carol's kitchen

Monday, August 06, 2012

A Visit to the Ticino & Last Days in Meggen

CASTEL SAN PIETRO in TICINO & GOODBYE MEGGEN

My friends, Rosmarie and Hannes create magic in their beautiful homes, not least of which, the antique stone and wood villa in the tiny town of Castel San Pietro, located in the southernmost tip of Switzerland, in the Italian speaking Canton of Ticino, near Lake Como, which they claim is their favorite domain. They purchased this house 34 years ago and have lovingly restored it, but not too much; keeping original details and the feeling of a 19th. century Italian country villa.

From Meggen, we drove over the St. Gotthard pass, noticing the lineup of cars, trucks and buses waiting at a standstill to get into the ten mile tunnel that avoids the pass.  But in summer the pass has no traffic and is one of the most thrilling drives I’ve ever done.  As if the sharp hairpin curves were not exciting enough, on our return journey, shrouded in black clouds, we had a loud, scary thunderstorm at the top of the mountain to add to the drama.  

Life in the villa at Castel San Pietro  is calm, quiet and peaceful.  We are joined by Rosmarie’s sister Monica, who brings fragrant melons from Cavaillon.   At 5 in the afternoon, we gather for a leisurely “apero” on the interior patio overlooking the valley and the magnificent baroque church of San Pietro, whose bells chime at the wrong time, and with too many or too few chimes.  After a startling set of 50 chimes woke me in the middle of the night we marched over to the city council office the next morning to complain.  They knew about the problem and said an expert was coming to fix it.  The expert had not yet arrived while we were in town.

The weather was warm and a little humid; Rosemarie prepared simple, sumptuous meals -- melon with goat cheese, stuffed peppers, pate en croute, and a wonderful leek and ham quiche -- which we ate in the garden, with local wine, a Merlot, produced in the village.  

The last night, under a full moon, we walked to the wonderful Ristorante Loverciano, in a tree-filled outdoor garden at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by vineyards, where we enjoyed a delicious meal of grilled vegetables, cold sliced meats, risotto with wild mushrooms, and tortellini stuffed with spinach and cheese.  Desserts were fresh peach in port wine, orange sorbet with campari, and panna cotta with wild berries.  Wine too, of course.

Next day, back in Meggen, we got a powerful rain storm with thunder, lightening and hailstones, and I spent the entire afternoon in bed reading THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES, by Edmund de Waal, about a rich Jewish family from Vienna, who owned a lakeside mansion in Meggen, on the very same site of the home exchange where I lived seven years ago, and where Rosmarie and Hannes have their apartment.

Last night, we went to an outdoor movie in Lucerne where they handed out plastic ponchos in anticipation of rain, which came during the film and bothered no one.  We ate and drank and enjoyed “The Untouchables,”  a charming French film dubbed in German.  

Now I’ve purchased a train ticket to Zurich airport, where I’ll go on Wednesday to catch my flight home.  Goodbye magnificent Switzerland, auf wiedersehen beautiful Meggen; don’t know if or when I’ll come back, but if I get an interesting offer, and if the swimming pool is not closed, and Rosmarie and Hannes are in town, and I’ve got my Microsoft Word processing application in working order, and if the Swiss Franc doesn't become even more expensive than it is already, I’m sure I’ll return.