16 Sep Incentive Trips and Team Building around Milan: The Lake Como

A great event is about to take place within a few months, one that no company can risk to miss: the Expo 2015 in Milan. The event will be the showcase for numerous groups, eager to show their products and boost their business. Many will be the questions pestering the brain of managers and directors, and among these one in particular: is there a place around Milan where we can organize a fantastic team building experience?? After all, Italy is renowned for its beauty, and many must be the places that might come in handy for this purpose. Our wants to be a column that tries to find an answer to this question, like a showcase of the possible incentive locations. Come and follow us in this extraordinary journey through the Italian beauty and fascination.

The most beautiful lake in the world!!!

With the first appointment we want to see a beautiful place, full of charm and fascination: the Lake Como. In the vicinity of Milan, you can enjoy the breath-taking scenery of the splendid water mirror, surrounded by suggestive mountains, enchanting valleys and majestic grottos. Born from deep fluvial excavations during the Miocene and modeled by the repeated glaciations in the Pleistocene, the lake shows an extraordinary natural scenery, for which it has been defined as the most beautiful lake in the world by the online newspaper “The Huffington Post” in 2014. All surrounded by an equally extraordinary architectonical context, made of castles, villas and villages of medieval origins. So, let’s see some example.

Among the most important and famous villas we find Villa D’Este in Cernobbio. really a jewel full of works of art. Several times in the hands of the Church, its history dates back to the 15^th century. The villa reached the pinnacle of its splendor between the end of the 18^th century and the beginning of the 19^th, when it belonged to the Princess Caterina of Brunswick. Noteworthy are also the Villa Oleandra and Villa Margerita in Laglio, recently become famous for their purchase by the American actor George Clooney. The love between Clooney and Laglio started in 1995, when he went there for a vacation; George remained so fascinated by the place to decide to buy Villa Oleandra, the first of his properties, where he filmed parts of his movie “Ocean’s Twelve”. The villa was soon followed by a second property, Villa Margerita, and two other buildings. But the charm of the villas has impressed other stars of Hollywood. The couple Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie were rumored to be planning their wedding ceremony in Villa Oleandra, while it’s very likely that Tom Cruise will be the next resident of Villa Margherita after the end of its maintenance works.

If you are planning to organize an incentive event in this fascinating location, we would like to show you some formats suitable for this purpose.

CSI Investigative Team Building                                                             

There is nothing to say: with such a location there are plenty of places to see. It would be nice to discover them together with a pinch of fantasy and a little of fun. WIth CSI Investigative Team Building the game is immediately organized: after receiving a set of information and equipped with forensics tools, we have to solve the mystery of a crime scene.  Focusing on details, sense of cooperation and the capacity to separate facts from suppositions will be the key factors to get to the murderer. Very easy to set up, it can be organized in many locations and circumstances: extremely suitable for a stage such as the our famous lake.

Orienteering

The Como Lake is also known for its fortresses and castles, like Castel Baradello, build in the XII sentury with the help of Frederick Barbarossa, or Castello di Vezio, fascinating fortress turned in birds of prey training center. But moving from one castle to the other may not be an easy task. In the Middle Age the many woods, country roads and valleys could offer an immediate hideout for ambushes, but now they can be use as perfects locations to organize an incredible incentive experience. Orienteering is perfect for the case: with just a map, a compass and our trekking shoes at your disposal, we have to reach the end line in the shortest time possible, following a series of checking points previously chosen in specific order. Technical leadership, collaboration andcommunication will help us find your way, in a circumstance where it is very easy to observe the decision making process.

Survival Team Building                                                                    

For its suitability orienteering is immediately followed by Survival Team Building, the perfect format to reproduce the difficulties of a critical situation. Some key are fundamental for this incentive experience, like communication, coordination, cooperation and time/resource management, practiced under extremely stressful conditions: a perfect way to learn to manage our skills as well as our emotions. 

Treasure Hunt

It is extremely stimulating then trying to take advantage of such architectonic background with engaging formats. Treasure Hunt appears a perfect tool for this purpose: while searching for the treasure hidden somewhere, we get acquainted with the historical, artistic and cultural aspects of the place and have the opportunity to know and closely collaborate with the other members of the team A particularly suitable location for this team building is the Lighthouse of Brunate, a 29 meter octagonal tower built in 1927 to commemorate the centenary of Alessandro Volta’s death, where we can admire an outstanding vista of the entire panorama: the experience will surely strike your memory for many years to come.

Cinema Team Building     

Another engaging instrument to take advantage of the architectonic richness is Cinema Team Building. The lake Como has been the shooting location for many film sets over the last years. How can we possibly forget the love affair between Anakin and Padmé in the second episode of Star Wars? With this format we get the change to shoot and be the stars of our own movie! An extremely useful team building for the low commitment in terms of costs, time and organizational complexity, allowing to achieve in few days what would be achieved in weeks.

Cooking Team Building Series   

But to build our incentive experience we can also try to use one of the formats from the Cooking Team Building Series. The local culinary culture offers a very broad choice from which we can draw on. With the help of experienced chefs and bartenders and provided with appropriate ingredients and tools, we prepare our own menu following the expert’s lead. The main goal of the format: enjoy the time spent together. A very effective way to build trust and close relations while boosting creativity.

Wine Alchemy Team Building

With the Wine Alchemy Team Building we can discover the culinary art of Lake Como with its own wines, such as the “Domasino Bianco” and the “Domasino Rosso”. Like all the other wines, its creation for many of us remains enshrouded in mystery. Would we like to discover its secrets and the complexity of its preparation? If the answer is yes, this is the format for you. Let us learn to recognize the distinctions among the secondary flavors add the ingredients in the right doses and get to know the mysterious tricks behind the wine production. A task fit for an Alchemist!!!!

Cocktail Team Building

With Cocktail Team Building, instead,we can take advantage of the splendid vista from the balconies of the restaurants at the banks of the lake with an exquisite format of great popularity. The participants find themselves at the end of a hard work day enjoying the view of the setting sun, in a warm and festive atmosphere. The task: creating the proposed cocktail following the instructions of a experienced bartender. Extremely effective to improve creativity, communication and team spirit, the Cocktail Team Building represents one of the best ways to motive employees and boost their mood.

Social Cooking

As last addition to our brief list, we would be pleased to remember a format dear to us: Social Cooking. The skills and expertise acquired in the workplace and practiced in a fascinating location like Lake Como can be of great benefit in many other circumstances. But what if we apply these capabilities and this location for those who are in difficult conditions? Think about it: our skills at the service of those in need of help. The participants have to cook for poor people, with the help of trained chefs. We had a great experience when we organized the Social Cooking at the CAF in Milan, who helps children with shocking experiences behind them and in need of rehabilitation. The smile of the kids at the end of the event was a clear sign of the great job done together! A touchy and extraordinary experience capable of giving unique emotions.