"Up there, he stops with his motorcycle and then looked at the islands," Marcello, nobly weathered like the mahogany wood of his Riva boat, points to a small turnout on the road to Stresa. Not only female guests follow the index finger of the Capitano. There then, a few meters from the Art Nouveau Villa Aminta, where once Liz Taylor and Richard Burton lodged overlooking the Borromean Islands, is one of those magical places.

If you are lucky, you can catch a glimpse of "him", the most beautiful of all coffee sellers. Marcello, who just before introduced himself as "Marcello, like Mastroianni" and reaped only tired smiles, knows about the George Clooney effect. The mere mention of his name opens women's hearts and wallets, as the real estate agents on Lake Maggiore are pleased to note. Since the Hollywood star has bought his way around the corner on Lake Como, and real estate prices there have skyrocketed, demand here is on the rise.

The second home owners of the present appreciate the Lago not only of the gentle climate, the alpine panorama with Matterhorn in sight and the proximity of Milan, but above all the discretion of the banking center Lugano.

Palm trees like on the Mediterranean, mountains like in Rio. Lake Maggiore attracts sun hungry and money investors. It is also the mundane - morbid look of the 50s that makes the area so beautiful. Everything is a little slower, as if time has stopped a little. And everything ready to dive into this world.