Read some of these recent interesting articles about Italy:
A lake's progress - Financial Times
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Lake Como
By Emily Backus
Published: November 8 2008
Long ago, roughly 2,000 years before the film star George Clooney famously bought a pair of villas on Lake Como, Roman patricians and high ranking officials took refuge from congested urban life on these steep, wooded shores. Virgil knew of the lake. Como native and 2nd-century Roman statesman Pliny the Younger built two country villas here: one in Lenno and one in Bellagio, which he called "Comedy" and "Tragedy", according to a guide book. Over the centuries, European rulers, industrialists and cultural luminaries have followed, enjoying homes among fishing villages and silk-makers.
Lake Como is the lucky, long side of a wishbone-shaped lake, the shorter, eastern leg of which is Lake Lecco. Located about an hour by car from Milan, the lake, or at least its southern half, also has unusually beautiful natural assets. Its narrow breadth and the surrounding hills imbue it with a dramatic intimacy not found in its beautiful sister lakes, which sashay in irregular file from east to west along the borderlands of northern Italy and southern Switzerland. The Romantic poet Shelley said: "This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty," while Wordsworth called it "a treasure which the earth keeps to itself."
More Details: <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2f26f7ec-ad34-11dd-971e-000077b07658.html>
It's Lake Como: by George! - Telegraph
By Zoe dare Halls
Published: 4 July 2007
In this hip Italian resort, closeness to Clooney is the only currency that counts. But as Zoe Dare Hall reports, bargains can still be found.
George Clooney has a lot to answer for. Once the barometer of high living on northern Italy's Lake Como was proximity to its main town, Como. But ever since the Hollywood star bought a villa in Laglio for $10million (£5.04million) in 2002, house prices have soared and it is closeness to Clooney that has become the new measure of exclusivity.
The actor's 25-room mansion has been a savvy investment, the local La Provincia newspaper reported recently. "George got an amazing deal for his villa. If he considered selling now, he would get double, perhaps triple," the paper said, citing Villa Cassinella in nearby Lenno, which recently fetched €15million (£10.3million), or Villa delle Magnolie in Moltrasio, which sold for €12million, €3million above its asking price.
More Details: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/3358739/It's-Lake-Como,-by-George!.html>