It’s our last day in Italy! As such, our main mission today was to tie up any loose ends we may have. This was more difficult than you might imagine, because we packed our itinerary so far in order of priority so we’ve seen all the main sights and most of the secondary ones too! In the end, we settled on Varese and Angera.
Varese is a city about an hour’s drive from Stresa, away from Lago Maggiore, bigger than the towns around the lake. When we stepped onto the street from the underground parking lot where we left our rental car, the sun was bearing down on us with aplomb, raising the temperature to nearly 30°C. Once again I am slithering through the shadows like I might spontaneously combust!
Varese’s old town starts at the ghastly Piazza Monte Grappa, and if the road there did not win us over, the old cobblestoned streets that run up north from there make for a lovely little old quarter, the streets lined with high-end fashion boutiques. Right on time for our morning coffee break we came upon Pasticceria Ghezzi, a 1920s style cafe with a seemingly unchanged interior and a nice little terrace outside. I asked for “brioche”, which is funnily how they seem to call sweet baked goods in general around here (what they would call “viennoiseries” in France), and was served a plain bun that looked perfectly ordinary but was in fact delicious, spongy and buttery as it should be.
Right around from the corner is the Basilica San Vittore, a large church with a tall belltower standing next to it, but separate. We went inside and were surprised to see the interior fully covered in frescoes and other decorations, turning what might have been a gloomy space into a remarkable sight. We didn’t linger, though, because they were closing and while nothing seemed to be happening we didn’t want to wait to get kicked out!
We then walked over to the Palazzo Estense, which now serves as Varese’s City Hall. The building itself is now fully administrative, but its expansive gardens are free to visit. We took a brief walk up the hill following a shady footpath, but for the most part it was far too sunny and hot to venture outside the shade of the trees. It’s a pity, because it looked like the gardens must make for a nice leisurely stroll at a different time, but it really was sweltering out there.
Determined to make our last lunch in Italy count, I had scouted a place called Bologna in the old quarter, so that’s where we went. We found a quintessentially Italian bistro where we were the only foreigners: lots of pictures of visiting local celebrities and autographs of athletes on the walls, you get the vibe. We ordered risotto, which is apparently the area’s specialty, and finally this was a good one: with taleggio cheese and black truffle, it wasn’t as thick or as richly-flavored as I expected but it was still a delight to have a properly cooked risotto.
That was mostly it for Varese, as the heat made it unappealing to walk around more, not to mention how exhausted we are by this point anyway. There’s another palazzo called Villa Panza about 5km north that houses a contemporary art collection; the concept sounded intriguing, but it would have required driving up and parking again and I wasn’t at all clear that the effort would have been worth it.
So instead we drove off back to Angera, the town opposite Arona, to see the Rocca di Angera fort that we saw from across the lake. It’s an impressive medieval construction, built throughout the 11th to 14th centuries and incredibly well preserved today (unlike the Rocca Borromea atop Arona, which lies in ruins).
Walking to the entrance from the car park outside we were horrified to see like 300 schoolkids on a field trip and thought we may have to share our visit with their shrieking masses -but thankfully they were on their way out and we had the entire fort to ourselves!
At 14€ a ticket, the visit is not cheap, but I promise it’s quite something to see a castle so old holding up so well to the passages of time. Walking to the very top of the tallest tower, enjoying a 360° view of the entire surrounding area, I kept imagining how awe-inspiring the view must have felt in the Middle Ages.
Inside, the main attraction is the Hall of Justice, which boasts colorful frescoes dating back to the 13th century, although there are also several other rooms with ancient furniture, paintings and tapestries. Some of the rooms are so well preserved that I could immediately imagine the ordinary life of the castle’s inhabitants.
There’s also, I guess I should mention, an entire floor decided to a permanent exhibition of European dolls and children’s toys. The toys are cute, but honestly most of the dolls are too creepy for the exhibition to be really interesting! There’s a separate one downstairs for dolls of the world that’s much better, with a remarkable collection of antique Japanese dolls.
So I think this is the conclusion of this trip to Italy. The short version of it is that Lago Maggiore is definitely worth a visit, and if anything from my entries sounds appealing at all you should add it to your list without hesitation. It can be a three day visit, because we spent a week here exploring every nook around the lake, but the top sights are clearly the Borromean Islands and Orta San Giulio, which can be easily done in one day each. As from transportation, renting a car helps but I think it’s doable to stay in Stresa and take boats or buses to get around.
That’s it for this round! Where shall we go next?!
This Is A Lake 