Hotel La Portetta is a few miles from Milan Malpensa airport but set out in a colourful small country town with charm and interest. We had a magnificent room overlooking the countryside with the airport far, far in the distance, with ample space, excellent bath facilities. Room was nicely furnished and very well kept up. Breakfast was buffet-style, supposedly continental, but the wife of the owner/manager always offered eggs, pancakes, etc., along with the more to-be-expected fruit, juices, bread, cheese, etc. This lady, Maria, was a wonderful personality, spoke good English and could not do enough for us. We ate lunch/dinner several times at hotel and enjoyed a plain, most tasty meal at bargain price. On our last night, we tried their 35 Euro pp seafood extravaganza and were overwhelmed by both quantity and quality of the dishes -- 9 different ones, including seafood salad, fresh anchovy fillets, smoked tuna, mussels, different pastas with mussels, clams, squid and crawfish; fritta mista, etc., etc., with chocolate mousse cake and washed down with wine and bottled water, tutti included! From Oleggio we took train or bus to visit towns along Lago Maggiore, Milan and Novara at low cost, and simply enjoyed wandering through the town. A bonus was an all-day First of May celebration which was like a fair or carnival with tests of skill, booths featuring regional produce, cheeses, meats, wines, etc., livestock show, agility dogs, and the town population having a great time, us included.