Manto what? Yes, that was my exact reaction when Martina, one of my classmates told me about Mantova, a city whose existence was unknown to me up to that point. Curiosity always strikes me when it comes to potential places to visit and in the same night I decided to research it. Looked interesting, a typical Italian town full of piazzas, terracotta coloured buildings and plenty of churches of course.

I decided that it would be a perfect day trip for the next Saturday and three other classmates, including Martina, joined me in exploring this little well-kept secret. 90 minutes and 11.50€ later we reached Mantova’s train station. I’d read a couple of travel blogs on what to do there and bookmarked a list of places to visit on Google Maps. And this is what came out of it:

The view over the canal

On our way to the centre we passed by a little and charming canal, just next to Piazza San Francesco, and not even 5 minutes later we reached our first “place to see”: Piazza Matilde Canossa. Next to it there’s a pastry shop/restaurant, Casa del Pane, which will make you droll just by looking its window shop.

Piazza after Piazza

From there, we moved on to visit Piazza delle Erbe, the most famous in Mantova where you’ll find tons of restaurants, important churches and shops. Straight on, there’s Piazza Sordello where the tables set with red and white towels made this place as Italian as it gets. There are two very famous palaces in Mantova: Palazzo Ducale (located in this piazza) and Palazzo Te (20 minutes from the centre). As we didn’t want to spend too much money we elected Palazzo Te as the one to visit and said “see you next time” to Ducale.

A bit of nature

One of the most pleasant things about Mantova is that it’s situated just next to a big, wide river that will make you feel like you are in the countryside instead of a city. Swans swim freely and some people even fish there.

All the hungry ladies!

Back to town we decided to have lunch and we were specifically looking for a place whose menu included “Tortelinni di Zuca”, Pumpkin Tortelinni, the most famous speciality in the city. We managed to find Antica Osteria Leoncino Rosso and try it. It’s weirdly sweet and I had to mix a LOT of parmigiano to make it less strange on my taste buds. I’m happy I tried it, but it’s definitely not on my top Italian dishes.

BAM, BAM, BAM

After lunch we were ready for a holy afternoon. We started by visiting the Duomo di San Pietro di Mantova which seemed closed but it’s not. Maybe that’s the reason why it was so quiet and empty. The gilded ceiling and pillars as well as the random splashes of colour coming from the stained glass make it worth visiting.

And now, the Basilica di Sant’Andrea! As it happened in Parma, I wouldn’t expect much of their Basilica looking at its exterior. But inside it’s a magnificent piece of art. Every single inch is covered with paintings or frescoes and you’ll need some time to take it all in.

Finally, it was time to see the crown jewel of Mantova: Palazzo Te. It’s far from being your typical palace with Disney-like architecture and gold on gold, but instead it’s a great art collection, as art is part of the palace itself. Most rooms have paintings on the ceilings and walls, but nothing can be compared to the Fall of the Giants which will make you feel like you are literally inside a painting.

Once back to the centre we treated ourselves to some Mantova pastries, mostly made of almond. If you want to try them, Pasticceria La Tur Dal Sucar is a good place to do it.

And there it is. What seemed just like a nice little town ended up being a place full of surprises. Italy doesn’t seize to amaze me!

Save all these places with this map:

[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1RkFXLw106HGMXLlRkl8lNFD7ov6F2BeU&w=640&h=480]

The post [EN] A Quickie in… Mantova appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

This lake is worth an infinite amount of quickies. It’s easily one of the most beautiful places in Italy and possibly Europe. The mountains surrounding it turn the landscape almost fiord-like. And as lame as this may sound, many (MANY) years ago I was watching America’s Next Top Model and they did a photo-shoot in a Villa in Como Lake and from that moment on I knew I had to visit that place. I did a bit of research and found Villa del Balbianello. There are many villas in Como, but this one stood out. When you scroll down you’ll get why.

If you don’t know it already, I’m a terrible driver, so when my parents set the dates to come visit me in Milan I got my puppy eyes on and argued that we should go visit this place. They were easily persuaded and on the sunniest autumn day possible we drove straight from Milan to Villa del Balbianello accompanied by my boyfriend at the time whom they had just met. What could go wrong? Actually, nothing!

From the parking lot, it’s a 20 minute walk to the Villa. I’d read online that the walk was very steep, but we found it quite easy. In the Villa (closed on Mondays and Wednesdays except on holidays) you need about three steps to fall in love. We opted to see just the gardens and we didn’t regret it. I mean… look at this:

I’m usually good with words but I think this is one of those “one picture is worth one thousand words” cases. Even one James Bond movie was shot there!

After having photographed every single inch of this place, we went back and visited the small neighbouring village of Lenno. By this time our bellies were starting to complain and we decided to find a place to pic-nic. Menaggio was the chosen one.

The afternoon plan was to see Bellagio, a town everyone told me to visit. Both from Menaggio and Cadenabbia you can take a direct ferry to reach Bellagio. As you approach you’ll start seeing the traditional Italian buildings painted in warm colours and once you get out you can explore the cobbled stone, narrow streets the town has to offer.

And it was time to go back to real life, aka Milan. I’ll be back Como!

The post [EN] A Quickie in… Lago di Como appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

Every time I move abroad my parents are sweet enough to come visit me. It has happened in Paris and we went to Normandy & Bretagne, in Istanbul, which was probably the least western place they’ve visited until today, and now in Milan, Italy.

And if there are perks of having a father who doesn’t mind driving wherever he goes one of them is exploring less obvious and accessible places. Therefore, we were off to discover two of the most beautiful and unexploited lakes of Piemonte.

First we drove to Orta, a quiet retreat surrounded by small hills and typical Italian villages no one has ever heard of.  Autumn was setting in and splashes of orange, red and brown adorned the place.

After spending one hour exploring its shores and secret corners, we headed to Lake Maggiore. As we weren’t too sure on what to do there, I quickly googled “Things to do in Lake Maggiore” and the first result was “Villa Taranto – Botanical Gardens” in Verbania. As we weren’t too far away we decided to give it a chance and see how it looks. And it was the biggest surprise of the day. The price is a bit discouraging, 10€ pp, but it’s totally worth it.

You start off with a path framed by beautiful, tall trees and classical music reaches your ears. This path will lead you to a fountain and from then on your eyes will be in for a treat. Flowers from all corners of the world, giant water lilies, Japanese acer, old bridges and a big villa, of course!

By this time, if you are hungry, their restaurant is a great choice. Parmigiana was spot on.

Going down the lake you will have the chance of stopping in some viewpoints to take in the landscape. My favourite was close to the Borromean Islands, search for Piazzale Lido, not very far from the center of Stressa. Here we took a quiet walk, together will all the Italian families who go there for a Suday after-lunch stroll, and saw the picture perfect islands where I may go once I’m rich. On a more realistic note, maybe never.

From here we started driving back to Milan as daylight quickly vanishes in late October. These lakes are a wonderful city escape from Milan both in winter and summer.

The post [EN] A Quickie in… Lake Orta San Giulio and Lake Maggiore appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.