For many years we attended Martha Argerich's 'Progetto' in Lugano. We were sad when this wonderful festival came to an end but last year we created our own ‘music on the lake’ so that you can enjoy the idyllic setting of Hotel Stella d'Italia on the Italian shore of Lake Lugano.
Following the Priority Booking period for this tour we have just 2 places left (at 20th June).
Flying from Manchester to Milan (or from Gatwick to Turin) for four nights and four concerts in Turin (see previous tour for full details of inclusions).
On Monday 17th September we depart Turin and continue by private coach across the border into Switzerland for a brief transit before we arrive at the lakeside hamlet of San Mamete and the Hotel Stella d’Italia for the next six nights.
This year we have teamed up with the outstanding young pianist Luke Jones (who some of you had the chance to hear at CHET earlier this year) to produce our own series of three concerts with Luke and musicians from around the lake. Concerts will take place in the beautiful setting of the churches of Valsolda.
Lake Lugano is 70% in Switzerland and 30% in Italy. We stay on the Italian shore of the lake at a hotel that has become a firm favourite with Maestro clients over the past ten years, the enchanting Albergo Stella d'Italia situated on the lakeside in San Mamete, one of the seven little villages that make up ‘Valsolda’.
“Piccolo Mondo Antico” (“Little old-fashioned world”) is how Italian author Antonio Fogazzaro described Valsolda in his novel of 1895 and little has changed since! The ‘Stella’ opened in 1910 and remains owned and managed by the Ortelli family. It is unique in our experience of Italian lakeside hotels in that ALL rooms face the lake and the only difference between 'standard', 'superior' and ‘deluxe’ is really the decor and size of the room. It has an idyllic setting besides the lake just 2km from the Swiss border and 7km from the centre of Lugano. San Mamete is a small lakeside hamlet with just one square but has a bank, baker, general store, pharmacy and hair-dresser as well as a few bars & cafes.
The hotel and its beautiful garden invite you to relax and enjoy the lake. You can even use the hotel's own rowing boat for an excursion on the lake! If you want to explore independently a bus runs several times a day between Lugano and Menaggio on Lake Como, stopping outside the hotel in each direction. The hotel also has a once a day visit from the traditional lake steamer as it traverses the lake from Lugano to Porlezza.
The holiday includes three days of organised sightseeing visits to the beautiful Villa Carlotta on Lake Como, Villa Fogazzaro on Lake Lugano and the lakeside towns of Bellagio & Menaggio and the city of Lugano itself as well as three dinners and two lunches.
