Kenmore Undressed

There’s More to Italy than Tuscany: Varese in Lombardy

As we drove through the lush, green roads north of Milan our hosts, Fabio Zerini and his wife Laura, pointed out that “this definitely isn’t Toscana!” In fact, our last two days in Italy were spent in a region north of Milan better know as the Province of Varese in Lombardy. We were fortunate to meet Fabio, Laura and a number of other “Lombards” in Sardegna. They are good friends of my cousins in Lucca. When they found out that we were spending our last two days close to their home in a town called Vergiate, they insisted on giving us a tour of the area. I’ve got to say: no, this region is definitely not Tuscany. It’s more modern and spread out. It lacks the cypress trees, vineyards and old rustico homes; nevertheless, we were charmed by the warmth of our hosts and impressed by this unique part of Italy. As always there were some wonderful surprises along the way:

Varese is truly beautiful. Modern and stylish, it is a unique blend of the old and the new. We were there on a Saturday evening and I was amazed at the number of younger people who filled the streets and plazas.

This building dating back to the 1500’s is now home to a number of small shops. This was a stunning example of how Italy blends the old and the new.

The city is full of deliciously stylish clothing stores, cafes and beautiful architecture. We were amazed at how beautiful Varese is. It is also close to a number of beautiful lakes (Lake Cuomo among them). Although we didn’t have time to explore more of the lakes, I did manage to take a couple of pictures of Lake Comabbio:

I did want to say a few words about Vergiate, where we spent our last two days in Italy. First, there’s not much to say. It’s a very small town with some small shops and restaurants. If you drove through it, you’d hardly notice it exists……………..but here’s why Italy is so compelling and wonderful: there’s always a surprise lurking out there to charm and warm your heart. On Sunday we got up rather late after spending the evening with Fabio, Laura and friends. We were hoping to catch a train over to Lake Maggiore and do more sightseeing. Unfortunately, we missed our train and had to stay in Vergiate. At first this did not seem promising but we decided to go for a walk and investigate the town. As usual we were pleasantly surprised. The town has a beautiful little church:

But, the best adventure was in a local restaurant. We had seen this restaurant when we first arrived and thought it looked good. Inside the restaurant was small. There was one waitress and a couple of locals having lunch. We were  hungry so we ordered risotto with mushrooms, grilled vegetables and some wine. Nothing special………………….until the owner brought out the risotto. Check this out:

She served the risotto from the middle of this huge round of cheese! By the way, the risotto was delicious. It just goes to show you that no matter how ordinary things seem to be in Italy, there’s always something special around the next bend.