Entering as patrons, leaving as family... in Stresa Italy

Stresa woke me up to an Italian dream.  The lake and hillsides were beautiful, the food was indulgent, the old castle houses were whimsical...but the best thing about being back in Italy was the people.  As soon as we entered the narrow shopping streets, I could hear the fire in their voices and see the passion in their body language.  I felt like I was home and surrounded by people just like me. 

We had great adventures, but my most memorable experience in Stresa was the last dinner we had in the city.  We were visiting La Rosa Dei Venti for the second time, as we had enjoyed the food SO much the night before.  A local family-run restaurant, the waitresses recognized us and smiled warm greetings when we walked in.  They set up a table for us near the open pizza kitchen in the back.  We were treated like adopted family, and this time were recommended special items from the menu they were sure we would like.  We took their recommendations and enjoyed a phenomenal meal.  

There was a large party sitting to the right of us, a bunch of old Italians, and we figured they were all family, or at the very least locals. Turns out, they were actually all retired chefs from the region...SOOOO cool! At one point, when my PIZZA PIE came, I turned around and waved a thank you to the pizza chef, blowing him a kiss.   That started a clunky conversation in broken English and Italian with the head chef at the table next to us about how we were liking our dinner.  In the couple Italian words I knew, but mostly using body language, I told him it was "Fantastico! Perfecto!" He really liked that.

We had our complimentary limonchello and cookies brought over, after the dessert course, which just stuffed us all to the absolute brim. As we were getting up to leave the restaurant, the table of chefs called us over, and one of them smiled at me, waved me over and gave me European cheek kisses. They asked where we were from, and we struggled through a few lines about how long we were staying, where we were going next and where home was.  I showed them the pictures of dinner on my phone that I was going to post to facebook for la familia back in California- full plates of beautiful food, then empty plates ready for the wash. They loved it, and more so, they loved that we loved and appreciated their food and culture. When we waved goodbye, they clapped and smiled and sent us off with warm, heartfelt hugs. It was a fantastic night...one that captured the magic of Italian culture. 

Food aside, Stresa was a beautiful lake city.  Within the lake were islands, and on these islands the rich and powerful of old built their castles.  We toured these on one of our days out, appreciating the amazing art collections and fabulous gardens.  My favorite thing about Italian masterpiece paintings is that they portray a female body image I can identify with.  Curvy bodies carrying a little extra padding were the model of beauty, wealth and stature.  I could have been royalty, lol!

We browsed the local artisan shops, looking over shelves of Milano glass, leather purses and ceramic plates.  Airline baggage restrictions can keep a person on budget while on vacation, so that was a good thing.  We bought a few things to take home, the most important of which was a set of beautiful shot glasses that caught Dad's eye.  They would be used for special occasions, and for initiation would most likely be filled with limonchello. 

The ONLY reason my parents were able to pry me away from Stresa was that we were leaving for Lake Como.  As long as we were staying in Italy, I was willing to get on the train.