Hollywood versus wholesome: Which dreamy Italian lake floats your boat?

One has star power to rival Hollywood, the other has glorious promenades for all. But which of these natural beauties floats your boat? Our duelling experts help you decide.

By Amy Cooper

There are two types of Lake Como fan. To the first, Bellini is the 19th-century opera composer who penned famous works on Como's shores. To the other, Bellini is the cocktail you sip at the next table from George Clooney after riding on a Riva speedboat to Harry's Bar wearing your newest Armani loafers.

Highbrow, lowbrow - it's all high life at Italy's third-largest lake. How could it be anything otherwise, just an hour's drive north of fashion mecca Milano and a quick frolic across the border from Swiss glitz in St Moritz?

Caressing the feet of the Alps in Lombardy, Como even has a sexy silhouette; a slender figure with long legs, the cities of Como and Lecco at each tiptoe and beautiful Bellagio in the, erm, crotch. Sure, Lake Garda's gorgeous, but the glamour oozing from Lake Como's every droplet runs as deep as the water itself - and it's Italy's deepest lake. Beneath a surface sheen of Clooney-meets-Bond-meets-Madonna, centuries of princesses, marquises, cardinals, sultans, artists and tsars have floated through the magnificent villas lining Como's shores.

Take your pick: ancient Roman author Pliny the Elder, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sophia Loren, Sinatra, Hitchcock, Jagger, Versace. A bunch of counts. George and Amal's 25-room, $100 million Villa Oleandra's off-limits. But there are far classier piles fringing the foreshore and open to the public. The 18th-century Villa del Balbianello is Lake Como's biggest movie star. Its lakeside gardens and lavish rooms stole the spotlight in Casino Royale, Star Wars and House of Gucci. You can also tour Villa Monastero and its museum amassing four centuries of history, the pink Villa Carlotta and its vast botanical garden, or sprawling palazzo Villa Olmo, where Lady Gaga sang at a billionaire's wedding for a reputed $US1 million in summer 2022.

Lake Como's grand hotels make Clooney's crib look like the caretaker's cottage. No wonder he hangs out at Cernobbio's 16th-century Villa d'Este, a doyenne of dizzying dolce vita where Liz Taylor and Richard Burton kicked off their affair in a sumptuous suite. Grand Hotel Tremezzo has a floating pool on the lake (because real luxury means basking in no less than two layers of water), and Il Sereno, with its sleek supermodel lines, is the darling of Milano's fashion pack.

You don't go to Lake Como for the austerity, but its opulence can be surprisingly accessible. Ferries whizz you around the lake for a few euros, you can simply stroll the cobbled streets and pastel architectural gems in enchanting towns and villages like Varenna, Lecco and Menaggio, and family restaurants and guesthouses cater to non-Hollywood budgets. You could camp at Como - and you can, in numerous lakeside beauty spots - and still feel a billion dollars. A galaxy of stars can't be wrong: if you're not in Como, you'll have FOMO.

By Mal Chenu

Located at the top of the boot, the lakes region of Italy - and Lake Garda and Lake Como in particular - present a molto bene adventure, replete with pretty towns, unique islands, olive groves, vineyards and wildflowers.

But when you line them up lago a lago, Garda turns out to be the better option, despite the Como star power, aka George Clooney.

Lake Como acolytes like Amy swoon over the Clooney factor, but the likelihood of George, Brad and Matt et al inviting you to do shots with them at a local taverna before welcoming you onto a superyacht for an ethically-sourced breakfast and a Nespresso with Amal and the twins is, let's face it, slim.

Como may have its nouveau-riche but the OG-riche have been flocking to Lago di Garda for centuries; millennia in the case of the Romans.

Gorgeous Garda is the largest lake in Italy and ferries crisscross it all over the place, while sightseeing day cruises operate from every lakeside hamlet.

But the attraction of the Italian lakes is more about what's on the shoreline. And long story short: Garda has one, Como doesn't. Or at least not one you can see, as every inch is taken up by villas, exclusion zones and armed security.

Lake Garda's treasures vary from north to south, but it is characterised all the way around by bikeable lakeside promenades that are freely available to non-celebs, especially around Riva, Malcesine and Moderno, as well as the comely 10-kilometre path from Lazise to San Benedetto.

In the north, prevailing winds descend from the Dolomites in the morning and go back to the mountains in the afternoon. This makes the northern reaches of Lake Garda a brilliant destination for sailing, windsurfing and kiteboarding, particularly around Torbole, Campione and Riva, which also boasts a close-by and intriguing 100-metre waterfall inside a tunnel.

You can take a cable car up to Monte Baldo summit station, which spills out into hiking trails along the mountain ridge, a rapid descent mountain bike trail, and an even more spectacular descent on a paraglider that wafts along on the thermals. Clooney would call for a 'glider stunt double but you can do it yourself, just to show him up for not inviting you to breakfast.

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Meanwhile, on the southern shore, Sirmione is renowned for its picturesque town centre, thermal baths, the Roman villa ruins of Grotte di Catullu and the 13^th century-built Scaligero Castle perched on a peninsula which juts out into the lake's azure waters.

Gardone Riviera, on the south-western shore, is a member of I Borghi piu bella d'Italia (The most beautiful villages of Italy). So the next time you're doing Brescia, Milan, Verona or Venice, throw a couple of days at Lake Garda and see how the non-Clooneys holiday.