Villas in Northern Italy

• Space, gardens and privacy: Villas here tend to be generous family houses with terraces, gardens and often a pool, spread between the lakes, the Dolomites and the Ligurian coast.
• Choose your landscape first: The north covers lakeside towns, alpine valleys, the vineyards of the Langhe and the art cities of the Po plain, so the setting shapes the whole holiday.
• Outstanding regional cooking: Emilia-Romagna is the home of Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh egg pasta, while Piedmont brings truffles and Barolo to the table.
• Guests rate the views highly: Our best-reviewed northern stays score 10.0+, praised for lake and mountain outlooks, quiet villages and welcoming hosts.
• A destination for every season: Summer suits the lakes and the Riviera, autumn the wine harvest, and winter the ski slopes of the Dolomites.

Villas across the north range from restored stone farmhouses in Piedmont and the Langhe to lakeside houses with terraced gardens and modern hillside properties above the Riviera. Many sleep six or more, so a villa near Lake Garda suits two families travelling together, while a quieter retreat around Lake Como or along the coast of Liguria works well for couples. Standard comforts are consistently good.

• Private pools and sun terraces, common in villas across Lombardy
• Enclosed gardens with barbecues and shaded dining areas
• Air conditioning, useful during humid Po valley summers
• Well-equipped kitchens for cooking with local produce
• Free parking, essential for touring the lakes and vineyards

Together these features make a villa the most practical base for exploring the north.

What are the best areas to stay in Northern Italy?

For a first visit, Lake Garda offers the best balance of scenery, swimming and easy day trips. The table below details regions for specific interests:

What do our guests say?

Northern Italy consistently earns strong scores from our guests, with the best-reviewed stays reaching 10.0+. Reviewers single out lake and mountain views, generous outdoor space, quiet village settings and hosts who share local walking routes and restaurant tips. Families praise the room to spread out, while couples highlight peaceful terraces and easy access to the water.

Here are our top-rated places to stay in northern Italy from the past year:

1. Perla Azzurra mit Seezugang - 10.0+: A bright five-guest apartment in Toscolano-Maderno on Lake Garda, with lake views, a garden and direct access to the shore.
2. Baita Pizabornè - 10.0+: A pet-friendly mountain house in Porte di Rendena, Trentino, with a yard, mountain views and an attentive Star Host.
3. Ferienwohnungen Oberbrunnhof - 10.0+: A peaceful farm apartment at Naturno in the Texel Group, South Tyrol, with a garden, mountain outlook and pets welcome.

Northern Italy stretches from the Aosta Valley and Piedmont across Lombardy and the great lakes to Trentino, South Tyrol, the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and the Ligurian coast.

🥗Where to eat in Northern Italy?

According to review platforms such as Google Maps and Tripadvisor, Le Calandre is the best rated restaurant in Northern Italy. Below is a table showing the top 5 highly-rated restaurants hand-picked by our travel experts.

⭐Our guests' recommendation: Our guest traveller Charlotte Wilson recommends the Trattoria al Pompiere in Northern Italy: a warm, wood-panelled dining room in Verona, ideal after a day at the lake, with a famous cheese trolley and Valpolicella by the glass.

1. Cruise the great lakes
2. Walk the Cinque Terre paths
3. Hike in the Dolomites
4. Taste the Langhe vineyards
5. Drift through Venice
6. Eat your way through Emilia-Romagna
7. Discover Milan and Turin

1. Cruise the great lakes

   Ferries link the prettiest towns on Lake Garda, Lake Como and Lake Maggiore, and hopping between them is the easiest way to see the shoreline. Sail from Sirmione, with its Scaligero castle and the Roman ruins of the Grotte di Catullo, or cross from Bellagio to Varenna for lakeside gardens and long lunches. On Lake Maggiore, the Borromean Islands hold terraced palace gardens reached in minutes from Stresa. Mornings are calmest; afternoons bring the breeze that sailors and windsurfers wait for.

2. Walk the Cinque Terre paths

   The five villages of the Ligurian coast are joined by footpaths cut into terraced vineyards high above the sea. The stretch between Vernazza and Monterosso is the most rewarding, climbing past dry-stone walls before dropping to a harbour of pastel houses. Buy a Cinque Terre card to combine walking with the local train, so you can return without retracing your steps. Go early in the day, carry water, and finish with anchovies and a glass of crisp local white wine.

3. Hike in the Dolomites

   The pale peaks of South Tyrol and Trentino offer some of Europe's finest walking, from gentle meadow paths to exposed via ferrata routes. The circuit around the Tre Cime di Lavaredo is the classic half-day outing, while the Alpe di Siusi gives wide, easy trails with huge views. Mountain huts serve dumplings, barley soup and strudel, so lunch is part of the pleasure. In winter the same valleys become ski country, with the Val Gardena and Alta Badia slopes linked by a single pass.

4. Taste the Langhe vineyards

   South of Turin, the rolling hills of the Langhe produce Barolo and Barbaresco, and the villages between them are made for slow driving. Book a cellar visit in La Morra or Barbaresco, then stop in Alba, which fills each autumn with the aroma of white truffles at its long-running fair. Roero and Monferrato add hazelnut groves and quiet castle towns to the route. Many estates welcome visitors year-round, but the September and October harvest is the most atmospheric time.

5. Drift through Venice

   Beyond Piazza San Marco, Venice rewards anyone willing to get lost in the back canals of Cannaregio and Dorsoduro. Take the number one vaporetto along the Grand Canal at dusk, visit the Gallerie dell'Accademia for Venetian painting, then cross to Burano for its brightly painted fishermen's houses and lace workshops. A morning at the Rialto market shows how the lagoon still feeds the city. Come in February for the carnival, or in autumn when the crowds thin considerably.

6. Eat your way through Emilia-Romagna

   This is the pantry of Italy, and a food tour here is a proper day out. Visit a Parmigiano Reggiano dairy at dawn near Parma, tour a balsamic vinegar loft in Modena, then eat tagliatelle al ragù under the porticoes of Bologna. Cooking classes teach the rolling and folding of tortellini by hand. Between meals there are Romanesque cathedrals, the mosaics of Ravenna and the Ferrari museum at Maranello, all within an easy drive of one another.

7. Discover Milan and Turin

   The north's two great cities make excellent contrasts. In Milan you can climb to the roof terraces of the Duomo, book ahead to see Leonardo's Last Supper, and shop the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Turin answers with baroque arcades, the Mole Antonelliana and its cinema museum, and the Egyptian Museum, one of the largest of its kind. Both cities take coffee and aperitivo seriously, so end the afternoon with a vermouth and a table of small plates.