It's raining in Varenna as we take our morning walk. We've found a self-service laundry spot right near the hotel, on Piazza San Giorgio. We shuttle back and forth between the wash, the room, and a few very nearby churches. First, there is the Chiesa di San Giorgio, consecrated in 1313, a beautiful and charming, vaulted stone structure, renovated in the 1950's. Clean and warm, the columns hold several figurative frescoes. There is a lively little "rose" window, with San Giorgio on his cavallo, lancing il drago; there also appears to be a ring of classical dolphins, as well as some dragons' tails streaming away from the circle. The dolphins are repeated on the outside, too.
Next is the tiny stone church, Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista, originally dating from the eleventh century and re-consecrated in 1331. It was restored in the 1960's. The frescoes are hard to read, especially since there are all partially restored, but they give intimacy and life to the single-room space. One assumes the stone from both churches is right out of the mountains; they fit right in.
We finish the morning walk by heading north, past the train station a ways, into a neighborhood of expensive-looking private residences. There are tall wall here, one assumes for privacy, but there is one place you can stand and look over to see the clouds crowning the distant mountains.
It's still raining in Varenna as we take our afternoon walk, now in the other direction (south-ish) toward the small village of Fiumelatte. Once we pass the Villa Monastero, we are pretty much alone, as the weather turns windy. We walk along Viale Giovanni Polvani (SP72), above the garden for the Villa. We pass a tunnel through the mountain, and we lose the sidewalk; it seems the Italians feel no guilt in playing Formula 1, even when it involves terrorizing pedestrians. It seems strange to say there's not much to see, even as we walk pass Fiumelatte. It is after all, stunningly beautiful.
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