Lido Blu Beach in Stresa is someplace you might not find just by stumbling onto it, and that's exactly what I like about it. It's one of Stresa's newest, and most hidden, beach areas, and it's in a great location right in the center of town. Maybe you are already familiar with Lido Blu Ristorante and Bar, shown in the photo below. The popular casual restaurant is directly on the Lungolago, across from the Regina Palace Hotel. A good spot for a light, inexpensive meal, a drink, a caffe, and a perfect place to watch the sun set behind the mountains. Lido Blu Beach is below the lakeside metal fence of the restaurant, and is reached by descending the staircase you see here next to the blackboard sign.

Rounding out this summer of 2012's big annual events, the official schedules for two big events have now been published. Fiori di Fuoco, Flowers of Fire, is the official name of the annual World Championship of Fireworks that takes place each summer in different venues around Lago Maggiore. Now in it's 14th year, it promises to be just as spectacular as ever. Over 500,000 people watched at least one of the seven exhibitions last year; check your calendars ... will you be one of them this time?

Saturday, July 28; 9:45 PM

Cascata del Toce, Valle Formazza

Opening exhibition of light and sound by Parente Fireworks

Saturday, August 4; 11:00 PM

Arona, Lago Maggiore 

Saturday, August 11; 9:30 PM

Verbania, Lago Maggiore

Elite Fuegos Artificiales (Spain)

Tuesday, August 14; 9:30 PM

Santa Maria Maggiore, Valle Vigezzo

Feuerwerke Jost (Austria)

Wednesday, August 15; 10:30 PM

Laveno Mombello, Lago Maggiore

Forward Fireworks (China)

Sunday, August 19; 9:30 PM

Omegna, Lago d'Orta

FAS Fuochi Artificiali (Italy)

Sunday, August 26; 9:30 PM

Omegna, Lago d'Orta

Apogee Fireworks (Canada)

Following this exhibition there will be the award ceremony, and a surprise pyrotechnic show from Parente Fireworks.

Read more about Fiori di Fuoco here

* * * * * * * * * *

Concerti in Cava, Concerts in the Cave, is a unique experience: A series of diverse musical events, experienced under the ground, in a chamber of the antique quarry at Ornavasso. This quarry, dating from the 1400s, produces the same pink granite as nearby Baveno, famous for being used to construct the Duomo in Milan.

Concerts will be performed every Thursday, rain or shine, from now until August 30. There will be two performances each Thursday evening at 6:30 and then again at 9:00, and all seats cost 12 euro. The temperature inside the cave is 8 degrees C, even if it is hot outside.

For current information, and the schedule of who is performing, visit: concertiincava.

And yes, you will be wearing a yellow hardhat inside the quarry.

photos courtesy of the distretto website

Some come to Stresa for it's views of mountains, lakes, and villages. But many also come looking for views of manicured gardens, flower beds, and exotic plants. And why not? With Stresa as a base, lovers of giardini can easily visit several famous Italian gardens: Isola Bella, Isola Madre, Giardino Botanico Alpinia, Villa Taranto, and Villa San Remigio, to name the closest and most well known. For those of you looking to combine this with a more far-reaching garden tour, here is an article, written by Steve Whysall for the Vancouver Sun, detailing a ten-day Italian lakes garden tour of Italy, which does, of course, include Stresa, of which he seems particularly fond, calling it his 'all-time favorite'. After all, four out of the five photographs used to illustrate the article are of Isola Bella.

I'm offering this article here as inspiration to plan your own garden-based trip.

I'm thinking that it might just be possible to hear music every evening in Stresa. Here are the latest additions to the summer musical calendar. The return of two perennial favorites: Thursday Jazz and Dinner evenings at Willy's Cocktail Bar at Caffe and Bar Verbanella, and the summer music series at Regina Palace Hotel.

The popular Jazz and Dinner series has returned to Bar Verbanella. Each Thursday, starting at 8 PM, dine or have drinks at this popular spot on the lake, watch the sun set, while listening to excellent jazz. This week features Brasil Jazz, with Antonella Montrasio, vocals, Lalo Conversano, trumpet, Fabrizio Spadea on giutar, and Valerio Della Fonte, brass. Each week there will be a different performer or group. Dine in the restaurant, drinks at the bar, or anything you want on the terrace facing the lake; you can hear the music from anywhere.

Although only visible for a portion of each year, when it is flowing, the Cascata del Toce waterfall is the second-highest in all of Europe -- 143 meters tall and 60 meters wide at its base. It is located in the Formazza valley, really just about on the border with Switzerland.