Music and Markets - - Following the Music

On Lake Como

May 2, 2008, Friday

Varenna Menaggio Cadenabbia Tremezzo Bellagio

The ferries constantly criss-cross this part of the lake taking people and their cars or motorcycles to the popular villages on both sides. Menaggio is almost a 3 mile boat ride from Varenna so went there first. Out in the middle of the lake we could see snow-caps on the mountains on all sides of the lake. Parts of Switzerland extend south of here and some of these mountains are Swiss Alps; but the microclimate here has already burst open the azaleas and rhododendrons into a concert of fragrance and beauty. We remembered some streets of Menaggio from more than a decade before, and we tried out new streets to get away from the typical tourist spots for lunch. Vecchia Menaggio looked like just the place – inside were mostly locals and one table for 8 with representatives from 4 generations of family was taking a long and loud Saturday afternoon break. We also saw three men wearing ties who paid their check with lunch coupons - a perk provided to many of Italy’s workers. The food, however, was at about an American diner level. They delivered thin spaghetti for the “trenette” (short thick twisted pasta) and the pesto was deconstructed with bits of pine nuts and shredded basil leaves. Anne had a plate of gnocchi that was a mixture of three colors – red, made of beets, the normal beige from potatoes, and green probably spinach - sauced with a gorgonzola cream. For the second course we both had fresh lavanello, a lake fish mine with with burro (butter) and salvia (sage) and Anne’s just grilled.
I still hold to my old saw that it’s hard to find a bad meal in Italy. There was nothing bad about this one (except maybe the price); it was just dull like last night’s in Varenna and not high value for the price. It’s always gratifying to find a great meal in a new town – and never too hard in Italy. Later that evening we told a Varenna resident we met while walking that we weren’t very pleased with the meals we’d had so far and he told us we just hadn’t chosen the right restaurants yet. He recommended one called The Four Steps (Quattro Passi) in Varenna - next time!

After lunch in Menaggio, we walked down the lake’s western shore to Cadenabbia then Tremezzo, passing elegant villas with wondrous gardens.

A very nice paved promenade, sometimes under bowers of wisteria, protects walkers about 80% of the way but there are places where we had to walk in the two lane Via Regina and fight for space with Milan’s long weekenders – many in speedy convertibles to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

In Tremezzo, at the Villa Carlotta, we stopped to ask about music festivals and were overwhelmed by the masses of azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias and wisteria in full bloom at this time of year. It’s a fine example of the grand lakeside palazzi and was built in 1747 then later named for Holland’s Princess Carlotta who received it from her mother when she married the Duke of Saxony-Meiningen in 1850. Just a little something for the bride...

The ferry made stops at Bellagio where we could see up close the gardens we had been admiring from across the lake, then Menaggio again before taking us back to Varenna.

We contemplated using our day ferry pass to go to Bellagio for dinner, then decided to enjoy our lodging perks instead.

We walked back up to the piazza at the top of Varenna and looked inside the church (yet another St. George slaying the dragon) while we waited for a restaurant to make us a pizza to carry out.





Back at the hotel we sat out on our little tower’s 60 foot high terrace and watched the sun go down while we had our cold pizza (we should have walked home faster and not enjoyed the views – hard to do in Varenna!)

An after dinner stroll completed another day in paradise.

posted by Anne and Kirk @ 2:14 PM 0 comments

Aaah - Lake Como!

Bologna - Varenna
With all our brochures, CDs, and DVDs from the Buy Emilia Romagna conference in our luggage (it’s a lot heavier now!) we walk just a few blocks to the Bologna train station for a couple of days by the lake. The train is just late enough getting to Milan that we miss the train to Varenna, on Lake Como, and have about an hour and a half to wait. The big white granite park in front of the train station is dotted with people waiting with their luggage with their pants legs pulled up for some exposure to the bright sun. We sit on a bench close to McDonalds hoping to mooch off their free WiFi but there was no coverage in the park. We end up waiting the whole time at a little bistro eating a ham and cheese piadina (sandwich with tortilla thin bread).
Varenna is approximately on the eastern backside of the western facing running-man shaped Lake Como. The train to Varenna from Milan goes through the Lecco leg, not the leg that ends at the town of Como (and the nearby village of Laglio where George Clooney has a lakeside palazzo.) We were drawn to Varenna for our days off because of two things: the lovely wisteria-lined, cantilevered and verrry romantic promenade from the ferry stop to the village and the memory of an October 1997 festival featuring roasted chestnuts and hot wine. There were no grandfathers and grandsons lighting little lakeside fires for roasting chestnuts today but on the promenade we had to stop in our tracks more than once to hug - we were so happy being there together. Anne says that just SEEING Lake Como makes her breath more deeply and slowly – the perfect place to relax!
The train station is high above the village and our hotel’s directions were to go downhill from the station to the lake, and you can’t miss it. They were right; we just followed our noses downhill and there is Hotel Olivedo. The owner took us two doors down to a separate villa, Villa Torretta, renovated to function like a bed and breakfast.

A lovely place, with flowering gardens, super views over the lake and classically furnished common areas, it was beautiful enough to just stay and relax, but we wanted to be outside on this glorious sunny day.




The village of Varenna is much the same after the 11 years since our last visit, although the Alps surrounding the lake are snowcapped at this time of year - breathtakingly beautiful!



After a stop for gelato by the lake, we strolled around and checked posted menus for dinner tonight and made a reservation at a grand old hotel named Villa Ciprese and the desk clerk invited us to take a free tour of the hotel’s terraced gardens.



The views over the widest part of the lake are framed by hundreds of meters of 30 foot tall wisteria, palms, irises, and hundreds of other well marked specimens. Each switchback in the path takes us closer to the lake level.

We found a bench near a railing and literally put our feet up; soaking up the sun, happy to have nothing to do after such a full week.

Varenna's internet spot is a couple of computers in the back of a bar up by the church.
They had a little spread on the bar of crunchy toasts with tapenade and sun-dried tomatoes soaking in olive oil that went just perfect with a glass of local red wine – what a way to catch up on email!

We took a new nearly vertical path down to the lake level then back to our hotel to change for dinner, then climbed back up another similar stairway to the Villa Ciprese for dinner.




The palazzo atmosphere is nice but the food was bland.

An exception was my fresh branzino (fish) that came wrapped in cellophane and tied with a bow. This tactic blends the moisture and fragrance of the fish, tomatoes, and herbs for a taste wallop.
The wine saved the dinner; it was a unique Pinot Nero vinified white that came in an Alsatian style bottle.





Back down the steep steps to the lakeside promenade in the moonlight.
This is where I want to go next time I need a break, the beauty is indescribable.

posted by Anne and Kirk @ 8:29 AM 2 comments

Busy in Bologna

Bologna

King Enzo’s Palazzo is where we tour operators will meet the tour services sellers today.

This mid 1200’s building in the center of the main square was added to the existing town hall that the town had outgrown during a time of prosperity after Bologna became the first town to liberate slaves and ban slavery.

King Enzo had been captured in battle by the Bolognese and was housed here for the last 35 years of his life.

The room we’re in was definitely the party room - there are still frescoes on the walls and it’s big enough for two basketball games end to end.

For the last two days, we’ve had representatives from Emilia Romagna demonstrating to us their services, meals, and destinations in hopes that, because we’re better acquainted with the area, we will bring our clients back for a visit. Today, like speed dating, we get to hear a quick presentation, ask questions, and take brochures from 14 tourism service providers during 15 minute sessions between 9:30 AM and 1 PM. Then we break for lunch and in the afternoon are available to meet with any providers who didn’t get a chance to speak with us this morning. It sounds grueling, but every vendor was pleasant and informative and many of them had ideas that would be helpful for our business. Some did not, but even the time with them was not wasted.

Lunch was catered with all the awesome foods from Emilia Romagna and we mingled with some of the people we’d met during the morning sessions.

At about 3:30 PM the meetings were over and we got a tour of the city – this time by a real Bolognesa. She spent a lot of time on the main square’s points of interest including a statue of Pope Gregory XIII, a Bolognese pope who reformed the Julian calendar to better align with the astrological signs. Bottom line, he just skipped from October 4 to October 15^th to take out 11 days. Some people were against it and were slow to adopt the new calendar but it is in use now over most of the world.

The cathedral’s façade is decorated with marble but only to half its height; and the transepts (arms) were never built. We’d always heard that the pope during its construction prohibited its completion because it was approaching the size of St. Peter’s in the Vatican; but our guide said there were several other explanations that were just as valid. Inside the cathedral is a bronze strip about an inch across marking the path of light from a small hole in the cathedral’s ceiling. It works the opposite of a sundial telling the time during different seasons of the year (on sunny days.) Because the Gothic cathedral was under construction for so long (1390 to 1633) it has a Baroque high altar. The Gothic style went out of style and when it was time to build the altar, the Baroque style was in.

The patron saint of the city is St. Petronius, and he is often depicted holding a model of the city, or with it at his feet.

As we left the cathedral, there was a choir singing on the temporary risers as part of the city’s celebration and procession of a local Byzantine-era icon of a madonna and baby, the Beate Virgin of Saint Luke that is said to have caused a long rain to stop in Bologna in the mid 1400’s.

It was in Bologna where the transition from monastic learning to secular learning first occurred with the founding of the University of Bologna.

We went into Europe’s oldest university and found the dissecting room where in the early Renaissance biology teachers dissected a cadaver twice a year for the sake of science.

This practice was not allowed earlier and several biology professors left Bologna during the 1200’s to found the University of Padova (where we visited in early 2007).

Several years ago, we visited Bologna and had difficulty finding a really good restaurant. Today our guide took us through some narrow winding streets with food shops whose ceilings are draped with Parma hams and whose front windows display mountains of Parmigiano Reggiano. There are several cozy little hosterias that were interesting looking enough for a try next time we’re here.

Out in front of the Camera di Commerce, Bologna’s Chamber of Commerce, we learn that this is where the official recipes for Bolognese pasta sauce and tortellini filling are kept. There is also a tagliatele pasta made of gold, documenting its official size and shape for posterity.

We also entered the little complex of connected churches and cloisters called St. Stephen's. One of them is built on top of a pagan chapel dedicated to Isis. Six of the columns encircling the altar in the crypt are from the original 2,000 year old chapel.

After a quick change for dinner, we took a bus past the Twin Leaning Towers of Bologna and got off at the headquarters of an association of Bolognese business men housed in a Renaissance palace. Seated at the table beside the head table, we were served one amuse bouche after another: tiny dishes of panzanella (bread and tomato salad), octopus ceviche, a mini ravioli of spinach and ricotta, a tiny cup of cheese and fruit topped with a raspberry, hazelnut and prune with bacon, a gorgonzola tartlet, a tiny tureen of baccala (whipped cod mousse), asparagus in lardo de colonatta wrapped in threads of phyllo, and a plain dried apricot. ..so many delicious tidbits that we couldn't eat all of the major courses as they arrived!

The head of the association said a few words, then translated the whole paragraph into English with “Welcome to Bologna!” Later he came over to our table and when he saw Anne, he told her he recognized her from the evening television news show. She’d been interviewed earlier in the day at the Re Enzo Palazzo and her 15 seconds made it to Bolognese television. He said she did a great job and he liked what she said.

Another highlight of the trip was the conversation at the table with Umberto Sassatelli Salvadori who manages a division of the travel business started by his great grandfather. Needless to say, he works for the oldest tour operation in the room. He puts together imaginative, dream events like grape harvesting and stomping, a vintage Vespa scooter tour of the countryside. He also told us he’d accompany us to the Music Museum on our next trip to Bologna. It was his agency that worked with John Grisham when he came to Bologna to research “The Broker” and “Playing for Pizza.” He uses an English-speaking former Bolognese chef as a chauffeur for guests so they can get to their destination with running insider commentary on the sights out of the window. Umberto knows lots of locals and asks them if he can line up a group to experience Bolognese life. If they agree, they set a price and Umberto promotes the event and brings the people. Our schedules didn’t intersect during the meetings earlier today; but he wanted us to have his DVD and brochure.

We arranged to meet on the corner by the Neptune fountain after dinner and he drove up on his motorcycle with the information and we told him we’d see him next time.

Then we said goodbye to Bologna by the light of an ancient lamp on Piazza Grande.

posted by Anne and Kirk @ 6:41 PM 0 comments

Discovering Modena

Bologna, Modena

A Modenesa greets us today as we get off the bus in Modena. We passed the Modena signs yesterday about halfway to Parma, so the bus rides today will be much shorter than yesterday. This is the town whose name we enjoyed hearing American newscasters guess how to pronounce a couple of months ago when they told us of the death of Luciano Pavarotti and his funeral here.

The town’s opera hall recently renamed Teatro Maestro Luciano Pavarotti is the first place our guide for the day takes us. We got to walk up and down the aisles; I even found a bathroom and wondered if the Maestro would ever have been caught in there.

A side room holds treasures collected through the decades, such as costumes and beautifully painted backdrops.

Walking toward the 11^th century cathedral, we passed an inconspicuous alley with a big building covered with scaffolding and canvas.

From behind it I could see an interesting collection of little stone towers and arches.

My cries of “I wanna see that!” were ignored by our determined guide who whisked us on down the block and around the corner. She explained the significance of the statues on the front of the cathedral then took us inside to see the unpainted terra cotta nativity scene by Vigarelli – a little less than a third of actual size. This is another church that becomes split-level at the arms of the cross shaped layout.

A few of the marble columns were supported by sitting figures - a unique design.

The upper level with the high altar is for the super-worshippers while the main level is for all the common people. Somehow I don’t think heaven will be like that. Below the higher level is a lower level crypt, cold and with tombs of several old-timers scattered around including one occupied by the bones of the patron saint of Modena. When we went out the side door, I could see on the piazza side of the cathedral the wonderful collection of interesting architectural features on the back of the building I wanted to see before.

A culinary school in town was eager to show of its facilities and skills to us tour operators. Toqued teachers showed us the big table with stools for students of Emiglia Romagna cooking and the spacious kitchen with big stoves for their creations. We got to taste several bite-sized trophies prepared just for us and served along with prosecco and blood orange juice. The chefs described the ingredients for each tasting and we ate it up as we gulped them down before rushing out to inspect a hotel.

On the way there, we got our first strong whiff of the real, live Parmigiano Reggiano for sale under a tent in an open air market. Since we’d not stopped in any cheese shops yesterday in Parma, we picked up a 30 month-old vacuum-packed chunk. It’ll last us about 4 or 5 months if we’re careful not to pig out on it.

The hotel was unimpressive – the opposite of the next stop, which was to me the highlight of both days. Outside Modena and way outside the little village of Rubbiara we pulled our 15 passenger bus into the farm of a salt of the earth family of farmers named Galli. They submit most of their Balsamic Vinegar to the consortium that certifies that their vinegar not only tastes perfect but that is also prepared in the traditional manner. We see bottles of one-year old balsamic vinegar from Modena on our shelves in Virginia but only vinegar that has been certified by the consortium as “traditionale” can be sold as such. It is typically stored from at least 12 years and up to 50 years in little cherry and oak barrels until it thickens and sweetens enough to dribble on strawberries or even vanilla ice cream. We walked through the Galli’s small barn filled with ancient farm implements, by the tasting stand with the tiniest little plastic spoons we’d ever seen, to the stairs at the back of the garage leading up to the attic. Just like big barrels are used to age wine in cellars, balsamic vinegar is aged in little barrels in attics.

Up the stairs we went to the fragrant barrel room where parallel benches fill the room like pews in a country church and on each bench a family of 5 barrels sits. By the wall is the largest but only about 24 inches tall, then toward the main aisle the barrels get progressively smaller and the last one is only about 12 inches tall. The first one is filled with grape juice called “must” and when it matures, the must is used to fill each of the smaller ones. After a year, some of the must from the littlest one has evaporated (the angels’ portion) and the must in the second littlest is used to fill it up. Then the third littlest barrel is used to top off the second barrel. After about 12 years of this traditional method, the balsamic vinegar from the littlest barrel is ready to be skillfully blended with the vinegar from the littlest barrel from another pew to give it the perfect sweetness required for certification by the consortium. This is a fascinatingly slow process and the rewards are just a few 100ml bottles each year. The young 12 year old vinegar goes for 40 euros (around $65) a bottle and you can use your imagination for the price of the 25 to 50 year old stuff.

On a long farm table, Senora Galli served us a country homemade lunch in the building beside the barn. She kept bringing food and explaining what’s in it and how it’s made until we begged her to quit. While we were getting back on the bus, I signed her guest book then paged through reams of happy comments from visitors from Australia, Israel, Japan and other places from which people make the pilgrimage to this slow food shrine.

We made a quick stop at the Abbey of San Silvestro in Nonantola and at a bar for a cup of coffee before driving up to Carpi. I’d never heard of Carpi, sounds like the country cousin of Capri, but there is Europe’s largest city square. We visited a darling little early Medieval chapel with Byzantine frescoes named Santa Maria in Castello or “La Sagra” for short. One fresco is of a frequently seen fight between St George and a dragon signifying the virtue and worth of resisting evil. There are also some early Renaissance frescoes with more animated figures and interesting backgrounds.

And yet another exquisite jewel box of a theater - big business in this country, where opera is a tradition and right.

Like many other towns in the area, several streets are lined with arcades - such a great way to shop in any weather!

Before driving back to Bologna in the dark, we enjoyed another hotel tour and dinner with the managing partners, a welcoming couple who shared our table at a terrific dinner in their restaurant. He graciously replaced some of the Lambrusco bottles on the table with some local Sangeovese for those of us who couldn’t take any more red wine fizz.

posted by Anne and Kirk @ 1:04 PM 0 comments

Discovering Parma

Bologna - Parma
A sumptuous buffet breakfast with fresh strawberries and a perfectly crisp pane ciocolatte prepared us for the long day ahead. We are waiting for the bus across via Independenzia from the luscious Teatro Communale with its statued pediments.
About an hour and a half later we meet in downtown Parma with a British born parmegenesa who takes us inside a palazzo and directly to the all wood Teatro Farnese. A private theater built in 1618 in the classical horseshoe style, it has multiple layers of small arches, but none of the normal boxes for seating. The boxed seats had not yet come into accepted style. The theatre is worth preserving because it shows the transition between the classical amphitheatre style and the modern Kennedy Center-type construction that is in style today.
We walked to an old Benedictine convent where we saw the Camera (room) of San Paolo with a beautiful dome painted by Correggio. The 20 X 20 foot room has a ribbed umbrella style ceiling that the artist used to make us feel we were inside a gazebo gazing through the vines to the sky.
Our guide explained that since Vasari was commissioned by the Medicis to write biographies of contemporary artists in the mid 1500’s he focused primarily on Florentine and Tuscan artists. The fame of the artists and the corresponding value of their works are due largely to the fact that they were included in Vasari’s "Lives." But he left out many excellent artists from the area north of Tuscany – Emilia Romagna. These artists (Parmgiannino and Correggio) approach the level of Michelangelo and Leonardo but were not included in "Lives" because they were not from Tuscany. Interesting argument but after 500 years, when seen side by side, even I can see the reason for the Tuscan’s high relative value.
The 120 foot high dome of Parma’s cathedral painted by Correggio shows Christ leaping out of heaven to welcome his mother who is ascending from among her adoring friends and cherubs on the earth. This is a lot of work considering all the perspective challenges associated with painting the inside of a dome. This fall Parma is building a scaffold so anyone who wants to can view the masterpiece up close. Correggio would disapprove – it was not his intention for the painting to be viewed up close. Our guide cautioned that Christ’s foot near the top of the dome may be 2 times larger than His head that is halfway down the side of it.

At a right angle to the cathedral doors is the 30 foot tall pink marble octagon shaped Baptistery. Inside is a large basin (large enough to make both Baptists and Presbyterians happy) and around the walls are 3 stories of paintings and sculptures depicting Biblical scenes the daily lives of medieval parmagenesi.

As we approached the Teatro Regio, I recognized the square and the bus stop from a web cam I’d watched several months ago when reading John Grisham’s "Playing for Pizza" Several scenes in the book take place in and around this theatre. The premise of the book comes from the fact that this theatre is a testing ground for operatic performers because the feedback is instant and boisterous. If you stink, they hold their noses; if you even have a bad day, they hiss and boo. The main character, a declining NFL quarterback gets booed in the States, goes to Parma and meets an opera star who faces the same possibility in the Teatro Regio.
We lunched a block away from the theatre at Il Trovatore – as much a shrine to Giuseppe Verdi as a restaurant where our great waiter provided (to our great relief) regular red wine instead of the ubiquitous sparkling Lambrusco. We’re starting to get used to a first course of sliced local cured meats; our waiter told us to work our way around the dinner plate starting with culatello, then prosciutto, then coppa finishing with the spicy salami.

Next course is tortelloni – 3 pillows with spinach filling and 3 with pumpkin (spinach first, then the pumpkin, we're instructed).

Semifreddo was followed by coffee in a pretty little musical Verdi cup with dark chocolate to sprinkle in.

We bus to the nearby tiny town of Fontanellato, dominated by a square moated castle, the Rocca Sanvitale.

Inside the castle is a room with the dome painted in 1524 by Parmigianino depicting several scenes from a story about the goddess Diana. The painting was commissioned by the matron of the castle who used the room to grieve over the loss of a newborn. A line from the story laments that Diana was too strong in her punishment for an unintentional infraction.
From there we bussed to Fidenza Village, an outlet mall with all the high end Italian brands. We had a half hour and a 10 percent discount card and all we bought was a little ceramic serving bowl shaped like a round of Parmigiano Reggiano to remember our visit to Parma.

Last stop before dinner is at Salsomaggiore Terme. Built in 1923 it is the most lavish of the lavish European Spas, for those in need of serious treatment with the briny waters.

With magnificent interior and exterior ornamentation by a designer who worked for the King of Siam, there are little rooms with tubs and severe looking ladies in white coats administering treatments in compliance with Italian doctors’ prescriptions.

For the Americans it was near to creepy but many Europeans frequent these thermal baths and feel much better for it.
Dinner is at the Salsomaggiore Golf and Country Club, but not before we take a golf cart tour of the extremely hilly and, today at least, windy course. I can imagine losing a lot of golf balls here. The course is new with several groves of newly planted trees. I rode with a tour director who brings clients from the UK to golf resorts and he agreed that this would be an incredibly difficult course to play. We passed one couple who was on foot dragging their golf bags over the 18 holes of hills and both of us could do little more than pity them. The country club put out a nice spread for us, starting with a nice plate of thinly sliced meats then pasta, a main dish, dessert and coffee. Our choices for wine were the local sparkling white or sparkling red. I’m starting to get heartburn from all the rich food and sparkling wine so I backed off on both. My stomach is also probably still a little upset from the nearly terrifying golf cart ride up and down the hills before dinner.

posted by Anne and Kirk @ 10:49 AM 0 comments