Discovering Lake Iseo

On the first of May, we left Tirano and headed south towards Lombardy’s lake country once again. We planned to end the day at one of Italy’s lesser known lakes, Lake Iseo. May 1 is the May Day holiday, the Italian Labor Day, so there was plenty of traffic on the roads and in the towns where we stopped along the way.

 

It was a lovely day for drive although the many daring motorcycle drivers we encountered made for some tense moments on the switchbacks. At least large trucks are banned from roads on Sundays and public holidays. Shortly after we departed, we passed the alpine town of Aprica, a popular place for skiing in the winter and mountain biking in the summer. Many Italians have second homes in this area, where the hillsides are covered in thick pine forests. The town is located on the pass connecting two valleys, the Valtellina and the Val Camonica. 

 

We took a coffee/restroom break in the town of Edolo in the upper Camonica valley. In the photo below, Gabriele, our tour leader, is enjoying his coffee. The premier Italian bicycle race, the Giro d’Italia, passes through Edolo every year. As a result, the town attracts a lot of bikers and cyclists. 

Our route took us past Niardo, a town of about 2000 inhabitants set dramatically at the base of the mountains.

 

We were now approaching the Pianura Padana, a geographic feature that I’d never heard of. Gabriele explained that it’s a huge area of flat land that spreads out on both sides of the Po River. It runs about 652 kilometers (400 miles) from the western Alps to the Adriatic Sea and includes parts of Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto in northern Italy. Huge is no exaggeration. The Pianura Padana covers 18,000 square miles (46,000 square kilometers), making it the largest unbroken plain in southern Europe.

 

The Pianura Padana is Italy’s economic heartland, the center of both agricultural and industrial activity. The cities of Milan and Turin are located here, a third of Italy’s population lives here, and the area generates half the country’s GDP. With the Po River providing the water for irrigation, this is where much of the country’s wine is produced. How did I not know about this?

 

Sure enough, the landscape soon flattened out. We drove through Sulzano, on the shores of Lake Iseo, but didn’t stop.

 

Just south of the lake, we looked out the windows of the bus at unending expanses of vineyards.

We were now in Franciacorta country and it was time to learn about the production of the sparkling white wine that the region is famous for. At the Bersi Serlini winery, which uses the classical Champenoise method, we toured the facilities and tasted three different Franciacorta wines. The winery has a long history. It was founded by Cluny monks in the late 11^th century and operated by the monastic order for 700 years. In 1886, the Bersi Serlini family acquired the property. The original medieval wine cellar is still in use. Today, the winery produces ten different varieties of sparkling wine from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, with an annual output of 150,000 bottles. Unlike Prosecco, which ferments once, Franciacorta sparkling wines are fermented twice. The first fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks and produces a still wine. The wine ferments for a second time in bottles and this is when the tiny bubbles are formed.  

After our Franciacorta experience, we drove back north along Lake Iseo to Pisogne, the town that would be our base for the next 2 days. My room in the Capovilla Hotel was quite spacious and from the balcony, I had views of the lake and the lungolago.

Lake Iseo, like neighboring lakes Como and Garda, is located at the foot of the Alps just north of the Pianura Padana. Although it’s Italy’s 4^th largest lake, Iseo is considerably smaller than the more well-known lakes in Lombardy. Pisogne (population a little over 800), on the northeast shore of the lake, is a very attractive town, and not nearly as crowded with tourists as the towns we’d visited on Lake Como. 

 

Gabriele led us on an orientation walk through Pisogne’s compact and charming historic center.

We followed the narrow Via Torrazzo (Tower Street) where several artists and artisans were displaying and selling their work. Gabriele pointed out the hanging sculptures of fish skeletons that adorned several of the buildings throughout the old part of town. 

Tower Street brought us out to the sunny Piazza Mercato, or Market Square. Because of its location, Pisogne developed as a trade center for the entire valley as early as the Middle Ages. The market was held in the Piazza Mercato. 

The Bishop’s Tower, overlooking the square, was built between the 13^th and 14^th centuries. It was surrounded by a large marshy area. In fact, until the beginning of the last century, the waters of the lake reached almost to the tower.

At the far end of the square is the parish church that dates back to the late 18^th century.

The following day started with a leisurely post-breakfast walk along the lungolago. I even sat on a bench for a while and read a few more pages of The Betrothed, the book I’d begun back in Genoa. My goal was to finish the 600-plus page novel before leaving Italy.

We took a late morning train from Pisogne to Sulzano, where we boarded a ferry for the 5-minute ride to Monte Isola, the island in the center of Lake Iseo. I wasn’t surprised that the train and the ferry were both packed with people on holiday since it was the middle of the long May Day weekend. 

 

Monte Isola is Europe’s largest inhabited lake island. There are 12 tiny hamlets on the island and a hilltop medieval church, the 15^th century Sanctuary of the Madonna of Ceriola at the summit of the island. The economy is based on fishing and the construction of nets and wooden boats. 

 

The first thing I did was grab a quick bite to eat near the ferry dock.

Once fortified, I set out with fellow traveler Marilynne to walk the Olive Trail on the south side of the island. I did my best to ignore the crowds along the way and to focus on the island’s natural beauty. To the right, we looked at the lush green hillsides covered with olive trees and to the left, we looked out at the clear calm waters of the lake.

It was a hot, sunny day, and after an hour of walking, we were relieved to find a table at a busy lakeside restaurant. Cool drinks, a crisp salad, and (for me) pesce misto restored our energy for a slow walk back to the ferry. (8219,20, 21)

All I wanted for dinner back in Pisogne was a piadina, the classic Italian grilled flatbread sandwich, that I found at a casual restaurant facing the Market Square.

This is 1/4 of the sandwich.

I was back in the hotel in time to watch the sunset from my balcony.

 

The next morning, our last in Pisogne, I took a final walk along the lungolago.

All in all, Lake Iseo was a very pleasant place to relax for a couple of days before moving on to our next stop, the city of Trento. 

 

The Red Train to Switzerland

While our group was staying in Tirano, we took advantage of our proximity to the Swiss border to ride the Bernina Express train into Switzerland. It runs from Tirano to St. Moritz , a distance of about 38 miles, and travels through beautiful scenic areas. Rather than taking the non-stop train that’s popular with tourists, we were taking the commuter train because we were only going as far as the Diavolezza station, about 27 miles from Tirano.

 

Our tour leader told us to wear our warmest clothes and to make sure we had our passports.  As soon as we entered the Rhaetian railway station in Tirano, we were officially in Swiss territory. Our Swiss guide, Stefano, was waiting for us at the station.

The Bernina Express has been running since 1910. The distinctive red train cars run on a narrow gauge track that’s three feet wide. The train runs every day of the year whatever the weather.

 

We started out with a slow ride through the city of Tirano. Since the train is electric, it was very quiet, and within a few minutes, we were outside the city. 

Consulting the map, I saw that the train would be stopping at several stations before reaching our destination, Diavolezza.

The track ran along the eastern edge of the Val Poschiavo. This valley is home to about 5000 people. The town of Poschiavo has about 2000 residents, the majority of whom speak Italian. Poschiavo is located in Switzerland’s largest canton, Grizonce in Italian (Graubünden in German), where the three official languages are German, Italian, and Romansh (a mixture of Italian, German, and French). Each of Switzerland’s 26 cantons has its own official language(s) and each municipality has a primary official language. In Poschiavo, it’s Italian whereas in Diavolezza, also in the canton of Grizonce, the primary official language is Swiss German. It’s no wonder that most people are multilingual. 

 

Of course, we were constantly falling all over each other to take pictures from the train windows. The green hillsides dazzled in the morning sun, and about 20 minutes into the trip, we spotted our first waterfall. 

Soon we reached Lake Poschiavo with its clear emerald waters. We were already at 962 meters (3516 feet) above sea level. Trout fishing at the lake is a popular activity and boats with engines are not allowed. The lake also serves as a reservoir for several hydroelectric plants.

We continued to gain altitude as we journeyed north through the idyllic countryside. Sheep were grazing outside the small towns. Most of the people who live in this area are farmers. 

Pine trees and larch trees covered the hillsides. Both have cones and needles. However, unlike the evergreen pines, larch trees are deciduous and shed their needles in the fall. In the spring, tiny tinges of green appear on their naked branches. 

 

About an hour into our journey, we left the Val Poschiavo and reached the Alp Grüm station. We had crossed the language border, i.e. the invisible line separating Italian speaking territory from Swiss German and Romansh speaking areas. At 6860 feet above sea level, Alp Grüm can only be reached by train, foot, or mountain bike. We were now in glacier country. There are 45 glaciers, but due to global warming, only seven are expected to survive. Water from the Palü glacier feeds into Lake Palü. 

Just north of Alp Grüm is the Ospizio Bernina station, located on the shores of Lago Bianco (White Lake) near the Bernina Pass and above the tree line. The lake water comes from the glaciers. At an elevation of 7400 feet above sea level, Ospizio-Bernina is the highest stop on the train route. 

 

Large areas of morain, the residue left behind by receding glaciers, covered the ground as we approached Diavolezza.

 

At last, about an hour and twenty minutes after leaving Tirano, we reached the Diavolezza station. A short walk brought us to the cable car for the 7-minute ride up to the ski resort.

 

When we stepped out of the cable car at an elevation of 2978 meters (9770 feet), the temperature was a chilly 33 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun was shining and the air was pure and clean. Several late season skiers were preparing for their runs down the slopes. From the viewing terrace, I looked out in wonder at the wide expanse of the Bernina Range of the Eastern Alps, including Mount Bernina, the highest peak at 13,281 feet.  

At the resort’s restaurant, we enjoyed a hearty Swiss lunch of chestnut pappardelle with venison sauce – real mountaineer food. At the urging of our local guide, we also sampled Rivella, the unique Swiss soft drink, and tried to guess its secret ingredient. It tasted a little bit like ginger ale. None of us guessed that its base ingredient was milk whey.  

Then it was time for the descent. Once again, there were magnificent views from the cable car. 

Within minutes, trees reappeared. 

 

And then we were back on the Bernina Express headed to TIrano. It was time for more photo-taking of glaciers, larch and pine trees, green hillsides, and cows grazing. It was amazing how the landscape changed so quickly.  

The woman sitting across from me on the train had been speaking on her cell phone in German for several minutes. Just before the train pulled into the station in Tirano, I overheard her end the call by saying, “Merci, ja, ciao.” That multilingual phrase perfectly captured Switzerland’s unique blend of languages and cultures.