The Italian Grand Prix is the fourteenth Grand Prix in the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship season and is due to take place on the weekend of the 10th to the 12th of September 2010 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy. If you’re planning to go to the race, here is some information about the circuit and some of the area’s other attractions.

Monza Overview

Monza is situated about 20km to the north of Milan, in Italy. Although its best known as the location of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, it also has a number of historic attractions, and is within easy reach of the famous Italian lakes, Lake Como, Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore.

Getting to Monza

The easiest way to get to Monza is to fly to Milan and then hire a car and drive to Monza. It will take you about about 40 minutes to drive to Monza. You can’t drive within Monza Park, so you’ll need to park your hire car nearby and then either walk or take a shuttle bus to the circuit. Alternatively, you can travel between Milan and Monza by rail.

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is situated in Monza Park, in Monza, and first opened in 1922. The second ever Italian Grand Prix was held there on the 10th of September that year (the 1921 Italian Grand Prix having been held at Brescia). The track has undergone many changes since then, partly due a number of fatal accidents that occurred there.

The current circuit is 5.793 km long and the Formula 1 drivers aim to complete 53 laps of it. There are 11 main turns and two main straights, and highlights of the circuit include the Variante Ascari chicane and the Cruva Parabolica.

Camping and Hotels

If you want to immerse yourself in the Grand Prix atmosphere, the best way to do so is to camp at one of campsites near the Monza circuit. You can camp at Monza’s temporary Grand Prix Village, which has electricity, water and chemical toilets, or at the permanent campsite in the north of Monza Park, which has additional facilities, including a bar and shop.

There are also a number of hotels within Monza. For a really luxurious break, you could try the Hotel de la Ville, a 4-star hotel situated just outside of Monza Park, facing the Royal Palace. The hotel has 70 rooms and suites, 63 of which are in the main hotel building and seven of which are in an adjacent restored villa. Facilities within the Hotel de la Ville include the Derby Grill and the American Bar.

Other hotels in Monza include the AS Hotel Monza, the Hotel della Regione and the Hotel Royal Falcone. You’ll also find a wide range of hotels to choose from in Milan, should you wish to base yourself there instead.

Nearby Attractions

If you want to extend your stay, you’ll find plenty to see and do in the Monza area. Attractions within Monza include the 18th century Villa Reale, and Monza Cathedral.

You could also travel to the nearby Italian Lakes (Lake Como, Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore), and spend some time exploring this beautiful part of the country. You can learn more about the attractions around Lake Como by reading our guide to taking a driving tour in the area.

Alternatively, you could extend your trip by spending some time in Milan. The city’s attractions include the Duomo (Milan’s Cathedral), the Teatro della Scala (opera house) and many museums and galleries, such as the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology, the Pinacoteca di Brera, and the Natural Science Museum. Milan is also known as one of the world’s fashion capitals, and you’ll find a host of designer-name stores.

Essential Information

Monza is an hour ahead of the U.K. and the currency used in Italy is the euro.

Image: Wikicommons

• Part 1 – Milan to Como
• Part 2 – Como
• Part 3 – Como to Bellagio
• Part 4 – Bellagio
• Part 5 – Bellagio to Lecco
• Part 6 – Lecco to Varenna
• Part 7 – Varenna
• Part 8 – Varenna to Domaso
• Part 9 – Domaso to Dongo
• Part 10 – Dongo to Menaggio
• Part 11 – Menaggio to Tremezzo
• Part 12 – Tremezzo to Cernobbio
• Part 13 – Cernobbio to Milan

The prize consists of: return flights for two from London to Bari; five nights’ accommodation at the 4-star Hotel Relais Sant’Eligio, in Ostuni; use of a rental car for 6 days; and a cooking lesson, in which you will learn how to make traditional Pugliese cuisine.

The winner must take the holiday within 12 notes of receiving notification that he or she has won, and the holiday is not available during the Christmas/New Year 2010 and Easter 2011 periods.

To enter the competition, complete the form on The Guardian’s website. Entries must be received by 23.59 on the 22nd of July 2010.

1. Paris by Train - Paris is one of the easiest destinations to reach from the U.K., thanks to the Eurostar rail service. Take the train from St. Pancras Station in central London and you can be in the French capital in about 2 and a quarter hours.  See famous sights such as the Eiffel Tower, visit museums and galleries such as the Louvre, relax in a street cafe in Montmartre, or head out of the city for some magical family fun at the Disneyland Paris resort.

2. Rome by Train – it will take you about 17 and a half hours to get from London to Rome by train, but you’ll be able to enjoy a three course meal, sleep, have breakfast and see some stunning Alpine scenery during your journey. Take the Eurostar from London to Paris Gare du Nord, then travel to the city’s Gare de Bercy and catch the TGV Artesia Night Train, which will take you through Switzerland, into Northern Italy and on to Rome. Visit landmarks such as the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain, window-shop at some of the world’s most fashionable stores, or head to the museums in Vatican City to see world-famous works of art.

3. Dublin by Ferry – it’s easy to get to Dublin without flying. Simply take drive or take a train to the port of Holyhead and then catch a ferry to Ireland. Two different companies operate ferries between Holyhead and Dublin: Stena Line and Irish Ferries. Once you’ve arrived in Ireland, you can take a shuttle bus into the centre of Dublin. The city’s attractions include Dublin Zoo, Dublin Writers Museum, Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol,  the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Guiness Storehouse.

4. Copenhagen by Train – you can get from London to Copenhagen by train in about 18 hours. Take the Eurostar from London’s St. Pancras Station to Brussels and then take the high-speed ICE train from Brussels to Cologne. For the final stage of the journey, take the City Night Line sleeper train from Cologne to Copenhagen. Once there, you can take a boat trip on the old canal network, see the world-famous statue of The Little Mermaid, take a tour of the Amalienborg Palace and visit the Tivoli Gardens amuseument park.

5. Geneva by Train – it’s easy to get from London to Geneva without flying. Take the Eurostar from London St. Pancras Station to Paris Gare du Nord and then take the metro to Paris Gare de Lyon. From here, you can catch the TGV Lyria, which will take you directly to Geneva. You can explore the city, see landmarks such as the Jet D’Eau and the Flower Clock, and visit some of the many museums.

Image: Leon Brocard

British Airways estimates that up to 16 million gallons of low-carbon fuel per year could be produced at the site and is planning to be using the fuel in some of its aircraft by 2014.

In a press release issued by British Airways on 15 February 2010, the airline’s Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, stated:

“This unique partnership with Solena will pave the way for realising our ambitious goal of reducing net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.  We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene.  We are absolutely determined to reduce our impact on climate change and are proud to lead the way on aviation’s environmental initiatives.”

Cernobbio sits at the foot of Monte Bisbino and its most famous attraction is the Villa D’Este. The Villa D’Este was originally a convent, but the cloister and some of its land was bought by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio of Como during the 16th century, and he commissioned the architect Pelligrino Pelligrini to build a villa there. The villa was completed in 1568 and was named Villa Garrovo. It was handed down through the Gallio family following Tolomeo’s death and some of its owners improved the villa and its gardens.

In 1784, the Gallio family sold the villa to Marquis Bartolomeo Caldera, who was married to Vittoria Peluso, a ballerina. When the Marquis died, Vittoria married Count Domenico Pino, a General in Napoleon’s army and comissioned the construction of fortresses and towers in the gardens of the villa in order to remind him of his military days.

In 1815, Vittoria begrudgingly sold the villa to Queen Caroline of England, the wife of King George IV. King George and Queen Caroline never lived together and their marriage disastrous, so when she was offered an annual allowance from the King in order to leave England, Caroline headed for Italy. She saw the Villa Garrovo and set her heart on buying it.

It was Caroline who changed the name of the villa, from the Villa Garrovo to the New Villa D’Este. She made a number of improvements to the villa during the five years that she lived there. Unfortunately, she got into debt and gave the villa to her bankers until she could afford to buy it back, but was not able to do this and died in 1821.

The villa was opened to the public in 1825, but it was sold to Prince Domenico Orsini and then to Baron Ippolito Ciani, who restored the estate and constructed a new villa, which is now called “The Queen’s Pavillion”.

In 1873, the Villa D’Este was turned into a hotel and it has attracted many celebrities over the years, including Mark Twain, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Woody Allen and Mel Gibson. The hotel has retained many of its original features, including the beautiful painted ceiling in the Napoleon Room, and you can see some wonderful works of art in the hotel, or see the statues, fountains and fortifications in the Villa D’Este’s gardens.

Cernobbio’s other famous villa is the Villa Erba, which was constructed in the 19th century for the Erba family. Now a conference centre, the Mannerist-style Villa Erba also houses a museum (“The Rooms of Luchino Visconti”), which contains exhibits relating to Luchino Visconti, the Italian film director, who was the son of Duke Guiseppe and Lady Carla Visconti.

Lady Carla was the daughter of Commandatore Luigi Erba and Anna Brivio, who purchased the property in 1882 and built the lakeside villa so that they could live in more elegant surroundings than the manor house that already existed on the land. Unfortunately, “The Rooms of Luchino Visconti” are only open to the public during May and you will need to book a tour in advance.

Other attractions in Cernobbio include the 16th century Villa Pizzo and the 18th century Church of S. Michele di Rovenna, and you can also take a walk along the waterfront.

Once you’ve explored Cernobbio, you can head back to Como in your hire car. It will take you about 15 minutes to get there. Just head south on the Via per Cernobbio.

You can then either spend a day or two in Como or drive back to Milan. To get back to Milan from Como in your hire car, simply head south on the A9 partial toll road and then take the exit for the A8/E62 to Milan. You can then either spend some more time exploring Milan or return your car to the car rental office and fly home.

Once you’ve explored Tremezzo, head south on the SS340 in your hire car. This route will take you through a number of towns and villages, including Lenno, Ossuccio, Colonno, Argegno, Brienno, Torrigio, Laglio, Carate Urio and Moltrasio.

It’s worth stopping off and visiting the beautiful Villa del Balbianello, which sits on a promontory on the lake, just outside of Lenno. If you park your rental car in Lenno, you can either walk to Villa del Balbianello, which is about 1km away, or take a boat there.

Villa del Balbianello was constructed during the 18th century for Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini and later became the home of the explorer and mountaineer, Count Guido Monzino. Monzino was born in 1928 and made more than 20 expeditions to places such as Greenland, Pakistan and Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro before he died in 1988. He also led Italy’s first expedition to climb Mount Everest.

You can see some of the maps that Monzini used on his expeditions in Villa del Balbianello’s Map Room, and the library there contains more than 4,000 books which he used for research. You can also learn more about Monzini and his travels in the Museum of Expeditions, which is on the villa’s upper floor. Here you can see documents, photos and even one of the dog sleds that Monzini used during his North Pole expedition. The interior of the villa is only accessible if you go on a guided tour -see the Villa del Balbianello website for further details.

You can also explore the Villa del Balbianello’s terraced garden, which includes a “loggia”, and enjoy the beautiful views across Lake Como. Villa del Balbianello has been used as a location in a number of movies, including Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) and Casino Royale (2006).

On route to Cernobbio from Tremezzo, you’ll also pass through Laglio, which is now world famous for being the location of George Clooney’s Villa Oleandra.

It will take you about half an hour to drive to Cernobbio from Tremezzo in your hire car if you don’t stop en route, but part of the joy of touring Lake Como is being able to do so at a leisurely pace and enjoy all that it has to offer.

In the final part of our series about car hire holidays in the Lake Como area, we will explore Cernobbio’s attractions and take a look at the route back to Milan via Como.

Leaving Menaggio in your hire car, head south on the SS340dir and continue onto the SS340. It will take you about ten minutes to drive to Tremezzo.

It’s worth parking your rental car and taking some time to explore Tremezzo. Its best known attraction is Villa Carlotta, a stunning villa. Villa Carlotta was constructed during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the Clerici family from Milan. Giorgio II Clerici began work on the villa in 1690, using some of the money that his family had made in the textile industry. The work was completed by his great grandson, Antonio Giorgio, in the mid-1730s.

The villa remained in the Clerici family until 1801, when it was sold to Gian Battista Sommarvia, a wealth lawyer and politician who collected works of art, many of which can still be seen at Villa Carlotta today. He left the villa to his son, who died in 1838. Luigi’s wife sold the villa in 1843 to Princess Marianne of the Netherlands, who then gave it to her daughter, Carlotta, as a wedding present. Carlotta and her husband improved the gardens, for which the villa is now famed. Villa Carlotta remained in the family until the early twentieth century.

Villa Carlotta was used by the State during World War I, after which it was given to the Ente Villa Carlotta, the foundation which still maintains the site. Both the villa and gardens are open to the public, and there is plenty to see. You can see more than 470 Roman plaster cameos in the Cameo Room, admire the stunning art deco ceiling in the Views’ Room and tour the luxurious bedrooms on the second floor.

The gardens of Villa Carlotta are known for their beautiful displays of azaleas and rhododendrons, and you can explore the five terraces, the rock garden and the tranquil bamboo garden. You can also see the Fountain of the Dwarves in the Old Garden area, take a stroll through the Fern Valley, explore the romantic ruins, visit the Sommariva Chapel or learn about the history of gardening and farming at the Museum of Agricultural Tools.

Villa Carlotta also has a gift shop, a cafe and several picnic areas, so its the perfect place to spend a day during your Lake Como hire car holiday.

Other places of interest in Tremezzo include the opulent Grand Hotel, the Church of S. Lorenzo and the Church of Santa Maria, where you can see the Statue of the Black Madonna, which was brought to Tremezzo by a Catholic family from Switzerland.

Finally, if you are visiting Tremezzo in May, you may find that you are there during one of its most important annual events – the Asparagus Festival! As well as being able to taste dishes that include asparagus, you can also listen to live music or visit the market.

In the next part of our series of posts about Lake Como car rental holidays, we’ll take a look at the route from Tremezzo to Cernobbio.

Although Dongo has a large industrial area, it also has a more picturesque tourist area by the lakeside. One of the main attractions in Dongo is the Palazzo Manzi, a neoclassical style villa which is now used as the town hall. It also houses the tourist information office and the Museum of the Resistance, which contains exhibits relating to the capture of Mussolini, which took place in Dongo in 1945.

You can also see some of the original interior of the Palazzo Manzi, including: the library, which contains more than 4,000 books; the Sala D’Oro (Gold Room), which was originally used as a dance hall and which contains frescoes by Giuseppe Lavelli; and the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, where you can also see a large Lavelli fresco.

Other attractions in Dongo include the Church of Santa Maria in Martinico, which dates back to the 11th cemtury but which was restored in the 19th century, and the Romanesque Church of San Stefano.

Once you’ve explored Dongo, jump in your hire car and head south on the SS340dir to get to Menaggio, which is about 15 minutes’ drive from Dongo. Menaggio is one of the most popular places in the Lake Como area and it’s worth stopping off there to take a stroll along its lakeside promenade and visit the “Old Town” district, where you can see some attractive 19th century and medieval buildings. You can stop for a coffee in one of the cafes in the Piazza Garibaldi or, if the weather is good, relax at the Lido Giardino.

You can either take a ferry from Menaggio to one of the other destinations on Lake Como, such as Varenna or Bellagio, or you can continue driving south along SS340dir in your hire car.

In the next post in this series on Italy car hire holidays, we’ll take a look at the route from Menaggio to Tremezzo.

Costa Coffee, sponsor of the Costa Book Awards, is running a promotional competition in which the first prize is a trip to Italy. The trip is worth £3,000 and is being provided by Citalia, a company which specialises in Italian holidays. Three runners-up will receive a Sky+HD Package consisting of a 32″ Sony LCD TV, a Sky+HD box and a year’s subscription to Sky+, Sky+HD and the Sky World entertainment channel package.

To enter the competition, visit the Costa Book Awards website and decide which of the five 2008 Costa Book Awards category winners you think will win the Costa Book of the Year Award. The five category winners are: “The Outcast” by Sadie Jones (First Novel category); “The Secret Scripture” by Sebastian Barry (Novel category); “Somewhere Towards the End” by Diana Athill (Biography category); “The Broken Word” by Adam Foulds (Poetry category); and “Just Henry” by Michelle Magorian (Children’s Book category).

Entries must be received by the 26th January 2009.

Image courtesy of: © Wam1975 | Dreamstime.com