With the Dubai summer exodus well underway, we packed our bags and headed west to Italy for a couple of weeks. We’d hired a car and would be travelling from north to south, starting off in Milan and finishing up in Rome, taking in the Lakes, a wedding, Maranello, Bologna, Florence, and Pisa in between.
We landed at Malpensa airport on a sunny Friday afternoon. After picking up the hire car it was immediately evident that the driving on this trip would be an interesting experience - some heavy use of the Renault Picasso's horn before we'd even left the airport car park set the tone for the rest of the holiday. After an hour or so of driving, including plenty of sat nav induced mistakes (mainly caused by trying to wrap it's tongue around street names such as Via Giulio Cesare Procaccini, amongst others), we finally arrived at the hotel, checked in and headed out to see Milan.
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| Parco Sempione |
Italy's second most populous city, Milan is the country's commercial and financial centre. While it doesn't have the number of historical sights to match Rome, it does have some pretty impressive buildings, including the cathedral (or Duomo) in the centre of the city. Taking nearly 6 centuries to complete, the cathedral is the fifth largest in the world - it's absolutely huge. We climbed the 250+ spiral steps to the roof for a fantastic view out over the piazza below and the city beyond.
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| The view from the top of the Duomo |
We wandered through Parco Sempione and around Castello Sforzesco which was very pleasant, despite being accosted by a wooden sword wielding and Euro-demanding Italian dressed in period costume. Milan is hosting the world Expo in 2015, ahead of Dubai holding the event in 2020, and the whole city is gearing up for it, with flags and posters everywhere. Milan first hosted the event in 1906 in Parco Sempione, and the organisers have built a huge Expo building just behind the park to promote the event, that will run from May to October next year.
The food in Milan definitely lived up to our expectations. It's a surprise you don't see more rotund Italians as every meal seems to consist of vast qualities of bread, olive oil, pasta and other carbs. Even a salad involves huge slabs of parmesan cheese, prosciutto ham, the freshest reddest tomatoes I've ever seen and gallons of oil and balsamic vinegar. Absolutely fantastic.
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| Lecco on Lake Como |
After a couple of nights in Milan, we set off north on the Autostrada to Pescate near Lecco, on the southern banks of Lake Como. After checking in we carried on north towards the town of Bellagio, situated in the centre of where the lake splits in two. The town is absolutely stunning, with pastel coloured buildings of all shades clinging to the side of the lake, and beautiful restaurants and cafes lining the streets.
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| Bellagio |
Frequented by rock stars, movie stars and other affluent types, Bellagio is pretty compact but attracts floods of tourists every day, even on grey and damp days like this day was. The place has been a holiday resort dating back to Roman times and you can see why.
Our second day in Pescate was even greyer and damper, so we set off on a trip around the entire lake, which was further than we maybe anticipated (around 120km!). Varenna and Mennagio on either side of the lake are much like Bellagio, with beautiful villas and buildings set against the backdrop of the lake. Everything looked splendid despite the drizzling rain. Apparently Italy hasn’t had a summer like this for years, with the Lake much higher than usual and all the locals puzzled over what the weather was doing.
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| Lake Como |
Day five and we set off for Lake Maggiore to the west. Despite the sat nav insisting on a route that would take us through Switzerland, the friendly border guard redirected us on a different road and we made it in good time. We stayed in a town called Baveno on the west coast of the lake, which was the setting for Becky’s friend Emma’s wedding the following day.
We hooked up with all her friends at the hotel and went out for dinner, with the wedding party pretty much taking over an entire restaurant. More great Italian food was consumed, with me getting more than I bargained for with a lobster linguine (i.e. an entire lobster on my plate). A few Italian drinks were consumed too as we scoped out Baveno’s nightlife well into the evening.
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| Wedding breakfast at Grand Hotel Dino |
The wedding the next day was lovely, in a beautiful church set back from the lake. Luckily the weather stayed dry, if a little hot for suits. After the ceremony, back at the hotel the reception got into full swing. An Italian wedding seems to involve a seven course wedding breakfast, spread over a couple of hours with everyone on their feet dancing in between. Oh and shots of Limoncello during the speeches... It was a really great wedding.
The food in Milan definitely lived up to our expectations. It's a surprise you don't see more rotund Italians as every meal seems to consist of vast qualities of bread, olive oil, pasta and other carbs. Even a salad involves huge slabs of parmesan cheese, prosciutto ham, the freshest reddest tomatoes I've ever seen and gallons of oil and balsamic vinegar. Absolutely fantastic.
The wedding the next day was lovely, in a beautiful church set back from the lake. Luckily the weather stayed dry, if a little hot for suits. After the ceremony, back at the hotel the reception got into full swing. An Italian wedding seems to involve a seven course wedding breakfast, spread over a couple of hours with everyone on their feet dancing in between. Oh and shots of Limoncello during the speeches... It was a really great wedding.
