Great food, lectures and Lake Como

 October 11, 2021

Great Food, Lectures, and Lake Como

 Yesterday, Sunday, was a light day.  We had a lecture in the morning on Medieval and Renaissance architecture which was fascinating.  The concentration was on the physical features of church architecture during those times, but my questions were on the engineering, which were nicely answered.  The subject is rich and vast, and the short overview we had was a great introduction.  We had the day at leisure until late afternoon when we had another intriguing lecture on contemporary Italy, given by our local guide.  She covered demographics, politics, economics, taxes, the social structure, and more, including the place of Italy in the EU and the identification by region which in many cases is stronger than the identification as Italian.  One very important takeaway: Italy’s birthrate is at 1.4 children per woman, way, way below replacement.  Italy is facing a crisis of an aging and shrinking population.

For dinner last night, our group took a boat back to Isola Pescatori where we ate at the Verbano Restaurant.  We all agreed it was the best meal we’ve had in Italy.  We had a menu done just for us.  The first course was “Grilled Vegetables, Veal in Tuna Sauce, Burrata Cheese from Campania, and Taggia Olives.”  It was simply incredible.

The main course was a light and very wonderful veal lasagna, and there was a delicious multiflavored dessert, all served with great local wines.  We must be careful—all the food, even in the most modest of places, has been delicious.  And then there’s the gelato….

 Back at the hotel and to bed.  The Bills-Chiefs game began at 2:20 AM on Monday morning here, and every once in a while, I’d wake up to look at the score.  With an hour lightening delay, it didn’t end until it was almost time to get up at 6:30 this morning (12:30 AM at home).  But the Bills did a great job on the Chiefs!  Go Bills!!!  I began the day a little tired.

 Today we went to Lake Como, where we first walked the town of Como.  In the main square is a very large statue to the most prominent person ever to come from Como, Alessandro Volta, most famous for inventing the battery among other things:

The town dates to medieval days and the streets here, too, are very narrow:

 

The cathedral here is very large, surprising for a town of this size:

It has a beautiful rose window:

 

The interior is hung with tapestries which, we were told, make the acoustic in the church very special:

There are two organs, almost identical, facing each other toward the front of the church:

After walking the town, we started out on an 80-minute cruise of the lake to see the villas and towns along the lakeshore, with the plan to end at the town of Bellagio for lunch.  The first thing we passed was the Tempio Voltiano or Volta Temple:

This turns out to be a museum of all things Volta.  See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempio_Voltiano

 This villa was used in the movie Oceans 12:

 

The Villa d’Este is now a hotel:

 

There were gorgeous villas one after the other.  Here are two more:

 

Some of these are still private and family owned, others are state-owned.  Ultimately, we reached the charming town of Bellagio:

 

We had lunch at a lovely restaurant overlooking the lake; here we are with a delightful couple from the Washington, DC area:

 

Tomorrow is the last day of this Smithsonian trip; we’ll have cooking lessons.  I can’t imagine I’ll learn anything I’ll be able to put into practice.  More then.