The friendly, professional staff are welcoming and go out of their way to help make your stay a wonderful experience. When you add the hotel's most fortuitous location, this property is a winner. We asked for and received a room with a balcony, from which we had a commanding view of the lake, surrounding mountains and the fascinating islands that dot the lake and hold much of its historic backstory.

We arrived on a Friday and found the weekly market occupying the public parking area between the hotel and the lake, as well as several hundred feet of the attached lake front street. We made a few purchases while our room was readied and soon after, we checked in. Our lake front room was large, with an ample sized bed, and a large, convenient bathroom.

The hotel is conveniently located in an active and compelling area of Verbania called Pallanza. The car park directly outside the hotel makes parking a cinch, of course and just beyond the car park is the dock for the boats that tour the lake. If you are visiting Lake Maggiore, it is essential that you visit the fascinating islands that once were home to the Borromeo family. Their estates, each one of which occupies the entirety of each of these small islands, are now highly regarded tourist destinations. It is said that the family built their second estate on another island at the request of guests who complained of the screams coming from the prisons in the basement.

I can not say enough about the quality of the staff that operate the Hotel San Gottardo. They each seem to work endless hours, but do so with such grace and enthusiasm. There was no request too difficult or out of the question. We wanted to take our morning coffee on one of the benches that face the lake, directly across the street. Within minutes they had created a tray with all we needed to make ourselves at home in the pretty little park. We drank our coffee and watched the men sweep the park clean with handmade brooms and a stooped, pleasant faced old woman feed the geese that instantly recognized her.

We highly recommend visiting this area of the country. Easily accessible via an Autostrade from Malpensa airport outside of Milan, Lake Maggiore is also accessible to other areas One evening we drove north along the lake and had our dinner on the lake, but this time across the border in Switzerland. Centrally located along the lake, Hotel San Gottardo is an excellent choice, clean, reasonably priced and run by caring professionals, committed to the art of hospitality.