Italy 2018 – Bellagio Day Trip

Today we strike out on the ferry for a day trip to Bellagio. Lago di Como is separated from Lago di Lecco but a spit of land, the end of which is Bellagio. And on the end of that is a small park and restaurant where we plan to have lunch – Ristorante La Punta.

 

 

 

We head up the hill towards from the lower road (Lungo Mario Lanzoni) to the upper road (Via Giuseppi Garibaldi); the stair is a fairly long walled pathway, with no real breaks or buildings, just walls with a few stonwd-trimmed openings.

 

At the top of the pathway, we pop out next to a tiny church, Chiesa di San Giorgio. Our intention is to get to the top, so we keep going up, near the extensive (and private) grounds of the Rockerfeller Centre Bellagio. There is a public pathway, again walled on both sides (Via Enrico Genazzini), the goes up. We take it, and commit to walk the length. It starts going back down before giving us a wide view, and we end up at the small village of Pescallo. Again, not much here, but it sure is breathtaking.

 

 

 

The end of the road is a small beach and harbor, but it seems to be a dead end; you can't go left or right. So we go back up the hill, then dive into the warren of alleys that is the very small town of Bellagio. We never do find a place to get a big view of things from up high, but we expect to see the wide lake at lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Escaping the maze, we head into the "Center" of town, down the Via Giuseppi Garibaldi to the Chiesa San Giacomo, a grand stone church similar in feel to the stone church in Varenna.

 

 

We step back into the sun, and head down the crooked, narrow stairs to the waterfront; from there we take the Via Eugenio Vitale to the end of the peninsula. We walk out on the breakwater to get the full "on the lake" experience; the views around are nearly three-sixty.

 

 

After lunch, we wander and do some window shopping.

 

 

Finally its time to re-board the ferry for the return trip to Varenna.

 

 

Italy 2018 – Varenna in the Rain

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.