Stresa Travel Notes: Summer Sagra Season

Yesterday was Luca's birthday and we went to the sagra in Vedasco for a birthday dinner with friends before watching the fireworks across the lake in Pallanza.

So I thought I'd write a post about sagre in general and let you know about some of the main summer ones in and around Stresa. I'll also include a glossary of the most common foods found at our local sagre.

Look out for signs around town!

A sagra is a kind of outdoor party with food, drink and music. Sometimes they are themed around a particular food (here on the lake that is often fish), but can also be a general mix of grilled meat, sausages, polenta etc. In wine producing areas you may also find sagre devoted to the local wine. 

The Alpini Troops Fish Sagra in Stresa

A lot of the sagre here are run as fund-raising events for various local associations or clubs so, by taking part, you know you are also giving something back to the community.

Lunch at the Alpini Troops Party in Stresa

I often find it a shame that so few tourists come to the sagre. They often do lunch as well as evening events so next time you see one pop in. Have a look at the glossary below as I know they aren't always geared up with translations of the menu.

Music from the Alpini Troops Band

So if you decide to visit a sagra how do they work? Firstly you need to find the cassa where you will see the menu displayed. Tell the guy at the cassa what you'd like (including drinks) and pay. You will be given some kind of record of your order. Sometimes it is a printed sheet with your items ticked and totalled up, sometimes it is different coloured tickets with the items you've chosen pre-printed on. Either way, head to the "kitchen" area and the bar, hand over your tickets and collect your food and drinks. If you forget something or want to have something else after you can always go back to the cassa and order more! We tend to do this, preferring to wait and see if we have room for cheese and dessert!!

The Festa Fonti in Baveno - we loved the 80's disco night!!

The Chestnut Sagra in Stresa

Seating is usually on long trestle tables and benches, so just find a spot and enjoy!

Sagre in and around Stresa that we enjoy
These are some of the summer sagre that we enjoy going to in and around Stresa and their approximate dates:

The Toma Cheese Sagra in Nebbiuno - mid-May
The Alpini Troops Fish Sagra in Stresa - first week of June
The Alpini Troops Party in Stresa - second week of June
The Festa Fonti in Baveno - each weekend end July/first half of August
The Vedasco August Sagra - each weekend second half of August

Taste of the Lake "Sapori di Lago" Fish Sagra in Baveno - last two weekends of August
The Chestnut Sagra (Castagnata) - beginning of October

Glossary
Salsiccia - sausage
Salamino - another type of sausage, usually fatter and sometimes grilled butterflied
Bracciola - pork chop
Fritto Misto - mixed fried fish
Calamari fritti - fried squid rings
Brasato - braised meat stew, often served with polenta
Spezzatino - stew, often served with polenta
Patatine fritte - fries
Castagne or caldarroste - roast chestnuts
Toma - a type of cheese. Each area has their own Toma. In Stresa you will find Mottarone, Valsesia, Crodo and other local Toma cheeses

Isola Pescatori: A Local Artist's House, Studio & Secret Garden

**Updated 30/03/2015 with opening dates/tour times**

Yesterday afternoon Luca and I were fortunate enough to have a couple of hours to go to Isola Pescatori and visit the newly opened gallery of local island artist, Andrea Ruffoni (1925-1990). The visit is guided and free and really is a must see for any visitor to Isola Pescatori.

The ferry arriving on Isola Pescatori

The gallery is in an island house which makes it a unique experience. The average visitor (myself included!) doesn't normally get to visit an island house and it is so much bigger than you think it will be. With such narrow lanes and higgledy piggledy buildings, you can't imagine what is inside. The rooms are light and airy with amazing views over the lake and down the lane that runs though the centre of the island. You will see Isola Pescatori from a whole different perspective!

View from the front balcony

Your guide is Monica, whose family are from Isola Bella. She has lived in England for 30 years but always loves coming back to "her islands". She remembers Andrea Ruffoni from when she was growing up and is the perfect local guide to show you around the gallery. It was a wonderful tour with just the right amount of information and explanations about the artwork and the artist. Monica has her favourite spots in the house and is keen to surprise you with her favourite views of the island.

Entering the house/gallery you immediately climb a spiral staircase and in the first room Monica gives a short introduction about Andrea Ruffoni and how he lived and worked.

At the age of 30 he travelled extensively in Europe to study modern art, including an extended stay in Vienna, and it was on one of these trips that he met his wife. They were on a train and both noticed that they were each reading a copy of the catalogue from the same art exhibition. Returning to live permanently on Isola Pescatori, Andrea set up his studio in 1976. His first works were in plexiglass, black lacquered plaster (which gives it the look of ebony) and drift wood from the lake. He then started using rubbish, mianly discarded plastic bottles, which he melted onto metal mesh and used concrete, sand, ashes and burning to create the effects you see in many of the artwork hanging in the gallery. In many of his works he tried to reflect the mark we are leaving on the earth.

 

Your tour continues throughout the house with the chance to step out onto the balconies and see snapshots of the island: across the tiled rooftops, looking down on the narrow lanes, or watching the hustle and bustle of the boats coming and going below.

The gate to the secret garden

Monica then takes you next door to visit the artist's simple but beautiful home before taking you further down the lane to the island's secret garden. Now, I must have walked past this gate a thousand times and never imagined what was behind. It isn't fancy, it isn't ornate and there are no exotic plants, but it is the most wonderful little green oasis on Isola Pescatori. It was once the vegetable garden belonging to the artist's parents when they had a bar/café on the ground floor of the gallery building. In his will, Andrea insisted that the garden must remain and garden and never be built on. Along with his artwork, I think this was an outstanding legacy to leave to the island and its visitors.

I urge you to go and visit the Andrea Ruffoni Gallery and Museum - it is a unique experience and Monica is a fabulous guide. The tours are free and take place every day (except Monday) from 1st June until 2nd October 2016. Tours are limited to eight people at a time, first come, first served every hour 11.00-17.00.

Sarah, Viaggi Tomassucci

The Rocca d'Angera - Angera's Castle

Another long gap between posts I'm afraid, but thankfully that means it has been a busy May and June! A visit from my parents last week gave me the opportunity to take a day off and go exploring with them. So we fired up their hire car and did a bit of a south lake tour, taking in the Rocca d'Angera Castle and the bucket lift in Laveno.

A view of the Rocca d'Angera Castle from the medieval garden

The main entrance of the Rocca d'Angera

As I've already written about the bucket lift, I thought I'd share my thoughts about the Rooca d'Angera. I'm sure it gets a a lot fewer visitors than the other Borromean attractions, Isola Bella and Isola Madre, but this means we pretty much had the palce to ourselves and I think it is well worth a visit.

Apart from being in a super position above Angera, with views from the tower over the south part of Lake Maggiore, I really enjoyed the rooms in the main part of the castle, the automata collection and the small medieval kitchen garden.

The courtyard and cafe before entering the castle

The entrance and cafe

As you enter the main castle complex on the right is an enormous press and wooden barrels from the old wine cellar. You can then walk round the courtyard to visit the doll and toy museum where I'm sure you'll trigger more than one childhood memory!

You then enter the main castle rooms: the "ceremonies room" and the "pomp room". Both rooms are simply furnished and have wonderful frescoes and paintings. For me, they are the kind of rooms I expect to see in a 16th and 17th century castle. Past the "ceremonies room" you will find a small room full of a very colourful collection of over 300 pieces of Majolica. Carrying on to the next room there is a fascinating collection of automata. There is a video screen showing several of them working and I defy you not to have a little snigger when they get to the "weeing lady"!!

The "ceremonies room"

The "pomp room"

Coming back out into the courtyard you can begin your climb to the upper terrace and then the top of the tower. The climb is done in stages, starting in the brightly frescoed "justice room". The frescoes here date back to the 13th century and were made by a painter known only as the "Angera Master". Take the wooden staircase at the end of the room and begin your climb. My tip on your way up is to take time to look out from the small windows for wonderfully framed snapshots across the lake.

The "justice room" (and my Mum and Dad!)

Carry on up from room to room and you will reach a large roofed terrace which already gives you great 270° views, but keep going to reach the top of the tower where you will get full 360° panoramic views over south Lake Maggiore.

Looking north towards Meina and Lesa

Looking south towards Arona and beyond to Sesto Calende

After visiting the castle we strolled down into the gardens which are nothing like the ones on the Borromean Islands. Instead there are grape vines, herbs and fruit trees. Nonetheless I found them enchanting and we had a pleasant stroll around, smelling the herbs and trying to guess what some of the fruit trees were!

After our leisurely visit we decided to have some lunch at the little cafe. A sandwich and a drink hit the spot and the outside seating area had great views across the lake.

The cafe seating is just out of shot to the right!

Have you been to the Rocca d'Angera? What did you think?

Practical Information

Entrance to the Rocca costs € 8.50 for adults and € 5.50 for children 6-15 years. If you will visit the Rocca, Isola Bella and Isola Madre during your holiday you can buy a joint entrance ticket for all three atrractions. This costs € 22.00 for adults and € 11.50 for children. The two islands must be visited on the same day but you can visit the Rocca on any other day until the end of the season!

Driving to the Rocca is the easiest option, but if you don't have a car then here's how to get there with public transport:

Stresa to Angera
2014 there is a daily hydrofoil from Stresa at 10.27, arriving Angera at 10.45. On Saturdays and Sundays there is a ferry from Stresa at 11.45, arriving Angera at 12.03.

Angera to Stresa
2014 there is a daily ferry from Angera at 13.20, arriving Stresa at 14.20. On Saturdays and Sundays there is a ferry from Angera at 14.34, arriving Stresa at 14.55. There is also a daily ferry from Angera at 15.34, arriving Stresa at 15.55.

Please note that the Rocca is 1.4km from the ferry station in Angera with the last part being uphill.

Stresa Travel Notes: Nights out on Isola Bella **updated July 2014**

**Update July 2014** The evening events on Isola Bella have changed slightly for 2014 so I have rewritten parts of the post.

I don't usually use this blog to write about events, but the new initiatives from the bar, restaurant and shop owners on Isola Bella definitely deserves some blog space. Although there are some changes for 2014 we are looking forward to some greats night out on Isola Bella again this year!

The palace at night

Bella by Night

When?
Every Friday from 6th June to 29th August and the last Saturday of each month from 28th June to 30th August.

What?
Fridays are street food, music with your transport and first drink included for €10 per person. After your first included drink, discounted drinks are available at the four participating bars/restaurants: Ristorante Magnolia, Ristorante Elvezia, Il Chiosco and Osteria del Crimine. The boats will start operating at 20.00 from the Stresa Lido (cable car station square).  Saturdays enjoy dinner and music with free transport provided for all table reservations.

How?
On Fridays transfers by boat Stresa Lido - Isola Bella - Stresa Lido cost €10 per person (including your first drink) and start at 20.00 - no need to book. Drinks and meals to be paid directly at each bar/café/restaurant. Booking for Saturday nights: call +39 347 7848926 and your boat time will be given at time of booking.

Programme
For the full season programme of what live music will be on visit the Bella by Night website or or events calendar

Live music on Isola Bella

Arriving on Isola Bella

Ristorante Elvezia, Isola Bella

Fish supper by the lake

Osteria del Crimine, Isola Bella

Hope to see you there! Let us know if you head over to Isola Bella for one of the evenings and what you think of it.

Sarah, Viaggi Tomassucci

Stresa Travel Notes: Bellissima Isola Bella!

Ok, so it has been a long time (too long!) since the blog was updated, so I thought what better way to start the season than with a visit to Isola Bella.

I have already posted about Isola Madre and Isola Pescatori so I thought it was about time that Stresa's most visited attraction got a mention too.

Isola Bella is the nearest island to Stresa and is therefore the first stop on the ferry away from the mainland, just a 10 minute journey. The island is dominated by the Borromean palace and its terraced gardens, but there is also a church, some shops, bars and restaurants.

But lets get back to the main attraction: once you have your ticket you will enter the palace first and then the gardens. Unfortunately no photos are allowed in the palace so I will give you a brief outline. Climbing up the wide stone staircase you will reach the first floor and the start of your visit. In front of you is the entrance to the picture gallery (extra charge €3) and then to the right, the main part of the palace. Take a look at the model of the palace and gardens in the Salone Nuovo (Salone delle Feste) and you will see how the original plans for the palace were quite different. Other highlights are the Sala di Napoleone and the Sala della Musica where Mussolini, MacDonald and Laval met for the Stresa Conference in 1935 and look out for the exquisite mosaic table which is my favourite piece of furniture in the whole palace.

After you go downstairs, visit the cool stone and shell studded grottoes, you will come upstairs again and through the tapestry room into the gardens. Here I thought I would let the photos do the talking:

Practical Information

If you are just planning to visit Isola Bella the return ferry costs €6.80 return (€5.60 for over 65's Monday to Friday). If you are planning to combine it with other visits on the same day have a look at our guide to the ferries and you can see the different ticket options.

Entrance costs €13.00 per person and if you combine it with a visit to Isola Madre on the same day you can get a joint ticket for both islands for €18.50. RHS members enter for free.

Stresa Travel Recipes: Sweet Treats for Christmas!

This year for Christmas I decided to make some homemade gifts for friends and settled on mini cestini of sweet treats: soft almond and hazelnut nougat (torrone morbido alle mandorle e noci), rum and raisin fudge and cantucci (biscotti).

The finished product

I searched through a lot of recipes online and settled on the collection that follows. For the nougat and fudge you will need a food thermometer. After reading around a bit I settled on the Silikomart Thermo Choc which I ordered direct from their website. It is the first time I've done any cooking that required such precise temperatures and, being built into a spatula, I found it very easy to use (and being silicon, very easy to clean too!).

Soft Almond and Hazelnut Nougat (Torrone Morbido alle Mandorle e Noci) 

My nougat slab

The original recipe is here (with much better photos than mine!) and as it is in Italian, here is the translation:

I read plenty online about making nougat and the best tip I found was to have all the ingredients weighed out before you start, because once you get going you need them quickly.

Ingredients
250g orange blossom honey
100ml water and 410g sugar
40g egg white (here that worked out at 1.5 medium egg's worth)
600g nuts (I used about 500g almonds and 100g hazelnuts)
Grated zest of one orange
Rice paper

Hand whisk
Wooden spoon at the ready!
Food thermometer

1. Preparation is key! Weigh everything out. Lay out some grease proof paper on your worktop and then put your rice paper on top. To give you an idea of the size you need I spread my nougat over rice paper measuring 28x36cm. Heat the oven to 180°C and put the nuts on a baking tray and toast until just going gold.

2. Whilst the nuts are toasting whip the egg white in a large bowl. I did it to medium peaks.

3. Put the honey in a pan and heat it to exactly 120°C. Take it off the heat and stir it to cool down a couple of degrees. With your hand whisk going drizzle the honey into the egg whites and beat for a further 5 minutes. At this point I got the nuts out the oven and put them in a separate bowl.

4. Heat the sugar and water to a syrup and continue heating until 147°C. Then with your hand whisk going drizzle the syrup into the egg white and honey mix and add the orange zest. Keep whisking and it will start to stiffen. At a certain point you will need to swap to the wooden spoon or your whisk motor will burn out!! At this point add the nuts. Keep beating (great biceps exercise!!).

5. When it is stiff and gluey spoon it onto the rice paper. Wet your hands and with your hands still wet press the nougat to spread it out over the rice paper (if you don't wet your hands you will stick to the nougat). Cover with rice paper and use a rolling pin to get an even thickness of about 1.5cm.

6. Leave to cool completely before cutting. The original recipe said 1 hour but I left mine overnight as it was still a bit soft after an hour. My tip for cutting it - have a glass of water handy and dip your knife in every now and then. I used a non serrated knife to cut it. Also be decisive when cutting! Otherwise it squashes!! NB it does not need to be refrigerated to set.

Enough nougat to feed an army!

Rum and Raisin Fudge

The basic fudge recipe is here in English. I added a good handful of raisins soaked in rum :) My tip here really is to do exactly as the recipe says. After beating it your arm will be ready to drop off so you might want to call in some extra muscle to help at that stage. Heating it to the exact temperature in the recipe and beating it exactly like it said, I had no problem setting the fudge at room temperature.

Cantucci (Biscotti)

The original recipe is here and this time I followed with no additions of my own. My tip for making these biscotti is to cut decisively and with a non-serrated knife as the dough is very delicate at the cutting stage. When I put the biscotti back in for the second bake, I found I needed a tad longer than 15 minutes to get them to harden but I guess that will all depend on your oven.











Have you made any homemade gifts for Christmas? We'd love to hear your recipes!

Stresa Travel Recipes: Halloween Pumpkin and Chocolate Loaf

Yep, it's Halloween and I'm following last year's pumpkin recipes with a sweet treat for this year! I love baking and make a cake each week to enjoy as merenda in the office every afternoon. The main part of this cake comes from the Leeks & Limoni blog but with a little less sugar, added chocolate and some Halloween inspiration. It makes a nice moist, stodgy cake!

I tend to make most cakes in a loaf tin as it is easier to portion up and pack to bring to the office, but the original recipe calls for a 24cm diameter cake tin. If you want to go all out with the Halloween theme you could always add orange coloured frosting and/or chocolate spider webs :)

At the market here I can't get the traditional large round orange pumpkin so I used my usual squat green-skinned type of squash in my first run through and a mix of that and butternut squash in my second go..

The finished sticky, stodgy, chocolatey, Halloween pumpkin loaf 

Ingredients
350g pumpkin/squash (weight peeled and deseeded)
200g self-raising flour
4 medium eggs
100g butter, melted
150g caster sugar
40g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 orange
0.25 tsp grated nutmeg (the nutmeg I have is in a jar with a built in mill so I gave it a couple of twists)
40g dark chocolate drops

Heat the oven to 180°C/356°F and line your loaf or cake tin.

Firstly make your squash purée. I made mine by chopping up the squash into 2.5cm chunks and using a pressure cooker. Mash the cooked squash until smooth and leave to cool.

Whisk the sugar and eggs together in a bowl until creamy and increased in volume. Fold in the sieved flour, cocoa and spices. Add the melted butter and squash purée and mix until everything is combined. Add the chocolate drops and orange zest.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. I followed the advice of the Leeks & Limoni blog and covered the cake with foil for the last 10 minutes to stop the top from burning.

Cool in the tin for about 15-20 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack.

Let me know if you give the cake a go and if you add any Halloween twists of your own!

Sarah, Viaggi Tomassucci