1,000 Places to See Before You Die

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1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 32

by Patricia Schultz


  If you’re up for a challenge, follow the steep Sentiero Rosso (Red Path) through the mountains for 26 miles between Levanto, north of the Cinque Terre, and Portovenere, a beautiful village of brightly colored houses on a fishing harbor (more easily reached by boat).

  The half-hour hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola, known as the Via dell’Amore or “The Lovers’ Walk,” affords easy access to swimming.

  WHERE: Monterosso is 57 miles/90 km east of Genoa. HOTEL PORTO ROCA: Tel 39/0187-817502; www.portoroca.it. Cost: from $250. When: closed Nov–mid-Apr. VILLA STENO: Tel 39/0187-817028; www.villasteno.com. Cost: $200 (off-peak), $300 (peak). MIKY: Tel 39/0187-817401. Cost: dinner $50. IL GAMBERO ROSSO: Tel 39/0187-812265; www.ristorantegamberorosso.net. Cost: dinner $60. When: closed Nov-Feb. CA’ D’ANDREAN: Tel 39/0187-920040; www.cadandrean.it. Cost: from $120. BEST TIMES: May–Jun and Sep for nicest hiking weather (avoid weekends); late May for Sagra del Limone (Lemon Festival) in Monterosso.

  Idyllic Harbors and Famous Retreats

  THE ITALIAN RIVIERA

  Liguria, Italy

  The glorious arc of the Italian Riviera unfolds from the French border against a glittering panorama of turquoise sea and dense, rugged mountains. The narrow, 220-mile Ligurian coastline—which some say is far more stunning than the French Riviera—is made up of palm-fringed resort towns, with their historical centers and charming trompe l’oeil–painted façades. The steep, terraced hills produce extra-virgin olive oil, which flavors the region’s seafood-based cucina ligure. Though the area is now mostly developed, you can still hire a local fisherman to transport you to wild, craggy coves with surprisingly unspoiled views along the way—not unlike ones native son Christopher Columbus might have seen.

  At the pretty and popular little town of Portofino, former fishermen’s dwellings painted in rich Ligurian hues—faded yellow, ocher, pink—crowd around a snug harbor full of bobbing yachts. Follow the heady perfume of pesto-flavored trenette pasta and grilled scampi to the chic waterside Ristorante Puny. The perfect address for close-up views of the sea and the bella gente is the stylish Hotel Splendido Mare, in the center of town. Or make the steep, 10-minute climb (or take the shuttle) to its big sister, the Hotel Splendido, a Benedictine-monastery-turned-villa-hotel tucked into luxuriant, semitropical gardens. The 12 contemporary-style rooms at Domina Home Piccolo are less grand but overlook terraced gardens and a private rocky beach. Make time to cross the pine-scented peninsula and follow remote coastlines on a network of well-marked paths (it’s about 2 hours on foot or 20 minutes by summertime-only boat) to the seaside Abbey of San Fruttuoso, founded in the 10th century by Benedictine monks and today a favorite destination for a waterfront lunch.

  If traffic is light, Santa Margherita Ligure can be reached in 15 minutes from Portofino. Although a bit subdued since its early 20th-century heyday, it is still elegant, with long stretches of pebbly beach backed by a palm-shaded promenade. From there, a 10-minute train ride delivers you to Camogli, an unspoiled fishing village, where you can take in the view from the terrace of the Cenobio dei Dogi hotel, onetime summer retreat of the rulers of Genoa, the historic port city just 12 miles west.

  Once a fishing village, today Portofino lures Italy’s bella gente.

  WHERE: Portofino is 23 miles/38 km southeast of Genoa. HOTEL SPLENDIDO MARE and HOTEL SPLENDIDO: Tel 39/0185-267801; in the U.S., 800-237-1236; www.hotelsplendido.com. Cost: Splendido Mare, from $900; Splendido, from $1,300. When: closed Nov–Mar. DOMINA HOME PICCOLO: Tel 39/0185-269015; www.dominahome.it. Cost: from $175 (off-peak), from $375 (peak). When: Nov–Mar. CENOBIO DEI DOGI: Tel 39/0185-7241; www.cenobio.it. Cost: from $225 (off-peak), from $325 (peak). BEST TIMES: mid-May for the Sagra del Pesce in Camogli, when a ton of fish is fried in a 12-foot-wide skillet; congestion on the road leading to Portofino can make visiting in Jul and Aug a test of patience.

  Shimmering Beauties at the Foot of the Alps

  THE ITALIAN LAKES

  Lombardy, Italy

  Italy’s three major lakes—Maggiore, Como, and Garda—and a string of smaller beauties have long inspired music, poetry, and no end of appreciation from those who have witnessed their Alpine-framed spectacle. They hint of Switzerland just to the north, yet with their profusion of elegant villas, stylish lakeside villages, lush gardens, and simple pleasures, they are inherently Italian too.

  Lago Maggiore, just an hour’s drive from Milan, has always been a summer retreat for the city’s residents. The aristocratic Borromeo family built Baroque palaces and lavish gardens on the lake’s two tiny islands. Ernest Hemingway set A Farewell to Arms on the lake’s shores, in the 19th-century Grand Hotel des Iles Borromées in Stresa, which is still as romantic and princely as in its early days; linger with a Hemingway Martini in the elegant lobby bar. Lake Orta, just across a spur of mountains to the west, is smaller and much less worldly; its peaceful town of Orta San Giulio looks across the waters to the islet where the thousand-year-old Basilica di San Giulio appears to float.

  Lago di Como, where mountainsides drop right into the deep, mirror-still waters, is surrounded by elegant villas and grand hotels. Bellagio, one of the prettiest towns anywhere, hugs a sylvan promontory on the lake, carpeted in part with the parklands of the waterfront Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni. The Belle Époque hotel offers glorious views and a palpable sense of the past. The incomparable Villa d’Este, majestically positioned on the lakeshore south of Bellagio, was originally a cardinal’s private pleasure palace and is now the gold standard from which all others take their inspiration. Grand but never overpowering, it has 10 acres of gardens and the exceptional Veranda Restaurant, whose retracting glass walls bring the lake to your dining table.

  Million-dollar views; a fine restaurant; welcoming, hands-on hosts; and gentle prices make Albergo Milano the nicest choice in pretty lakefront Varenna.

  Garda, the largest lake in Italy, is 90 miles east of here and was once the cool summertime destination for ancient Rome’s VIPs: The ruins of the Grotte di Catullo are said to be the lakeside villa that the poet Catullus built outside Sirmione, where a 13th-century castello stands almost entirely surrounded by the deep blue waters of the lake. By comparison, the palatial 19th-century Villa Cortine Palace Hotel seems downright modern. Colonnaded, formidably decorative, and just this side of over-the-top, it is Sirmione’s finest hotel, with impeccable gardens lapped by the lake’s edge. Across the lake, a short walk from the pretty unspoiled town of Gargano, an aristocratic 1892 family manor (and temporary hideout for Mussolini) is now the glamorously old-world Grand Hotel Villa Feltrinelli, and may just be the most splendid of them all.

  Of the five islands that comprise the Borromean Islands, Isola dei Pescatori is the only one inhabited.

  WHERE: Como is 25 miles/40 km north of Milan. HOTEL DES ILES BORROMÉES: Tel 39/0323-938938; www.borromees.it. Cost: from $245 (off-peak), from $385 (peak). VILLA SERBELLONI: Tel 39/031-950216; www.villaserbelloni.it. Cost: from $540 (off-peak), from $680 (peak). When: closed Nov–Mar. VILLA D’ESTE: Tel 39/031-3481; www.villadeste.it. Cost: from $580 (off-peak), from $900 (peak); dinner at Veranda $120. When: closed mid-Nov–Feb. ALBERGO MILANO: Tel 39/0341-830298; www.varenna.net. Cost: from $125. When: closed mid-Nov–mid-Mar. VILLA CORTINE PALACE: Tel 39/030-99-05890; www.hotelvillacortine.com. Cost: from $435 (off-peak), from $630 (peak). When: closed Oct–Mar. VILLA FELTRINELLI: Tel 39/0365-798001; www.villafeltrinelli.com. Cost: from $1,175 (off-peak), from $1,600 (peak). BEST TIMES: Jul–Aug is the busiest, preferred by some; mid-Aug–mid-Sep for the international festival, Settimane Musicali di Stresa.

  A Celebration of Renaissance Splendor

  PALAZZO DUCALE AND PALAZZO TE

  Mantua, Lombardy, Italy

  Located on the slow-moving River Mincio, Mantua (Montova) is locked in the rich past of the powerful Gonzaga family, who were to this city what the Medicis were to Florence (see p. 203). Under their influence, the city flourished for 400 years, and their sumptuously decorated 500-room, 15-courtyard Palazzo Ducale was bui
lt between the 13th and 18th centuries. Vast, gilded halls and huge galleries are filled with vibrant canvases by Renaissance masters, most notably Andrea Mantegna, whose fanciful Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Chamber, 1472–1474) is but one highlight of the palazzo.

  One Gonzaga duke, Federico II, created his own retreat, Palazzo Te, where 16th-century architect and painter Giulio Romano covered every inch of ceilings and walls with rich frescoes, from equine portraits to pornographic mythological scenes. These wonderfully whimsical works are among the world’s greatest masterpieces of Mannerist art.

  You can dine like the dukes of Mantua on Gonzaga delicacies beneath the frescoed ceilings of Trattoria Il Cigno dei Martini. The elegant Ristorante Aquila Nigra is known for delicate pastas and regional specialties served with a light, creative touch in the stone-walled rooms of a medieval palazzo. The ambience is more casual at the informal Osteria La Porta Accanto next door.

  WHERE: 95 miles/153 km southeast of Milan. TRATTORIA IL CIGNO: Tel 39/0376-327101. Cost: dinner $75. AQUILA NIGRA: Tel 39/0376-327180; www.aquilanigra.it. Cost: dinner $100; dinner at La Porta Accanto $45. WHERE TO STAY: Casa Poli has bright, contemporary rooms in a 19th-century palazzo in the center of town. Tel 39/0376-288170; www.hotelcasapoli.it. Cost: from $200. BEST TIMES: On Good Friday, a vial allegedly containing Preziossimo Sangue di Cristo (Most Precious Blood of Christ) is paraded through the streets; mid-Sep for Festivaletteratura, a series of concerts, plays, and other events.

  Genius of a Renaissance Man

  THE LAST SUPPER AND OTHER WORKS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI

  Milan, Lombardy, Italy

  Completed for the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in 1498, Leonardo da Vinci’s Il Cenacolo (The Last Supper) still captivates viewers with its power, depth, and humanity. Leonardo searched for years among the city’s criminals for Judas’s face, and the result, 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari declared, was “the very embodiment of treachery and inhumanity.” Study the 28-foot-long mural and you begin to notice Leonardo’s many other masterful touches: the apostles, arranged in groups of three (a sign of the Holy Trinity), are clearly distressed, whereas Christ is calm, almost beatific; Judas is cast in shadows.

  Much to our loss, Leonardo did not use the typical fresco technique of applying oil paint to wet plaster to create a bond; instead he experimented by mixing his paints with tempera (egg yolk and vinegar) and working on dry plaster. The painting began to deteriorate almost immediately—even so, and despite some clumsy restorations over the centuries (with a successful 21-year restoration completed in 1999), exposure to the elements, and damage incurred when Napoleon’s troops used the figures for target practice, one of the world’s most famous paintings still evokes all the drama of this fateful moment.

  The Last Supper was one of many projects Leonardo undertook during the 17 years he spent in Milan under the patronage of Duke Ludivico “Il Moro” Sforza. He engineered canals and dikes in the plains surrounding the city (some are still in use today), designed a dome for the Duomo (never undertaken), and painted a lovely fresco that transforms one of the duke’s royal apartments in Castello Sforzesco into an arbor. The Rondanini Pietà, the last work of Michelangelo (at age 90), is also here.

  Another work attributed to Leonardo, a Portrait of a Musician (believed by some scholars to be a self-portrait), is in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. His Codex Atlanticus, a 1,100-page notebook of writings and drawings on subjects ranging from weaponry to flight, is on display in the adjacent Biblioteca Ambriosana; sections of the book are rotated every 3 months until 2015. Many of these designs see the light of day at the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tecnica (National Museum of Science and Technology), where replicas of Leonardo’s airplanes, helicopters, submarines, and other machines show off the imagination of one of the greatest geniuses of all ages.

  Nearly destroyed in World War II and subject to several ill-fated restoration attempts, The Last Supper can now be viewed only by reservation.

  INFO: Tel 39/02-8942-1146; www.cenacolovinciano.org. HOW: Purchase tickets in advance through www.tickitaly.com. Or join a Skip the Line tour that guarantees a no-line entry with guided visit. Tel in Rome 39/06-8336-0561; www.lastsuppertickets.com. Cost: $45. CASTELLO SFORZESCO: Tel 39/02-88463700; www.milanocastello.it. PINACOTECA AMBROSIANA: Tel 39/02-806921; www.ambro siana.it. MUSEO NAZIONALE DELLA SCIENZA E TECNICA: Tel 39/02-485551; www.museoscienza.org.

  The Epicenter of Fashion, Design, and Good Living

  ON AND AROUND PIAZZA DEL DUOMO

  Milan, Lombardy, Italy

  Milan appeals to those who enjoy the finer things in life—as a stroll across its Piazza del Duomo and along the surrounding streets will confirm. The Duomo, Milan’s most famous landmark, captures the city’s creative energy with its size and ornamentation. Five centuries in the making, one of the world’s largest cathedrals has an exterior topped with 135 marble spires and adorned with 2,245 marble statues; the interior, meanwhile, is spartan, and so vast that it can seat 40,000. An elevator to the roof offers the chance to stroll amid the forest of white marble pinnacles and to study the flying buttresses up close. There are stunning views over Italy’s most frenetic city and, on a clear day, a glimpse of the Swiss Alps 50 miles away.

  As befits a city synonymous with style, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II was the world’s first enclosed, pedestrian-only shopping mall, a 19th-century extravaganza that is often called the “living room” of Milan; fine shops and cafés line the mosaic-floored arcades beneath a soaring leaded-glass roof. The galleria leads to Teatro alla Scala, the world’s most famous opera house, where Verdi’s Otello and Falstaff premiered as well as Puccini’s Turandot and Bellini’s Norma. Maria Callas sang at La Scala more often than anywhere else.

  Milan’s tireless preoccupation with design is showcased a few blocks away, on the incomparable Via Montenapoleone and its offshoots, the single most fashionable retail acre in the world. Shopping this exclusive “golden triangle” that is home to the sleek boutiques of the high priests and priestesses of la moda italiana is heaven for those with deep pockets and purgatory for those reduced to window-shopping. Order a cappuccino and people-watch at Cova, an elegant café that’s been a fixture here since 1822. Settle into the Four Seasons Hotel, a former convent that’s been transformed into a unique 21st-century urban oasis enhanced with fragments of exposed frescoes and vaulted ceilings. A stay at the smart Hotel Spadari in the shadow of the Duomo puts you at the doorstep of the legendary Peck, Milan’s magnificent food-as-art emporium. For something charmingly unpretentious, the nearby Trattoria Milanese serves perfectly prepared osso bucco and other classics to a well-heeled clientele in no-frills brick-walled surroundings.

  “Not . . . commandingly beautiful but grandly curious,” Henry James said of the Duomo, Milan’s most enduring landmark.

  DUOMO: Tel 39/02-8646-3456; www.duomomilano.it. TEATRO ALLA SCALA: Tel 39/02-7200-3744; www.teatroallascala.org. When: Opera season runs Dec–Jul; ballet and concerts other months. COVA: Tel 39/02-7600-5599. FOUR SEASONS HOTEL MILANO: Tel 39/02-77088; www.fourseasons.com/milan. Cost: from $860. HOTEL SPADARI: Tel 39/02-7200-2371; www.spadarihotel.com. Cost: from $330. PECK: Tel 39/02-802-3161; www.peck.it. TRATTORIA MILANESE: Tel 39/02-8645-1991. Cost: dinner $60. BEST TIMES: Apr–May and Sep–Oct, when the city is buzzing with the arrival of new fashions.

  Grand Palazzo Ducale and Bel Canto Opera

  URBINO AND PESARO

  Le Marche, Italy

  A top a steep hill in the region of Le Marche, Urbino could easily share the spotlight with better-known Italian cities for its history, art, architecture, and gastronomy if not for its location off the well-traveled path. During the second half of the 15th century, it was the seat of one of Europe’s most prestigious courts, under the visionary direction of Federico da Montefeltro. The duke commissioned the finest artists and architects to build and embellish his immense Palazzo Ducale, considered the perfect expression of the Early Renaissance.

  Today the palace houses the
Galleria Nazionale (National Gallery) delle Marche, filled with a prodigious art collection that includes works by native son Raphael (La Muta, The Silent One), Piero della Francesca (Madonna di Senigallia and The Flagellation of Christ; the latter considered by the artist his finest work), Paolo Uccello, and Luca Signorelli. Visitors to this underrated destination will often have the many rooms to themselves—as they will the steep lanes and airy piazzas of this small, proud town of 15,000 residents and the students of the 500-year-old university. The pleasant Hotel Bonconte, in a villa near the city walls, overlooks the undulating green countryside. If you venture just minutes outside town, you’ll find the stylish stone-and-wood Locanda della Valle Nuova set beneath oak trees on 185 bucolic acres. Guests are immersed in the simple pleasures of agriturismo—fresh air, amiable hosts, and fresh cheeses, meats, and wine made on this organic farm.

  A worldly atmosphere prevails down on the coast at Pesaro, an attractive resort and the hometown of Gioacchino Rossini. The great composer of The Barber of Seville is honored with the annual Rossini Opera Festival, devoted exclusively to the composer’s work and a favorite among opera purists. Even if you don’t come for the festival, enjoy the quintessential Pesaro experience with a stroll down the animated Via Rossini and settle into the handsomely refurbished, old-world Hotel Vittoria.

 

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