Embraced by green wooded escarpments and backed by snow-capped Alps , the lake favored by some of England 's most romantic 19th-century poets Words ? ­ worth , Shelley , and Byron retains a certain wistful atmosphere for the leisure hours of the Milanese ( it 's less than an hour from Milan by train or car ) .
The lake was only popular with locals , not yet being discovered by the rest of the world .