Varenna & The Castello di Vezio

"A fishing village which dates from the 11th c., Varenna is a jewel

amongst the most important destinations on Lake Como.

Varenna has kept its noble and characteristic flair and,

strolling through its alleyways, you can catch glimpses of breathtaking views."

www.varennaitaly.com

Down to the Argegno ferry landing to catch the 10:10 am heading north, we're off to explore Varenna today via the hydrofoil ferry named "Voloire."

When we arrive at the Varenna ferry landing, we are struck instantly by the profusion of beautiful flowers everywhere we look!  As we walk through the town piazza, heading toward the passerella, Varenna's elegant, lakeside promenade, Brenda and I spot a vendor selling those cute, flowing pants that Amy had purchased at the Argegno town market on Monday.  At 10 Euros a pair, we couldn't resist each getting a pair of our own!  We're calling them our Lake Como "Amy Pants."

We ambled along the beautiful flower-lined promenade, passing many cute shops and bustling caffes ... until we found a lovely, quiet, delicious spot for lunch at the Hotel du Luc.  (This Foldesi travel group is very fun to explore places with  ... always looking for a good lunch before getting into any serious shopping or sightseeing!)  

Did some shopping on the way back along the passerella to town and then took two taxis high up above the town to visit the Castello di Vezio, the ruined hilltop castle located in the tiny, peaceful hamlet of Vezio.  After our kind, friendly Italian taxi drivers dropped us off (promising to come back to pick us up in an hour so we could make the last ferry heading south to Argegno!), we still had quite an uphill climb to the castle. On the way up, we stopped in a tiny village church, dedicated to Sant'Antonio Abate.  One thing I've noticed consistently in Italy ... no matter how small or plain or unfinished the facade of a church is ... the inside is always beautiful:

 Once we (finally!) reached the castle grounds, we were treated to an unusual site:  Ghosts! Actually, not real ghosts, but white plaster sculptures that are created each summer ... thanks to tourists who volunteer to pose, covered in gauze and plaster, for an hour.  The resulting sculptures are then peeled off the tourists and put on display throughout the Castle grounds ... until the winter snowfall melts them away!  

The Castle consists of a courtyard protecting a tower, where Palmer and I crossed a drawbridge and climbed 92 steps up to the very top of the tower.  Our efforts were rewarded with absolutely spectacular 360 degree panoramic views of Lake Como.  Facing Bellagio across the lake, we could look south down both "legs" of the lake ... toward Lecco and Como.  Soooooo beautiful!

On the way back down to meet our taxis, we squeezed in time for our daily gelato indulgence ... then back to the ferry landing, and our ferry ride to our wonderful little "home" town of Argegno.  On the way to the apartment, we stopped for dinner at Ristorante Piazzetta, behind the fountain on the town piazza.  Shared pizza and insalata mista hit the spot after our fun day of exploring Varenna!

Tomorrow:  An Italian beauty parlor and an amazing cable car ride up Argegno's mountain!

Villa del Balbianello ~ Lenno

"Villa del Balbianello, the most romantic villa on the lake,
perches on a promontory near Lenno, 
facing Bellagio and overlooking Lake Como.  
Built at the end of the 18th century on the remains of a Franciscan church.
its last owner was Italian businessman & explorer Guido Monzino,
who died in 1988, leaving his villa and gardens to the Italian National Trust."
Rick Steves, Italy 2018

It was a cloudy, hazy morning on Lake Como as we boarded the ferry "Milano" for our short ride north to Lenno.  The mountains all around us look beautiful shrouded in mist and clouds.  The ferry is sleek and gleaming ... and since it's slightly spritzing rain outside, we sit down below in the sparkling clean hull ... with great views out the windows of the lake villages we're passing by.  

When we arrive at Lenno, we find it's Market Day there!  As we walk south along the lake shore, heading towards the Villa, we pass even more vendor stands than we had in Argegno yesterday!  We greeted the "fish man" who'd sold us the delicious white fish for our Butter/Sage recipe ... and had fun shopping for non-food items:  Towels, tablecloths, jewelry ... Amy even purchased some very cute pants in soft, flowing material, with elastic at the ankles and Margie bought a dress!

As we approached the entrance to the Balbianello grounds, we had the option to walk the 20 minute, half-mile path ... or hop on the speedboat shuttle.  We split up (some walked, some boated) and met back up at the Villa ... which wasjust as beautiful as I remembered it from my visit there in 2010.  And, as luck would have it, the mist and fog disappeared and we were treated to beautiful sunshine as we strolled under the amazing plane trees (pruned to resemble candelabras) and around the elegant villa, loggia and terraced gardens.  

Something new this visit was the option to watch a video history on the villa's last owner, Guido Monzino, the prominent Milanese businessman who led Italian expeditions to the North Pole (1971) and  Mount Everest (1973).  Interesting bit of trivia:  Parts of the James Bond film, Casino Royale, and Star Wars, Episode II,were filmed at Balbianello.

Getting hungry - time for lunch!  The outdoor spot selected just happened to be exactly where Ann & Mike Skinner and I had lunch after our 2010 visit to Balbianello!  I had a delicious Bellini in memory of that meal! Also a delicious salad with fresh tuna.  It had turned into a lovely day for a relaxed, lakeside lunch and we all enjoyed every bite!

After our ferry ride back to Argegno, Margie made us delicious avocado / tomato / cheese hors d'oeuvres for happy hour on the Le Vele apartment terrace.  Rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and more delicious Salad a la Palmer for dinner. 

Tomorrow:  We're off to Varenna!

Market Day in Argegno

"In nearly every village, town and city,

one day a week is set aside for the outdoor market.

The outdoor markets are delightful to explore.

Sometimes early planning can put you in a city on the right day for the market."

www.italianlakes.com

Lucky for us, since the fridge in our beautiful apartment was virtually EMPTY, MONDAY is outdoor market day in Argegno (pronounced Ar-JAY-gno)!   Unlike Southern Tuscany, where the "supermercados" (like the PAM, COOP & CONAD) were readily available in nearly every town, those big grocery stores don't exist in the little Lake Como towns ... so Market Day and the tiny "Alimentaris" needed to provide all our food & beverage needs.

Lists in hand, we set off for town bright and early ... and were happily rewarded with the sight of many large, white tents set up all along the waterfront, covering stands of beautiful fruits, veggies, herbs, flowers, household products, and more.  There were also food-truck-like vehicles whose sides opened up to reveal beautiful fresh fish, all kinds of wonderful cheeses and dairy products, rotisserie chickens and meats ... and more, more, more!  

We checked it all out and then decided, before making our purchases, to treat ourselves to the "Full English Breakfast" offered at one of the sidewalk restaurants next to the market.  Delicious cappuccinos (the Italians ONLY drink that beverage before 11 am so this was the perfect time to order them) and a big pitcher of cold O.J. accompanied our eggs, bacon, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms & beans.  Very tasty meal which gave us plenty of energy for our food shopping expedition.  

Our larder now full, we had fun preparing a delicious dinner to enjoy in the apartment and to celebrate Brenda and Jerry's wedding anniversary!  Lake whitefish cooked with butter and sage (Me), julienned sauteed strips of fresh zucchini (Amy) and a beautiful mache greens salad (Palmer).  Delish!

Tomorrow, we plan to begin exploring the many beautiful towns and villages around Lake Como, but it was very fun today staying in Argegno, just enjoying that beautiful view of the lake and the mountains from our terrace!

Lazy Sunday at Le Vele

"Set in the shadow of the snow-covered Alps and hemmed in on both sides by steep wooded hills,

Lake Como is the most spectacular of the region's three lakes.

Shaped like an upside down Y, its winding shoreline is dotted

with ancient villages and exquisite villas."

Lonely Planet

After yesterday's BUSY day of travel, we took today to settle in, relax on the lovely terrace and learn our way around the little village of Argegno.  After a bit of searching, we found a big blue binder filled with all sorts of good info (i.e., wi-if passwords!) and learned that the name of the apartment is Le Vele (The Sails) which is appropriate since sitting on the terrace you feel so close to the water, it's like being on a sailboat!

The church bells from the beautiful Church of  Santissima Trinita (1632) right next door ring the number of bells for the hour. ... and on every half hour, just one bell.   The church was built at the mouth of the Telo stream that separates Argegno into two parts and is crossed by two old bridges from the 12th - 13th c.  On the church's facade, under a beautiful rose window, the four evangelists are depicted in gleaming mosaics - beautiful!

Our apartment is just a short walk into town, and we enjoy watching the many ducks, loons and a family of beautiful swans (mom, dad and seven fuzzy little gray babies!) as we pass over the stream.  There's also a helicopter pad visible from our terrace so of course we're keeping our eyes peeled for signs of George & Amal Clooney. The views of the lake and the mountains are so incredibly beautiful, we just can't stop snapping photos!

Mid-afternoon, we walk down to a pretty lakeside restaurant at the Hotel Belvedere.  The maitre'd asks if we have a reservation (we don't) so he hurries to push tables together and sit the seven of us at a lovely table with a wonderful lake view.  Our waiter is from Egypt and delightful ... he brought us a special tasty little app of "prosciutto mousse."  Food is all delicious ... I had mountain trout filet with marmalade and dried cherry tomatoes & fresh asparagus all of which was wonderful.  Soon after we began eating, we noticed that every table in the restaurant was filled ... lots of folks out for a lovely Sunday afternoon meal.

We have NO food in the apartment so were hoping to pick up a few things at the little (and I do mean LITTLE!) "alimentary" in town.  Alas, it never seemed to be open on Sunday.

Amy, Margie and I spent a very lazy and relaxed evening on the terrace, playing Monopoly Deal which Margie had brought from home.  The Foldesi's, Jim & Palmer headed back to town for drinks
and bruschetta.   Tomorrow, Monday, is MARKET DAY in Argegno, and we are all excited with the prospect of purchasing fruits and veggies and fish .. cereal and milk ... and other necessities for Le Vele's kitchen!

Trains, Taxis & Ferries ... Our Day's Journey to Argegno

"One of the great joys of traveling through Italy is

discovering firsthand that it is, indeed, a dream destination."

Debra Levinson

And travel through Italy today we DID ... over 300 miles from Chiarentana in Tuscany to the little 

town of Argegno on the shores of Lake Como.  The journey began at 10 am when we left Sassaia in our rental cars, driving to Chiusi and turning the cars in at Aesse Rental by the train station.  Next, we 

took a train to Florence ... another train to Milan ... and a final train to Como, where we hopped into a LARGE taxi (that held all seven of us - Brenda & Jerry, Jim & Palmer, Margie, Amy & I + our luggage).  The taxi took us to Como's ferry landing where we rolled our bags to a pretty outdoor restaurant for refreshing Spritzes.  

We walked across the street and caught the 5 pm ferry headed for Argegno, excited to be on the last leg of our journey!  Unfortunately, we were also rather exhausted and mis-read the ferry schedule, thinking that Argegno was the last stop.  When we heard the announcement "ARGEGNO" made over the ferry's speaker system, we didn't rush to get up, thinking that with all our suitcases, we'd wait to be among the last passengers off the boat.  However, we were soon startled to realize that the ferry wasn't stopping ... and seemed to be rapidly picking up speed and heading to the other side of the 

lake!!!   Oh, no!  We'd missed our stop!

After much misunderstood and muddled English/Italian conversation with the crew, we understood 

that we should disembark at the NEXT stop (Lezzeno) where another ferry would come along in 10 minutes to take us back across the lake to Argegno. We could just hear everyone on board thinking to themselves ... "Oh, those CRAZY Americans with all their LUGGAGE!"

Happy to report that another ferry DID come along in 10 minutes (a "party" ferry, filled with Brits and Australians drinking gin and tonics!) and it delivered us safely to the ferry landing at Argegno - where we were FIRST to disembark.  (We later learned that the ferry that picked us up was the historic paddle wheeler, "Concordia," built in 1926!)

Once in Argegno, we needed to find our rental apartment,  Jerry was terrific at scoping out the town and the best direction for us to head with our rolling bags.  He also successfully figured out how to remove the apartment keys from the lock box, open the two gates, find the elevator and get us to the correct floor and, at last, into our home for the next week. Whew!  We made it!

The apartment, called Le Vele (The Sails), is just beautiful.  We found it on VRBO but actually rented it through Happy Holiday Homes in Lugano ... their staff  has been very helpful and responsive. 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, beautifully furnished and decorated, with a very well-designed kitchen, spectacular long terrace, overlooking the beautiful lake and equipped with wonderful remote-controlled sunshades.  

We were all too tired to even think about going out to dinner, but Amy surprised us by making a  delicious pasta which we all thoroughly enjoyed around the long, wooden dining table, lit with pretty candle lanterns.

Exhausted, but delighted to be here, we all fell into bed and to sound, sound sleep.  I left my window open and could hear the boats outside gently lapping against their moorings.  Peaceful, tranquil ... that's how Lake Como has been described ... a dream destination for sure.

Last Day at Sassaia

"Love and understand the Italians,

for the people are more marvelous than the land."

E. M. Forster

My goodness, how these three weeks in the restored farmhouse "Sassaia" at Chiarentana have flown by! We've done so much, seen so much, eaten and drunk so much (!) ... had so much fun with so many wonderful friends!

How happy I was, back in 2014, to discover this amazing place ... this beautiful sanctuary in the middle of miles and miles of breathtaking Tuscan scenery ... and how fortunate I've been to return for a second fabulous visit.  Lorena, the new rental agent at Chiarentana, has been so lovely and so helpful throughout our entire planning process and stay.  She, along with Chairentana's owner, Donata Origo (daughter of Iris and Antonio), have made our three weeks in Southern Tuscany absolutely perfect.

The Foldesi Group and I planned an easy and delightful itinerary for our

final day in Tuscany. It consisted of just two things:  Go to lunch (at La Porta in Monticchiello) and go to dinner at Dopolavoro (at La Foce). I slept in, washed my hair, wandered around the quiet house, snapping pics of my bedroom, the long wooden dining table where I wrote this blog, brick kitchen counters .... and window sills filled with wine bottles from our friendly wine consumption "competition."  (It was close, but I believe Week 3 was victorious)!

Our afternoon drive to Monticchiello was as beautiful as always and Daria was at the door to greet us. I ordered those fantastically tender and delicious beef cheeks .... SO good. As we lingered over lunch on Daria's lovely terrace, we could see a storm approaching from the hills in the distance, and by the time we headed home to Chiarentana, it was POURING!

Palmer saved the day by lending me his clear plastic poncho ... which kept me dry when I popped in to Lorena's office to say "Arrivederci!"

Time to pack up clothes and mementos I've purchased over the past three weeks ... hear about our friends' outings today to wine tastings (Richard's group) and Firenze (The Girls) ... figure out the final grocery shopping cost sharing, and then time to head over to La Foce's Dopolavoro for dinner.  The rain was long gone and the sky beautiful ... we asked Jerry to stop the car along our bumpy "strada bianca" so we could snap some last pics of the cypress trees, the bales of hay in the fields, the ever-present and always-changing Mount Amiata in the distance.  

Dopolavoro's efficient and charmingl manager, Asia, was there to greet us

at her restaurant's door.  The quote above is spot on ... the Italian people are so warm and welcoming ... and Daria and Asia are two of my favorite examples of that!

So ... "Arrivederci!" Sassaia & Chiarentana ... and tomorrow, on to the Northern Italian province of 

Lombardia and Italy's third largest lake:  Lago di Como!

Civita di Bagnoregio - Truly an Incredible Ancient Town

"Of all the Italian hill towns, Civita di Bagnoregio is my favorite.
Less well-known than Siena or Assisi, this stunning little gem
has escaped the modern age mostly because of topography.
The town teeters atop a pinnacle riding high above a vast canyon ruled by wind and erosion.
The only way in and out is by a footbridge."
Rick Steves

Thursday of Week 3 in Tuscany was very special ... a day trip with the Foldesi's, Jim & Palmer to Civita di Bagnoregio, a town inhabited first by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago.  Friends from Week 1 had visited this town and told us it was unique and really worth visiting.  Our GPS guided us south, down the A-1 super highway to an exit near Orvieto.  From there, Jerry drove through pretty countryside and tiny Italian villages until we reached Bagnoregio and found a parking lot (upon advice from Ann and Mike Skinner!) close to the footbridge to Civita. 

We gathered up our cameras, water bottles and rain parkas (just in case) and set off down the road.  When we rounded a corner and first laid eyes on Civita, the gasps from our group and others were audible!  Never had we seen such a sight ... a town that looked like it was virtually clinging to the top of a mountain that wasn't attached to ANYTHING ... except a narrow footbridge ... which we would soon cross.  

The footbridge was long, and at times steep to climb.  As we approached the main entrance to the town, Porta Santa Maria, a huge stone passageway, we stopped to chat (& catch our breath!) with an English couple also approaching the entrance.  They told us that this was their SECOND visit to Civita di Bagnoregio.  "Really???'" asked Jim Barden ... "You came back and did that climb AGAIN?"  "Yes," replied the British gentleman, "It's like childbirth, you forget how painful it is and only remember the good that comes from it!"  They both assured us that the town was a delight and that we would be very glad we'd come for a visit!

Civita has one famous son .... Saint Bonaventure, early leader of the Franciscan order.  He died here in 1274, but his home has since fallen off the cliff.   The church on the main square is the centerpiece of the town. Having begun as an Etruscan temple, then a Roman temple, since the 13th c. it's been a Catholic Church dedicated to Saint Donato of Arezzo.  Its bell tower was badly damaged in the devastating 2016 earthquakes.  Ancient pillars from the pagan temples stand just outside the doors of the church.  

We wandered through the town's beautiful streets and alleys, admiring all the lovely flowers and gawking at the Renaissance palaces with grand windows and doors leading to .... nothing but air. Over the years, buildings have collapsed and slid down the cliffs.  Geologists report that landslides are worsening and worry that Civita could one day simply slide off the mountain and disappear.  The town sits on constantly eroding volcanic rock and is literally eroding away ... sadly, it's known as "the dying city." 

We had a simple but tasty outdoor lunch at Bar de Peppone overlooking the main square and church, where workers were busy setting up pretty table, chairs, potted plants and umbrellas for a weekend concert. The walk back to the parking lot was long ... and during it Jim declared that he may consider giving up hiking!

Civita truly is a magical place and we were very, very we had the opportunity to visit it.  Geologists, authors and politicians are seeking UNESCO World Heritage protection to help save it.