LIFE: Summer Dreams

CHIAVARI, Italy - On these hot summer days with the temperatures hovering in the 90's, I’ve been thinking about a trip I took to Lake Como a couple of years ago with a friend of mine from my Conde' Nast days. The plan was to take the ferry to Cernobbio and have lunch at the opulent Grand Hotel Villa d'Este.

Overview of Villa d'Este 

The villa, a Renaissance residence, was originally called the Villa del Garovo and the villa, and the 25-acre (100,000 m2) park which surrounds it, has seen many changes since it was built in the sixteenth-century as a summer residence for the Cardinal of Como.

Today it is a luxury hotel with room rates averaging €1000 ($1400) a night and top suites averaging €3500 ($5000) per night, and has been called the best hotel in the world by Forbes Magazine. 

 Villa d'Este, Lake Como

The restored villa is set in a large Italian Renaissance garden, complete with a rippling waterfall that starts at the fountain of Hercules and ripples down a stone staircase. Inside, the villa is furnished with museum quality antiques and crystal chandeliers. 

With the sun high in the sky, we decided to have lunch under the tall chestnut trees on the Villa’s lake front terrace. We picked a lakeside table with a view of the sapphire blue water, and with the sound of the lake softly lapping against the shore, it was impossible to not get caught up in the magic of this sweet dolce vita. 

Villa Carlotta, Lake Como

In the afternoon we took the ferry north, along the west side of the lake to visit the Villa Carlotta. In 1843 the Princess Marianne of Nassau, the wife of Prince Albert of Prussia, bought the villa and gave it to her daughter Carlotta as a wedding gift. It was Carlotta’s husband, Georg II of Sacen-Meiningen (don’t you love their titles!) who took charge of the garden and the planting of the 150 varieties of spring blooming rhododendrons and azaleas you see there today.

The Villa Carlotta is just about mid-way around the lake, at the Tremezzo/Cadenabbia ferry stop, where the lake is at its widest and most beautiful. Here the sparkling water is framed by the mountains that hug the border between Italy and Switzerland, opening up from the spur that makes up the inverted Y shape of the lake.

 Villa Balbianello, Lake Como

The fairy tale pink Castello Maresi is impossible to photograph as it sits behind high stone-walls and heavy wrought iron gates in a lush, flower filled park-like estate. It’s tall towers and turrets add to the castle's secluded romantic atmosphere which is why it was, and still is, the perfect place for a secret rendezvous.

The beauty and languorous melancholy of Lake Como has long attracted lovers from all around the world. Even famous ones. It was rumored that Prince Charles secretly rendezvoused with Camilla at Castello Maresi in nearby Griante when he was still married to Diana. The rumor was hotly denied by castle employees, but of course they would have to say that wouldn’t they. 

 

Terrace Dinning Room, Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, Lake Como  

From the ferry dock in Tremezzo it is only a short ride across the lake to Bellagio. The white neoclassic Villa Melzi, known for its exquisite gardens, anchors the town at one end and at the other end is the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, the playground of the rich and famous. 

During the 18th century the Russian and European upper classes and royalty often made the hotel their own. It was no surprise for hotel guests coming down to breakfast to see the Empress of Russia, Prince Metternich or Queen Victoria buttering their toast in the hotel dining room. Even the 19th century French writer Stendhal considered Bellagio the most beautiful place in the world and confesses to having spent his happiest summers here enjoying opera, fighting duels and falling in love. 

 Early Evening, Lake Como

With the sun starting to set behind the mountains, it was time to board the ferryboat and return to Como. Standing at the rail, watching   the lake unfold before us, the light soft and sheer, it was easy to see why, since the days of the Romans, all who pass fall this way not only fall in love with Lake Como, but continue to dream about it for the rest of their lives.

AUNTIE PASTA: Como is for (Food) Lovers

CHIAVARI, Italy - Lake Como is not the place people usually travel to for the food.

 Villa Balbianello, Lake Como

The lure of the sapphire blue water, seductive picture perfect landscapes and the heady scent of jasmine and honeysuckle in the air tend to conjure up thoughts of love and romance, more than fish and risotto.  But in a 13th century stone tower in the medieval heart of the town of Como a small revolution is taking place. It's a culinary revolution led by Chef Stefano Visini and it is no accident that he chose such an old building for his restaurant for the 40 year old Como native is a traditionalist - of sorts.

The morning I went to Como to interview Chef Visini the sun was so bright sparks of light were jumping off the surface of the water. And as large white ferryboats transported locals and tourists up and down the Y shaped lake, Visini and his staff were busy in the restaurant’s tower kitchen prepping food for the mid-day crowd. The Chef was preparing swordfish, sturgeon and salmon that would appear on the lunch menu as a trio of smoked fish with a sauce of raspberry purée and fresh ginger. His assistant was busy shelling fresh fava beans and toasting pancetta that would be used later, along with pecorino cheese di fossa, in a fresh pasta dish.

 Chef Visini

 “I use the classics as a starting point much the same way architects use basic construction principles,” he says, “but then my creativity kicks in and I’m off and running, or off and cooking actually. I totally enjoy what I do, and what I enjoy most is coming up with new and unexpected tastes for my clientele.”

It was at a private celebration at the legendary Villa Balbianello that Chef Visini had the opportunity to flex his creative culinary muscles. Often cited as the most magical residence in all of Italy, the villa was featured in the classic film ‘A Month by the Lake’ starring Uma Thurman and Vanessa Redgrave. Built at the end of the 16th century by an important Renaissance Cardinal, the loggias, terraces and buildings that cascade down the slopes of a lush, dark green promontory to the lake provided the perfect setting for the Chef to create his culinary magic.

Guests and food arrived by boat

 “It was every chef’s dream,” says Visini, “a private party for 150 guests set in one of the most beautiful places in the world with the added bonus of an unlimited budget.” 

The guests were ferried from Como on a private yacht, and as they climbed the torch lit stone stairway to the villa’s terrace, which is slightly larger than a tennis court, they were handed flutes of ice cold champagne ‘Pol Roger Brut Reserve. Waiters dressed as sea captains then offered a selection of appetizers. Marinated salmon with spicy caramelized pineapple; a salad of shrimp, asparagus and tiny new fava beans; and a tomato gelee’ with mussels and spring onion are only three of the eight appetizers that were served, each on their own individual sterling silver spoon.

When the guests were called to table, the multi-course menu started with an antipasto of sea bass filets flavored with Martini Dry, served on a bed of braised red onions and accompanied by river shrimp and a sauce of raspberries and fresh ginger. The two primi piatti were shrimp and lobster ravioli in a lobster sauce, followed by a creamy fish risotto served with tiny candied tomatoes and a puree of fresh peas. The secondo, or main course, was a rosette of veal wrapped in paper-thin slices of lardo di Colonnata, served with Chanterelle mushrooms, and fresh asparagus spears drizzled with a delicate Madeira sauce.

 The snazzy waiters

As the golden moon moved across the star lit summer sky, waiters began serving the caravan of deserts, one more sumptuous than the other. A dense chocolate cream with orange sauce came first, followed by an eggcup of wild strawberries marinated in 80-year-old balsamic vinegar, served with a vanilla and bourbon sauce and a miniature aspic of linden honey. Next came a mousse of fresh mangos, served on a bed of tropical fruits and garnished with fresh coconut curls. Crème caramel topped flaky little butter cookies, and that was followed by seven more delights plus an assortment of delicate miniature pastries.

"I used several classic Italian recipes in the Villa Balbianello menu,” says Visini, “for example, strawberries marinated in aged balsamic vinegar have been part of our cuisine since the dish was first served to Italian princes during the Renaissance. I added the bourbon, vanilla sauce and honey aspic just to give the dish an extra kick. And the candied cherry tomatoes are my version of a centuries old Sicilian tradition of serving tiny tomatoes with honey.” 

 The word of the day was "elegance"

As impressive as the menu was, I was even more impressed that all the food for the party was prepared in the restaurant’s tiny kitchen and transported to the villa by boat. But Visini assures me that it is normal operating procedure, and that he is used to working in tight spaces. “However, it can get a little tricky sometimes,” he admitted as he looked around his shiny second floor workspace.

An amazing amount of food is produced in that small kitchen. Not only does it serve as the main kitchen for Ristorante Visini, but it is also the headquarters of Visini's catering operation and the heart of the rosticceria, which sells food to take out, plus the pasticceria or pastryshop. Corrado Visini, the chef's brother, is the wine steward and keeps the operation stocked with a large assortment of really good wine.

Later that afternoon the Chef and I sat at an outdoor table in front of the restaurant and talked about food.

 Ristorante Visini, Como, Italy

 “Travelers don’t really think about food when they are in Como,” said the Chef, “they come to Como for the beauty of the lake and the charm of the town and don't complain about eating pretty ordinary stuff.  But I want to change that. I want people to go home with more than just wonderful visual memories of their visit; I want them to have wonderful taste memories as well. And years from now, when they are reminiscing about the great time they had in Como, I want them to say, “. . . . . and remember that meal we had at the Ristorante Visini, now that was really something special.”

Ristorante Visini
Antica Torre dei Mercanti
Via Ballerini 9 (Around the corner from Coin dept. store)
22110 Como
Tel. +39 031 242 760+39 031 242 760
Email: info@visini.it http://www.visini.it/

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LIFE: Once Upon a Time on Lake Como

CHIAVARI, Italy – I first heard this story one very hot summer day when I went with a friend of mine up to a rifugio high above the little town of Cernobbio on Lake Como. We drove straight up the mountain for what seemed like an hour, through a large pine forest, then round and round the hairpin bends until finally we got to our destination.

 The Italian-Swiss Border

The rifugio was a simple, rustic refuge/cafe that catered primarily to those who like to hike up and down the mountains. I had never been up that high in the mountains before and for me, a confirmed city girl, it was like a trip to the moon. Even more strange was the fact that we were about 10 feet from the Swiss border.  We could have very easily walked into Switzerland and no one would have been the wiser.   

I said that to the rifugio owner, and he smiled and asked if I had ever heard of the “shoulder boys”. I shook my head no, and with that he pulled out a chair and sat down and began telling us the story that I will now tell to you.   

The Shoulder Boys Were More Than Boys

The “shoulder boys” were the smugglers who moved illegal goods between Italy and Switzerland after World War II. They carried contraband in large, homemade backpacks, and plied their trade in the hills and valleys that separate Italy and Switzerland, above Lake Como. They scrambled along the rough mountain trails at night in constant fear of being caught by the Swiss border patrol or the Italian financial police – the Guardia di Finanza.

 It was an honor for a boy to be chosen to be a “shoulder boy” for it was a job usually reserved for men, a profession handed down from father to son since the late 1800’s. Depending on which side of the law you were on, it was an honorable profession.  Smuggling supported more than half the families in the area and everyone in Como and in the towns along the lake knew about the “shoulder boys”. 

The Loads Were Heavy

It started during the second half of the 1800’s with coffee and sugar being brought into Italy from Switzerland.  Then, with the outbreak of World War II, rice became the product of choice and sacks of rice traveled from the rice fields of Lombardy up to Switzerland. The last phase of the “shoulder boys” began after WWII when cigarettes became the hot commodity, smuggled into Italy and sold on the black market. That business continued until the 1970’s with the “shoulder boys” carrying the illegal goods up and down the mountain trails, the merchandise  ‘de sfroos’ as they called it in the local dialect.

Each man carried a backpack that weighed between thirty and forty kilos (66 to 88lbs). The backpacks were made from strong burlap material that had been waxed to make them waterproof. There was always a separate compartment for the food and whisky that would keep the boys going on their long and difficult journey.   

 The Mountains Were Steep

They could earn 60 or 70,000 lire a month, (about $50) which wasn’t a small amount in those days when the average monthly salary for a worker was 40,000 (about $30). But considering the dangers they faced it wasn’t all that much either. It was difficult to be a smuggler. It was hard work, dangerous and illegal, but everyone who could do it, did it.  All the men, that is. They would start working when they were about 12 -14 years old, and worked as long as their bodies and health held out.  The women helped too, but in another way. Their job was to flirt with the financial police and find out which section of the lake they were going to be moved to next. Valuable information when the danger of going around a bend and coming face to face with the Guardia di Finanza was a scary reality.

The financial police were not really the bad guys and when they could they would close an eye, or sometimes both eyes, and let the “shoulder boys” pass.  After all, during the day the smugglers and the financial police were neighbors, it was only at night that they were enemies. But never true enemies. “Stop where you are” was what they would call out when they would see a smuggler with a backpack strapped to his back. In the best of cases the smuggler would escape with his entire load, in the worse of cases he would escape, but without his load.

Cleaning the Mud off of his Burlap Shoes 

The lake was always the final destination because that is where the boats that transported the goods to the other side of the lake to be distributed were. The rule was that the ‘boys’ had to deliver their backpacks directly to the boats otherwise they would not get the 8,000 lire (about $5.50) that they were paid for each load they carried.

The smugglers knew every path and trail from Lake Como to Switzerland. It was essential to be able to move during the night as if it were day, relying on memory and instincts. As they made their way through the mountains they would leave the usual paths and head into the woods, always traveling at night in order not to be seen. Not only was there danger from wild animals like roaming packs of wild boars and wolves and problems with the weather, there was also the problem of the border guards who were different from the Guardia di Finanza, but whose job it was to arrest people sneaking over the borders. But wind and rain, snow and ice, nothing stopped the “shoulder boys” from delivering their contraband and collecting the money for their efforts.

The “shoulder boys” would leave in the middle of the night, around 2 or 3 in the morning, and start the climb up through the woods with their heavy backpacks strapped to their backs and the financial police over their shoulder. They would arrive at the pre-agreed to meeting point in Switzerland at about 8 in the morning.  There they would sit and have a caffe-latte to warm up and wait for their contact person to arrive with the goods they were to transport back to Italy.  

 Soft and Silent Burlap Shoes

Around 2 in the afternoon they would start off again.  Just before they got to the Italian border they would stop and wait for it to get dark. Then they would cross the border and head down into the valley, walking all night and finally arriving at the lake shortly before dawn.   

They lived in dangerous times with no guarantees that a ‘shoulder boy’ would make it back alive.  The most dangerous problem, however, was not the financial police or border patrols, but facing the mountain in the dark with its jagged rocks and landslides and the deep crevices that were impossible to see in the middle of the night.  And during the winter the mountain was even more dangerous when ice and snow made some paths impossible to follow and the ‘shoulder boys’ had to forge new trails and face possible avalanches.   

There is a lullaby that goes: “Ninna Nanna, sleep my little one, your father has a bag on his back, and he climbs through the night, pray the moon doesn’t give him away, pray the stars show him the way, pray the path brings him home.”

 Caught by Swiss Border Patrol - 1898

The “shoulder boys” and the police were the stuff of fairy tales for the children and the stories of narrow escapes or even deaths were told over and over again in many homes in the small towns along the shores of Lake Como. Between 1883 and 1884 the local newspaper, La Provincia di Como, published a serialized story about the Smuggler and the Financial Police. The stories still make up much of the tradition of Lake Como and now you know the story too.

Unless otherwise noted photos are from NBR.