Buon giorno, everyone!
On Wednesday, after three days in Bellagio, it was time to move on. I got in the bus to go to the ferry across the Como arm of Lake Como. I said goodbye to Bellagio from the stern of the ferry. When we got to the other side of the lake, we got back in the bus and drove across the mountain to Lake Lugano. When we got out of the bus in Lugano, we were in Switzerland! The first place our local guide took us was Madonna delgi Angioli church on the Piazza Bernardino Luini. The piazza is named for the artist who painted all the frescos inside the church. Luini was friends with Leonardo da Vinci and this depiction of the last days of Christ is very famous! There was an art historian up on a scaffold studying every inch of the painting!
The church we visited used to be part of a monastery. Now there’s a big new art and culture center next door. Some of the walls of the monastery were preserved and pieces of more frescos have been revealed in the courtyard. The new sections are very modern architecture to keep the views open! After we looked at the lobby, our guide took us for a walk along the main shopping area, Via Nassa. Of course I had to look for Swiss chocolate! There was a very friendly baker, too! Part of the improvement of the shopping area was to put plant herbs in containers along the sidewalk. Anybody can pick some to use in cooking! Some private stores have put out plants, too! I made a puppy friend in front of one store!
When we got back to the waterfront promenade, our guide pointed out a statue of William Tell. He is a very famous Swiss hero! Then we walked through the public park. The plants and flowers are very pretty and so is the view of the lake! I saw a weed cutter like the ones on Sodus Bay, but I didn’t see any weeds in the water. I think they use it to pick up floating trash near shore! I helped Giampiero-san hug a very big tree as we were leaving the park!
Next, we drove back along the lakeshore until we reached the village of Gandria. There is a very pretty walking path along the lakeshore with information signs about growing olives. I was glad that it was mostly level! At the end of the path was a restaurant with a view where we had lunch!
After lunch, we drove back into Italy to another lake, Lake Orta. It started to rain while we were in the bus, but by the time we got to our hotel, it had stopped again. That was the only rain we had on the trip! Our hotel in Orta San Giulio looked like a Moorish castle! Villa Crespi was built by a very rich man who liked North African style. The decor is very fancy! Some things, like the stereo in the lounge and the telephones, are made to look like antiques, but they’re really modern. The “dial” phone actually has push buttons for the numbers and the dial doesn’t move.
After we got settled, the tour group went into the village of Orta San Giulio for dinner. The streets are so narrow that cars barely fit through the entrances to the town square! Grandma and Grandpa got to see Isola San Giulio lit up at night, but that was after my bedtime.
The next morning, though, I got to see Isola San Giulio up close! We took a boat ride to the island to visit there. Just as we landed, we saw a mother duck with her flock of ducklings getting into the water. One duckling had trouble finding its way into the water, and we were all happy when it caught up with the rest!
The territory around Lake Orta was an independent state governed by a Catholic bishop until Italy was unified in the 1860s. There have been religious buildings on the island since sometime in the 6th century, and the center of the island contains a Benedictine monastery and church. There is a path around the walls of the religious property. Our guide, Cosetta-san explained that if you walk it in one direction, it is the way of meditation. If you walk it in the other direction, it is the way of silence. We walked it in the silence direction, looking at the walls of various ages and reading the proverbs about silence. By the time we finished the circuit, there were so many other tourists visiting that silence was done for the day!
After our visit to the chapel, we took a boat back to the mainland and walked around Orta San Giulio. It is a very pretty place! The central square has cafes for outdoor eating and there are lots of shops selling yummy-looking foods, too. Cosetta-san showed us a stone in the central plaza with the design of a board game from the Middle Ages!
Next, we stopped at the local garden. It has a very pretty view of Isolda San Giulio. Guess what? I made some new lion friends, too! There’s even a club for us in Orta San Giulio!
On the hill behind Orta San Giulio, there is a special kind of religious shrine. Sacro Montes are places where pilgrims could come to learn about the saints before reading was very common. The Sacro Monte in Orta San Giulio tells the story of the entire life of St. Francis of Assisi with scenes in twenty-one chapels. There are painted terra cotta statues and frescos to illustrate important events in St. Francis’ life. St. Francis loved animals, so of course I wanted to go see the chapels! They are at the very top of the hill, so people had to make a special effort to get there! There is a cemetery part of the way up the hill, and some other places to rest. Cosetta-san told me that if I put my head in the depression in the cemetery wall, I might hear ghost sounds coming from the other side! I tried, but I didn’t hear anything.
We didn’t visit all the chapels, but we did start with Chapel One. That tells the story of St. Francis’ birth. There was an opening in the screen just my size, so I could see all the statues. Then I looked at the “before” and “after” fresco paintings about the beggar who was really an angel. I almost forgot to look at the ceiling, but it was decorated, too!
There are painted hands pointing the direction to the next chapel in the order of St. Francis’ life, but we skipped a lot of them. Cosetta-san took us to see the chapel depicting St. Francis being tempted in the wilderness. I was happy to see a lion snarling at the evil temptation! At the chapel showing St. Francis acting humble during Carnival, I saw a lot of animal friends, too!
After we visited those three chapels, we went to visit the herb gardens. Then we all got rides down the hill to another lunch restaurant with a view! After that, Giampiero-san treated us all to organic gelato at the store right across from Villa Crespi. The speculoos flavor was yummy!
Even though it was a hot, humid day, some of us went for another walk around the peninsula that Orta San Giulio occupies. There is a path right along the lake until you reach the village, then the circuit is completed on the narrow road between the village and Villa Crespi. The lake breeze felt very good! So did my bed, after the walk!
On Friday, we took another bus ride. First, we went to an organic dairy in Ameno where one of Giampiero-san’s friends makes cheese. I already have one dear cow friend, La Vache, so it wasn’t hard to make a few more! After I met the cows, I had to put special coverings on my feet to go into the cheese making area. Gianpiero-san’s friend showed us how he cooks the fresh milk, then adds rennin and breaks up the curds to release the whey. He makes all kinds of cheeses, and they age in his special cooling room.
Then we had a cheese picnic at the dairy. The cats were very eager to be invited to the picnic, but they had to wait until everybody tried the fresh whole milk and slices of various kinds of cheese. They were all yummy! As we were getting back on the bus, we could see Monte Rosa for the first time! It is the second tallest mountain in the Alps, but earlier in the week it was too hazy to see it!
Giampiero-san had one more walk planned for us on Friday! We rode in the bus across the ridge of the mountain between Lake Orta and Lake Maggiore. Partway down the other side, we got out of the bus and started hiking down toward the lake. There were lots of pretty views on the way, and it took us more than two hours to get down to the lake. I’m glad we stopped to rest several times! I even had a chance to make another lion friend!
When we arrived in Stresa, we headed right for the docks. There are some islands in Lake Maggiore that have been owned by the Borromeo family for hundreds of years. One of them, Isola Bella, has a palace and gardens on it. After we got to Isola Bella, we had another lunch with a view before touring the palace and gardens.
Early on, one of the Borromeo sons became a priest and then a saint. There is even a church named for him in Rochester! He was famous for his humility, and that is the family motto. But there is nothing humble about the palace on Isola Bella! I saw cannons and armor and walls crowded with paintings and fancy dinnerware and musical instruments. The Borromeos collected marionettes to entertain their guests. The lower rooms of the palace were covered in rocks, so they would stay cooler in the summer. Some of those grotto rooms had secret water fountains, so the Borromeos could surprise their guests with sprays of water.
The Borromeo family crest includes a unicorn, so the Borromeos bought some very old woven tapestries from Belgium with a unicorn theme. I liked seeing my big cat cousins on the first tapestry, but Grandma wouldn’t let me look at the ones where the unicorn was fighting them!
After the gallery of tapestries, we went outside to the gardens. They are in the Italian style, and there is a great big stone wall in the middle! From the water, it almost looks like the foresail of a ship! There were a lot of steps to get to the top of the wall to see the view, and I had help from some of my new travel buddies to get there!
Then Grandma took me back down the steps and around to see the lower gardens. They are pretty, too! On the way back to the garden entrance, we walked past a wall of citrus trees. I saw a Buddha’s hand that was nearly ripe!
It was almost time to take the boat back to Stresa and the bus from there back to Orta. Some more of my new travel buddies helped me see the 200 year old camphor tree and find some shade to wait for the boat.
Today was another pretty day in Orta San Giulio! I spent some time with the roses and fountain in front of Villa Crespi. Then I made sure to thank our bus driver before I got on the bus for the last time! Tonight, Grandma and Grandpa and I are staying in Milan at the airport. Tomorrow, we’re on to the next part of our adventure!
Love,
Lion-san
That is a very nice report of your travels, looks like you had a wonderful time in Italy and made a lot of new lion friends. Looking forward to hearing about your next adventure.
It looks like you had great hikes, hope you didn’t wear off too much of your pawpads. The lakes and the mountains look pretty. It looks like there are a lot of lions in Italy, and nice places to eat.