This trip was the perfect amalgam:  a small group of genial fellow travelers willing and able to forge through physically challenging but rewarding treks, a lesser known area of Italy (as well as a quick peek of Switzerland) that continually astounded all the senses and guides whose knowledge and personal winsomeness made our daily excursions nonpareil.

This trip was full of unending stunning vistas, both natural and man-made. Today I would like to provide a little background on the area to help you visualize the terrain.

THE NORTHERN LAKES OF ITALY – Let’s start with a few maps so you can get the lay of the land and perhaps a little sympathy for our leg muscles that were put to the test traversing this wonderful area, for almost all our mileage was covered by foot:

 

 

The lakes of Northern Italy – Como, Bellagio, Orta, Maggiore, Lugano and Garda, covering the regions of  Lombard, Piedmont, Trentino and Veneto, nestled beneath the southern foothills of the Alps near the border of Switzerland were formed by slow-moving glaciers during the last Ice Age  (the Pleistocene Epoch which began about 1.8 million years ago and lasted until about 11,700 years ago).  

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“One can’t describe the beauty of the Italian lakes, nor would one try if one could”

On, on into Italy we went, a rapturous progress through a wild luxuriance of

corn and olives and figs and mulberries and chestnuts and frescoed villages and

clamorous beggars and all the good old Italianisms of tradition.”

– Henry James, in The Italian Hours, 1909

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And Como! thou, a treasure whom the earth

Keeps to herself, confined as in a depth

Of Abyssinian privacy, I spake

Of thee, thy chestnut woods, and garden plots

Of Indian corn tended by dark-eyed maids…”

–William Wordsworth, in The Prelude, 1790

 But even these illustrious writers could not totally capture the breathtaking natural beauty of the deep blue crystal clear waters and mountainous peaks, not to mention the incredibly delicious locally grown cuisine.  In addition, though man-made, the churches, citadels, town walls and watchtowers, villas, palazzos, frescoes, statues, paintings, too numerous to mention – provide the area with a richness seldom seen.

Hopefully through the use of the many photographs taken while there I will be able to impart a small slice of what this area offers. In future posts, I will talk about:  landscapes, waterscapes, moutainscapes, flora and fauna, art and architecture, food and wine, adventures and of course some WTDGAP moments “when things don’t go as planned,”  Lots of laughs and innumerable  steps and more steps.   Let me leave you today with a few landscape/mountainscape/waterscape teasers:

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