera and to the convention centre of the Fiera www.ferrovienord.it

THE LOMBARDO REGION

The democratic Lombardi that gave name to the region elected their kings as far back as the seventh century, when Pavia was their capital city. Later there was the period of the Venetia – Lombardio kingdoms and around 1860 the region became part of Italy.

Regione Lombardia consists of nine provinces and its territory contains the northern Italian lakes with a longstanding tourism tradition. The mountains provide wood for the furniture industry; the planes of the Po River still are mainly agricultural and add the industrial activities around Milan, Bengamo and Brescia to account for the high productivity making Lombardy Italy's most important region and an engine for the national economy.

INDUSTRIAL TOURISM

Maybe it is this image of productivity as well as the history of leisure tourism that have kept Lombardy out of the picture for the meeting and incentive planners who ignored the wealth of venues within a compact area as well as the rich culinary tradition and cultural heritage that is present everywhere.

The Four Seasons Hotel Milano is a good example of this; when the construction works for this hotel were started in 1987 the builders laid bare the columns, portal and renaissance cloister that were concealed behind the facades of the 18 th century building they were demolishing. Immediately it was decided to adapt the architect's plans and integrate as much as could be saved of the old frescos, the hanging capitals and medieval faults. www.fourseasons.com

THE HISTORIC VILLA'S AT THE ITALIAN LAKES

Two of the convention centres that were included in the site inspection seemed more like museums than meeting places. The Spacio Villa Erba consists of the original villa, once the residence of the film maker Luchino Visconti and the modern convention centre that looks much like one of the greenhouses of Kew Gardens. The ‘Antica Villa' looks out over the lake; inside there are wide stairways, large ballrooms, high ceilings, wood and antiques everywhere; a suitable setting for VIP's, banquets or receptions connected with the conventions that take place in the Convention Centre. www.villaerba.it

In Varezze, the ‘Villa Ponti' also breathes history, elegance and culture in a typical Italian way. In Italy the culture of enjoying a meal and a good class of wine are as sacred as in France and to my surprise men and women alike spend most of the meal chatting about the preparation of a particular dish, about agricultural matters or about the quality of this years local vintage; speaking about work during the meal is an absolute taboo.

Next to the Spazio Villa Erba lies one of the mythical hotels of Italy, or I should say of Europe; Villa d'Este, favored by aristocracy and jet set alike.

VILLA D'ESTE, LA ‘DOLCE VILLA'

The clientele consists mainly of individual travellers in the summer season but in the other seasons also meeting and incentive groups can be accommodated. The Villa is set in a private park next to the lake, with historical monuments and sculptures on its grounds; the original Villa was built in the 17 th century and transformed into a hotel in 1873, more than 125 years ago!

160 rooms, meeting and banquet facilities for up to 250 guests, three restaurants and a pool bar, a health spa, indoor swimming pool, outdoor heated swimming pool – that is floating on the lake, tennis courts, jogging track, squash court …. no wonder Madonna likes to spend some time getting in shape here.

The sporting club is connected to the Spa
and via an underground corridor to the hotel. The combination of Zen and ultimate luxury probably explains why this resort, at only 45 minutes drive from Milan, has won so many awards, here everyone feels reborn.

www.viladeste.it

FIERA FEVER

In Milan the convention centre of Fiera Milano has been a well kept secret since it's opening several years ago. Till now it has been operated mainly as extended service for one of the seventy exhibitions are annual trade fairs that take place on the fair ground.

But with the newly planned external pole for the Fiera being under construction in the area of Rho-Pero to the north-west of Milan the future of the city within the city is going to be completely redesigned; Much like the Covent Garden project in London the down-town Fiera is likely to become a combination of shopping mall, residences, offices with only the Convention Centre contained in Pavillon 17 as a separate profit centre. All the fair activities will be moved to the external pool where initial constructions are planned for completion by the end of the year 2005 and further extensions will include two railway stations, direct highway connections and several hotels to be completed by 2006/2007.

www.fieramilanocongressi.it
www.fieramilano.it

METRO OR LIMOUSINE

Accessibility as an important feature for a meeting and incentive destination; delegates do not like to waste time in traffic jams or long transfers. The Metro in Milan is by far the best means of transport even though taxi's or limousine service is relatively cheap. Pier Calva, the president of the associated limousine agency was quite busy during our stay due to the preparations for the F1 Grand Prix of Monza but he still found time to present his company philosophy to us during the dinner at the hotel Principe di Savoia; already in the eighties he foresaw the shift from traditional bus transport, large buses offering tours of several days through Italy and Europe. From that period on Mr. Calva started to associate individual owners and drivers achieving today a network of buses, minivans, chauffeur driven car service and helicopter transfers capable dealing with the request for 360 helicopter transfers in two days.

EXCELSIOR GALLIA IN MILAN

The most accessible hotel is without doubt the Excelsior Gallia, the hotel that advertises to have its own railway station. We stayed in one of the rooms overlooking the station that was built in the same époque and has the same grandeur as the hotel. Here is a grand hotel that has lost none of the ‘belle époque glamour' probably because it has belonged to the same owner for a long period and the investments have been made on a continuous basis.

www.excelsiorgallia.it