Eyewitness really knows how to pack a passel of information into a pocket-sized parcel. This slim volume is perfect for folks on holiday who want to find Milan's the best art, sightseeing, haute cuisine, fashion stock shops, and wine bars. It's also built for the businesswoman who find herself in Milan for a conference or to seal a deal and wants to know which hotels are equipped for her needs, the restaurants where she can wow potential clients, andhow to spend her free time or the extra day tacked on to the end of the trip.

The guide doesn't end with Milan's borders. It spends many pages covering the Alp-reflecting lakes that snake their way into the mountains north of Milan. Como, Garda, Maggiore, Iseo, Orta, Lugano, Varese—these lakes have been celebrated for millenia, a draw for tourists and spot for summer homes since ancient times. The lake shores are hemmed in by mountains and lined by sumptuous villas, fishing villages, windsurf centers, ornate gardens, medieval castles, prehistoric carvings, and sinuous roads that let you take it all in at the same leisurely pace once enjoyed by Catullus, Goethe, DH Lawrence, and Hemingway.

The other towns and cities of Lombardy don't get short shrift, either, from the virtuoso violin craftsmen of Cremona and the Renaissance palaces of melancholy Mantova to the Roman ruins of Brescia and the ultra-fashionable medieval hilltown of Bergamo.

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