Scenes from Christmas in Lucca

I love Christmastime in Italy. The streets are filled with lights and decorations, making the already beautiful Medieval architecture even more gorgeous.

Near Piazza San Michele, Lucca

Wreaths and greenery decorate doorways, shops, and streets. Holiday magic is in the air.

Chiasso Barletti is the prettiest little Christmas alley in Lucca,

In Lucca, this year’s decorations have a musical theme, with music symbols and poetic lyrics lighting up the piazzas.

Piazza Anfiteatro with a message in Christmas lights - art is a form of craziness.

San Frediano - a perfect spot for an aperitivo under the lights.

The theater where music performances and operas are held glows bright in a stunning display of golden lights. There is ice skating in Piazza Napoleone and the smell of fresh frates (warm, sugar-coated doughnuts) fill the air. I had to taste one - all in the name of research of course. A perfect wintery treat on a cold, crisp night.

Ice skaters glide while Teatro de Giglio glows

It wouldn’t be an Italian Christmas without a presepe (nativity scene). The one inside the Basilica of San Michele is my favorite this season. It has beautiful and detailed figures representing not just Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus but of a whole village of people. The display includes houses, the village mill, and even a pond along with the manger and animals. Most unusual is that this is not a static display - it is programmed with light that changes from sunrise in the east to daylight followed by sunset in the west and to the night sky, in which a bright star appears. I was just as fascinated as was the little girl next to me watching with her grandfather.

The season continues past Christmas through the New Year celebrations and on to Epiphany in early January. So there is still plenty of time to wander through town enjoying the magic of Christmas in Italy.

-post by Joanne

Festive and Light-Filled Florence, Italy

If you would have told me before this holiday season that Florence, Italy, could be even more beautiful than it usually is, I wouldn’t have believed you. But then I saw Florence in its Christmas glory this month. Lights. Trees. Nativity scenes. Holiday markets. Window displays. It is as if the historic center of the city wraps itself up as a giant Christmas gift for all who walk its streets.

Just as the city enfolded art and scientific innovation into its cultural fabric decades ago, every December Florence drapes its cobblestone streets with a dazzling display of lights (which is completely separate from themed light shows that are displayed on some of the city’s epochal  monuments during December).

Shop owners get in on the action with Christmas window displays or swags of greenery; Christmas markets offer artisanal goods and Nativity scenes pop up around town – the most prominent of which sits outside the Duomo in Piazza del Duomo.

The life-size Nativity outside the Duomo.

Wandering the city at this time of year made me feel like a kid during a recent visit as I gazed up and around, trying to take in as much of the displays as I could. It’s a pretty good way to feel at this time of year.

 – post by Judy 

Even scaffolding is given a holiday touch

The Art of Andrea Roggi

There is so much to love about Lucca, Italy - from the Renaissance walls that encircle like a giant hug, to the Medieval streets and buildings, to the music that so often fills its churches, theaters, and squares. It is, like much of Italy, colorful, warm, inviting, and sensuous. Lucca is also a city filled with art. Not museums full of art, but rather a constantly changing outdoor art gallery. Various exhibitions come, filling piazzas or appearing along the walls, and then after a few months they disappear only to be replaced some time later with a new and different art installation. The displays are beautiful and thought-provoking and, best of all, are accessible to everyone. Locals and tourists alike stop to examine the works, to discuss, to photograph, to admire, or sometimes to shake their heads in a sort of “imagine that” gesture. Children not only gaze at these fantastic pieces, but often they can reach out and touch them. It really is art that lives alongside the city and its people.

A Roggi sculpture streetside in Pietrasanta. I love the movement and joy in this piece.

A smaller tree of lIfe theme brass sculpture in the Roggi Gallery in Pietrasanta

This summer a new exhibit graced Lucca, this time by the artist Andrea Roggi, who was born in Tuscany and continues to live, work, and teach in this area.

I first experienced his work in Pietrasanta, where I found his outdoor sculpture of a family at play enchanting. A stop at his gallery in Pietrasanta provided a chance to see more of his work - in bronze and marble - and to learn that an exhibit of his art was just being installed in Lucca.

The Roggi exhibit in Lucca, titled “Terra Mater Earth and Heaven,” included large brass sculptures, many with a recurring “tree of life” theme. The largest of these tree-like sculptures was placed in the Piazza Anfiteatro. Other sculptures were placed on the Renaissance walls, where they were enjoyed by the many people who walk along the walls every day.

This Roggi sculpture, here against Lucca’s blue sky, is one of my favorites.

The Roggi exhibit comes down … what will come next?

As fall arrived the Roggi exhibit came down to make way for the next event, the huge annual Lucca Comics and Games that took place in late October and early November.

But I will anxiously await the appearance of a new art exhibit sometime next spring or summer.

-post by Joanne

For more information on the art of Andrea Roggi and his galleries in Pietrasanta, Cortona, and San Gimignano go to : www.andrearoggi.it

An Apperitivo at Home in Italy

It’s been a chilly, rainy late fall here in Italy. Between floods in Venice and Matera, days of wind and rain here in Lucca,  falling tree limbs in other parts of Tuscany, and evenings that turn dark by 5 p.m,, we recently were in need of a little lift. While warm evenings spent sipping summery drinks on Italian piazzas are long gone, there was no reason that aperitvo hour couldn’t move indoors and into our homes to provide some relief from the gloomy weather.

With that in mind, and the fact the we had Judy’s birthday to celebrate, I decided to throw an aperitivo gathering in my Lucca apartment. Keep in mind that while my kitchen is large by local standards, it is still a relatively small space. And all the pretty platters and just-right serving pieces I’ve collected over the years remain in boxes stored in New Mexico, so hosting a group for aperitivo required imagination, flexibility, and the relaxation of some of my usual “rules” of entertaining. In this case that meant using disposable plates, plastic silverware, and a host of mismatched wine glasses. Making-do was the name of the game. It also helped greatly that friends chipped in with a couple of dishes, extra glasses, and several bottles of wine.

First, the menu. I wanted food that was filling enough that the evening could go well past dinner hour but that was still in keeping with the small bites and finger foods that are typical of aperitivo. All had to be served buffet style, allowing guests to mix and mingle. Here in Lucca this is known as an apericena - a mix of aperitivo and a light, early dinner (dinner in Italian is cena).

I started building the menu with my go-to party dish, savory clafoutis (a recipe I came across years ago in Fine Cooking magazine). These little cloud-like bites are made with a variety of fillings - just pick the flavors you like best. I chose roasted red peppers and goat cheese for half (the tiny ones pictured below) and mushrooms with ham for the slightly larger ones. Both were flavored with a little fresh thyme,  which is still thriving on my terrace. I love that I can make these in the morning and then pop them in the oven to reheat just before serving and also that the same basic batter combines with so many different filling combinations.

Friends contributed other hearty appetizers - zucchini fritters, little packets of bresaola (a cured beef) wrapped around a filling of softened cream cheese seasoned with some Penzey’s fox point seasoning (an American spin on an Italian appetizer), and some mild red peppers with a tuna filling that were colorful and tasty. Yum!

Tuna filled peppers

Bresaola Packets (front)

Zucchini Fritters

Everything else was purchased - prosciutto, three kinds of cheese (pecorino, brie with a fig topping, and - my personal favorite - caprini - a soft cheese marinated in spices and olive oil), olives, focaccia. I made a seasoned salt as a dip for a mix of raw and blanched veggies. It was served alongside olive oil (the little cups meant for soft-boiled eggs made delightful serving pieces for the salt and oil). And, of course, no Italian aperitivo is complete without some salty potato chips.

The wine flowed, starting with a Prosecco birthday toast and then a variety of whites and reds, mostly local varieties. Who needs matching glasses and fancy dishes when you’ve got good friends, good food, lively conversation, laughter, and a place in Italy? -post by Joanne

A Few Days in Argegno, On The Shores of Lake Como

Lake Como, Lago di Como in Italian, has long been special to me. It is the first place I visited in Italy some 20+ years ago. That trip is burned into my memory with exceptional clarity. I can play the memory back almost as if it were a film. The family-run Villa Belvedere in the town of Argegno, the view from my small room, the dining terrace right on the lake, my first taste of real Italian coffee served alongside a silver pitcher of steamed milk, the tall and elegant man named Eligio who made removing the bones from lake fish a tableside art form, and above all,  those towering peaks surrounding the lake. Such a magical landscape. I returned four years later, to the same inn, at a time when I needed a reminder of what true joy felt like. Fifteen years after that I celebrated my retirement with another trip to Lake Como. My memories there are strong and nothing short of life-affirming.

Argegno, along the western shore of Lake Como

Now that I live in Tuscany, the lake is just a train ride away, albeit a train ride that takes five hours with three changes of train, but still much easier than a transatlantic flight. So when my sister came to visit me in October,  we spent a few days in Lucca and then headed to Argegno on the lake’s western shore for a dose of lake magic.

Argegno is a small village (population less than 1,000), one of those wonderful spots close to a major tourist center and yet somehow blessedly removed. It escapes the large crowds of visitors that head for the more famous mid-lake towns of Bellagio, Tremezzo, and Menaggio or to Varenna, across the lake and served by direct train access.

Roman bridge over the river Telo in Argegno

Like most towns on the lake, Argegno has a long seawall running alongside the water, a narrow but fast moving street that runs north from the town of Como, and colorful houses that climb up, up, up the steep slope that rises from the lake. There is also a small harbor, an arched Roman bridge crossing the River Telo, which flows down the hillside and into the lake, and several cafes and restaurants.

Argegno’s tiny harbor

Argegno is also home to the Hotel Villa Belvedere, situated right on the lake (you can hear the waves lapping and the occasional fish jumping from your room) and where I have stayed on each of my trips.

The hotel has changed over the years, and I admit I still miss the wonderful Cappelletti family who ran the inn for several generations and welcomed me on my first two visits. I was pleased on this trip to find one member of the staff who remembered well the Cappellettis and the hotel’s history. The new Relais group owners have made changes - adding an elevator, a few “upscale” touches to the decor, remodeled bathrooms (my shower was party size - a rarity in Italy), the simple outdoor gravel patio is now a glass-enclosed room that serves as the dining room for the highly rated restaurant. They serve wonderful, seasonal meals - delicious from the appetizers straight through to dessert. Local fish plays a starring role (though there are many other options). I can highly recommend the lake perch risotto. Great food served with a stunning lake view.

Dining overlooking Lake Como

Lake perch Risotto - yum!

Don't forget dessert!

The small bar with its perfect outdoor patio feels much the same as it did on my first visit, as does an indoor lounge - a good place to enjoy a late afternoon or evening drink on a foggy fall afternoon.  The breakfasts are wonderful and include eggs, meats, cheeses, yogurt, fruit, cereal, and wonderful breads and pastries. There was even a delicious apple strudel one morning - a testament to the lake’s proximity to Switzerland. All good - and yet I must admit that I missed the quiet lady who served me that first caffe latte on my long ago visit; in her stead is a Nespresso machine, which is simply not the same as a lovely Italian lady asking, “Cosa prende signora, un caffe latte?”

Despite the changes, the hotel is still a favorite. It has a remarkable location, amazing views from the lakeside rooms (rooms along the street are noisier and less scenic), and a helpful and friendly staff. It retains its quaint character and offers a good value in simple but comfortable rooms. 

And did I mention the views? 

Staying in room No. 7 we had a small terrace (top photo) from which to view the lake, the small villages on the opposite shore, the comings and goings of the ferries, and the ever-changing light - sunrise, moon glow, dense fog, low clouds filling the valleys, sunshine. There were even fireworks on the distant shore one night.

Sunrise, captured from my room on Lake Como

One of the many boats which ferry passengers, and cars, across the lake

Just a few steps from the hotel is the dock for the ferry boats, which crisscross the lake. 

In the second week of October they were already on the “off-season” schedule, which meant less frequent stops. But with just a little advance planning, and a copy of the boat schedule provided by the hotel, we were able to coordinate boat excursions to Lenno, Bellagio, and Varenna.

One benefit of a visit in mid-October was the absence of big crowds. Though the bigger villages still had plenty of visitors, the atmosphere was relaxed and easy-going.

Each village on the lake has a unique character and different visitors will have their own favorite spots. For me, I love staying in quiet Argegno with easy access to the other villages. I’ll write more about the villages of Lenno, Bellagio, and Varenna in upcoming posts.  Stay tuned!    -post by Joanne

Contact information:

Villa Belvedere.  Via Milano 1 22010. Argegno, CO, Italy

Website: villabelvedererelais.com

Email: info@villabelvedererelais.it