Savoring natural beauty on a drive around Lake Iseo

While hundreds of tourists sweat Lake Como traffic jams, and others wait in line to have dinner at a pricey Lake Garda restaurant, we’re only 30 miles from Garda, but we’re eating grilled lake fish in the gentle Italian sunshine, watching swans drift along Lake Iseo, and imagining who inhabits the terra-cotta roofed villages sprinkled on the mountain backdrop.

One of the smallest and least-known lakes of Northern Italy’s Lake District, Lago d’Iseo, or Lake Iseo, is an easy hour’s drive or train ride from Milan. The area’s untamed charm has been popular with Italians since Roman times, and the fact that it’s not as dressed up as the more famous lake resorts is an advantage for travelers seeking refuge from Italy’s frequently astronomical prices and cattle-herd atmosphere.

When we visit the Lake District, my husband and I base ourselves in the 12th century town of Iseo on the lake’s southeastern shore. Here, fashionable clothing boutiques nestle beside medieval churches and piazzas, but the prevailing theme is nature, expressed by the olive and palm-lined promenade Lungolago Marconi, the surrounding pre-Alpine mountains, geranium-filled clay pots on every balcony and caged canaries singing from windows.

We stay at the Milano, a 15-room, family-owned hotel and restaurant that faces the lake. Most of the customer service is conducted by Roberta, the sweet-natured 29-year-old daughter of a Dutch mother and an Italian father, who together have a long history in the hotel business throughout Europe.

Her mother, Margriet, cooks meals that are comfortingly homemade in both flavor and stick-to-the-ribs satisfaction, especially her lasagna. The rooms are not luxurious, but are comfortable, clean, sufficiently appointed, and offer photogenic views of the 23 1/2-square-mile lake. And at $59 for a double, they’re a veritable steal.

Roberta recites the many things we can do nearby, including golf, canoeing, para-sailing, swimming and sightseeing by train or boat, but we choose a leisurely drive around Iseo’s 37-mile perimeter, with selected stops along the way. (Visitors may not want to make this drive late on Sunday afternoons in summer when Italians are returning from weekends in the mountains, creating extra traffic. An expressway is under construction to divert nonlocal traffic and should be completed within two years.)

Sated by a continental breakfast of fresh rolls, yogurt and cereal in the hotel dining room, we set out in our rented Fiat, driving north on the lake’s perimeter road. A mile away, we see technical climbers tackling mountain ascents with such names as “Flash” and “Tiramisu.” At this point, a path through the woods leads to Buca del Quai, a 220-yard-long underground cave that is navigable by appointment.After the village of Sulzano, we turn right to climb up into the mountains. It’s early June and each hairpin turn brings a new and more magnificent view of the lake. Directly below us, terraced, spring-green slopes flutter with grazing goats, bobbing poppies, women conferring energetically as they hang out wash, and men in vests and sea captain’s caps inspecting their small, but precious, grape plots.

At the summit, we drink soda on the shady patio of a trattoria, and admire the valley views on either side of the mountain. There’s a hut here for the many hikers who trek along the mountain ridge. In fact, hikers can take the glorious walk through the mountains from Iseo, passing this point, and continuing on to Mt. Guglielmo (elevation 6,428 feet) in about nine hours.

Back on the lake road, we drive about five miles, passing through little fishing villages, to the town of Marone, where we follow the signs up another mountain toward Zone and the “earth pyramids.” True natural oddities, the pyramids, some of them 100 feet high, are needle-like spires of earth with perfectly rounded boulders perched on top. They were formed from glacial morainic debris exposed to centuries of erosion.

Farther up the mountain we find ourselves in alpine splendor among Swiss chalet-style houses and wildflower meadows worthy of the Von Trapp family. The entrances to hiking trails (including a three-mile walk to Mt. Guglielmo) disappear into fir and beech forests.

At the northern end of the lake we explore the towns of Pisogne and Lovere, both offering art-filled churches and bustling piazzas. After lunching alfresco on Lovere’s harbor, we continue along the lake’s western shore. Suddenly, we’re at the bottom of a sort of gorge, with rock cliffs and overhanging vines that drop to the water. This stretch is spectacular, though I’m sure to leave some fingernails in the car seat as my husband negotiates blind, single-lane curves and tunnels blasted out of the rock.

We pass two rather ugly factories, including a large cement plant coated with white lime that glows eerily in the sunlight. But these sights quickly give way to rocky coastline, marshes spotted with great crested grebes, then the small fishing towns of Predore and Sarnico. Sarnico offers wide piazzas that open up onto the tree-lined lake. Its churches house 11th century frescoes, and several restaurants serve fresh lake fish on waterfront patios.

The next day, we wander through the nearby region of Franciacorta (“Free Court”), its name deriving from the tax exemptions granted to its medieval courts, enabling them to stay in business, as it were, so they could cultivate the land and defend the border against invaders.

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Although primarily flat, Franciacorta’s sensuous golden landscape recalls the hills of Tuscany. Meandering around ancient villas and monasteries are fields and terraces of grape vines. We tour one of dozens of vineyards, sampling the bounty, and buying bottles to take home.

And it’s home to some exceptional restaurants and inns, including Cappuccini, a lovingly restored 16th century Capuchin monastery high on a rose-covered hill that overlooks much of Brescia Province.

Seated next to a log fire in Cappuccini’s oak-beamed dining room, we share an appetizer of assorted cheeses served under a melting blanket of creamy Gorgonzola and hazelnuts. Our first course is homemade ravioli stuffed with Caciotta, a flavorful, semi-soft cheese, kissed with a sauce of fresh cream and marjoram. And we can do little else but murmur “umm” as we attack tender rack of lamb en cro^ute

with a light rosemary-tinged sauce.

Monte Isola, Europe’s largest lake island, rises out of Lake Iseo like some vengeful nether-world spirit. But it’s a drowsy throwback where net makers weave fishing nets as they have for hundreds of years, and where cars are forbidden.

Wanting to join the likes of composer Frederic Chopin, novelist George Sand and writer Lady Mary Montagu, who stoked their creative fires on Monte Isola, we take the five-minute ferry ride from Sulzano to the island’s port, Peschiera Maraglio. Here we rent bikes and ride around the island’s six-mile periphery through olive groves, chestnut woods, and villages filled with loggias, courtyards and narrow, winding streets. There are two public beaches and pleasant hikes to the 1,900-foot summit, as well as several restaurants specializing in lake fish.

On our last evening we join the ice cream-eating families of Iseo as they make their evening passeggiata along the promenade. As we sip aperitifs at a sidewalk cafe, a fishing boat returns to shore after a 15-hour day on the water. Fit, tanned and laughing together, the fishermen don’t seem at all tired as they haul out their gear, which includes not only fish, but a considerable accumulation of empty wine bottles.

I ask my husband who is covering for him at the magazine, referring to his profession as an editor. He’s been gazing toward the pier, looking more relaxed than he’s been in months.”You know what?” he asks, oblivious to my question. “Maybe I oughta take up commercial fishing.”

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GUIDEBOOK: Iseo--Au Naturel

Getting there: Alitalia flies one nonstop daily from Los Angeles to Milan. There are daily direct flights on American (stopping in Chicago) and on TWA (JFK). Carriers offering connecting service include American, Delta, KLM, Lufthansa, Air France and TWA. Shoulder-season prices (now through May 31) start at about $1,035 plus tax; after that, lowest high season fares begin at about $1,205.

This spring and fall, Alitalia is offering some Lake District packages that include round-trip air fare, seven nights in a four-star hotel, seven days’ rental car with unlimited mileage and breakfast, plus lunch or dinner daily. Prices start at $1,229 per person from Los Angeles, based on double occupancy, not including taxes and fees. For more information, call (800) 223-5730 or (800) 845-3365.

From Milan, take Autostrada A4 (due east toward Brescia/Venice) to the Rovato exit. Turn left, and follow the signs to Iseo. There’s also frequent train service from Milan and Venice to Brescia, where you can catch a scenic 40-minute train ride to the Iseo station, within easy walking distance of Iseo hotels.

Where to stay and eat: Iseo has many hotels, with two that face the lake:

Hotel Milano (Lungolago Marconi, Iseo; telephone 011-39-30-980449). Double rooms, about $59 without breakfast, about $73 with continental breakfast; three-course dinners average $21 without drinks.

Ambra Hotel (Piazza G. Rosa, Iseo; tel. 011-39-30-980130). Double rooms, about $83 without breakfast, about $104 with breakfast.

In Iseo, an excellent restaurant is Osteria Il Volto (33 Via Mirolte), with complete dinners (two courses and dessert) averaging $30; tel. 011-39-30-981462.

For more information: For reservations and further information, contact the Iseo tourist office (Lungolago Marconi 2, Iseo; tel. 011-39-30-980209 or fax, 011-39-30-981361). Or the Italian Government Tourist Board, 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles 90025; tel. (310) 820-0098, fax (310) 820-6357.

--P.J.D.