With opera season well underway in Verona and the summer sun starting to shine over the stunning Italian scenery, there's never been a better time to visit one of Italy's most glamorous bodies of water: Lake Garda. At these historic hotels, paradisal golf courses and world-class spas, adopting the Dolce Vita lifestyle is easy.

Their sport can take devotees of the fine art of fly-fishing to spectacularly scenic parts of the globe.

Here, for some rod-based recreational adventuring, are our top five.

With the Southern Hemisphere ski season only a couple months away, and spring refusing to, well, spring in the majority of Europe, some stylish assistance may be needed for a sojourn through the snow-capped pistes. For this, we turn to maestros of the mechanical, the automakers, who in increasing numbers are collaborating on high-tech skis.

In former times the America’s Cup was a competitive sailing race for a minority – an event intended to attract a handful of real yachtsman, including only a couple of families. In other words one could say a gentlemen’s club for the wealthy elite.

The 34th Edition however, could not be more different...