My world-traveling friend, Gigi Griffis, just published a travel e-guide book about Italy -- and I'm in it! The book is called 100 Locals Tell You Where to Go, What to Eat, and How to Fit In. What Gigi has done is asked a series of questions to people living in Italy, some natives and some, like myself, expats who have a strong connection to one particular area, and the answers give a more focused, local view of certain popular towns and regions.

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I should be packing. I really really must. I leave for Italy in just a few days and there is the Thanksgiving holiday before that, which will be wonderful and consuming. So, I really have to pack! But I'm not. Because in all my free time I've been reading a wonderful novel, True Vines, written by my friend Diana Strinati Baur. This is the first time that I personally know the author of a book. Diana, I hope you will take this as a compliment when I say that I very quickly forgot I was reading your book, the book of a friend, as I quickly became so completely engrossed in the story and the characters. I've read it in Starbucks... I've read it while waiting for friends at restaurants... and at home, when I should be packing!   (  continued...  )

It's been a good week! It was very exciting to have been asked by Susan Van Allen, the author of the great travel book 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go, to write a guest post for her blog. This book is a must-read and a must-gift! While it is aimed mainly at women there is much wisdom inside for all travelers. And the fascinating stories and information, which do focus primarily on interesting women in Italy both past and present, make a visit to the locations Susan writes about more intimate and real. But there are also the more comfort-based reasons that women like this book... the list of spas, special shopping and yoga and cooking classes for example. Then, for each area, Susan describes a 'Golden Day,' a how-to guide for a perfect little day in each of these places.

And that brings me back to her blog, because it is called Golden Days in Italy. Here, Susan visits interesting locales all over Italy, and describes in detail what to do if you have but one day to spend in them. It's all spelled out... what you should see, the best routes to take and what to look for, and restaurant suggestions. Susan contacted me a little time ago and asked me to provide a Golden Day in Stresa. And so, we are very proud to be "Golden Day number 54: Dreaming of Stresa on Lago Maggiore."

Writing about a Golden Day in Stresa is easy, of course... I have had many, many such days here. But I had to think, what if I only had one? Or, better, if I were showing a friend around here in only one day, where would I take them? Here's what I decided I would do, where I would take you, in your one day in Stresa:

Golden Day Fifty Four: Dreaming of Stresa on Lago Maggiore

Let’s start with the lake. We’ll walk along the Lungolago, the pink paved path that runs along Stresa’s lakefront. On the other side of the path are Stresa’s famous old hotels, like the Hotel des Iles Borromees and the Regina Palace. Let’s stop for a cappuccino and a brioche at Gigi Bar (Corso Italia 30), across from the ferry. The Liberty-style bar has been here serving cappuccinos since the 1800s, and they still bake their own brioche on the premises.

I've started to collect books about Stresa, buying one or two each time I'm there. My most recent one is called Lago Maggiore -- An Exciting Journey, which was published in 2007 by Nous Publishers. There are many reasons why this book is one of my favorites. Despite its small size (6 3/8 inches sq.) this book has more photographs than most. And because of the vibrancy and clever montaging of many of the photos, the result is a visually consistent and really captivating book. I don't think the photos lose anything due to being smaller in size, in fact I think we benefit from the collections, grouped together by subject. The book's 204 pages are divided into two sections. The first 144 pages are devoted to the photos, with each page having a sharp black background and minimal text. The paper is high-quality, thick and glossy. The photo section is further divided geographically into different regions of the lake. Stresa and its surroundings are given, rightly so, a large portion of these pages. The remainder of the book is dedicated to writings... literary references to Stresa and Lago Maggiore from many famous and historical figures. Text throughout the book is provided in four languages: English, Italian, French, and German, and for this and its low price it makes a nice gift for many international friends, as well as for yourself.

Here are a few photos from Lago Maggiore -- An Exciting Journey. My copies of these pages don't do the actual pages justice at all, but I hope it gives you an idea and entices you to take a better look at the originals.

My view from Ristorante Nazionale in Piazza Cadorna.

In Good Blood, which takes place in Stresa, and which I read while I was recently in Stresa, a kidnapping has taken place. The young heir to the wealthy and historic de Grazia family has been abducted and ransom information has been received. Meanwhile, buried bones have been found on a nearby construction site owned by the de Grazia family. Whose bones are they? And are these events related in some way?

The star of our novel, the forensic bone detective Gideon, who just happens to be in Stresa at this time, is called in to consult on the case. After a stressful day of investigations and interviews he goes alone to relax, and to think, to the Bar Nazionale in Piazza Cadorna.

From the book:

In the evening, with the rain having slackened off, Gideon had a half carafe of local Barolo at the outdoor cafe across the street from the hotel, and then walked the few short blocks to the cobblestoned Piazza Cadorna, to the Ristorante Nazionale, where he, Julie, and Phil had been for dinner on their first night. He sat outside, on the lively piazza, at an umbrellaed table set among potted flowering plants and ordered what he'd had before: pizza quattro stagione, with artichokes, ham, olives, and mushrooms, each on its own quarter; a salad; and a limonata. As it had been the other time, the pizza was perfectly baked in a brick, wood-fired oven, the crust was thin and tender, with just the right dusting of ash on the bottom, and the vegetables were fragrant and al dente.

A nice descriptive passage from the book. The incredible thing was that I was sitting outside at Nazionale when I read this. What a coincidence! And the description in the book is completely accurate. Unlike Gideon however, I was there at lunchtime, taking some time on my own to read and enjoy the piazza. I sat in an area that did not have the umbrellas open, better to feel sun that shines in this direction at midday. I ate a focaccia con prosciutto cotto e formaggio, basically ham and cheese. It was more than enough, almost too large, with delicious fresh focaccia. Like Gideon, I have found Nazionale to be consistent, a great spot for basic and economical meals and snacks, and in a fantastic location. In the mornings it's one of the spots in Stresa where friends meet for more lingering caffes, or in the summer, Shakeratos. At later at night, with its cool blue neon sign under the arched arcade, it's a quiet corner from which to watch the piazza.

This is where the large Daimler limousine turns onto via Mazzini after via Ottolini... blind turn up ahead.

On a flight to Stresa I began a book that had been recently recommended to me. I had saved it for this trip, as the setting of the book was Stresa itself. The book is Good Blood, by Aaron Elkins. It's a mystery novel, and it turned out to be an excellent read and a fun choice for the trip. The central characters are a wealthy and aristocratic family that live on Isola de Grazia, de Grazia being their family name. Clearly, they are patterned after the Borromeo family, although the characters and the story and their particular island are all fictional. What's not fictional however, is the portrayal of Stresa itself.

For example, the story opens with a kidnapping and shootout. The 16-year-old son of the wealthy family is being chauffeur-driven to school when a carefully planned accident blocks the main road, causing his limousine to divert onto Stresa's narrow alleys. In a tight spot the car is trapped, a shootout occurs, the boy is taken.

The Spell of Stresa, Stresa d'Incanto. It's difficult to find an adjective, one adjective, that can describe this landscape of lakes, mountains, and islands. An adjective that, on its own, would be sufficient to categorize this city of Stresa, also known as the Pearl of Lago Maggiore. Perhaps incantevole, meaning spellbinding, magical, enchanting, perhaps it comes close.

Stresa d'Incanto, with images by Verbanese photographer Claudio Fogli, and written by Gisela Motta, of Stresa, is the latest book in a series by Alberti publishers entitled Verbano Illustrated. Twenty four years after the debut of the series, and with this, the twenty-sixth installation, finally a book that is devoted only to Stresa, its villages, and its islands. Recognizing the international nature and appeal of this location, the text of the book has been translated into four languages, Italian, English, French, and German, but the photographs, instead, they speak only one language, the language of the landscape.

Beginning from the lake, at its center, the islands, the book then moves the reader on a journey to the shoreline, exalting in the lavish architecture of the hotels, then rising again, to the Villa Pallavicino, with its gardens and small zoo, then rising again to the wonders of the Giardino Botanico Alpinia.

And at the summit, the flowering fullness of the summer makes way to the immaculate whiteness of the snows atop Mt. Mottarone in the winter, which contrast so beautifully with the blues of the lake below. In between the lake and the summit, there are numerous references to the villages, the monuments, and the many mentions of the philosopher Rosmini and the nobility that are such a part of Stresa's history.