Immediately after our visit to Venice, we stayed at the Grand Hotel Fasano in Gardone Riviera, on the western shore of picturesque Lake Garda. This family-run, five-star jewel is set within a 12,000-square-metre park dotted with palm and banana trees. Once a splendid residence that served as a hunting lodge for the Austrian royal family, it still features the gorgeous beech staircase and spruce ceilings in Il Fagiano, the fine-dining Michelin-starred restaurant led by Executive Chef Maurizio Bufi. We had the huge pleasure of enjoying his wonderful tasting menu, which included his extraordinary risotto with lemon, burrata and liquorice. We also tremendously enjoyed the more informal restaurant, Osteria Il Pescatore, and a lunch outside at Osteria La Magnolia, where the tables nestle beneath a magnificent magnolia tree. The Grand Hotel Fasano is a place that offers everything: excellent dining, amazing views of Lake Garda, genuine service and, last but not least, a top-notch spa in a majestic lakeside setting. But if you would like to leave the premises for a while, you can take a ten-minute stroll to the Vittoriale degli Italiani, the former residence of the eccentric Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio, which includes a massive library of over 33,000 volumes. Among other attractions, the nine-hectare estate also offers an open-air amphitheatre and a war museum with military relics such as an MAS 96 motorboat and the bow of a warship. Can’t wait to go back.