Exotic, historic Lake Como

Lake Como has been a playground of the rich ever since the younger Pliny built his two villas, Comedy and Tragedy, on its "lusciously beautiful" shores, says Sally Emerson in the Sunday Times. Wandering through the surrounding countryside, amidst the peaks of Lombardy in northern Italy, you'll find "fantasy houses" at every turn. True, the "great scheming cardinals" who once lived in them have given way to the likes of Richard Branson and George Clooney - but that hasn't rid the place of its "out-rageously exotic" air, heavy with "mists, ghosts and incantations". Nowhere will you feel that more strongly than on the Isola Comacina, where a restaurant has been serving the same, "perfect" set menu since 1947, and every meal is followed by an exor-cism "to rid the island of a medieval curse". Citalia (0871 664 0253) has two nights' b&b at Villa d'Este and three half-board at Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni from £1,105pp incl. flights ·