THE plains of northern Italy are the country’s economic powerhouse and industrial heartland. Lombardy’s capital, Milan, is renowned for its urban chic, but Lombardy as a whole is largely off the radar of British visitors, let alone second-home seekers. Could they be missing a trick?

North of Milan are the Italian lakes and the Alps. To the east is Bergamo’s medieval walled Città Alta, with great views across the plains. An hour south from Milan you come to Oltrepo Pavese, nicknamed Little Tuscany by the locals but refreshingly devoid of UK numberplates.

Paul Hudson, who runs the Italian office of the international search company The Property Finders, says: “We don’t get requests for Bergamo because I don’t think people know about it; I’ve lived here 12 years and it’s only in the last two or three that we have even started to see British tourists.” The Città Alta is an architectural gem, with narrow, cobbled streets and surprise piazzas. The city is just an hour’s drive from Alpine skiing; 45 minutes from the lakes; Milan is 45 minutes away, Venice two hours, the coast in Liguria about the same. It is popular with Milanese commuters, so there’s strong rental demand.

Average prices are around 25 per cent lower than in prime Venice or Florence. According to Mary Nozza-Zambetti, of Bergamo estate agent Area, apartments range from about €4,000 (£2,700) per sq m for those needing restoration to €8,000 for those newly restored; you could pay €10,000 per sq m for an apartment in an elegant palazzo with frescoes. Allow another €800 to €1,200 per sq m if restoration is required.

Lake Garda, east of Bergamo, is a tourist honeypot, while chunks of Lake Como’s shores have been sold off to celebrities from George Clooney and Sting to Sir Richard Branson and Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. The smaller sister, Lake Iseo, has a panoramic backdrop but lacks the star-studded cast; prices are a good 10-15 per cent lower. In a private estate of two-bedroom holiday apartments, with a shared pool and lake-side moorings, one is on sale for €200,000. A similar apartment with luxury fittings, balconies and lake views, in Villongo, is priced at €170,000; in Gandosso you could buy a detached villa in a large garden for €285,000; it needs around €100,000 of work.

But the best-kept Lombardy secret is Oltrepo Pavese: plump hills cloaked in vineyards and crowned with medieval castles, churches and mellow stone hamlets. “It’s a popular second-home destination for wealthy Milanese, including Giorgio Armani and the president of Inter Milan,” says Fabio Bianco, of local estate agent Studio Abitare in Broni.

Property prices are roughly half those in Tuscany proper. Bianco is selling a handsome 1900 villa that needs cosmetic work, but it’s big – around 560 sq m (almost 6,000 sq ft), plus a 2,000 sq m garden with a pool – all for €480,000. In many cases, warns Hudson, properties change hands by word of mouth, so sleuthing may be needed. He found a three-storey stone house with some land in the pretty hamlet of Zavattarello, available for €160,000.

To search for the right Italian property for you on propertyfinder.com click here

To find properties in Bergamo on properazzi.com click here

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