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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Gelati I Have Known

These are a few of the gelati I have had the pleasure of getting to know better during these hot summer days in Stresa:

My first, chocolate and raspberry. Maybe he's my favorite.

Peach and pineapple, he was smooth...

But I also liked mango and lemon, so sweet...

And how could I resist chocolate and caramel?

L'Angelo del Gelato, in Piazza Cadorna, Stresa.

All of these gelati are from L'Angelo del Gelato, which is found on Via P. Tomaso, where Piazza Cadorna begins. The piazza is the heart of Stresa, filled with shops and restaurants. We'll visit it soon in another post. There is plenty of seating outside the gelato shop. My small cup, ask for a piccola coppetta, cost 2 euro. I suggest that you get to know as many gelato as you can while you are here. Have a favorite flavor? Tell me, maybe I'll try it...

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Rooftop Terrace Of Rinascente In Milan

When Giuseppe needs to go into Milan for business I am like a golden retriever who knows she's going to go for a fun ride in the car. I can't wait to get there... And because I've been many times, I don't feel the need to always do something touristic. I've long ago figured out what I like to do, and I know how to 'do' Milan, my way, on about 10 Euro, piu o meno, more or less... Here's my routine:


My days in Milan always start in Centro, in the middle of it all, near Via Dante and il Duomo. I start with cappuccino, but cappuccino in Milan has an Old World style and elegance all its own, even if, wonderfully, that cappuccino costs about the same as elsewhere. And the selection of brioche is much, much better. Add another euro if you'd like a brioche... how about one filled with Nutella?


For another euro, if I want to, I take one of the old orange trams and ride around the city just sight- and people-seeing. This is Milan after all, fashion capital of the world, and beautiful-people-watching is as much a part of the scene as anything else. I stay on the trams, maybe reversing direction to return to my starting point, or disembarking at any other point I'd like to stroll back to the Duomo from. I have not yet been able to decipher the Milan tram system.



Then, my secret, favorite spot. There is the department store, Rinascente, directly across from the north side of the Duomo. Rinascente is upscale enough to be filled with beautiful people and goods, but not so expensive or exclusive that I can't shop there. Anyway, mostly, I just window shop. So far I've only spent a few euro today after all... I'll look around for a while on the seven levels of the store, but the whole point, eventually, is to make my way to level seven, the top. Here, one finds the food shops and the restaurants. There are several, the sushi bar, the panini shop, the romantic bar with sofas and lounge chairs. But I go directly outside, onto the rooftop terrace.




Here, one is at the same height as the top spires of the Duomo, and only some meters away. The view provides a backdrop unlike any other for an aperitivo. My prosecco costs a bit more than Stresa, but less than other places in Milan. I enjoy a tall champagne glass of prosecco, which arrives with a platter of olives, nuts, and chips. If it's not busy there, if my table isn't needed, I'll usually stay there as long as I can, reading or watching the sun set, waiting the phone call telling me it's time to jump back into the car, tired but refreshed.


From this very central area it is easy to reach many of the main sites in Milan, such as the Castello Sforzesco and its beautiful park, La Scala Opera House, and the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele. All of these can be seen, and walked through to some extent, for free, but all also offer more extensive, longer, behind-the-scenes tours. For example, you can climb to the top of the Duomo, my other favorite rooftop, which I wrote about in the previous post here.


The Roof Of Il Duomo di Milano

Milan's cathedral. For a few euro you can sit on the peak of the triangular roof.

For just a few euro one can gain access to the roof of il Duomo di Milano, Milan's famous cathedral. Begun in 1385, but not completed until 1805 when Napolean Bonaparte ordered that the facade be finished, this is the fourth-largest cathedral in the world, and arguably one of the most beautiful.

Rows of spires and buttresses cover the roof.
A few days ago I climbed the 170 stairs up to the roof. It was one of the hottest days of the summer in Milan, 34 degrees C, (mid 90s), but the cool stone, the shade offered by the hundreds of spires, and the breezes blowing through them kept the heat manageable. The tight staircase in the stone tower (watch for people coming in the other direction), leaves one standing on the north side of the lower level of the roof. As far as I can recall, there are very few additional safety barriers added, or necessary, as the construction and design of the roof offers its own barricades and railings.

Up here, it's all about the details, details, details.


















And the view down into the piazza isn't bad either...

Up top, one can focus on the details, the interplay of the spires, the repetition of the design, the complexity of the carvings, all that is invisible from the ground. Walk along a natural walkway beneath a row of buttresses, this brings you to the southwest corner. Here, another short flight of 40 stairs or so takes you to the very peak of the roof. Steep inclines on either side slope down to the edge of the roof, but the tall wall of spires all around provides natural protection.

We're not really that high up at the peak of the roof, but it's possible to feel like you're on top of it all.

There's not much to do up there, except to just 'be', and people seem to do that for a very long time. I found myself a shady spot on one slope, took my shoes off (so much easier to walk on the slippery marble roof with bare feet rather than heels), sat myself down, and I pretended I was a very content pigeon, for quite some time.

See that building across the way in the photo below? The one with the greenery and the umbrellas? That's the rooftop terrace of the Rinascente department store. That terrace is my other favorite rooftop in Milan, as well as my favorite secret spot. The combination of these two activities, rooftop and Rinascente, makes for an enjoyable, simple, and inexpensive afternoon in Milan. Let's climb down from the cathedral roof now, and let's go to the rooftop of Rinascente.




Thursday, July 23, 2009

Dana L'Americana Goes Running

It is ortensia,hydrangea, season now, and the lakefront is absolutely ablaze with the blossoms, mostly in deep blues, my favorites.

Dana L'Americana -- that's me -- is running along the lake. The last time I ran along the lake it was March, the tail end of winter, the very beginning of spring. It was gray, and chilly. Most of the people I encountered then were Stresiani, walking dogs or taking their daily stroll.

It's hot enough to play on the fountains now.

This beautiful pool overhanging the lake was much different in March.

Not so this time. These are hot summer mornings. The lungolago is crowded, and now it seems to be more tourists than locals. I hear several languages spoken, most of them not Italian. I see many couples pose at the prettiest spots to take photos, one taking photos of the other. I offer to take a photo of them together, and then I make it my goal, my mission, to do this for as many people as I can. I speak to them in English or Italian, and if neither of those languages work the universal hand gesture of clicking a camera always is understood. Then I continue running. I reach L'Idrovolante, do a circle of the parking lot, and begin my return. Inevitably, I'll pass some of the people I've taken photos of. Now I greet and wave to my new friends. In fact, I say hi to almost everyone I pass, especially if I can hear them speaking. I love saying good morning to them in their own languages.

I'll run for as long as I like in this way, doubling back and ultimately stopping somewhere around the Regina Palace Hotel. I cool down a bit, and Colleague meets me here for a cappuccino at Lido Blu.

During cappuccino at Lido Blu this car/boat cruised past. It's actually a pretty common sight on the lake in these summer days.

Dana L'Americana, she really loves starting her days in this way.

Sempione Pass


The photograph was taken July 19, 2009, just past the Sempione Pass in Switzerland.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Leukerbad Thermal Spa, Leukerbad, Switzerland

One of the outdoor natural thermal spa pools at Leukerbad.

There's only one thing to do after a day of eating nothing but bread. (See previous post in which Giuseppe and I eat only bread for one day.) The next day must be Una Giornata dell'Acqua e della Frutta, a day of fruit and water. We think you'll agree though, we do fruit and water very well.

So, for the water, we chose the spa at Leukerbad. Leukerbad is a mountain town in the Swiss Alps, reached by driving two hours north from Stresa, crossing over the Sempione (Simplon) Pass, and winding over and under the Alps through some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen. Leukerbad has the wonderful fortune of receiving natural hot waters from underground, and a thermal paradise has been constructed over the waters. For a fee, one gets to spend the day floating between 10 different hot pools. There's a large one indoors, a tunnel connects it with the outside. Outside, free-form pools have various corners with fun things to try. High-pressure jets, bubbling baths, and soft showers.

One favorite for us was a 'treatment' bath. One walked first through a small pool of extremely hot water, almost too hot to bear. This was untreated, unfiltered water from the natural springs, from 600 meters below the earth, and 40 years old. The water was only high enough to reach one's calves. After barely surviving this short walk one crosses over to a same-sized pool of ice-cold, arctic temperature water. The lower portion of my legs felt strange.. almost burning in a way, perhaps some natural mineral in the waters... non lo so, I don't know. The shock of the frigid water was, well, shocking. Some distance before the end of the path my lower legs were almost too numb to move any longer, and with difficulty I pulled myself along with my hands on the guardrail. We think that water any higher than calf-high for this little trial may indeed be quite dangerous, hence the shallow depth. But the benefits to one's circulation are supposed to be enormous.

The treatment bath at Leukerbad. Much more painful than it looks here.

The admission ticket allowed us three hours to play; enough time for us, as we had the drive back through the Alps to Stresa. And after changing back into our clothes in the quite-strange-to-me unisex changing rooms, we drove back. Luckily, I was the passenger, as I was much too relaxed to drive.

That was the water part of our day. How about the fruit? For fruit, we left Stresa in the morning with no plan, no food in mind, but serendipity led us, as often happens, to the perfect solution. In the valley in Switzerland, the one reached on the western side of the city of Brig, we drove right into the heart of Walliser apricot season. Albicocca. Every few meters there was another roadside stand, we randomly chose one to stop at. A few minutes later we had a basket of apricots, a large bottle of apricot nectar, and a jar of apricot jam. A day's supply of apricots, to be sure. The fruits were larger than I am accustomed to, with more fruit and more juice. They were, in a word, perfect. As was the entire day. Perfettissimo. On a scale of 1 to 10, this one was a 12.

Albicocce at the stand in Switzerland. We bought one of those baskets, and ate every last albicocca in it during the day.

Fruit stands like this one lined the roads for several kilometers.
I didn't buy any, but look at this beautiful selection of apricot and other fruit grappas. La prossima volta... next time...

Here's Leukerbad's main website again. As you can see, this is definitely a doable day trip from Stresa. We left Stresa at 11:00 am and returned shortly after 6:00 pm. It would be possible to do even more on this day trip than we did: www.leukerbad.ch

If you'd like to really see what's going on at Leukerbad, here's a link to some real-time Web cams: http://www.leukerbad.ch/en/webcam.cfm

La Giornata del Pane


It had been determined, for some reason I can't remember, that I didn't know enough about the traditional breads of this area. Therefore, Saturday, July 18, 2009 had been designated as La Giornata del Pane, Bread Day. The idea was that we would eat nothing but bread on this day, for la colazione, il pranzo e la cena, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and in this way I'd learn about local breads.

Here's how it went: Breakfast must be a brioche, the croissant pastry most commonly had with cappuccino here. There are three bars in Stresa which make their brioche fresh each morning on the premises, and we taste tested brioche at two of these to compare. First was the old and elegant Gigi Bar, on Corso Umberto, facing the lake. A small brioche filled with about a tablespoon amount of apricot marmellata. Light, with the tear-away layers of pastry dough I like that melt in your mouth. The cappuccino was also excellent, btw...

My favorite. The classic brioche and cappuccino from Gigi Bar.

The competitor was the marmellata-filled brioche made at Bravi Bar, on Via Garibaldi. This one had more filling, and the pastry was spongier, chewier. My choice of the two? Gigi... buttery and soft.

Bravi Bar's brioche. Spongier, more filling, and more filling in me as well.

While munching on my second brioche we visited a fornaio in Stresa, a bread shop, La Casa del Pane, where Giovanni was busy serving customers. I wasn't fit to eat any more bread at this time, o anzi, better to say, no more bread could fit into me at this time, but we bought a few rolls for later. Two traditional types of Piemontese rolls. The round rosetta, which has a floral design on the top, and the maggiolino, which is more of a spiral. Both are crunchy on the outside, and softer inside. Traditionally these would be eaten with maybe some mortadella slices, maybe some prosciutto cotto, making an inexpensive little meal of meat and bread.

These are the rosetta and maggiolino we bought from Giovanni.

Lunch was a bit of an expedition. A drive to Verbania in search of certain fornaios, in search of focaccia. Unfortunately, we failed somehow, on this Saturday afternoon, to find the focaccia makers we were searching. Not to be undone, we continued the expedition into the Essalunga supermarket, crowded with tourists, and made our way to the very fully stocked bread department, where we chose two small focaccia with olives, and two small margharita pizzas. Unexplicably hungry, we ate the breads while driving. This is against the law; when in Italy, one doesn't pizza and drive.

Only professional pizza eaters and drivers should attempt this.

Bread day is going well, and only la cena, dinner, remained. The weather was gorgeous, the perfect place for a small cena, really an aperitivo, was the Lido Beach Club in Baveno. The beach was empty, but the lounge was full, there was a nice breeze, and with my prosecco I ate bruschetta from the buffet. A little bit of creative license with the bread for dinner, but, it was, at the end, a delicious, educational, and carbohydrate-packed giorno tutto del pane.

A bit of bruschetta at the Lido Beach Club.

A few other notes: I did also have the skinny breadsticks often served in restaurants here; these are called grissini. Another common bread one may buy to serve with a meal here may be the ciabattina. The breads here tend to be small, bought or baked daily, rather than in large amounts for the week, and are not intended to be a large part of the meal. Focaccia can have any of a large variety of toppings, is easy to make, and is a meal unto itself. My friend Diana recently posted this recipe for her focaccia, give it a look here.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Letter From An Editor On Vacation

Hi readers... I'm back in Stresa. And this is wonderful. I really feel like I'm on vacation. The lazy kind of vacation where one doesn't do much at all, just relaxes and refreshes, and rests. Here's a very quick synopsis of what I've done so far: After arriving late and being picked up at the airport in Malpensa by Colleague we went directly to a barbeque at the home of friends. They have a beautiful garden, they slow-grilled pollo, costine, and salsicce, chicken, ribs, and sausages. We were late for the bbq, but we ate a little bit, we drank wine.

On the next day, my first full day, the weather was gorgeous, and I was able to accomplish everything I had planned to do. I finished a few editing assignments by their deadlines, then went for a short run along the lungolago, then took cappucino with Colleague at Lido Blu. Lido Blu is a lovely new spot on the lakefront to sit and eat light foods or take a cappuccino. Unused and neglected for several years, it's nice to see the spot open again. The rest of the day was spent at the Dino Hotel in Baveno, where we really played relaxed vacationers, sunbathing by the beautiful pool all afternoon. In the early evening I had a lovely treat. I met a blogging friend, Girasoli. Girasoli writes Shaved Ice and Gelato, and I know her from our writings on SlowTravel. She has been traveling in Italy for some weeks and as part of her trip spent a few days here in Stresa. She stayed at the Hotel du Parc, which she liked very much, I think she'll be recommending it on her own blog and SlowTravel soon. She had just gotten off the bus returning from Lake Orta and we went to Buscion, where I had my first Prosecco of the trip. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long, as I was going to dinner with Colleague and the friends from last night to make up for the late missed one from the previous evening.

But Girasoli and I were able to meet the next morning as well, taking a cappucino at Jolly Bar on Via P. Tomaso before she left Stresa to travel on to her next stop. Girasoli lives in Hawaii, and presented me with a CD of Hawaiian music, which Colleague and I listened to soon after in the car. Grazie Girasoli, it is lovely!

I did some more work that morning, and I bought a bunch of different fruits in the Stresa Friday market, mirtilli, pescanoce, mele, blueberries, nectarines, apples, and some wonderful, flat-shaped peaches from Sicily that I've not seen before. The afternoon I spent reading, about 100 pages of a long 900-page book I've been into. And in the evening, a steak dinner at O'Connor's, an Irish-style pub in Verbania. And later, after walking through the rainy alleys of Stresa with an umbrella and my pants rolled up, a glass of red wine from Montalcino at Buscion.

And that brings us up-to-date. As, you can see, mostly a lot of relaxing. I'm sure I'll visit some tourist sites, some places I haven't seen yet, but for the most part I think many of my days may be repetitions of these. Exactly, perfectly, what I'd like to do. Therefore, in these days, I'll leave you to use what already exists on the site, write me questions if you like, maybe I'll post some updates on my days, maybe not. It is, after all, my vacation.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lido Beach Club

Aerial view of the Lido Beach Club in Baveno.

Editor's Note, 25 May 2014: Here's a Lido Beach Club update in a new post 

It's been a particularly hot summer so far in Stresa. The temperature has been over 30 degrees Centigrade (in the high 80s F.) many days, without too much relief in the evenings. One of the best places to cool down on days like this is the Lido Beach Club. From the moment you drive in on the beach club's private entrance road, Via Piave, you can feel that you've left behind the hustle and bustle of the main street. It's like entering a little oasis. Walk along the 'boardwalk' type sidewalks to reach the restaurant or the beach.

A view from a recent lunch on the restaurant's terrace.

The restaurant is cool, shaded by large tents and filtered with breezes from the water. The wrought iron chairs have comfortable cushions, the tables are set with a simple elegance. From here, you can see the grassy field surrounding the restaurant, and you can watch the volleyball games. Just beyond the grass, there is the sand beach. The Lido restaurant opens for breakfast at 9:00 a.m., and serves lunch until 2:00 p.m.. At 6:00 p.m., Happy Hour begins. Many nights during the summer this means there will be a DJ on hand, and always a buffet of stuzzichini to have with your aperitivo. And watch the sun set over the lake. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the DJ will play again, starting at 9:00 p.m., changing the mood of the Lido into a nightclub where you can dance under the stars.

The beach on the lake.

On the beach, it is possible to rent a sdraio, a chaise lounge, and an ombrello, an umbrella. Once you rent them they are yours to use for the day. The perfect way to take a little vacation from your vacation.

The Lido is a wonderful place to know about if your hotel does not have a pool. It's located just outside of Stresa, in Baveno on Via Piave. 


Lido Beach Club Baveno Web site: www.lidobaveno.it



Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Enogastronomiche

Now that's street food! Flan di Bettelmatt con leggera Mostarda di Pere e salsa di mirtilli di montagna speziata.

A few evenings ago there was a wonderful event in Verbania. Serate Enogastronomiche in Piazza, Evenings of Food and Wine in the Piazza. For two consecutive evenings, over twenty restaurants and food vendors participated together in this event, each preparing one signature dish to be sold at a special, low price, and offered with accompanying wines. Diners purchased a pass of sorts, which also gave them a wine glass with a fabric pouch to carry it in around their necks. They were then free to choose their menu by strolling from location to location in Verbania, enjoying small portions of different dishes as they went.

What a great way to really get a taste of foods from the region. Some of the dishes leaned towards traditional Piemontese cooking, such as the Agnolotti Piemontese con Salsa d'Arrosto. Agnolotti pasta are typically associated with Piemonte, and filled with meat. These were served in the traditional manner, dressed in a simple roasted meat sauce.

The classic. Agnolotti Piemontese con Salsa d'Arrosto.

Other dishes focused more on locally made products, such as Risotto al Mirtillo Nero del Mottarone, Risotto, made with blueberries from Mt. Mottarone.

Risotto al Mirtillo Nero del Mottarone.

And some characterized the more modern dishes created today by well-know Piemontese chefs, such as the Flan di Bettelmatt con leggera Mostarda di Pere e salsa di mirtilli di montagna Speziata, a Flan of Bettelmatt cheese, with a light pear mustard and a spicy sauce of mountain blueberries. That's the one in the photo at the top of this post.

I'll tell you a few more of the dishes that were available. Even if you don't know exactly what they are, they sound wonderful:

Prosciutto Vigezzino con Parmigiano Reggiano 28 mese
Filetto di Trota in Agro di Vedure
Gnocchetti di patata alla fonduta di fontana della Valle d'Aosta
Ravioli Caserecci al ragout di selvaggina

People often write and ask what are the traditional Piemontese dishes, or, what dishes they should try here. I think a menu like this exemplifies what's cooking in Piemonte today. A bit of old, a bit of new, a lot of local ingredients, combined to make inventive and delicious dishes. Be adventurous yourself when here and try things that sound like these; I'm sure you won't regret, or forget, the meals anytime soon.

File:7989 - Verbania-Intra - Piazza Aldo Moro - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 8-Sett-2007.jpg
Piazza San Vittore, in Verbania, Intra, one of the locales of the enogastronomiche event.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Lo Spirito del Lago -- Contemporary Art Exhibition

Guests wander among the art in the outdoor area of Spazio Luparia during the vernissage.

L'intero e' piu grande della somma delle parti... The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That is my opinion of Spazio Luparia, the Stresa location of Lo Spirito del Lago, the contemporary art exhibition which has just opened here and on Isola Bella.

Giampiero Zanzi, the creative director of the Lo Spirito, as well as one of its founders, has been working day and night for the past weeks with the artists involved to get everything ready for this summer's show. Last night, at Spazio Luparia, on via A.M Bolongaro in Stresa, was the vernissage, the preview. This followed the preview which took place the evening before, at Ristorante Elvezia on Isola Bella. Let's take a little behind-the-scenes look at some of the works from Spazio Luparia. They will give you a sense of what you can expect in this world-class exhibit.

A painting fits perfectly into an alcove in Spazio Luparia. The entire space functions as one grand work of art, in addition to the individual pieces.

The theme this year is "13 Paradiso (Cantico)", a reference to Dante's Divine Comedia. How you interpret the theme's representation in these works is up to you. Twenty-four well-known, international contemporary artists have works featured this year. The show, says Giampiero, "...is a different way to promote the image of the Borromean Islands and of Lago Maggiore."

Spazio Luparia is an old warehouse, and this marks its second year in use as the Stresa venue of the exhibition. The concrete rectangular space with the wooden beam ceiling has been left untouched, the better to create a neutral background for the works that Giampiero chooses.

From inside the space, looking out, a metal sculpture.

On Isola Bella, the entire island is the venue, with the works placed in areas surprising and fitting for them. Certain pieces from past years have become permanent features on the island, perhaps something from this year will as well.

Can you count the seven skiing frogs in this playful sculpture? This piece will be moving to a permanent spot in Venice when Lo Spirito del Lago closes.

Some information about the artists and the show can be picked up at Ristorante Elvezia, and at Spazio Luparia. The show runs from now through September 30. Spazio Luparia's hours are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 17.30 until 22. Entrance is free.



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