2 Best Hotels in Verbania, Lombardy and the Lakes

Using space formed from a 17th-century monastery merged with an adjoining 19th-century textile factory, this hotel offers plain, functional rooms, some overlooking a lovely garden. Locals are lunchtime regulars at the restaurant, which offers attentive service, good value, and an emphasis on regional cuisine. 

For more than 170 years the same family has run this elegant inn—about an hour's drive from Verbania on the banks of the lake opposite Stresa—where guest rooms are in two late-19th-century villas surrounded by a garden and the chef does the family proud in the exceptional restaurant. Lake trout and perch find their way onto the menu, as do artichoke dishes in spring and eggplant in summer.