Unusual for Italy, Lombardy is a landlocked region. Its northernmost point embraces the magnificent sub-Alpine vistas of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, on the Swiss border, but most of Lombardy’s 9,000 square miles are taken up by the vast Po River Valley, a broad, flat expanse of farmlands punctuated by windbreaks of poplar trees – Lombardy’s equivalent to Tuscany’s cypress. Shelley called this valley “the waveless plain of Lombardy,” and most people do find it drab and unappealing. Still, anywhere you drive – and this is certainly one of the easiest and most suitable places in Italy for driving – just around the bend may lurk the most astonishing surprise, such as tiny Sabbioneta, whose massive city ramparts conceal a miniature Renaissance jewel of a town, created in the 16th century by Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga.
Mantova the Magnificent is surrounded by dreary marshlands, yet it is one of northern Italy’s most renowned Renaissance centers. Try to get there during the week, to avoid the hordes of tourists who flock to see Andrea Mantegna’s masterpiece, the frescoed walls of the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale.
A few miles away on the left bank of the Po, Cremona’s Piazza del Comune, presided over by a Romanesque cathedral and belltower, presents a harmonious blend of many different architectural epochs.
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