Lake Garda, Desenzano del Garda

If your visiting any of the Italian lakes in the north of the Country, or towns and cities that sit on the edge, Desenzano del Garda is certainly worth a visit.
Visiting the town from either Verona or Milan is pretty easy as there is good connections by bus or train to the station at the top of the town. Compared to the other lakeside towns Desenzano has much more of a holiday feel to it with beautiful villas and hotels looking down onto the lake as you enter the town centre. The streets are spotless, and it has a confusing mixture of Venetian and alpine architecture as you enter the city, but it is really stunning, a must visit place if you have the opportunity.

Desenzano has a lovely centre with harbours, beaches, great restaurants and wonderful shops.

desenzano del garda

   

The Lakes. Como, Menaggio, Bellagio

Some of the most popular places for tourists to visit are the great lakes of Italy. Amazing Alpine backdrops, beautiful buildings, great weather and wonderful food.
Como seems to be the main lake for International visitors to be attracted too, with inevitably Como Town at the forefront of everyone's visit to the area. Como benefits from being one of the easiest destinations outside of Milan to travel too, and other destinations around the lake can be reached from there on.
The Town of Como has trains and boats onto places like Bellagio and Menaggio, and sits less than three miles from the border of Switzerland. Como Town itself is probably not the most stunning of places to visit in Italy, but it does have some of the usual ancient Italian buildings next to the lake and around the Duomo area, that are very nice to take some pictures of, but generally it's all a bit too touristy for me.
Personally the best thing about Como Town is getting on the boats and going up the lake. From there on the scenery is stunning, some the houses along the lakeside are amazing and it leads you to likes of Menaggio and Bellagio, both of which are worth a visit and sit on different parts of the lake.
If you feel brave enough to drive in Italy, this would be the place to do it, as the lakeside drive upto Menaggio is totally stunning.

Lake Como