Italy here we are

This weekend we arrived in Italy. We drove down from Lucarno in Switzerland to Italy, on the Lago Maggiore. This part of Switzerland is Italian speaking and is, with the exception of the currency really just Italy.


On Saturday we drove down the lake to Stresa, being the first place on lago maggiore with free camping advertised in our book, but was that a mistake. Driving down the lake was a great intro to Italian driving. The road is beautiful as it twists right on the lake shore, kind of like the Coromandel road. But is a mixture of two lanes, quasi two lanes and one lane and the Italian drivers tend to hold their racing line in the corner and don’t give regardless of the size of the on coming vehicle. Still it was a fun, if not a bit of a stressful journey, however Stresa didn’t cough up with the goods and we found nowhere to stop. So we turned around and headed back up the lake from whence we came as we had passed numerous camping and campervan stop signs. The first really promising one lead us up a very narrow and very steep road up from the coast, our second intro to backing down difficult roads in Italian, I suspect there will be a few of these. But, again the Italians stumped us and there was nothing to be seen. We eventually came back to a lovely village called Cannero Reviera that was a mixture of old Italian village and tasteful modern lakeside resort. The tension had risen in the joint during the journey back up the lake so we exited quickly once settled in great camp site right by the lake and wandered along to the lake side bars and had some wine as the sun set.


We have spent two days here, it has been a hit for all. The village had some lovely streets and churches, the views around the lake with the villas hanging off the side of the cliffs are magnificent and me and the girls even ventured into the water for a swim. Once you got over the initial shock it was really quite nice.

We have had pizza both nights while here after a promenade and an aperitif down by the shores, really too easy! There is a lovely church up the hill from us with outdoor congregation area below the church half in the hillside. We have bought some Lemoncella to keep us going around Italy, Dad I am sure you will appreciate that.


Tomorrow we head for Orto on Guy’s recommendation, I am sure more lovely views and yummy ice creams await…