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Food & Music on Lake Lugano

6 Nights: 26 September - 2 October, 2017

£1495 per person sharing superior twin/double; £1645 per person sharing deluxe twin/double
£1595 per person standard sole use; £1695 per person superior sole use; £1795 deluxe sole use

Includes: return flights from the UK to Milan, six nights bed & breakfast at the Hotel Stella d'Italia on Lake Lugano, three dinners, two lunches, three concerts and a full programme of sightseeing

For the past ten years we have attended Martha Argerich's 'Progetto' in Lugano. We were sad to learn that this wonderful festival of music has come to an end and have been looking at how we can create our own ‘music on the lake’ and enable you to enjoy the idyllic setting of Hotel Stella d'Italia on the Italian shore of Lake Lugano.

We have therefore teamed up with the outstanding Delta Piano Trio (who some of you had the chance to hear at CHET this past December) and produce our own series of three concerts including the trio and local musicians.

The full details of the concert programme for each performance are being finalised and we will let you have these as soon as possible but one of the highlights will be a performance of the Schumann Piano Quartet in E Flat major when the Trio will be joined by a young Swiss violinist. 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 as well as three dinners and two lunches.

Flight details from Manchester:
Tuesday 26th September Manchester T3 – Milan Malpensa 1110 – 1450 Fly Be
Monday 2nd October       Milan Malpensa – Manchester T3 1610 – 1720 Fly Be

Guaranteed holiday costs:
£1495 per person sharing superior twin/double; £1645 per person sharing deluxe twin/double
£1595 per person standard sole use; £1695 per person superior sole use; £1795 deluxe sole use. We have a limited number of rooms with walk-in shower so please mention this when reserving your place and mark it on your Booking Form.

Just to say thank you for all your hard work in making the trip to Vienna such a success. We both had a great time both culturally and socially.
Mr & Mrs C, London

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