Positioned between the beautiful Italian lakes and mountains and the city of Milan in the other direction, this characterful Cascina was an old traditional northern Italian farm building owned by the Contessa which has been converted into several houses. Osnago, our small local town has shops, a library, live music and an open-air cinema in the summer and an excellent gelateria (ice-cream parlour). It is on the train line between Milan and Lecco, 15 minutes from beautiful Monza and 10 minutes drive away from the market town of Merate. Walks in the local nature reserve 'Parco del Curone' http://www.parcocurone.it are a few minutes away in the car or on foot. It is situated 30 mins train or drive away from Lecco http://www.lakecomo.it - a popular lakeside tourist resort in the mountains, Milan is 30 mins away by train and offers everything from galleries and museums to the spectacular cathedral, the famous Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci and the Sforza castle plus the world famous shopping and fashion. Bergamo - a beautiful, unusual and ancient town with historic views across the Po valley and up to the spectacular range of Alps beyond is only 45 mins away in the car or by train. If you want, you can use the house as a base for travelling elsewhere - Venice, Verona, Como, Turin, Genoa and Parma are all less than 3 hours away by train from Milan.

We are an Anglo-Italian family of 4 - Sergio is an architect, Susan is an artist. We have two children aged 11 and 14. We all love to travel.
We are not interested in going to the Olympics but would like to spend some time in London this summer (preferably south-east to be near my brother and his family).