Rubber Slippers In Italy

Long hikes at what is probably the best time of year are sadly lacking as we busy ourselves with preparing the garden for winter, but sometimes the actual reason is that weekends are often entirely rained out. In current weather events, the peninsula has been hit with heavy rainfall, bringing much difficulty and terribly tragic circumstances in certain areas around the country. So far we've had no problems or warnings in the chestnut forest, and it's insane to think that just a week ago we were hiking under serene italian skies on our first fall outing. From Alpe Giumello (Casargo, LC): this is a relatively easy 2.5 hour loop trail that rambles around the base of Monte Muggio. There are a few tracts that need to be scrambled up or down carefully so I wouldn't suggest attempting this in winter or early spring when ice or snowmelt makes the trail extremely dangerous. We've gone sledding here in winter when everything was covered in deep snow, but now that we've s...

Why do weekends with perfect weather always have to be so short? This past Saturday and Sunday was the one that anybody with a pulse has been wanting for a long time, the weekend with ZERO rain, no snowfall and nothing but blue skies all around. We had the intention of hiking around the base of Monte Muggio, a 3-hour loop trail that begins from the parking area at località Alpe Giumello, but ice on the trail made it a dangerous gamble. If we had been able to get to the very top of Monte Muggio it would have afforded us a spectacular panorama with Bellagio jutting out in the middle of the lake. Even if a good, long hike was out of the question, there was plenty of wide open space to go for a stroll. We walked the dogs out on the flat plains on the eastern side of Giumello, all of which were covered in a thick layer of packed snow. In less than 30 minutes time we had built up enough of an appetite for a quick lunch at Ristoro Genio, a cozy little bar and restaurant serving hot meal...