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Saturday, October 27, 2007

Varenna - Day 2

We awake to a much more pleasant morning

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It is fascinating watching the light changing so quickly

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After breakfast we wander off for a little stroll through town.

This is the Parish Church of San Giorgio built in the 13th Century the bell tower was added in the 17th Century.

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The fresco on the facade is of St Christopher.

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You'll find if you visit Varenna you'll need to climb stairs - the town has basically three main levels paths, one by the lake, one at the midpoint and the main road, and these are intersected by stairs that span all three main roads.

This is the middle path

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and these are some of the stairs

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The other church in town, the Church of St John the Baptist is extremely old, built in 769 the frescoes date from 1143

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Near this church we were confronted by a most ferocious dog

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There it stood on the rooftop in its butch pink jumper, barking and growling at everyone that walked past. I'd probably be a bit narky if I had to wear that in public too.

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For Lunch we went to a newer restaurant, only opened since May called Quatro Pass

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Paalo started with a dish using 3 different lake fish - they are floured and deep fried and then marinated in a citrus vinegar mix for a few days

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My starter was Bresaola of Cervo with a Polenta Souffle and Truffled Tallegio Sauce

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The soufflé was especially divine, unbelievably light and the sauce was a perfect match.

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Paalo's main was a Stew of Cinghale with polenta slices - once again I've never tasted polenta as light or as good as this. An excellent foil to the wonderfully rich sauce of the stew - the cinghale was also extremely tender

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My main was the Chestnut flour pasta with ragu di cinghale - delicious.

Maybe it was the excellent bottle of Grumello but we ended up having the cheese course

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This generous portion is only a serving for one! In the centre was a fresh goat cheese as well as two goat cheeses of increasing maturity, Taleggio, a hard cow's milk cheese and a second washed rind cheese.

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We probably didn't need it but we did order panna cotta to round off the meal.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and doing work, you never seem to be able to fully get away from it, but with views like these you can't really complain

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Sunset is particularly nice

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For dinner we're going to a place we went to on our last visit - high in the hills it is called Il Caminetto and you get picked up and driven along the windy roads up to the restaurant. I'm glad it is dark so I can't see the sheer drop!


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We started with the Antipasto Completa

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Three pates - prosciutto, cheese and chicken liver

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Mixed Salumi

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Home-made picked vegetables

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Lardo

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Cooked prosciutto with Oregano

For mains we had the Gran Misto of Pasta

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Risotto of Asparagus and Lemon

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Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Sauce

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Fagottini with a Dill Butter Sauce

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Macaroni with Prosciutto and Cheese Sauce

The pasta definitely won as we just couldn't finish it all.

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