From Lake Garda to Trento

I was excited to be on our way to a new region of Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige. But first, while we were still in Lombardy, we made a stop at Desenzano del Garda, a resort town on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda. The seaside area looked a little like the Riviera, with pine trees and palms, but our tour leader, Gabriele, told us it gets much colder here in the winter. 

 

On this sunny Sunday of the May Day holiday weekend, there was a lot of activity going on in Desenzano. We worked our way through the crowded antiques and flea market that was set up near the lungolago. 

 

The main piazza was bustling, too.

 

I wasn’t interested in shopping so I decided to walk up to the 13^th century castle which was built to defend the town from barbarian invasions. It was built on the foundations of an ancient Roman fort. After making the steep climb, I was rewarded with beautiful views of Desenzano’s rooftops and the lake. 

Tourists flocked to the restaurants and shops in the streets surrounding the castle. 

 

From Gabriele, I had learned that we were not far from Salò, the lakeside town where the Italian government surrendered to the Allies in September, 1943. Confusion reigned in the country following the surrender. It was like civil war, with the Italian partisans fighting alongside the Allies while Mussolini and his Fascists continued to support the Germans. Mussolini’s resistance was centered in Salò and the town served as the seat of his government until the remaining Axis forces surrendered in April, 1945. 

 

When we left Lake Garda, we turned slightly inland for a visit to a nearby olive oil estate. Frantoio Manestrini is a family-owned and operated mill that was established on land originally part of a monastery. The current owner, Nicoletta, walked with us through the groves of olive trees, noting that olive trees can live forever. I learned that there are more than 500 varieties of olives grown in Italy. 

At the time of our visit in early May, the trees were just starting to flower. Little olives would begin to appear in June. Standing beside a very old mill stone, Nicoletta told us that olives from their 2000 trees are harvested during a period of just a few weeks in October. As soon as they come off the trees, they have to be pressed within 24 hours. 

After learning about traditional methods of olive oil production, we went inside for a tour of the modern production facilities where the olives are washed, ground, centrifuged, and the extra-virgin cold-pressed oil is bottled.

 

We had a chance to sample five different olive oils, all of which were blends of different varieties of olives. Each one was delicious, but there were noticeable differences.

 

After the tasting, we enjoyed a delicious light lunch featuring three different tapenades made by the estate, plus three different cheeses, three different meats, frittata, grilled vegetables, salad, and a miniature panna cotta for dessert.

 

After that satisfying meal, we continued the drive north to Trento. The route brought us through a very narrow valley surrounded by mountains that became increasingly higher. I soon realized that we were no longer in Lombardy. We had crossed into the region of northern Italy called Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.

The name of the region confused me – why did it have three different names? It wasn’t until I got home and did some research that I had a better understanding of the region’s unique situation. Now I know that the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region consists of two provinces that have been autonomous since the 1970s. One is Trentino (sometimes just called Trento); the other is Bolzano, but often called Alto Adige in Italian or Südtirol (South Tyrol) in German. Both provinces have a high degree of legislative and administrative powers due to their history and cultural and linguistic differences. Italian is the native language of about 62% of the region’s population while German is the native language of about 30%. The remaining percentage speaks minority languages including Ladin, which I’ll get to in another post. However, in the province of South Tyrol, German is the language of the majority. Confused yet?

 

And then I wondered, to what extent are these provinces autonomous? According to a post-World War 2 agreement with Austria, the entire region has a special status which gives it a great deal of autonomy. It has administrative and legislative control over healthcare, education, welfare, public transport, agriculture, and infrastructure. It keeps 90 percent of the tax revenue it generates in order to provide funds for its services. The central government in Rome maintains control over defense, justice, public order, and currency.

 

I’m not going to get in details about the history of the region, but it's helpful to be aware of some of the history of Trento, our destination. Historians aren’t certain who originally settled Trento but they know it was conquered by the Romans in 1^stcentury BCE. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was conquered by Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Lombards, and Franks. Eventually, it became part of Holy Roman Empire and was ruled by prince-bishops. 

 

In the early 1800s, Trento became part of Napoleon’s Kingdom of Italy. Following Napoleon’s defeat, it was annexed by the Austrian Habsburg empire although its population was ethnically Italian. It remained part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918.

 

During World War 1, a great deal of fighting took place in mountains surrounding Trento. At the beginning of the war, Italy was one of the Central Powers (along with Austria and Germany) but remained officially neutral. However, halfway through the war, Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies. When the war ended with an Allied victory, the city of Trento and its Italian speaking province of Trentino along with German-speaking Bolzano (aka the South Tyrol) were annexed to Italy.

 

Trento also experienced fighting during World War 2. Mussolini’s Fascist government entered the war on the side of Germany. When the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943, Italy surrendered, declared war on Germany, and Mussolini was removed from power. But Germany still considered Mussolini head of the Italian Socialist Republic. German troops invaded northern Italy and declared the provinces of Trento and South Tyrol to be part of Germany. From November 1944 to April 1945, Trento was bombed as battles raged between the Allies and the Germans in the area. 

 

Today, Trento is one of Italy’s wealthiest and most prosperous cities. Traditionally, the economy was based on wine-making and silk production. Nowadays, commerce, tourism, services, high quality agriculture and food are important sectors of the city’s economy. Italian is the official language of Trento and the surrounding province. It’s the native language for most the city’s 120,000 residents. 

 

It was mid-afternoon when we arrived at the Grand Hotel in Trento, capital city of the Trentino province of the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region. The first thing I saw right inside the door to the hotel lobby was a life-size wooden sculpture depicting Roman Catholic clerics who attended the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s. The council, a major event in the city’s history, was held in response to the Protestant Reformation.

Since there were still a few hours of daylight left, I went out to walk on my own for about an hour after we checked into our rooms. The Grand Hotel was right across the street from a lovely public park and adjacent to the historic center. Compared to other cities in Italy, Trento doesn’t get many tourists, but it has an interesting small historic center with buildings from the late Medieval and Renaissance periods.

Even though it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was surprised at how many people were out on the streets. I discovered that in addition to the usual Sunday market where many locals come to buy everything from pots and pans to T-shirts and underwear, it was also the final day of the Trento International Film Festival. Started in 1952, the festival is dedicated to the mountains, adventure, and exploration. There were people everywhere I turned. 

 

I was surprised to see paintings of medieval scenes on the sides of some of the buildings. 

It was even livelier in the Piazza del Duomo, Trento’s main pedestrian square. Throngs of people were strolling through the square, and the restaurants and outdoor café tables were packed. This is where the Cathedral of San Vigilio, Trento’s main cathedral, is located. The Romanesque-Gothic church stands on the subterranean ruins of ancient Christian basilica. It hosted the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s.

The Neptune fountain is a landmark in the Piazza del Duomo. 

I couldn’t help noticing that the façades of many of the buildings facing the square were covered with paintings that appeared to be quite old.  

Heading back in the direction of the hotel, I stopped briefly while crossing the relatively quiet Piazza di Santa Maria Maggiore to glance at the 16^th century basilica. The current façade dates back to 1900.

I also peeked into the courtyard of one of the many palazzos in the neighborhood.

Forty-five minutes into my walk, many of the vendors had departed but there were still plenty of people milling around the area. 

That was quite a lot to see in a short time! But the day’s activities weren’t over yet. Trento is located in the valley of the Adige River, and to get a bird’s eye view of the area, Gabriele led us across the river to the cable car station. The sun was already low in the sky when we reached the top of Monte Bondone. From this vantage point, we could look out at the city, the river, the valley, and the mountains.  

This very busy day ended with a late (for me) group dinner at the Ca’ dei Gobj restaurant. The interior looked nothing like any other restaurant where I’d been in Italy. Everything was wood – floor, walls, and ceiling. It made me feel like I was in another country. The food was nothing special (green salad, chicken, roast potatoes) but the dessert – red fruit cheesecake – was superb. It was light and airy and not overly sweet. I have to figure out what makes Italian cheesecake so wonderful. I found out that it’s made from ricotta cheese instead of the heavier cream cheese. And very often it’s crustless and flavored with citrus zest, vanilla, or almond extract. Maybe I’ll experiment with some recipes at home.

In the short time I’d been in Trento, I’d become fascinated not only by the city’s history but by its lively present. There’s plenty more to show you in and around Trento, but I think this is enough for one post so I’ll stop here for now.  

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.