The town faces across the water at Bellagio and sideways at Cadenabbia, a ‘capital’ of British tourism on the lakes for two centuries. Villa Carlotta (www.villacarlotta.it) is the chief attraction of the mountainous shore, ravishing in April and May with masses of rhododendrons and azaleas and terraces of lilies. The house contains Canova’s much-reproduced sculpture Cupid and Psyche. The lake below is so entrancing that you simply want to sit down and drink it all in.