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If it's on 16/06/2000, this must be OrtaLake
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16/06/2000

 

Diary of a week trip around my places. My friend Sherry is coming from Canada to spend a week in Lombardia. It's 7pm and the plane is landing in Linate .We've booked a trip to the lakes this week a different kind of holiday,one that included not only a good lunch on a terrace followed by a restoring siesta, but also Renaissance palazzos and neoclassical villas within striking distance and we had booked into the grand Villa D'Este on Lake Como, a wonderfully romantic hotel.We might have stayed in near by Bellagio .We have to stay there on monday morning.First of all she smiled watching my car a little Ford Fiesta red pepper because we have to sac her baggages on the back bag seat.We start our trip to Lake 



Map of Lakes

Orta.As you know,Orta is a place of mists and devotion. This pocket-sized lake,13km long and three wide,is the only lake in Piedmont where soft morning mists are a way of life. The devotion is figured plainly in the 20 small chapels of the Sacro Monte above Orta San Giulio, with their stirring tableaux of terracotta sculptures illustrating scenes from the life of Saint Francis like Counter-Reformation television. But the devotion is also from those who have been to Orta, been charmed, and wished that nobody should give the game away,certainly not in print.Unlike most of the other lakes, Orta has a single, must-stay base: the car-free town of Orta San Giulio. There are some cheerful,historic villages elsewhere, and one extraordinary church,the Madonna del Sasso,perched on a rocky ledge high above the western shore. But it is Orta San Giulio that holds the attention, with its cream-colored houses roofed with thick slate tiles arranged like a display of biscuits; its lakeside central square.Piazza Motta, overlooked by the Palazotto, a frescoed l6th-eentury building borne up by the stilts of a cosy loggia; and its unforgettable view of the island, Isola San Giulio, lit up at night like a holy ocean liner.Orta San Giulio never set out to be an elegant resort, and the accommodation options are not in the Como or Maggiore league,especially since the Villa San Crespi, a little gem of a hotel and restaurant in a Moorish folly on the edge of town, closed down last year.  This leaves the four-star Albergo San Rocco,set in a l7th-century convent with a wonderful lake frontage overlooking the island, which can be reached by the hotel's private launch. It also has Orta's best restaurant, with fine pasta courses, grilled vegetables and lake fish, and a good wine list.San Giulio,or Julius, born on the Greek island of 

View over Lake Orta to Orta San Giulio  

 

 



Aegina, was an industrious founder of churches. With his brother Giuliano,or Julian, he had notched up 99 of them by the time he arrived on the shores of Orta. He liked the look of the island, which was, of course, a rocky wilderness inhabited by dragons and snakes. But it was more than any boatman's job was worth to row him over. So Julius spread his cloak upon the waters and aquaplaned across, using his staff as a rudder. Once there, he built his 100th church. Julian, meanwhile,  was finishing the 99th; according to legend, the brothers shared the same tools, simply tossing them to one another even though they were seven kilometers apart. But then some busybody of a scholar spoilt it by suggesting that Julius and Julian were the same person,  separated in the Middle Ages by a careless scribe. Miraculous cloaks are not for hire on the lakefront in Orta San Giulio, but rowing boats are. The old boatman is called Piero, and he knows very well,he told me, nodding. View from the landing stage of Orta San Giulio Island speciality.Aiternatively, for a no-holds-barred gourmet experience, make your way eight kilometers south from Orta San Giulio to Gozzano and head for the tiny village of Sorriso. To Sorriso (via Roma ), with a double 'r' because sorriso means smile in Italian languages, is one of only three places in Italy with three Michelin stars. It is also one of Italy's most expensive restaurants. Feast on giant ravioli with goat's cheese filling, or crostini with polenta, onions, roses, foie gras and pomegranate seeds,and those are the simpler dishes. They also have rooms where you can sleep it off. We stop here for this night.

 
Orta



Lake Orta San Giulio Island his woolly hat gravely,how good the English are at rowing. I did my best to disabuse him, veering this way and that, but there is something deeply satisfying about tying up one's boat by the church while a tour group troops off the public ferry on the jetty above.The interior of the old stone basilica is a delight. A greeny-black marble pulpit has carved figures influenced by Saxon models,a rarity in Italy. There is a warrior saint, his jaw jutting out, and a centaur firing an arrow into a pagan swirl of tendrils. And covering walls, columns and ceiling are frescoes from four centuries. In some cases the overlay is literal; an early Renaissance foot pokes out beneath a mannerist leg. In the crypt below, in a crystal urn, are the remains of Saint Julius (or possibly Julian). The rest is silence. Quite literally: the short circular lane that runs between the Benedictine monastery in the center and the private villas that hog the shore has been baptized 'The Way of Silence'; although if you go in the other direction it is 'The Way of Meditation'. The message is brought home by little signs in four languages along the path: 'If you can be yourself, you are everything'; 'Listen to the water, the wind, your steps'. One villa has a more down-to-earth Venetian proverb by its door: 'Protect this house from troubles - never may a lawyer or a doctor set foot here'. If the soul food gets too much, dive into the Restaurant San Giulio, in an l8th-century building with ceiling frescoes and a pretty, vine-covered terrace. The cooking is fair]y average, but it's the setting that counts.'Back in Orta San Giulio, the town goes about its business. Tourist tack is almost absent; instead, there are several delicatessens, an antiquarian bookshop, a shop specializing in period jewelry and an excellent wine bar-the cosy Enoteca Re di Coppe,and if the San Rocco restaurant feels too formal, head for the rustic Taverna Antico Agnello (via Olina ),which even serves ' horse with garlic and rosemary',as dose as you'll get to minced donkey meat, a local recipes.

 

 

We left Orta and at 10 am we arrived to Baveno a town on Lake Maggiore.

Second day-trip Today 17/06/2000