Thermal baths and spas in Italy

If you go to a hotel in Italy they might tell you there is a Spa for hotel guests and sometimes it is available to day visitors. A Spa in Italy is a relaxing area where soft music plays and the lighting is dim. They will offer all kinds of treatments from massages to manicures and you will hopefully come away feeling relaxed and recharged to start your busy working week.

SpA after the name of a company in Italy stands for Società per azioni, which is like a shareholders' company, but when it is written Spa it is definitely a haven of tranquillity and peace.
 There is a town in Belgium called Spa which might claim the origin of the word, but in Italy it is considered to be an acronym for Salute Per Acqua. This means health through water.
The Romans knew all about health through water and we are lead to believe they spent a lot of time frolicking about in spa water baths getting up to all sorts of mischief.
 In modern Italy these are called Terme, like a thermal bath.
 Bubbling away under the Italian soil there are many sources of rich sulphurous water and visiting a place where this is on offer makes for a great day out.
 If you can convince your doctor that your health would benefit from a trip to a Terme you might be lucky enough to get some treatments free.

Every Terme will cure some ailment from  dodgy knees to asthma.
 Yesterday none of that was on people's minds as they enjoyed the sun in Sirmione's beautiful public spa or Terme.
 The moment you enter you feel at peace, the staff are all so welcoming and kind, the bang up to date technology means that you only need the plastic bracelet they give you when you are inside.
You are given a soft white towelling robe and a towel, a natty red and white striped bathing hat. All you need to take is a swimming costume and a pair of flip flops, and suntan lotion. Then for five hours you can enjoy the water, the Jacuzzis, the sunbeds, the olive groves, the stunning view of the lake. You can have a cappuccino or spritz on the terrace, have the dish of the day or salad or sandwiches, pizza, cakes and a bottle of prosecco.
You can have a sauna overlooking the lake, a Turkish bath, a Roman bath, sit in a wooden cabin breathing in eucalyptus and mint.
If this all gets too much you can stagger up a flight of stairs and enjoy the ample multisensorial area. This is divided into zones, Salt, water, sky, Stars to name a few. All the while you can sip on the Tisana del giorno in unlimited quantities, ours was Goji berries.
When your five hours is up and you are dressed and ready to go home all you do is hand in your watch and pay for your drinks and pizza.
Walk slowly back through Sirmione maybe have an ice cream on the way or a Spritz in one of its many pretty piazzas, or take the little train to the Roman ruins and learn all about Catullo.

At the entrance to Sirmione there is often a cart selling what look like enormous knobbly lemons, and are called cedri. You can have a refreshing drink or take them home. Then at the car park you get a discount if you have had a stamp from the Terme di Sirmione to prove you've been there, if your relaxed attitude and red face isn't enough.

Everyone looks the same wearing red and white hats and white dressing gowns, like the Romans in their togas

Just the place for your morning cappuccino or evening Spritz

The lighting in the evening adds a magical feel

Infinity pool +lake+sky

thirst quenching cedri juice

Stars, just one of the places to relax

Salt, another one

Bluebells from Scotland in an Italian garden

This evening at some friends' house enjoying a glass of wine and some olives and watching the sun go down over their cherry tree, my glance fell on some bluebells growing beside the path. As you know from my post from last year, or if you're new readers I'll tell you now that most of the world's bluebells grow in Britain and it is very unusual to see them elsewhere.
Our friends explained that the bluebells were brought back from Scotland in 1945. Their father had been a prisoner of war in Scotland and had fallen in love not only with the Scottish lassies but also with the bluebells. He had planted the bluebells and the whole family considered them an heirloom. Each year a member of the family would take a cutting and now everyone had bluebells in their gardens.
What a lovely symbol of hope and friendship.
It filled my heart with such joy and happiness to see bluebells on an April evening in an Italian garden brought from Scotland with love.

Bluebells brought from Scotland in 1945

Watching the sun go down over the cherry orchard

What a lovely cherry tree

Viva l'Italia

These friendly waiters wearing Italian ties are looking forward to cheering their National team

The police launch, ambulance boat and fire brigade are all at the ready to speed off across the lake

Spritz Campari and spritz aperol and a tray of olives,capers, tomatoes and taralucci all from Puglia

Happy to pose for a picture

Italy has got a  beautiful coastline and lots of very pretty lakes and you are never far from a shoreline or some sort of water to enjoy water sports, swimming or just to sit and ponder.. I grew up near a river and I love to be able to sit by water and breathe in those lovely watery smells, watch the ducks squabbling over the crumbs that are surreptiously thrown to them ,even the smell of petrol as the boats set off taking passengers and cars to the other side of the lake,is a pleasure, as it brings back memories of messing about in boats on the river. In Cafè Italia you feel you are witnessing scenes that are being repeated all over the peninsula. Delicious Italian snacks and drinks being served by charming friendly waiters, tourists enjoying the warm sunshine after a long Northern winter, locals at their favourite table tucking in to their friend the chef's special spaghetti, and everyone looking forward to the first match in Brazil on 12th June . .

Cafè Italia

Artichoke risotto, risotto con carciofi

The first thing that  my Italian mother- in-law taught me how to cook was Risotto . 

She was from Tuscany where Risotto is not considered a typical dish at all. She had had to learn to make it herself, from her mother- in-law. To be able to make a good Risotto is a greatly admired skill here, a bit like being a good Pastry cook in Britain. The first recipe I mastered was  plain Risotto, the basis of all the others. First of all you put a saucepan of stock on to boil and leave it simmering. In another saucepan you gently fry a very finely chopped onion in some olive oil and a knob of butter. When it is soft and translucent you add a fistful of rice per person and stir well so all the rice is coated with the oil. Next add a good splash of white wine and stir until the alcohol has evaporated. Now you just keep on adding ladles of the hot stock and stirring until the rice is cooked . Turn off the heat .Check the seasoning, add a knob of butter and some grated Parmesan cheese , stir well , this is called mantecare and is important and put the lid on for two minutes. This method is guaranteed to make the perfect Risotto .I was hooked right from the start, it 's delicious, but my English stomach balked at this. All that time, all that effort, all that washing up , but no meat or vegetables in sight . The Risotto won. I make a Risotto at least three times a week now and it has always been a great way to make my children eat almost any vegetable. 

Risotto with artichokes and a glass of white wine make a great supper for friends It looks a bit lonely like this, like the man eating on his own at the end of  2001 a space Odyssey

Artichokes in a vase, vegetables like flowers

Risotto is a dish that you can only make if you know what time everyone will be ready to sit down. It can't be made in advance and it won't hang around. If you are invited to an Italian friend's house for dinner and they are cooking Risotto they will likely say' to you 'Fammi uno squillo quando parti e butto giu il riso. This means that you give them a ring as you are leaving home to go to their house and only then  will they put the rice on to cook. You will enter their house to be greeted by tantalising aromas and the host or hostess hovering around the stove, busy tasting and testing so the Risotto is cooked to perfezione. 

 Whenever I make Risotto I feel a bit like the conductor of an orchestra. Standing in front of the saucepans brandishing my wooden spoon, deciding what goes in, and in which order, and hopefully bringing the whole performance to a delightfully harmonious grand finale. Perfect Risotto, people sitting down on time and the pleasure of having created a masterpiece  that you know will be appreciated. My con-suocera, this is an Italian word that has no equivalent in English, it means your  son or daughter's mother-in-law, makes the most delicious Artichoke Risotto. It is difficult not to have a second helping, you only hold back because you know that being an Italian meal, there will be a lot more to follow.

 

Here is my Con-suocera's recipe.

 

6 artichokes, prepared by soaking in lemon juice and then slicing thinly

600 ml stock

1 small onion, finely chopped

olive oil

butter

white wine

350 g Vialone Nano, or Risotto rice

50g grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

 

Fry the onion gently in the oil and butter until soft but not coloured, add the prepared artichokes and stir. Cook gently over a low heat for about 5 minutes and then add the rice. Stir well until each grain is coated and then add the wine and let it evaporate. Gradually add the stock, stirring well each time and carry on until the rice is cooked. Turn off the heat and add the cheese and butter, stir well and cover for 2 minutes. Check the seasoning and serve with more grated Parmesan.

 

This works well as a Piatto unico with salad, or the courgette flower recipe  and a glass of white wine.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring in the city

Italian apple blossom

A  flower on a crannied wall

A shrub with white flowers

The sunlight shining through the fresh green of the new leaves

It is a wonderful feeling to be able to walk down a country lane that is few minutes walk from a busy city centre . Yesterday the cuckoo kept us company. Looking at all the fresh green, the shrubs and blossom, even poppies seems to bring out the best in everybody. It was probably on a day like this that Alfred Tennyson wrote this verse while walking along a country lane.

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower-but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know hat God and man is.

More crannied flowers

An Italian lane in Springtime, just outside the busy city centre

Mountains in the morning, sunset by the sea

While my children were growing up my brother gave us the complete series of Fawllty Towers. They were hooked from the first episode. They got to know it off by heart. Our house would ring with their laughter as they repeated the punchlines.

"He put Basil in the Ratatouille"!
"Too much butter on those trays!"
"No Mr Fawlty: Uno , dos, tres!"

My son reminded me of one favourite today, as he set off skiing.
 

     Sybil: "Did you hear that Basil?Mr.Hamilton said that in California you can swim in the morning and ski in the afternoon."
 

     Basil: "Sounds rather tiring".
 

The skiing season is still open here in Italy, but if you find a sheltered spot you can happily soak up the sun on the beach.
 

The first time we went camping to Jesolo when I was 9 we had a terrific thunderstorm the night before our departure. As my Dad packed up our soaking wet tent, he told us that the minute he saw a field he would take it out and pitch it so it could dry out otherwise it would rot. We drove up towards Cortina and found a meadow where we waited while the tent dried. My memories are hazy of what we did while waiting, probably got out our Eye spy books, but I do remember vividly the thrilling feeling of having gone from the sea to the snow capped mountains in a flash.
 

My husband  is very proud of his Dolomites. He really loves them and it is easy to understand why. They are really part of the Alps, but called Dolomites because of the rock they are made of which turns pink at sunset. There is even a part of thr Dolomites called Rosengarten which means Rose Garden.
 

On this beautiful early Spring morning Italy has a snow capped crown stretching from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic.