dreaming of lesa

i have located heaven and its name is lesa

for the first 4 days of our journey we've stayed at a house on lago maggiore in the northern italian town of lesa - this is the view from our terrace of the almost full moon over the lake

there are several small islands in lake maggiore, so we took the boat to isola bella which is the site of a royal palace (some still live there but no sightings!) 

but we picnicked on the grounds with a view of the alps in the distance which was plenty royal for me. 

one day we drove up into the mountains to a little town called macugnaga located on the swiss frontier - 

the second to last night our hosts, luisa and dado, prepared a meal for us which was fantastic.......hats off to the chefs!!!

my nephew, sister and i digging in to osso buco and risotto

then we took a trip down memory lane and visited our former home in torino, italy, where my family lived when my sister and i were little girls - we look a lot different now but the building and neighborhood haven't really changed!

so far we have eaten many amazing meals (this is italy after all - no bad food!)

consumed our share of cappuccino (sometimes multiple times a day it's so good --- especially with foamed milk hearts!)

you gotta love a country where people can enjoy a glass of wine in the street.......

i'll leave you with a foto of a sign on isola bella -- the royal family asks people to keep the noise down -- but we noticed someone (a young prince?) used the sign for target practice and was a pretty good shot! (however, sort of defeats the purpose of the sign........;-)

am pointing the car east for the next stop on our journey...........will post once again when i have internet - for now ciao bellas!

xo♡a