In the midst of our 16-day Swiss circle route -- a deliberate itinerary planned around the 15-day Swiss Travel Pass by train -- we found the perfect excuse to spend just one night in my favourite European country. Medieval cobblestone squares, Renaissance porticos and cheap gelato. What’s not to love about Italy?
But wait … how exactly did we end up in Italy on Swiss trains?
Few travelers take advantage of this little-known perk, but the Swiss Travel Pass allows for free travel between southern and southwest Switzerland through a quaint Italian town known as Domodossola, which turns out to be the most direct route between the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Valais. As we made our way from the medieval castles of Bellinzona towards Zermatt and the Matterhorn, we decided to stop for a night.
As anonymous as Domodossola may sound to foreign travelers, it is home to one of Northern Italy’s wealth of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a pilgrimage destination for Catholics. According to the locals -- and verified by my Italian-born colleague -- it is apparently famous also for D for Domodossola, as the Latin alphabet is taught in school.
Getting here was part of the fun as we hopped on the historic, narrow-guage Centovalli Railway from Locarno, swaying past innumerable viaducts and tunnels through a terrain of river gorges and pre-alpine hills. And upon arrival there was nowhere to store our luggage on a Friday as the local Tourist Info office closed at noon. At the end it was our gracious apartment owner who rescued us, skipping her lunch break to give us early access to the apartment.
If you’re wondering why we jumped at this chance to spend one night outside Switzerland, look no further than this lovely apartment in Domodossola ... at 1/3 off our average rental price within Swiss borders.
Well-equipped kitchen, washing machine and a classic balcony fit for a Romeo-and-Juliet scene, housed inside a 16th century Renaissance palace just 20 steps from the main square. It would have been our favourite apartment of the trip even before considering the cheap price. Again, what’s not to love about Italy?
But there’s more. Enter the Menu della Giornata.
After nearly a week of acclimatizing to Swiss prices where CHF25 entrées were quite the norm, it was a reverse shock to find a set lunch -- appetizer, entrée, plus a glass of wine -- at the impossible price of 11.5 euros at Ristorante 45 (see map).
And we’re not talking basic Linguine Pomodoro here. My wife’s salad of Bresaola and Mozzarella di Bufala was followed by an entrée of tender Impepata di Cozze, served with a glass of local white to complement the fresh mussels. They also threw in a bottle of tap water for free -- another minor culture shock for travelers accustomed to Switzerland.
I decided to splurge on a platter of Spaghetti allo Scoglio, more expensive than the 2-course set lunch but still 50% off compared with anywhere in Switzerland. In retrospect it might have been odd to order two seafood entrées at the foot of the Alps, but this little ristorante, 100m from the train station and apparently a favourite of the off-duty staff, was a true hidden gem.
We couldn’t help indulging further -- a velvety Tiramisu for my wife and a shot of 15-year-old Grappa di Amarone for me. Not meaning to sound sarcastic, but I would rank this among the three favourite meals of our Swiss trip.
Meal for Two Persons
| Menu della Giornata | 11.5 euros |
| Spaghetti allo Scoglio | 15 euros |
| Tiramisu Savoiardi | 4 euros |
| Grappa di Amarone 15 Anni | 5 euros |
| Coperto x 2 | 3 euros |
| TOTAL | 38.5 euros (CAD$57.8) |
Local flavours help make memories, but for most travelers a small town like Domodossola still needs a star attraction to be considered a worthwhile destination. After a quick afternoon nap we started our short hike towards the town’s claim to international fame, its UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Sacro Monte Calvario.
Dedicated 400 years ago by local Capuchin monks, the Calvario is a succession of chapels placed along the hillside to depict the biblical scenes of Via Dolorosa, focusing on the Passion or holy determination of Jesus as he dragged the instrument of his own torture and earthly death from the valley to the hilltop.
Life-sized statues of wood and clay with backdrops of painted fresco vividly reconstruct famous scenes from the Gospels, in this case a picture of Jesus being stripped of his clothes and fed a mixture of gall and vinegar according to the Gospel of Matthew here at the 10th Station.
Domodossola’s sacred mount is one of nine such devotional complexes in Northern Italy attracting centuries of pilgrims, all arriving for a highly spiritual walk to "witness" the Passion of the Christ, designed for a time before movies and an age when much of the general populace was illiterate.
After an uphill devotional journey through the 12 stations of the Cross, pilgrims arrive at the final three chapels culminating with the scene of Jesus’s ascension to heaven at the Cappella del Paradiso. On this day we finished alongside a group of Italian-speaking pilgrims as well as multi-ethnic clerics in priestly gowns, apparently visiting from overseas.
An earthly reward for the faithfuls is a northerly panorama of Domodossola towards the Italian end of the century-old Simplon Tunnel, the world’s longest rail tunnel for much of the 20th century and our direct route back to Switzerland the next day underneath the Alps on an SBB train.
At just 2 km each way with an elevation gain of barely 150m, our walk up Sacro Monte was even shorter than our little castle hike at Bellinzona the previous day. By 17:30 we’re already back at Piazza del Mercato for some passeggiata time next to the local families.
What’s a passeggiata without a cup of gelato? If I haven’t sold Domodossola enough, the going price for gelato here was 1.5 euros compared with an exorbitant CHF 4.5 (4.2 euros) north of the Swiss border. Needless to say we indulged more than once, first sampling a creamy pistachio from Gelateria Tu di Amarena on the main square, then a scoop of refreshing mango from Gelateria Voglia the next street over at Piazza Giovanni Chiossi.
While we often prepped our own meals in Switzerland to keep costs down, the Italian prices at this border town gave us the freedom to pick essentially any restaurant as we pleased. For dinner we sat down at the vibrant Pizzeria Vikingo (See Map) for a tricolore of prosciutto, burrata and basil.
The generous portion of burrata ended up soaking the pizza with way too much cream, and we both preferred this second dish of tenderly grilled octopus, our third seafood dish on this day. How such a landlocked town, in the shadow of the Alps and less than 10 km from Switzerland, does seafood so perfectly is a mystery to us.
Meal for Two Persons
| Pizza Tricolore | 11.5 euros |
| Polpo alla Griglia | 16 euros |
| Beer 0.5 L x 2 | 9.6 euros |
| TOTAL | 37.1 euros (CAD$55.7) |
Four years since we last journeyed across Italy from north to south and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed evening walks on historic streets under yellow Italian street lights. Somehow this ambiance reminded me of Lecce, 1000 km away at the opposite end of Italy.
There was one more unmissable attraction before we headed back to Switzerland.
It was Saturday morning and Domodossola’s weekly market, a 1100-year-old tradition dating back to the Dark Ages, had completely transformed its quiet historic core with raucous roadside stalls stretching for half a dozen blocks. Granted only 10% of the merchandise appeared locally produced with 90% made in China or Eastern Europe, but it’s still a great place to experience an authentic aspect of life in small town Italy.
On the way back we blissfully ignored Swiss customs rules as we brought back as much Mortadella con Pistacchi and Prosciutto Piemontese as we could finish -- and of course my favourite San Pellegrino flavours -- at a significant discount compared with even the cheapest Swiss supermarket. Our next stop would be the posh ski resort of Zermatt where a gelato would set us back CHF 5. Ouch.
No comments:
Post a Comment