If you go to Olera

By David Aldrich, Globe Correspondent, 07/12/98

Visitors pay mightily for the thrill of driving in Northern Italy: Car rentals, gas prices, and road tolls are high. Trains, however, are relatively cheap. For train schedules, buy a copy of the ``Orario Generale,'' available in many Italian bookstores.

All the major lakes offer boat tours lasting from an hour to all day.

Lodgings vary greatly by type and cost. Lakeside hotels charge $125 and up (way up) for a double. Prices in Milan are comparable. In smaller cities such as Bergamo, you can find clean small hotels for $75 for a double.

We spent three weeks at a one-bedroom apartment in a 500-year-old farmhouse for only $50 a night, but needed a rental car. Other ``agriturismo'' accommodations that we inspected varied from rooms on a working farm that, well, smelled like a working farm, to classy country inns. Italy has three agriturismo associations:

-- Agriturist, Corso Vittoria Emanuele 101, Rome 00168.

-- Terranostra, Via 14 Maggio 43, Rome 00187.

-- Turismo Verde, Via E. Franceschini 89, Rome 00155.

Italian acquaintances assured us that we would never eat a bad pizza in northern Italy, and they were correct. Some pizzerias list 40 or 50 kinds ($6-15).

Visitors to Lake Iseo may want to try the Trattoria del Pesce, a hillside restaurant featuring fresh lake fish, just to the right of the ferry landing. Full meals without wine run $35.

The unassuming hilltop Ristorante Alberto Italia in Monte di Nese has only two main courses. We selected the cheese- and meat-filled tortellini with a mixed salad, and for dessert chose sliced fresh pears covered with chocolate sauce (about $30 for two, with house wine). Between waiting on the other six diners, the waitress would sit down with us and chat.