The second part of the Carnevale celebration in Stresa (the first part having been the procession of King Falcett and his court on Sunday) is the traditional meal served in the piazza on the Tuesday called martedi grasso, the day we call Mardi Gras. This Tuesday was a gloriously warm early spring day, which brought even more people outside to enjoy the festivity. In earlier times, the ragu prepared on this day would have been a tapelucco, which is a ragu prepared with donkey meat. It had been on the schedule of events for today, and I will admit a bit of disappointment that ultimately it was not offered. I had been curious to try this. However, the menu, shown above, was traditional, warm, and very filling nonetheless. 

Although inside with windows closed, I heard the marching beat of the drums coming closer with each step. That's when I remembered, "Ah! It's Carnevale oggi, today!" So I rushed outside and followed the sound to the lakefront, luckily arriving in advance of the slow-moving procession. A good portion of the parking lot in front of the Stresa Imbarcadero had been kept empty for the ensuing show. Leading the parade were King Falcett and his queen, being chauffered in great style in a historic automobile very reminiscent of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, just without the wings.

Your shuttle bus will look like this or similar, with, most likely, this S.A.F. logo on it, not Alibus.

The Alibus Malpensa/Stresa Shuttle has been mentioned a few times on this blog, and readers are always asking me about it, so I thought it was time to give this important transfer transportation from Malpensa Airport a dedicated post of its own. Each year the information will be updated. Following is the Alibus information and links for 2012.


5 Things You Need To Know About Alibus:

For 2013 Alibus will begin service to Stresa and Lago Maggiore on Thursday March 28, and will run until  Monday, September 30. It runs seven days a week. The earliest bus each day leaves Malpensa at 8:30 am and the last bus each day leaves Malpensa at 9:00 pm. The trip to Stresa takes one hour. For the returns to Malpensa, the earliest bus leaves Stresa each day at 6:30 am and the last bus leaves Stresa each day at 7:30 pm, arriving at Malpensa one hour later.

This is the view from my plane as we descended into Malpensa airport. A northern Italy still covered in snow. Although the temperatures have lifted now, there is still a bit of a feeling of hibernation. I'm here organizing things with the Stresa Italian Language School. And so, while I am occupied with that, I'll give you a little history and a poem for your Sunday reading. But before I read you the poem, let me tell you about it. It is a story about Napoleon Bonaparte, and I came across this piece of trivia while researching the other Napoleon, Napoleon III, to write this blog post, about the Pedum, the 'Head of Napoleon" mountain.

So, this all began about a year ago, when a reader of this blog wrote to me, asking about Italian lessons. In finding information for the reader I found Simon, and I learned about the Italian classes he was holding. Long story short, I meet with Simon, we continue to talk, he introduces me to other great people, and here I am now, SO excited to say that I'm going to be involved with them in the Stresa Italian Language School!

This week we're doing a lot of organizing for the upcoming season. The classrooms have just been renovated and we're having a bunch of meetings to get everything ready. You'll be hearing more about this from me. I'll be introducing you to all the people involved, and showing you photos of the school. In the meantime, take a look at the brand new website:

italian-language-school.org

10:30 AM:  The procession of King Falcett and his court will depart from the Palazzo dei Congressi, through the streets of Stresa, arriving at Piazza Cadorna to proclaim the opening of Carnevale and make greetings to the town's authorities. The procession will include musicians and flag wavers. 

11:00 AM:  Masked costume competition in Piazza Cadorna. There will be prizes for individuals, children, couples, and groups. To register for the competition please go to the tourist office in Piazza Marconi by Saturday 18 February at noon.

12:30 PM:  At Carciano, yum, there will be polenta, salami, and tapelucco. Tapelucco is a ragu made of very small pieces of donkey meat, a very traditional mountain food served at Carnevale here. The food is offered to eat there or to buy for takeaway. Possibly I will be reporting back to you with my review and photos of the tapelucco.

12:30  And also up in Levo, polenta, wild boar stew, and tapelucco.

12:30 to 14:30: In Piazza Cadorna, another serving of polenta, salami, and tapelucco, preceding the masked parade at 14:30. In case of inclement weather, the food will be served in the Liberty Villa.    (continued)

 Piazza Cadorna after being cleared, from the same spot as our other summer/winter photos.

A bunch of photos from Stresa, as it digs itself out from the recent snows. Just after writing, in my recent post about Lago Maggiore, about the relatively warm Mediterranean microclimate here, Stresa, and much of Italy really, have fallen under the effect of a massive Arctic weather front. While not as severe as in other areas, this much snow and temperatures this cold are very unusual here in the center of town. This is a very ghost-town-looking Stresa indeed: