Sportingclub La Palazzina

There’s plenty of enjoyment to be found in simply pottering around the local area, taking walks or bike rides along the dirt trails, seeking out vineyards and wineries to visit and dipping into local villages to try their restaurants and shops. A good focal point for a day out is Castello di Chignolo Po (15 minutes’ drive), a grand building nicknamed the ‘Versailles of Lombardy’. If you’d like a longer day out, there are several towns nearby that make good destinations – Lodi (25 minutes) has a printing museum and a stunning cathedral as well as the famous Tempio Civico dell’Incoronata, decorated with Renaissance frescoes, and Pavia (35 minutes) is an attractive riverside town with a covered bridge, the Visconti Castle and several museums and churches to visit. Looking a little further afield, an hour’s drive will take you either to Cremona to learn about its violin-making history or to Milan to tour the city’s world-famous landmarks: the Duomo, Teatro alla Scala and Pinacoteca di Brera for starters, and perhaps some window shopping in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.