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![[.]](images/white.gif) |
 Café lights wink on in Orta San Giulio on the shore of Lake Orta, the
westernmost of Italys northern lakes. |
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History and beauty mingle in the regions of Piedmont and Lombardy, in Italys
far north. Glaciers retreating after the last ice age left behind craggy mountains,
isolated valleys, andmost famouslydeep, narrow lakes that have charmed
visitors since the aristocrats of imperial Rome built villas along their shores.
The towns
and resorts that ring the lakes manage to combine Italian sensuality with the efficiency
of their northern neighbor Switzerland. Here are posh hotels and spas, remote hamlets, lakeside promenades,
and lonely mountain trails.
A caprice of geography and prevailing winds produces a
temperate climate where palm trees grow in the shadow
of the snowcapped Alps.
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