Whichever you choose to explore, you’ll be in good company. The Italian Lakes have drawn visitors from Roman times onwards. Catullus, the 1st century poet, sang their praises. Ernest Hemingway made Stresa, on the south shore of Maggiore, famous in A Farewell to Arms. Como was Franz Liszt’s favourite getaway and he was promptly followed by Verdi, Byron, Shelley and Mark Twain. Bellagio was favoured by almost everyone who was anyone, from Churchill to John F. Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.

While the rich and famous often stay in each other’s mansions – George Clooney’s is on Como – the rest of us find that self-catering apartments and villas are surprisingly affordable, providing you do not want to wake up to views over the water. Just as lakeside restaurants are 50 per cent more expensive than those in the back streets, so lakeside apartments command a premium.

The lakeside residents aren’t too keen on their countrymen from the big cities of the wealthy, industrial north – especially Milan – who drive up at weekends to enjoy a drink or four, play with their jet skis and generally make a lot of noise for 48 hours. “Horrible, cheap people” is a phrase you’ll hear several times if you make friends with the locals.

But Brits, being pleasant, quiet people – well, some of us are still pleasant and quiet – are generally more interested in the cultural aspects of the lakes. Roman ruins can be found in lots of locations, while the museums are a fine way to while away an afternoon. For many visitors, it is the gardens on the shores of the lakes that are the major draw. They are fabulous at almost any time of year. Whether your taste is for the formal, terraced and parterred, the allegorical or the romantic, you will find them at the Lakes.

On Como, the Villa Melzi garden at Bellagio is styled as an English park, while the Villa Serbelloni, at the other end of a ten-minute walk, offers a more naturalistic setting, complete with mediaeval relics, 16th century villa and classical planting. Across the water, the Villa Carlotta contains grottos and an interesting arboretum, while the Villa Balbianello, standing in groves of oak and pine, can be approached only by boat. North of Varese, the Villa Cicogna Mozzoni provides a water staircase and more grottos with giochi d’acqua (water games).

At Lake Maggiore, the Villa della Porta Bozzolo can be found hidden away up a small street in the village of Casalzuigno. This little treasure is well worth seeking out. And no visit to Maggiore would be complete without seeing Isola Bella and Isola Madre, two island gardens – one a surreal wedding cake, complete with statues and peacocks, the other more domestic in scale and including an aviary and even a puppet theatre. If that’s not enough for you, see the pseudo-Romantic Villa San Remigio at Pallanza or the astonishingly flamboyant, not to say kitsch, Villa Táranto.

For something more urban, take a day trip or two to the major cities near the lakes. Milan, while mainly industrial, has some gripping architecture. Visit La Scala, for many the home of Italian opera, and its adjoining museum. See the Duomo, the world’s fourth largest church, with its 135 spires and more than 3,000 statues. Try to spot what is said to be a nail from Christ’s cross and make the effort to walk the 158 steps to the roof – the view is spectacular. Milan has more museums than most cities, and all the items of clothing that you could never afford – except perhaps in July and September, when there are irresistible bargains to be had in the sales.