Today starts a 3-part visit to Lago Maggiore, situated on the Italian and Swiss border. In addition to today’s short visit to the town of Stresa, I will soon cover a fabulous lunch spot on Isola dei Pescatori. And finally, a visit to the villa and gardens of Isola Bella.
Stresa sits on the western shore of Lago Maggiore, which itself sits in both Italy and Switzerland. And within the Italian portion, we find the lake split down the middle by the regions of Piemonte and Lombardy.
The lake is surrounded by mountains and its shore is dotted with small towns and villas.
The map below shows the location of Lago Maggiore, in comparison to the other lakes in what is known as “The Italian Lake District”. I’ve covered Lago di Como in the past, and I’ll cover the other lakes in future articles.
The names of the major lakes are shown below their namesake
Our Lodging
Our hotel sits on the street that runs along the lake shore, and we are conveniently situated directly across from the boat docks. Our hotel is mysteriously called by two names on the signage: the Hotel Speranza au Lac (Hotel Hope at the Lake), and the Hotel Milan au Lac. When I received my room confirmation email, the hotel was shown as Hotel Milan Speranza au Lac. To this day, I’m not sure about the name of the hotel(s). In the photo below, the Speranza is the mustard-color hotel on the left, and the Milan is the rose-color hotel on the right.
There are also a few of the old-world luxury hotels along the shore. Here are three of those: Grand Hotel Regina Palace; Grand Hotel Des Iles Borromees; and Grand Hotel Bristol. Each of these hotels has a swimming pool, and if you are staying at the Hotel Milan Speranza au Lac, you are welcome to use the pool of the Regina Palace.
In this photo below, you can see the stairwell.
The good news is that there is an elevator!
The bad news is that we had to schlep our bags up the last flight of stairs to get to our floor.
The other goods news is that this was necessary because we were on the penthouse floor.
There was no more bad news.
And the view of the lake from our room…magnifico.
Our patio was quite large. And, it was a great place to sit and relax with a glass of wine…which we did, by the way.
This 180-view from our patio shows the expansive view.
And, there sits Isola Bella, the subject of a future article.
We enjoyed our room…which was decorated with this exquisite Murano glass chandelier.
Another view across the lake from our hotel. That slash ascending the mountain at the lakeside town of Laveno-Mombello is a cable car…but not one we’ve seen before.
As you can see in this photo, you are basically just standing in a bucket…some open and some closed. Strange.
A Bit of Shopping at Ferri Cristina
We are always pleased to find some special memento of a trip to wherever-we-find-ourselves. Sometimes, we are on a mission for a certain type of item, like a lace tablecloth from Venice. Sometimes, we just stumble upon an item that we didn’t know that we were looking for, and we didn’t know that we were destined to have. At Ferri Cristina, we found a true treasure.
That is Cristina Ferri on the right with her daughter. They are a lovely pair and together with Cristina’s mother, they run their family shop full of beautiful Italian-made items…no foreign rip-offs, here. Be prepared for ceramics, Venetian glass, and jewelry. And, when you enter, be prepared for a warm welcome.
As you shop and have questions, English is no problem for these two. As I wrote in Please, Thank You, and Where’s the Bathroom, there is absolutely no reason to fear a visit to Italy because you do not speak Italian. Many Italians learn English as they are in elementary and middle school. And that is exactly how Cristina learned to speak her beautiful English.
FUN FACT: You may recognize Cristina if you were a fan of the 1982 BBC TV series titled “BBC Italian Buongiorno Italia” (Good Morning Italy). This was a British TV show created to teach one English. I know, it is highly unlikely that you would have ever seen this series, but nevertheless, as shown in this thumbnail image, Cristina was featured as a student studying English in school, where she says that she “loves to study it”. To see a very young Cristina in her interview, click < here > and advance to 14:30 on the timeline.
So, what memento did we find to remind of us our time at Stresa on Lago Maggiore?
Here is our find — a hand painted platter by Carlesso that now adorns our dining-room wall.
Here is Cristina’s daughter Francesca showing us a photo of a much younger self, as she and her mother visited Carlesso’s studio.
Because of our visit to Ferri Cristina, the Johnsons now have a beautiful set of Italian dinnerware. Here is a bowl that is just a part of their large set.
Both our platter and the Johnson’s entire set of dinnerware arrived safely in the U.S., due to Cristina’s expert packing.
A Typical Lunch in Stresa
It’s time for lunch in Stresa. We chose one of the outdoor osteria, this one right next door to Ferri Cristina.
Our choice is called Osteria degli Amici (or Osteria of Friends).
You may have a bit of confusion as to the difference between a ristorante (restaurant), a trattoria, and an osteria. A trattoria is less formal than a ristorante, and an osteria is less formal than a trattoria. Both tend to be unpretentious, and both are known for excellent traditional local food. I’m thinking it is like a restaurant, a cafe, and a pub in the U.S.
Here, we are under the watchful eye of our waiter.
Typical of nearly every restaurant at which we’ve dined in Italy, the food was beautifully presented and tasted as good as it looked…like these ravioli and the insalata caprese.
The insalata caprese, or caprese salad, originated on the Isola di Capri (Isle of Capri - pronounced CAP-ree, not ca-PREE) near Napoli (Naples). It consists of pomodoro (tomato), mozzarella di bufala (mozzarella made with water buffalo milk - the best of the mozzarelle), and basilico (basil)…dribbled with a bit of olio (olive oil). This is a staple of Italy and one should eat it at every occasion!
A Typical Dinner in Stresa
On the day before our visit to Ferri Cristina and Osteria degli Amici, we had a nice, simple dinner on Piazza Cadorna, in the heart of Stresa — just a few blocks from our hotel.
Here we ate at Ristorante Centrale (pronounced chain-TRÄ-lay), advertised as a Pizzeria, but which also had other tasty dishes.
That’s their placemat to the left.
As usual, we started with a toast to Italy and friends.
I have to admit that I was so busy enjoying my food, I didn’t take but this one photo as we ate. Doesn’t that bruschetta look absolutely devine?! And by the way, it is pronounced bruce-KAY-tah, rather than brew-SHET-tah. Just thought you’d want to know.
So, that’s it for your introduction to Stresa on the shore of Lago Maggiore. It is a nice, lakeside town. As it has a population of over 5,000, it doesn’t have the quaint and old-world charm of many small lake-side towns of Italy. But then again, it has a wider array of places to eat and shop. And, all of the Stresiani are very friendly and willing to help you with your stay. If you make your way to Ferri Cristina, we may see you there, as we plan to return next time we find ourselves in Stresa.
Ciao for now,
Steve