Want to see (and, in winter, ski) the Alps? Get off the train in Lecco and walk across the station parking lot to the bus stand in via Montello, where the #5 bus departs, roughly every hour, for the Funivia (you can buy bus tickets at the newsstands inside or outside the railway station, or on… Continue reading Lecco: Between Lake Como and the Alps
Category: Lake Como
Lecco to Bellagio by Boat: A Beautiful Day on Lake Como
The ferry runs from Lecco (on Lake Como’s southeastern tip) only from spring to fall. The slow boat to Bellagio (one and a half hours) is the best way to see this branch of the lake. With its steep, craggy mountainsides plunging down into the water, it’s reminiscent of a Norwegian fjord. The boat hops… Continue reading Lecco to Bellagio by Boat: A Beautiful Day on Lake Como
Guests of Conti Sertoli Salis: Part 3, Wine!
When we finished seeing the palazzo, we had a little stroll in the garden, in which an intricate, manicured geometric hedge is winningly juxtaposed with overgrown and out-of-control everything else. My favorite photo of the day is above – autumn red vines draping down a stone plaque. The boast of the garden is a glorious,… Continue reading Guests of Conti Sertoli Salis: Part 3, Wine!
Guests of Conti Sertoli Salis: Part 2, The Palazzo
After an excellent (if somewhat hasty) lunch, the four of us had a private tour of Palazzo Sertoli Salis, which is still the home of the Sertoli Salis family, as well as the headquarters of the winery. My photos don’t do justice to it: the palazzo is charming, rich with newly-restored tromp l’oeil frescoes cleverly… Continue reading Guests of Conti Sertoli Salis: Part 2, The Palazzo
Guests of Conti Sertoli Salis: Fine Food and Wine in Valtellina
Part 1: Lunch! Many moons ago, spurred by a question on Fodors.com, I wandered the Internets, looking up wineries in the nearby region of Valtellina. Several had sites, some gorgeously produced. Sertoli Salis particularly caught my eye because the site was so very beautiful, and I knew the wines to be good, but the English… Continue reading Guests of Conti Sertoli Salis: Fine Food and Wine in Valtellina