Camping Clusone Pineta

The fab views from the site compel you to get out and get stuck in: a good place to start is Grumetti half an hour’s drive away. Trails from there take you to the stunning Serio waterfalls, and beyond, should you have the head for it, to the mountaintop refuge built by Italian mountaineering enthusiasts in the 1880s. Down below are two more jewels in the Lombardy crown; less visited than Garda and Maggiore, the smaller duo Iseo and Endine have an appeal all of their own. Head to Iseo (55 minutes' drive) for swimming, fishing or a boat cruise to the lake island Monte Isola, or take in the Suadi chapel at little Trescore Balneario (40 minutes) on the shores of Lake Endine, where Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto was ordered to paint religious frescoes to stop the lake flooding (they seem to have worked). It might be hard to think of city stuff in a spot so full of scenery, but Bergamo (40 minutes) blends it together. A canny cross-town bike route means you can pedal through the lot without departing from the greenery, while walks into the seven hills surrounding start close to the city limits. Ride the funicular from the lower new town to the old medieval citadel, visit the massive collection of Old Masters in the Accademia Carrara and in Vineria Cozzi sample the local sweet red Moscato di Scanzo served up here since 1848.