Podcasts about valsesia

Martedì 8 aprile, insieme alle Donne al Volante, Liliana Russo e Katia De Rossi, il giovane apicoltore e scrittore Marco Valsesia, autore del libro Un Mondo Senza Api, ci ha parlato della preoccupante scomparsa delle api, sottolineando l'importanza di azioni semplici come piantare fiori. «Le api stanno scomparendo, bisogna cercare di invertire la marcia prima che sia troppo tardi. Gli alveari sono superorganismi composti da fino a 100mila api, comandate dall'ape regina, che collaborano per impollinare i fiori. Tra i principali nemici delle api c'è la Varroa, un acaro che ricorda una zecca e si nutre succhiando l'emolinfa dall'addome delle api, portandole alla morte. Per cercare di salvare le api dobbiamo piantare fiori in tutti gli spazi disponibili. Un gesto così semplice può veramente fare la differenza», spiega Marco Valsesia.

In TuttoLibri Marco Valsesia, autore di "Un mondo senza api", ci presenta alcuni tentativi di resistenza all'ecatombe di questi importanti insetti

Preparatevi a un'avventura che vi lascerà senza fiato! In questo video, vi porto con me in una passeggiata culturale ad anello sulle alture di Nonio, un vero e proprio viaggio tra storia e natura selvaggia.La nostra prima tappa? La misteriosa Cappella della Muntà, un gioiello nascosto con un passato ricco di leggende. Un tempo questa cappelletta era dedicata alla beata Panacea (patrona della Valsesia). Immersi nel silenzio, ci siamo lasciati incantare dalla sua atmosfera magica e dal panorama che si apriva davanti ai nostri occhi.Ma non è finita qui! Il sentiero ci ha condotti all'Alpe Berro, uno degli alpeggi più grandi della zona, dove la vista è semplicemente spettacolare. E come se non bastasse, abbiamo esplorato i resti dell'Alpe Alebi, con il suo maestoso faggio secolare, un gigante verde che ci ricorda il trascorrere del tempo.Per rientrare ai Laghetti abbiamo deciso di seguire il sentiero T2, un percorso poco battuto ma che ci ha permesso di riscoprire una scorciatoia che ci ha portato in breve tempo in località pontetto (abbiamo risparmiato circa 30 minuti di cammino)#marketingterritoriale #storia #cultura #turismo #outdoors #adeventures #avventura #panorami #natura #italia Le colonne sonore utilizzate:Acoustic/Folk Instrumental by Hyde - Free Instrumentals https://soundcloud.com/davidhydemusicCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/acoustic-folk-instrumentalMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/YKdXVnaHfo8Angelz by ZiMPL https://soundcloud.com/zimplmusicCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Angelz: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/zimpl/angelzMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/sNWkFgciVawSoar by Ambyion & GalaxyTones https://soundcloud.com/ambyionhttps://soundcloud.com/galaxytonesCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0Free Download / Stream: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/ambyion-and-galaxytones/soarMusic promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/Vebj1BnbZHA⚠️ DISCLAIMER: Su questo canale YouTube vengono caricate gite svolte da semplici amatori ed appassionati di montagna, non professionisti. Le immagini e le riprese hanno uno scopo puramente illustrativo, e non devono sostituire in alcun modo un'adeguata scelta dell'itinerario e la consapevolezza dei rischi legati all'attività outdoor. Il gestore del canale declina ogni responsabilità per eventuali incidenti dovuti alla scarsa esperienza o a fattori accidentali.LA MIA ATTREZZATURA VIDEORegistrazione video: Apple Iphone 12 mini e Gimbal Insta Flow 360Registrazione video: Insta GO 3 SRegistrazione tempi e tracciato: Apple watch SE 2022TRACCIA GPShttps://www.komoot.com/it-it/tour/2107999467?share_token=aXeXiTHWKCEunRCRbNVGQTrex6z79rwuYjck0wIufhr8KMoADF&ref=wtdSEGUICI su KOMOOT:https://www.komoot.com/it-it/user/landexplorer

We’re hitting the slopes of the Dolomites and the small hamlet of Alagna Valsesia at the foot of the Monte Rosa massif. Although Monocle’s Lars Bevanger keeps returning here to ski, what’s equally tempting is the region’s delicious wine and cuisine. Here, he takes us on a tour of the Alpine town.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seit dem 7. Oktober 2023 verlassen viele Israelis ihr Land, enttäuscht von der politischen Entwicklung. Neben den USA und Europa zieht es einige ins norditalienische Valsesia, wo ein israelisch-italienischer Jude ihnen ein neues Zuhause bietet. Von Judith Poppe www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Die Reportage

Con Marco Valsesia, autore del libro "La vita segreta delle api" edito da Longanesi, andiamo a scoprire la struttura sociale ed economica di un alveare di api. Per comprendere l'economia, bisogna comprendere la natura umana. Puoi trovarci su tutte le piattaforme di podcast, inclusa la tua preferita. Il Libro di Marco Valsesia lo trovi qui: https://amzn.to/3U2KgxY web: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.PianoInclinato.it⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠redazione@pianoinclinato.it⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Newsletter Alieno Gentile: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alienogentile.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Marcello e Marco si incontrano con Nico Valsesia per una profonda conversazione sul significato del viaggiare in bicicletta. Durante l'episodio, rievocano un viaggio che Nico ha ideato e che condivide con coloro che desiderano esplorare i confini dell'avventura da Marrakech a Dakar.

Laura Martinetti, Manuela Perugini"Dolce acqua"Garzanti Editorewww.garzanti.itValle del Sesia. Due sguardi si incrociano alle porte di un albergo immerso in un bosco lussureggiante. Appartengono a due donne, Giulia e Anna, le cui parole si perdono nel mormorio del fiume che scorre veloce davanti a loro. Sono due estranee, eppure confidarsi l'una con l'altra è naturale, come se si conoscessero da sempre. Qualcosa infatti le accomuna, anche se hanno avuto esistenze completamente diverse.Giulia, capace di sentire sulla propria pelle le ferite altrui, vuole scoprire la storia di zia Laura, che le ha insegnato a essere coraggiosa e a sfidare le regole per crearsi le proprie. Anna, schiacciata daun'educazione rigida e da un peso troppo grande, è in cerca di risposte sulla madre Stefania, una donna affascinante ed enigmatica che si è spenta improvvisamente quando lei era solo una ragazzina, lasciandolain balia di dubbi e incertezze. Entrambe sperano che attraversare il ponte che conduce a quel luogo possa aiutarle a fare un passo avanti verso il futuro. Perché, in passato, altri due sguardi si sono posati sulle stesse acque scintillanti.Quelli di Laura e Stefania, che hanno affidato alla corrente i loro segreti, gli stessi che, ora, stanno per essere rivelati, per permettere a Giulia e Anna di scorrere libere. Laura Martinetti e Manuela Perugini sonodue scrittrici capaci di scavare nelle pieghe più nascoste della psiche umana, con una penna delicata. Dopo Nient'altro al mondo, tornano in libreria con un romanzo che si interroga sull'eredità delle generazioniprecedenti, chiedendosi se le nostre scelte possano essere completamente indipendenti dal cammino di chi ci ha aperto la strada.Laura Martinetti vive a Torino dove lavora come architetto libero professionista. Dipingere, progettare, creare, fanno da sempre parte di lei. Manuela Perugini, avvocato, torinese di nascita, vive e lavora a Milano, dove è socia di uno studio legale.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

Michele Marziani"Dove dormi la notte"Un racconto di Resistenza, pesca e socialismoMonterosa Edizioniwww.monterosaedizioni.itMilano, sei maggio 1945. Sfilano i comandanti del Corpo volontari della libertà, una sorta di stato maggiore della Resistenza, il braccio armato del Comitato di liberazione nazionale.Una foto li ritrae tutti insieme – Ferruccio Parri, Raffaele Cadorna, Luigi Longo, Enrico Mattei, Mario Argenton – e tra loro c'è anche il comandante Marco Federici, al secolo Giovanni Battista Stucchi. Lo zio Battista. Una vita da socialista, sempre a sinistra, con un passato da ufficiale degli alpini nella ritirata di Russia, da rappresentante dei partigiani italiani presso i servizi segreti americani e inglesi in Svizzera, quindi comandante unico della Repubblica partigiana dell'Ossola nel 1944. Vita rocambolesca di un uomo tranquillo, una vicenda appassionante che l'autore insegue per vent'anni e che riesce a mettere su carta solo grazie a un espediente narrativo capace di avvicinarlo a lui: un travestimento da nipote che gli permette di raccontare “in punta di piedi”, con quell'intimità delicata che non invade e non disturba ma permette i dialoghi più profondi e sinceri, con noi stessi e con chi non è più.Un viaggio sul filo di memorie vecchie e nuove, un racconto di Resistenza, una riflessione sulla vita che ha il sapore dolceamaro del Novecento, eppure, o forse proprio per questo, riesce a essere più attuale che mai.Michele Marziani, nato nel 1962 a Rimini, vive sulle Alpi piemontesi, in alta Valsesia.Ha pubblicato diversi romanzi, tra i quali La trota ai tempi di Zorro (nuova edizione Bottega Errante), Umberto Dei. Biografia non autorizzata di una bicicletta (Ediciclo), Nel nome di Marco (Ediciclo), La figlia del partigiano O'Connor (Clichy), Lo sciamano delle Alpi (Bottega Errante), La cena dei coscritti (Bottega Errante), la raccolta di racconti Un ombrello per le anguille (Guido Tommasi) e i memoir filosofici Il suono della solitudine (Ediciclo) e La cura dello stupore (Ediciclo).IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itDiventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.

Een pure, krachtige vertelling over Fredo en Luigi, twee broers die zijn opgegroeid in Valsesia, een bergdal in Noord-Italië. Uitgegeven door Bezige Bij b.v., Uitgeverij De Spreker: Louis van Beek

Un romanzo che, come scrive l'autore nella postfazione, riecheggia le atmosfere della canzone "Nebraska" di Bruce Springsteen: è "Giù nella valle" (Einaudi) di Paolo Cognetti, vincitore del Premio Strega nel 2017 con "Le otto montagne", diventato anche un film. "Giù nella valle" è un romanzo che con toni rarefatti racconta una storia di sentimenti forti e viscerali, una storia anche di violenza. E' un romanzo corale perché sullo scenario di montagna della Valsesia si muovono diversi personaggi: c'è una coppia di cani (il maschio aggredisce e uccide altri cani, mentre la fammina ha nostalgia del rapporto con gli esseri umani), c'è una guardia forestale, Luigi, sposato con Elisabetta, donna di città trasferita in montagna, poi c'è Alfredo, il fratello di Luigi, e poi ci sono gli alberi. I due fratelli, Luigi e Alfredo, non si vedono da sette anni: Alfredo è tornato in Valsesia dopo la morte del padre e questo ritorno scatena in lui un senso di violenza che negli anni era riuscito solo in parte a controllare. Nella seconda parte parliamo di "Il vento soffia dove vuole" (Solferino) di Susanna Tamaro. Un romanzo epistolare che nella struttura ricorda un po' il best seller "Va dove ti porta il cuore" in cui una donna scriveva una lunga lettera alla nipote. In questo nuovo romanzo, una donna, Chiara, decide di scrivere tre lettere: una alla figlia Alisha, una all'altra figlia Ginevra e una al marito Davide. Queste lettere sono per Chiara l'occasione per raccontare la sua vita e anche per confessare alcuni segreti. Chiara comunica alla famiglia che per Natale vorrebbe rimanere da sola nella casa sulle colline dove vivono da alcuni anni. Ed è proprio lo spazio della solitudine che darà a questa donna l'atmosfera giusta per essere sincera con sè stessa e per scrivere di sé nel modo più schietto possibile.

Quando racconteremo questo tempo tra qualche anno stenteranno a crederci. A finire sotto gli strali della Lega questa volta è lo scrittore già vincitore del Premio Strega Paolo Cognetti con il suo romanzo “Giù nella valle” pubblicato da Einaudi. Cognetti ospite a Radio Deejay ha descritto lo sfondo ambientale del suo ultimo romanzo, Valsesia, un luogo dove “piove sempre ed è soprannominata ‘il pisciatoio d'Italia', ma io le voglio bene” spiegando che si tratta di “una valle più sporca, più rovinata, industrializzata, quasi una periferia urbana, dove Milano e Vercelli allungano i loro tentacoli. Ci sono il bowling, i cementifici, le cave…”. Il presidente dell'Unione montana della Valsesia, Francesco Pietrasanta, sindaco di Quarona per la Lega, ha impugnato carta e penna per scrivere un comunicato dall'eloquente titolo “Delirio Cognetti” lamentando “le esigenze narrative” dello scrittore “senza alcun rispetto per la storia di questo territorio e dei suoi abitanti”. “Il suo lavoro è inventare storie, - tuona il leghista - ma non può farlo a danno dei luoghi che cita e delle persone che li popolano”. A Pietrasanta non vanno giù i personaggi che “fumano come se non ci fosse un domani e prima di tornare a casa passano dall'osteria a ubriacarsi. Le donne li attendono con pazienza, mandano avanti la casa, sopportano le brutalità e gli eccessi dei mariti”. Nella foga dell'egemonia culturale ora la politica vorrebbe permettersi di giudicare la finzione letteraria, desiderando libri come opuscoli della pro loco. Arte e cultura finiscono nel calderone della politica con ill desiderio di instradare perfino la letteratura. Esattamente come il fascismo. #LaSveglia per La Notizia

60 anni fa la morte di JFK, qual è il vostro primo ricordo d'infanzia? La polemica sulla Valsesia e Cognetti: rispondono in onda Linus e Nicola con l'aiuto di Francesco Quarna.

Albano Marcarini"Piemonte Bike"Ediciclo Editorewww.ediciclo.itGuida completa agli itinerari, piste ciclabili, ciclovie e ciclostrade del Piemonte.75 percorsi dalle pianure alle montagne alpine; 5600 km di tragitti mappati, con le tracce GPS; cartine e altimetrie dettagliate; un ampio corredo fotografico. Un repertorio completo di ciò che il Piemonte offre in termini di cicloturismo di breve, media e lunga distanza, non escludendo itinerari particolarmente votati alla mountain-bike e al gravel. Proposte che hanno punti di appoggio, segnaletica e sono dotate di tracce GPS. Si va così dalle precorritrici ‘ciclostrade' torinesi al futuristico Grand Tour dei siti Unesco, dalle ‘Strade del vino' alle Salite dei Grandi Campioni, dalle grandi ciclovie interregionali, come quella del Po o della Francigena, ai percorsi sulle ex-strade militari alpine, dagli itinerari delle aree protette ai percorsi tematici del paesaggio monferrino e langarolo, dagli anelli periurbani come la Corona di Delizie alle ciclovie della Valsesia e del Toce. Albano Marcarini, urbanista milanese, viaggia a piedi e in bicicletta. Scrive guide, disegna mappe, dipinge paesaggi. È stato fondatore di Co.Mo.Do. (Confederazione per la mobilità dolce) e presidente dell'Inventario delle Vie di Comunicazione Storiche. È stato segretario generale, ma per diletto, dell'AVD (Associazione Viaggi desueti). Per Ediciclo ha pubblicato Alti passi, grandi salite, Piste ciclabili e greenways in Lombardia, La mia bici va a potassio, Milano e i suoi parchi in bicicletta, La Via Francigena per principianti.Si può scoprire di più sui suoi itinerari su www.sentieridautore.itIL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarewww.ilpostodelleparole.itQuesto show fa parte del network Spreaker Prime. Se sei interessato a fare pubblicità in questo podcast, contattaci su https://www.spreaker.com/show/1487855/advertisement

Marco Valsesia"La vita segreta delle api"Longanesi Editorehttps://longanesi.it«Le api sono l'unico essere vivente del pianeta che è stato in grado di lasciarsi 'addomesticare' dall'uomo, continuando a mantenere praticamente intatto il proprio istinto selvatico. Non è un primato eccezionale?»Vivono appena quaranta giorni ma il loro contributo alla vita sulla Terra è fondamentale. Gli antichi credevano che le api avessero un collegamento diretto con il sole e non è un caso che fossero nelle insegne del Faraone d'Egitto. Ma quando Marco si è avvicinato per la prima volta a un'arnia –con gli occhi affamati anche del più minuto gesto compiuto dal nonno apicoltore – queste cose non le sapeva, sono arrivate solo con il tempo. Prima, subito, c'è stato il profumo di miele e cera, che è entrato nel cuore e non se ne è più andato. Gli anni hanno trasformato quel colpo di fulmine in una passione e un lavoro fatti di pazienza, amore e rispetto per la natura – un mestiere antico, ormai minacciato dalle condizioni ambientali e climatiche.Marco Valsesia oggi gestisce una sessantina di arnie, alleva api regine e usa i social per raccontare a quante più persone possibili come funziona un alveare, straordinario «superorganismo» vivente. Nel suo primo libro, sorprendente taccuino di un giovane naturalista, ricco di notizie e poesia, traccia un ritratto di prima mano della «vita segreta» delle api ma anche della loro vita «sociale», che potremmo definire di relazione con l'essere umano. Queste pagine sono una vera scatola delle meraviglie da cui emerge una intensa e commovente riflessione filosofica ed ecologista sulle api, la natura e il ruolo che l'uomo dovrebbe – e potrebbe – svolgere nel salvaguardare un mondo che sta lentamente, inesorabilmente scomparendo.Marco Valsesia (Borgomanero, 1992) ha studiato come perito meccanico e attualmente lavora in un'azienda aeronautica di Sesto Calende. Ha ereditato dal nonno la passione per le api e fin da bambino ha esplorato i segreti di una specie fondamentale per la vita sulla Terra. Da qualche anno affianca al proprio impiego l'antico mestiere di apicoltore e a Santa Cristina, il piccolo paese del Piemonte orientale dove abita, cura oltre 60 operosissime arnie. Sul suo profilo Twitter (@marco_valsesia) migliaia di follower seguono le imprese dei suoi alveari, che durante la stagione vengono spostati in diversi luoghi per seguire il flusso delle fioriture.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.itQuesto show fa parte del network Spreaker Prime. Se sei interessato a fare pubblicità in questo podcast, contattaci su https://www.spreaker.com/show/1487855/advertisement

Nel nuovo episodio di TuttoLibri, la nostra Liliana Russo presenta La vita segreta delle api di Marco Valsesia

Alla scoperta della Valsesia Eretica con ArtesulcamminoConoscete Fra' Dolcino? La Valsesia eretica sulla scia del ribelle medievale potrebbe essere una scoperta molto affascinante. Farsi guidare da Flavia Cellerino, instancabile divulgatrice, esperta in percorsi alpini d'arte e di paesaggio è un'opportunità.Fatti in BreveNelle brevi della settimana Serafin ci annuncia il cambio di presidenza del CAI Valtellinese con l'elezione di Laura Gianesini.Intanto si avvicinano i giorni del Trento Film Festival con il suo ricco programma e l'emblematico film d'apertura della 71ª edizione: "A passo d'uomo". Altro evento in avvicinamento è il salone del libro in cui quest'anno per la prima volta sarà presente la "Sala della montagna".

Descrizione: un trekking semplice adatto anche ai bambini è quello che conduce alle grotte di Ara, in Valsesia, accompagnati da un percorso didattico e interattivo #FamilyPlanet - Puntata 17 - Stagione 3 Località: Valsesia in collaborazione con Rossella di www.familyplanet.it Ascolta la WebRadio qui Visita il nostro sito www.gorgoradio.it

Nella mattinata di lunedì 6 febbraio, ai microfoni del Buena Onda con Laura Basile, è stato ospite Nico Valsesia, ciclista italiano e campione di endurance, che ha parlato delle sue passioni e dei suoi progetti. Il ciclista ci spiega: «Sono un appassionato di sport di montagna in generale ma amo andare in bici nella natura, infatti mi alleno un giorno sì e l'altro pure, il mio luogo preferito al mondo è il Mottarone, hai una vista magnifica su tutta la natura e sui laghi». Nico prosegue raccontandoci anche dell'evento Red Bull da lui creato: «Il Red Bull Mottarone è una sfida per veri eroi, si parte da Omegna per poi scalare il Mottarone e arrivati in cima ci sarà un dj set e un pasta party per poi scendere nel pomeriggio sul lago dove ci saranno le rampe per tuffarsi con la propria bici!». Nico Valsesia ci ha anche raccontato come l'avventura Ascension to Ararat lo abbia aiutato ha trasformare lo sport da agonistico a sport di cultura e relax.

Dalla "From Zero To" alla Race Across America, passando per la Red Bull Mottarone ai viaggi in Patagonia fino ai record su record siglati in tanti anni di carriera. Eppure gli anni non sembrano passati per Nico Valsesia con il quale ho scambiato quattro chiacchiere sulle sue esperienze di vita passate e sui progetti per il futuro... SEGUI NICO VALSESIA: SITO ► https://www.nicovalsesia.com/ FACEBOOK ► https://www.facebook.com/nico.valsesia/ INSTAGRAM ► https://www.instagram.com/nicovalsesia/ ----------------- SOCIAL: Instagram ►https://www.instagram.com/pietro_franzese/ Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088245820674 Strava ► https://www.strava.com/athletes/32522831 Komoot ► https://www.komoot.it/user/809059879775 Canale Telegram ► https://t.me/pietrofranzeseofficial BLOG ► https://pietrofranzese.com/

Ersilio ha visto a 22 anni la sua vita stravolta a causa di un tumore che ha rischiato di fargli perdere la vita. Eppure ce l'ha fatta, nonostante il 5% di possibilità di sopravvivere. Grazie alla bicicletta ha nuovamente stravolto la sua esistenza e ora insieme a Nico Valsesia ha un bellissimo progetto per portare persone in sella verso nuove avventure... IL SITO ► https://www.teamlife.it/ LA PAGINA INSTAGRAM DI ERSILIO ► https://www.instagram.com/ersilioambrosini/ -------------------------------- SOCIAL: Instagram ►https://www.instagram.com/pietro_franzese/ Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088245820674 Strava ► https://www.strava.com/athletes/32522831 Komoot ► https://www.komoot.it/user/809059879775 Canale Telegram ► https://t.me/pietrofranzeseofficial BLOG ► https://pietrofranzese.com/

Annalina Molteni"L'ombra dei Walser"Monterosa Edizionihttps://monterosaedizioni.it/Carlo Barbante con “Scritto nel ghiaccio. Viaggio nel clima che cambia” (Ed. Il Mulino), Adeline Loyau con “Les tribulations d'une scientifique en montagne” (Ed. Glenat), Paolo Malaguti con “Il moro della cima” (Ed. Einaudi) e Annalina Molteni con “L'ombra dei Walser” (Ed. Monterosa) sono i quattro finalisti della dodicesima edizione del Premio Mario Rigoni Stern per la letteratura multilingue delle Alpi. La giuria, composta da Sara Luchetta, Giuseppe Mendicino, Luca Mercalli, Niccolò Scaffai e Annibale Salsa ha anche segnalato con una menzione speciale il libro “Femines. Donne del latte” (Ed. Forum) di Ulderica Da Pozzo.È la caduta di una valanga che fa scoprire al giovane Sebastiano un mondo nascosto, un mondo tra sogno e realtà dove il tempo scorre in maniera diversa, scandito soltanto dall'alternanza della luce e dell'ombra e dalle antiche tradizioni del popolo Walser. Il piccolo villaggio di Schatt diventerà per Sebastiano un rifugio segreto e il lungo viaggio insieme all'amico Piaru – un'amicizia vera come solo quelle impossibili sanno esserlo – alla ricerca del passato e del presente del piccolo borgo, sarà un rito di iniziazione che segnerà per entrambi l'ingresso nell'età adulta.Annalina MolteniScrittrice, ha pubblicato per Il Magazzeno Storico Verbanese “Il Walser dell'imperatore” (2018), il romanzo ispirato alla vita di Antonio De Toma, giovane walser di Rima (Valsesia), che nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento divenne il più celebre stucco-marmista dell'Europa Centrale. Il libro è stato finalista al Premio Mario Rigoni Stern per la Letteratura Multilingue delle Alpi 2019 e ha ottenuto il Premio Giuria dei Critici al Premio Stresa 201IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEAscoltare fa Pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Michele Marziani"La cura dello stupore"Appunti sull'arte di cavarsela e star bene con se stessiEdiciclohttps://www.ediciclo.it/«Il luogo che amo di più di tutte le geografie di montagna è il crinale. Dal crinale puoi vedere entrambi i versanti, capire che un confine è solo un'inutile separazione tra un mondo di qua e un altro di là. Stare lì, camminare su un sentiero vertiginoso ti concede tutti i punti di vista. Dei quali nessuno è sbagliato. Semplicemente ognuno è diverso.»Lo scrittore Michele Marziani ha fatto una scelta importante: quella di andare a vivere in un piccolo paese di appena duecento anime tra i monti della Valsesia, in una casa di legno e pietra. Un ambiente selvatico e, all'apparenza, difficile. Ma a volte è proprio in uno stato di privazione, di essenzialità, che si fanno nuove e sorprendenti esperienze. La rivelazione della solitudine come valore e occasione per riscoprirsi, la paura come strumento utile per conoscere i propri confini, lo stupore come nuovo punto di vista per leggere il mondo, gli hanno insegnato l'arte di cavarsela. I libri e la ricchezza offerta dalle parole gli hanno curato l'anima. Ritornare a se stessi, ai desideri semplici, alle erbe offerte dalla natura, a una sana condivisione con gli altri, significa vivere meglio, più felici, più forti, più veri.Michele Marziani è nato nel 1962 a Rimini. In alta Valsesia, dove ora vive, ha preso spunto per la scrittura de Il suono della solitudine (Ediciclo). Ha pubblicato diversi romanzi, tra i quali La trota ai tempi di Zorro (DeriveApprodi), Umberto Dei. Biografia non autorizzata di una bicicletta, Nel nome di Marco (entrambi per Ediciclo), La figlia del partigiano O'Connor (Clichy), Lo sciamano delle Alpi e La cena dei coscritti (entrambi per Bottega Errante Edizioni). Oltre ai romanzi ha pubblicato oltre ventidue libri di viaggi e antropologia del cibo tra i quali A pranzo con Giulia (Guido Tommasi, Premio Selezione Bancarella per la cucina). https://www.michelemarziani.org/IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Nel pomeriggio di Radio Number One, con le nostre Donne al Volante, Liliana Russo e Katia de Rossi, è stato ospite Simone Serretta per parlarci del grande ritorno dei vinili, lui che custodisce una fabbrica di vinili vera e propria nel cuore della Valsesia. Esistono tante tipologie di vinili, ma i più famosi e che possiamo ricordare tutti, in gergo italiano, sono 33, 45, 78 giri. Mangiadischi e vinili sono tornati di moda e i vinili più richiesti sono sicuramente quelli di musica rap, rock e metal. Oggi, più che mai, ci fanno apprezzare la musica e ci fanno rivivere il passato. In conclusione, Simone ci consiglia di avvicinarci sempre di più a questo modo di ascoltare musica a volte dimenticato.

L'ultrabiker (ma è riduttivo) Nico Valsesia e l'attore comico (ma è riduttivo) Giovanni Storti, compagni di imprese sportive tra deserti e montagne, si raccontano a "Deejay on the road - Il podcast" e parlano del loro nuovo progetto di una corsa in bicicletta dalla Sicilia alla Valle d'Aosta. Ma anche di arte della manutenzione, di amicizia e di viaggi memorabili.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the penultimate mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia Simon Yates claimed victory to set up a thrilling final weekend. In our stage 19 podcast we hear from Yates’s sports director, Matt White, and also from a rider who was in the breakaway, Larry Warbasse. There’s another instalment of James Knox’s audio diary and a final entry from our other diarist, Gino Mader. The Cycling Podcast is supported by Supersapiens and Science in Sport.Supersapiens is a continuous glucose monitoring system that helps you make the right fuelling choices. See supersapiens.comFor 25% off all your SiS products, go to scienceinsport.com and enter the code SISCP25 at the checkout.

CARLOTTA MONTANERA conclude la sua serie Cammini e Confini tra le valli intorno al Monte Rosa dove resiste una cultura antica, quella dei walser

Il Dottore in gestione e promozione del turismo Alessandro Padula,tutti i lunedì a PomeriggioInsieme ci consiglia nuovi itinerari da scoprire con Gloria e Vale. Nella puntata di oggi un bel viaggio in Valsesia accompagnati da Alessandro Padula. Buon ascolto!

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Stefano Sobrino"Coltivare e Custodire"https://www.coltivarecustodire.com/Terza edizione della manifestazione dedicata alla sostenibilità ambientale Dal 22 al 27 giugno 2020 appuntamenti in streaming per celebrarele corrette pratiche in agricoltura per tutelare la salute dell'uomo e del pianeta.“Coltivare e Custodire” - appuntamento ideato dalle Aziende Vitivinicole Ceretto e dall'Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo - per la sua terza edizione è dedicato a un alimento essenziale il pane, simbolo per eccellenza della tradizione contadina. Una riflessione su questo alimento è stata ritenuta essenziale in un momento come quello attuale in cui le lunghe settimane di chiusura dovute all'emergenza sanitaria hanno portato tutti a riconsiderare il concetto di necessario, ed ecco che il pane diventa simbolo, ancora una volta, di resilienza, vita e rinascita. Protagoniste di questa edizione digitale saranno le eccellenze e le buone pratiche del territorio, portatrici di una moderna panificazione tra tradizione e innovazione che pone al centro la territorialità del grano riscoprendo consuetudini antiche che oggi risultano sostenibili e in armonia con l'esigenza sempre più pressante di diffondere un pensiero sostenibile a tutti i livelli della filiera agro alimentare. Dalla coltivazione, alla trasformazione, alla creazione, alla divulgazione: dai campi fino alla tavola racconti, conversazioni, scambi intorno al pane e ai grani dedicati ad esplorare i valori della terra, in due luoghi d'eccezione quali Pollenzo e la Tenuta Monsordo Bernardina ad Alba che, nel rispetto delle misure di sicurezza vigenti, ospiteranno alcuni incontri. Coltivare e Custodire è anche un riconoscimento, a livello internazionale, in difesa dell'ambiente, dell'ecologia e dell'agricoltura di qualità. Questi i valori fondativi della manifestazione che per 5 giorni racconterà - sui canali social dell'Università di Scienze Gastromiche di Pollenzo e delle Cantine Ceretto - storie di agricoltori, panificatori, studiosi, produttori che esploreranno il tema 2020 portando la propria esperienza e il proprio agire come testimonianza di un modo concreto di lavo- rare la terra, rispettandola e diffondendo una diversa cultura dell'attività agricola, culinaria, gastro- nomica. “Le recenti vicende ci hanno portato a riflettere ancora di più sulle pratiche agricole ed è con mag- giore consapevolezza e responsabilità che con la mia famiglia continuiamo questo percorso con l'Università di Scienze Gastronomiche con cui condividiamo un genuino amore e rispetto per la terra che passa dalla cura del paesaggio, alla pratica di un'agricoltura genuina, al rispetto della tradizione e all'impegno a consegnare una terra sana al futuro” sostiene Roberta Ceretto, terza generazione alla guida delle Aziende vitivinicole Ceretto insieme ai cugini Alessandro, Lisa, e al fratello Federico. “Per sostenere i produttori e il nostro meraviglioso territorio raccontiamo pratiche a noi vicine per offrire la nostra esperienza e inserirci all'interno di un movimento crescente di addetti ai lavori sempre più interessati a praticare un'agricoltura sostenibile, alla base anche della nostra produzione vitivinicola.” "Alimento semplice ma dal potentissimo valore simbolico, il pane ci racconta di una saggezza con- tadina dimenticata e ci ricorda di far parte della stessa comunità. Da sempre elemento di condivisione, solidarietà e compagnia (dalla sua stessa etimologia cum panis), testimonia la necessità naturalmente umana di fare rete – afferma Carlo Petrini, Fondatore di Slow Food Internazionale e Presidente dell'Università di Scienze Gastronomiche - Anche per questo motivo quest'anno abbiamo scelto questo tema, per ricordarci in un momento così difficile, che la sola via d'uscita è nella lotta all'individualismo e nella vittoria del bene comune". Coltivare e Custodire streaming avrà inizio lunedì 22 giugno a Pollenzo alle ore 18.30 con la Tavola Rotonda “Coltivare salute: il ruolo della ricerca per le filiere di pane locale”. Parteciperanno Sandra Spagnolo (ricercatrice AIAB in Piemonte), Bettina Bussi (Rete dei Semi Rurali), Rosario Floriddia (azienda agricola Floriddia di Pisa, Pasquale Polito, (forno Brisa di Bologna e componente di Panificatori Agricoli Urbani), Nazarena Lanza, Slow Food. Moderatrice: Paola Migliorini (docente di Produzioni Vegetali e di Agro-Biodiversità presso dell'Università di Scienze gastronomiche). In diretta su UNISG e Cantine Ceretto. Nei giorni successivi si alterneranno Le Conversazioni: Storie intorno al mondo del pane “Le buone pratiche dal mulino al forno”, disponibili online su www.coltivarecustodire.com e condivise anche sulle pagine Facebook di UNISG e Cantine Ceretto. Martedì 23 giugno – ore 18,30: Sara Porro - food writer per Amica, Sportweek, Style - incontra Renzo e Stefano Sobrino del Mulino Sobrino di La Morra (CN) Mercoledì 24 giugno – ore 18,30: Luca Iaccarino - giornalista gastronomico - incontra Eugenio Pol, fondatore e maestro panificatore di Vulaiga a Fobello (VC), nelle Alpi della Valsesia. Giovedì 25 giugno – ore 18,30: Laura Lazzaroni - giornalista, direttrice di Food & Wine Italia, autrice - incontra Luigi ed Enrico Giacosa, padre e figlio maestri panificatori della Panetteria Giacosa di Alba. Infine venerdì 26 giugno alle ore 18,30 dialogo tra Carlo Petrini e l'antropologo Marino Niola attorno al valore culturale del pane, trasmesso in diretta su canali di Slow Food Italia, UNISG e Cantine Ceretto. La consueta premiazione dedicata alla sostenibilità ambientale concluderà la 5 giorni di incontri e si svolgerà sabato 27 giugno alle ore 18.30 presso la Tenuta Monsordo Bernardina. Per questa terza edizione saranno premiati da Carlo Petrini, insieme a Roberta e Federico Ceretto, Silvia Cancellieri, Forno Tondo (Milano), l'Associazione Amici del Forno di Rocca di Roccacigliè (CN), Giovanni Faggio e Carlo Arcostanzo de “Il Papavero Rosso” Azienda Agricola, Mulino, Forno Confreria (Cuneo). Anche la premiazione sarà trasmessa in diretta su UNISG e Cantine Ceretto . IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Enrico Giacosa "Coltivare e Custodire"https://www.coltivarecustodire.com/Terza edizione della manifestazione dedicata alla sostenibilità ambientaleDal 22 al 27 giugno 2020 appuntamenti in streaming per celebrarele corrette pratiche in agricoltura per tutelare la salute dell'uomo e del pianeta.“Coltivare e Custodire” – appuntamento ideato dalle Aziende Vitivinicole Ceretto e dall'Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo – per la sua terza edizione è dedicato a un alimento essenziale il pane, simbolo per eccellenza della tradizione contadina.Una riflessione su questo alimento è stata ritenuta essenziale in un momento come quello attuale in cui le lunghe settimane di chiusura dovute all'emergenza sanitaria hanno portato tutti a riconsiderare il concetto di necessario, ed ecco che il pane diventa simbolo, ancora una volta, di resilienza, vita e rinascita.Protagoniste di questa edizione digitale saranno le eccellenze e le buone pratiche del territorio, portatrici di una moderna panificazione tra tradizione e innovazione che pone al centro la territorialità del grano riscoprendo consuetudini antiche che oggi risultano sostenibili e in armonia con l'esigenza sempre più pressante di diffondere un pensiero sostenibile a tutti i livelli della filiera agro alimentare. Dalla coltivazione, alla trasformazione, alla creazione, alla divulgazione: dai campi fino alla tavola racconti, conversazioni, scambi intorno al pane e ai grani dedicati ad esplorare i valori della terra, in due luoghi d'eccezione quali Pollenzo e la Tenuta Monsordo Bernardina ad Alba che, nel rispetto delle misure di sicurezza vigenti, ospiteranno alcuni incontri.Coltivare e Custodire è anche un riconoscimento, a livello internazionale, in difesa dell'ambiente, dell'ecologia e dell'agricoltura di qualità. Questi i valori fondativi della manifestazione che per 5 giorni racconterà – sui canali social dell'Università di Scienze Gastromiche di Pollenzo e delle Cantine Ceretto – storie di agricoltori, panificatori, studiosi, produttori che esploreranno il tema 2020 portando la propria esperienza e il proprio agire come testimonianza di un modo concreto di lavo- rare la terra, rispettandola e diffondendo una diversa cultura dell'attività agricola, culinaria, gastronomica.“Le recenti vicende ci hanno portato a riflettere ancora di più sulle pratiche agricole ed è con maggiore consapevolezza e responsabilità che con la mia famiglia continuiamo questo percorso con l'Università di Scienze Gastronomiche con cui condividiamo un genuino amore e rispetto per la terra che passa dalla cura del paesaggio, alla pratica di un'agricoltura genuina, al rispetto della tradizione e all'impegno a consegnare una terra sana al futuro” sostiene Roberta Ceretto, terza generazione alla guida delle Aziende vitivinicole Ceretto insieme ai cugini Alessandro, Lisa, e al fratello Federico. “Per sostenere i produttori e il nostro meraviglioso territorio raccontiamo pratiche a noi vicine per offrire la nostra esperienza e inserirci all'interno di un movimento crescente di addetti ai lavori sempre più interessati a praticare un'agricoltura sostenibile, alla base anche della nostra produzione vitivinicola.”“Alimento semplice ma dal potentissimo valore simbolico, il pane ci racconta di una saggezza con- tadina dimenticata e ci ricorda di far parte della stessa comunità. Da sempre elemento di condivisione, solidarietà e compagnia (dalla sua stessa etimologia cum panis), testimonia la necessità naturalmente umana di fare rete – afferma Carlo Petrini, Fondatore di Slow Food Internazionale e Presidente dell'Università di Scienze Gastronomiche – Anche per questo motivo quest'anno abbiamo scelto questo tema, per ricordarci in un momento così difficile, che la sola via d'uscita è nella lotta all'individualismo e nella vittoria del bene comune”.Coltivare e Custodire streaming avrà inizio lunedì 22 giugno a Pollenzo alle ore 18.30 con la Tavola Rotonda “Coltivare salute: il ruolo della ricerca per le filiere di pane locale”. Parteciperanno Sandra Spagnolo (ricercatrice AIAB in Piemonte), Bettina Bussi (Rete dei Semi Rurali), Rosario Floriddia (azienda agricola Floriddia di Pisa, Pasquale Polito, (forno Brisa di Bologna e componente di Panificatori Agricoli Urbani), Nazarena Lanza, Slow Food. Moderatrice: Paola Migliorini (docente di Produzioni Vegetali e di Agro-Biodiversità presso dell'Università di Scienze gastronomiche). In diretta su UNISG e Cantine Ceretto.Nei giorni successivi si alterneranno Le Conversazioni: Storie intorno al mondo del pane “Le buone pratiche dal mulino al forno”, disponibili online su www.coltivarecustodire.com e condivise anche sulle pagine Facebook di UNISG e Cantine Ceretto.Martedì 23 giugno – ore 18,30: Sara Porro – food writer per Amica, Sportweek, Style – incontra Renzo e Stefano Sobrino del Mulino Sobrino di La Morra (CN)ilmulinosobrino.itMercoledì 24 giugno – ore 18,30: Luca Iaccarino – giornalista gastronomico – incontra Eugenio Pol, fondatore e maestro panificatore di Vulaiga a Fobello (VC), nelle Alpi della Valsesia.Giovedì 25 giugno – ore 18,30: Laura Lazzaroni – giornalista, direttrice di Food & Wine Italia, autrice – incontra Luigi ed Enrico Giacosa, padre e figlio maestri panificatori della Panetteria Giacosa di Alba.Infine venerdì 26 giugno alle ore 18,30 dialogo tra Carlo Petrini e l'antropologo Marino Niola attorno al valore culturale del pane, trasmesso in diretta su canali di Slow Food Italia, UNISG e Cantine Ceretto.La consueta premiazione dedicata alla sostenibilità ambientale concluderà la 5 giorni di incontri e si svolgerà sabato 27 giugno alle ore 18.30 presso la Tenuta Monsordo Bernardina. Per questa terza edizione saranno premiati da Carlo Petrini, insieme a Roberta e Federico Ceretto, Silvia Cancellieri, Forno Tondo (Milano), l'Associazione Amici del Forno di Rocca di Roccacigliè (CN), Giovanni Faggio e Carlo Arcostanzo de “Il Papavero Rosso” Azienda Agricola, Mulino, Forno Confreria (Cuneo). Anche la premiazione sarà trasmessa in diretta su UNISG e Cantine Ceretto .IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Episode 039 Hike Italy : The Italian Lakes District   Hike and Kayak the most beautiful lakes in the world*   Located in the Italian alps, the Italian Lakes District has spectacular pristine lakes surrounded by the majestic alps!  No wonder so many celebrities like George Clooney, Madonna and Sir Richard Branson have purchased homes here.   On today’s Active Travel Adventures podcast, we interview Christine Jenkins, who went on Active Adventure’s ‘Dolce Vita’ fully guided ten day adventure travel holiday.  Christine explains that each day, she thought if she had to go home that day, her expectations were exceeded, and still every day got better still!   She hiked stunning trails overlooking the lakes, and kayaked on Lake Como and Lake Orto (the latter being her favorite since it is less crowded).   Of course, in Italy, all the food and ample wine was divine - and plentiful!   Here is the Dolce Vita itinerary: Day 1:  Arrive Milan Malpensa, visit Sacromonte Varallo Day 2: Hike to Rifugio Crespi Day 3 — Hiking the Walser hamlets of Valsesia Day 4 — Hike down to Pella, boat to Orta San Giulio Day 5 — Sea kayak Lake Orta Day 6 — Hike the Mottarone mountain range Day 7 — Hiking Val Grande National Park Day 8 — Journey to Lake Como, hike to Vezio Castle Day 9 — Sea kayaking Lake Como Day 10 — Back to Milan Malpensa   Links mentioned on today’s show: Ep 28   Annapurna Nepal with Stan Ep 35   Mont Blanc hike through Italy, Switzerland and France Active Adventures fully guided 10 day hike and kayak of the Italian Lake district Podcast web page www.ActiveTravelAdventures.com Host of the Active Travel Adventures podcast   Twitter@Kit_Parks Facebook Group:  Active Travel Adventures Instagram:  parks.kit   Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:00   Intro 02:13   How Christine got in to adventure travel 02:30   How switched from regular travel to adventure travel 03:30   Making new friends on adventure travel holidays 03:55   Why chose the Italian Lakes vacation 04:58   What makes Active Adventures different 05:32   How difficult was this adventure 06:11   Adventure travel as team building 06:24   Where were fellow travelers from 06:47   How did she train 07:33   Is elevation an issue 07:59   Landscape 08:47   UNESCO Valsesia   09:48   Favorite memories 10:20   Refugios 11:45   Hike into Alagna 12:06   Alagna 13:06  Breakfasts 13:47   Italy does food right 14:49   Dinners 15:48   Typical daily activities 17:36   Describe the lakes 19:21   Describe the landscape 20:35   Visit to the glacier 20:57   When did Christine go 21:42   Using hiking sticks 22:06  Surprise lake swim 23:16  Christine describes her group 24:32   The trip exceeds all expectations 25:53   Mont Blanc and Annapurna (Nepal) 26:58   Celebrities at Lake Como 28:28  Played hooky 29:38   Using a local guide 30:02   Paragliding 31:57   Naked boaters at dinner 33:30  Christine’s guides 35:15   Fresh foccacia 35:49   Accommodations 37:25   What she wished she’d known 38:19   Traveling solo 39:23   Advice to anyone considering the Italian Lakes 40:20   How Christine chooses where to travel 42:15   ATA and affiliate partners 43:13   How to get the FREE Travel Planners 43:29   A shout out to Pat 43:37   Reach out to Kit   Time Stamped Show Transcript   Christine: 00:00I said to my roommate, my neighbor, I said, you know, if I have to go home tomorrow, I'm still ecstatic. I've had the best time ever. So each day was like a bonus day... it just can't get any better, and it kept getting better. That's all I can say.   Kit: 00:21'Dolce vida' the good life, the sweet life. Today we're going to explore the sweet life in Italy. We're going to the Italian Lakes district, an area of Italy you may not be familiar with. Welcome to the Active Travel Adventures podcast. I'm your host Kit Parks, and if you're listening to this podcast, you're not interested in an ordinary life. You want a bigger life, one filled with excitement, adventure, interesting people and challenges. You want to explore the world and different cultures. You want to stretch yourself. You get your jollies off a conquering a difficult feat, and you love how adventure travel can propel your life forward. At the Active Travel Adventures podcast, website, and community, our number one mission is to provide you with the information and tools that you need to take on these adventures. Each show explores an exciting new destination to see if it's something you're interested in and you'll be learning what to expect from someone like you who's actually done it.   Kit: 01:11If the destination piques your interest, then head over to the website where you can see photos, get more detailed itinerary information, and other important information on the website. Also, you can download the free printer friendly travel planner. The planner has all the important links and recommendations you need to actually plan your adventure, or you can wait for the beginning of the month when I send out a monthly and note, I say 'monthly' newsletter that includes all the new travel planners along with other tips and deals. I'll never sell your email or spam you, I promise.   Kit: 01:41 So today we're going to be going to the stunningly beautiful Italian lakes district. Our guest today explains how she enjoyed the good life in the Lakes District of Italy. So let's get started. If you could start by just introducing yourself and perhaps telling us your age.   Christine: 02:01My name is Christine Jenkins and I am 66 years old.   Kit: 02:05 And how did you first get into adventure travel?   Christine: 02:08I probably started a good 15 years ago. I've always wanted to travel. I've always wanted to see the world. I think I got that from my mom who never had that opportunity, so she always was encouraging. And I also love the outdoors and I just connected my two loves.   Kit: 02:28 How did you make the leap say, okay, I want to do that kind of travel versus the tour bus or go to the cities and all that? And so what, what was the thought process or how did you finally say, okay, this is what I'm going to do? And then what did you do?   Christine: 02:40Well, I actually, I have done the bus tours. I did two with my mom and then one day I, and this was before the Internet was really popular, I knew there was a hiking trip in Nova Scotia, Canada and I decided to sign up for that and flew Halifax in Nova Scotia. And my husband was a little worried about me going by myself, so that was my first test and I loved it ever since. I love the outdoors. I love the sounds when you're by yourself. I love getting off the beaten track. Usually you're with a group of likeminded people. I've met some fabulous people on all my hikes.   Kit: 03:22 That's one thing I, that's a recurring theme in this show is that you meet people... That usually each trip I make one or two lifelong friends from that trip.   Christine: 03:32I still keep in touch with two people. In fact, one couple lives in North Carolina. Actually, no, it was my second trip. It was to Newfoundland and there's a couple, both doctors, and they're in Raleigh, North Carolina. And I still keep in touch with them.   Kit: 03:47 And today we're going to be talking about the Italian lakes. So, of all the different trips that you've taken, what made you say that's where I'm going next?   Christine: 03:55It's actually a kind of a funny story. I knew, you know, I was looking around to see where I wanted to go next. I happen to be on Facebook and one of my Facebook friends kept saying, you know, he liked Active Adventures, so I thought, -- and he's kind of an outdoors guy... he teaches physical education... he's a kind of a historian... So I decided, I'm going to checkout this Active Adventures.   Christine: 04:21So I checked it out and I saw the different hikes, but the one that really drew me was Italian Lakes District, I think partly because of the length of time it was 11 days, which was really nice. We could fly in from Toronto to Milan. So it was a direct flight. It was easy to get to, but I think the kicker was we got to kayak for two days, which broke up the hiking. And I love kayaking and it was perfect. I asked my neighbor, "Do you want to come?" She said, "Sign me up," and away we went.   Kit: 04:50Perfect. Yeah, that's, that is one thing I like about Active is it's usually not just hiking. They usually mix in some cycling or paddling or something like that, so multisport, but predominantly hiking.   Christine: 05:01That's right. Predominantly hiking and if you didn't want to hike in a day, that's fine too. We had a lady who had a a meniscus issue and she had a torn meniscus. She had come in from Iceland. She was a photo journalist and so they accommodated her and so she got to do what she wanted to do during the day. So they were very accommodating, very flexible   Kit: 05:24 And how difficult is this, because you know, there's different degrees of difficulty for some of these adventures. On a scale of one to five, where would you place this particular adventure?   Christine: 05:33I would probably put it, I'd say between three and four. I mean I've certainly done more challenging hikes, but there were a few days it was challenging, like our very first full hiking day, you know, because where I live we don't have mountains to climb, so yeah, it was, I thought it was challenging, but it wasn't beyond... none of us had to say, "I can't do this. I give up." We all did it. We all pulled together and we had a great time.   Kit: 06:02 It's almost like a team building experience as well.   Christine: 06:05It was. It was and a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. And trust me, when you got to hike through some of these beautiful alpine valleys, it was worth it!   Kit: 06:16 And that's one thing that we really didn't tell folks exactly where the Italian lakes are... And this is in northern Italy. So you're in the Alps?   Christine: 06:24You are in the Alps. When you land in Milan, you can actually... It doesn't take long for you to leave Milan and you can see the Alps in the background. And a couple of places where we were, Switzerland was across the lake, so that's how far north we were.   Kit: 06:39 Wow. Wow. So what kind of training did you do to prepare for this?   Christine: 06:44I kayak because I live near a lake, so I did a lot of kayaking. I try to walk, I have two dogs. I walk them everyday, so that's seven kilometers. And I did small day hikes in my area. I've always had good cardiovascular health and so I didn't really find it a problem. I just keep active in the winter. I snow shoe and I cross country ski so I always had my heart rate up and I think that's the key. And pacing yourself, you know. Pacing yourself, if you pace yourself too, you don't have to feel like you have to be at the head of the line all the time. If you do, not to say slow, but a, a steady pace, it works out.   Kit: 07:25 Was elevation an issue for you or for any of the other hikers?   Christine: 07:30No, not here. I've had it in Peru, but no. I did not experience it and I don't believe any of my other fellow hikers experienced it, or, they didn't mention it at all.   Kit: 07:42 Okay. So most of the higher mountains are surrounding you, is that right? I'm trying to get a visual. Tell us a little bit about the landscape so we can kind of get a picture what it looks like.   Christine: 07:50Well, at the beginning, like I said, in our first full hike, you know, we went up through the alpine meadows. There was snow up higher in the mountains. You went through these little lush valleys. It's just like a picture postcard you would think of as a for Switzerland, but you were still in Italy. And you come to a little hamlet in the middle of nowhere and the people were lovely.   Christine: 08:14We'd have our lunch at a refugio somewhere. We'd have local meats and cheeses and you're just looking at the mountains and the waterfalls, and all you can hear when you're hiking is a bit of a breeze. The cow bells, because all the cows have bells around their necks and it was... there was no other manmade sound. So it was, it was beautiful, priceless.   Kit: 08:38 Very cool. Now in that first valley you go to as a UNESCO World Heritage site and I'm going to say this wrong, I say everything wrong, Valsesia, something like that.   Christine: 08:48Valsesia. Yes. I believe that's how it's pronounced.   Kit: 08:51 Can you tell us a little bit about that?   Christine: 08:53It was nice because as far as landscape, it was stunning. I'll probably use that word a lot in my descriptions, but everything was stunning... spectacular. At the main center was Varallo, and it was beside a river. And we hiked up to a UNESCO world heritage site and there's a monastery there. And you can come out over edge and looked down over the town of Valsesia.   Christine: 09:17Yeah, and yeah, it was incredible. Incredible. Some of the oldest religious structures in Italy are located there in. It's on the side of the valley.   Kit: 09:27 I see here in my notes that the Franciscan friars built that in 1491. For those of us here in the States we are like, "Whoa, that's old. Right?"   Christine: 09:36That's the year before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.   Kit: 09:41 Well seeing that sounds like a great way to start your adventure. Any other favorite memories from that day?   Christine: 09:45You know, it's funny, one of the memories I have is looking at the ledge over the town below and we could see this thunderstorm, this huge thunderstorm coming down a valley across the way. So that was really kind of neat to see and you could see it approaching us. And the thunder in the mountains, you know, they bounce: the echoes of the thunder bounces off the mountains. So it's sounds a lot louder than it was probably was.   Kit: 10:08 . You mentioned refugios. For those that may not be familiar with that term, can you explain that please?   Christine: 10:17It's a small hamlet or a refuge, I guess would be the English way. We went to a couple of them for a couple of hikes and one in particular we had to hike up to this place where we were going to have our lunch, and it was uphill and it was a, it was a challenging hike and it was by this really wildly raging river. Anyway, we get to this refugio. It's like a little hamlet there.   Kit: 10:43 Okay. I need some more clarification there. I think of refugio is kind of like a mountain hut.   Christine: 10:48There was, there were several huts, so you could actually, I think stay there, but I don't think they're privately owned and they had this restaurant. And there's no road in and the food was outstanding, like it was just, you know, you couldn't believe like you could have fresh cheeses and meats from the local valley.   Christine: 11:13There was fresh rabbit, there was fresh fish. Nothing was deep fried. Like in North America, we would not hike or walk our way to a restaurant like that. If we did, people would complain, but everything would be deep fried. Everything here is fresh and you could sit out in the patio and look at the mountains and the rivers and it was beautiful. Just beautiful.   Kit: 11:36 And so after your lunch, then what did you do?   Christine: 11:39Well, we had a bonus because we get to go downhill the whole way and we hiked all the way back into Alagna and that's where we stayed for three nights in Alagna. And actually one of our guide's, Andrea, he was from Alagna. So he was able to give us the inside scoop on Alagna.   Kit: 11:58 So tell us a little bit about Alagna.   Christine: 12:00Alagna, it looks like a little Swiss town, but you've got to keep reminding yourself that you're in Italy. There's all little cafes, shops... Where we stayed - at the hotel Monterosa - it was right beside the church and the church rings the bells every hour and a half hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But it was a beautiful little hotel where we stayed. The town was old. Alagnal is sort of off the beaten track for North Americans to go over, especially in the winter. But English wasn't... It wasn't difficult to get by when you were talking to a shopkeeper or in a little cafe, you were understood or you figured it out. But there were all little side streets. There was a beautiful little river going outside of town, which we could hear from our hotel. And yeah, it was a lovely time. We were there for three nights. Fabulous breakfast in the morning. Yeah, it was great.   Kit: 12:57 And so what, what kind of foods do they have for breakfast? And from my notes, it looks like that whole area was populated by German people that moved there in like fifth century AD or something.   Christine: 13:08Yeah, the Valser people. Yes. Well the hotel we stayed at for the three days are actually owned by some, a couple from Sweden and think that's been a couple of generations in their family. But in breakfast we had fresh fruit, Granola, homemade breads, homemade jams, coffee, tea, yogurt. Really good yogurt. You didn't starve. That's all I can tell you. It was probably the best Granola I've ever had in my life.   Kit: 13:37 Probably freshly made and everything. And they do food right!   Christine: 13:40It's all fresh. I can tell you that whole trip I did not have... We did not have one bad meal anywhere. It was hard to come home.   Kit: 13:50 We could sure learn how to do food better from the way they do things we do. We do. And they eat seasonally to. They wouldn't think of having strawberries in the middle of winter. They eat what is locally produced and available then.   Christine: 14:01They do eat seasonal and the other thing they do is they eat as local as possible, so you may get... If we had a prepared lunch, like maybe our guide, we had two guides, Andrea and Jo, and they might prepare, pick up some stuff, at little stores or grocery stores and they put out this fabulous picnic lunch with cheeses that were from that valley. That was the only place you could get it or salamis... That type thing. Breads, fresh fruit and yeah, it was. It was incredible. The wine, of course we had wine at lunch.   Kit: 14:37 Nice. Nice. And what about dinner?   Christine: 14:39Well actually I was going to say that was one of the things that was outstanding for this trip was the food. All our meals were covered and nothing was skimped on. We ate the best you could possibly have. We had wine with lunch. Usually we had wine with dinner, but what was interesting is after we'd finished our hike for the day or our kayak, we go back to our rooms, change, meet for dinner. We'd always have an aperitivo, which is like... it was a tray brought out and the had meats and cheeses and crackers and add wine. Then I'd think, "Oh, that's our dinner." No, it's not dinner, and then we'd still go to a restaurant. And so I'm really glad that we were hiking because I'm sure I'dve come home about 10 pounds more than I normally am.   Kit: 15:27And you're in Italy so you know everything's going to be good.   Christine: 15:31Oh yeah. Everything was beyond my expectations. Everything was fresh, nothing was processed. It was awesome.   Kit: 15:39 Very cool. So now you're using this as your base camp. So what kinds of things did you do each day?   Christine: 15:44If we didn't do hiking, we did the kayaking on the lakes: Lake Orta and Lake Como. We didn't kayak on Maggiore. There was one day we decided as a group -- and we had a small group that was just five hikers-- so that was kind of nice, and we decided one day we didn't want to hike and were in Stresa, which is on Lake Maggiore. So we went and walked into town. Some went to the islands and we did a little bit of shopping. So we just, like I say, the guidess were very flexible, and like I said, we decided we didn't want to hike that day.   Christine: 16:19On the days we went kayaking, we'd be out by the water's edge at nine in the morning and then there was a gentleman by the name of Juliana who came up from Genoa, Italy. He brought the kayaks first time, most all the people had kayaked before, so that was good. But he gave us safety instructions. We got fitted with life jackets and we were usually by 9:30, we were out on the lakes. We stop about maybe 10, 30, 11 at a little village and stop for an espresso and then we get back in our kayak, kayak a bit more and then stop it another village and maybe have lunch or stop at a beach. And our guides would put lunch out. In between that we go swimming in the lakes. And then in the afternoon we might stop about 2:30 or 3:00 in another little village and have gelato. It was very civilized. It was, yeah. It was very civilized.   Christine: 17:19And swimming: The lakes were clear and it was... It was hard to believe you weren't at the ocean. The colors of the lakes were beautiful.   Kit: 17:28 So tell us about the lakes itself. What is it? The fact that the lakes are surrounded by mountains or the lakes are particularly pretty in and of themselves? I'm trying to get a feel for what it looks like.   Christine: 17:39Well, the lakes are, they are like jewels. And there was this one day we did hike to the top of one of the mountains , and we could see Orta and Maggiore on both sides. So we had a really good view. Orta is the smallest, then Maggiore, then Como. The lakes were like a blue color, like a aqua blue color. Very clear. Especially in Como. The sides had these old Italian homes that have probably been in families for generations.   Christine: 18:10You know, there's the Piazza's nearby, and I think George and Amal Clooney live on Como, (but we didn't see them). But very steep sides to a lot of the lakes, but there are some beaches. Two of the lakes are Lake Como and Lake Orta are what they call 'crypto depression' and that's the one word I took away... my takeaway from that trip. Crypto depression means the bottom of the lake is actually below sea level and there are a few other ones in the world. Actually the Finger Lakes up in New York state. And actuallyOrta is not a crypto depression. Maggiore and Como are crypto depression, so they're below sea level and the lakes are usually long and narrow and their shores are very steep.   Christine: 19:06I think it was in Maggiore that they believe Mussolini hid his gold and it might be lying at the bottom of the lake. He had a hideout on Maggiore, on one of the islands on Maggiore. So that's the legend. That's a local legend   Kit: 19:12 OK, so when you're doing the hiking, are you in pastures, forests, or what are you hiking through?   Christine: 19:17We're doing it all. There were pastures, forests... There was one day we went through a whole, for about an hour and a half, all it was was chestnut trees. And it was quite a challenging hike. It was steep and it was very hot, but it was so, it was so pretty and so quiet. And we came out to pasture area, and then we had to go under some fences. So yes we had a real variety of landscapes for. hiking.   Christine: 19:57There was another day when we went up in a gondola and then we went up on a series of three gondolas, too. We actually got up to where the glaciers were, and that was an interesting day. It was cold and there was a lot of ice hikers, they had the crampons on their boots and they were doing some ice hiking. But we had to take three sets of gondolas to go higher and higher and higher. And if you have a fear of heights, you may not want to take it. I found that kind of a challenge, but you know, it was very barren landscape, which is a rock and ice and we'd be going along and you'd think that the gondola was going to hit the side of a rock face and then suddenly it will go up and then you were in your station where you get off and walk to the next one and keep going higher up. That was quite incredible.   Kit: 20:33 Did you get to walk on the glacier or just look at it?   Christine: 20:37Yes. We got to walk on the snow. Yes, we did. That is so cool. It was down below. It was probably in the upper eighties, low nineties up (there). It was a bit of a reprieve.   Kit: 20:49 And so what month did you go?   Christine 20:50 July   Kit: 20:52 July. Okay. So you're in the heat of summer.   Christine: 20:53Oh yes. Yes. But apparently it was very warm there in June. They had a trip in June, so I understand it was warm then, but you know what? It wasn't a really oppressive heat. It wasn't really humid. It wasn't really dry, but it was manageable. If you're dressed appropriately, I would strongly recommend a sun hat, especially to cover the back of your neck and your face, I would. That's the one thing. And the other thing I would suggest to people is to take hiking poles. Some people didn't. I think that they're really is helpful for, steadying yourself and, and pulling yourself up on steep parts or giving you some stability.  And when we're on the way down the mountain.   Kit: 21:33 Well I like poles too, for going downhill because they take a lot of pressure off my knee. Yes. And also I'm clumsy. I cannot tell you how many falls they've stopped by having that extra appendage to me or crossing a river or creek. They give you that little extra stability. I don't think I've ever fallen in a creek. I don't want to jinx myself though.   Christine: 21:50No, I haven't either, but one never knows.   Kit: 21:54 Of course. Now I will. Now that I've put that out in the universe. Any other special memories from that area?   Christine: 22:00Well, one of the days I have that sticks out in my mind was on Lake Orta and we went over to San Giulio Island and it's... There's a monastery there and abbey and you could... It's very easy to walk around this little island and there's several spots where you looked down like the old cobblestone streets.   Christine: 22:20Very narrow. In fact, I don't even think there was vehicles on it. I don't even recall any vehicles anyway that you could go swimming. So our group (Jo left us, she had to do some things), so our group, we went down the small passageway to the lake and four of us didn't have bathing suits on, but they were in our pack sack, so we lost all modesty. Just went into just a little dip in the wall, threw caution to the wind, stripped down, put on our bathing suits, dove in the lake, and we thought, well, if there's cameras out there, there's cameras out there. So be it. But the water felt so beautiful against your hot skin. It was...it was beautiful. It was just the most incredible feeling. You can feel yourself cool down and we were laughing like crazy, yet we felt like kids.   Kit: 23:07 That was fun. In your group, you said there's a small group of five: men, women or a combination?   Christine: 23:12All women. My neighbor came, and then there was a lady from San Diego and a lady from Manhattan, and a lady from Rochester.   Kit: 23:21 And what would you say the age group range was?   Christine: 23:24I would say the age group would have been maybe 52... The lady from San Diego was in her fifties, early fifties and to about in the upper seventies. And these ladies -- all of them are really in great shape -- they did their age group proud. They had nothing to be ashamed of . We had the lady from Rochester who was in her seventies and she was fabulous. She was in fabulous shape.   Kit: 23:55 Wow. Those are my role models. In fact, I interviewed a guy by the name of Stan on the Annapurna episode, which I'll put a link to in the show notes. He's in his seventies and has already planned an adventure for two years out. Unbelievable! Cool. That's how I want to age.   Christine: 24:07Wow. That's good for him. Well, I'm planning to go to Mont Blanc next year. I've already booked my trip.   Kit: 24:16 Alright, so any other, any other thoughts about that area before we go to the Val Grande National Park?   Christine: 24:22All I can say... I'll just reiterate just the whole atmosphere. You know, it's funny, I was thinking about it last night: thinking about what I was going to say each day of that trip, the whole trip and combination each day. I, I remember saying to my roommate, my neighbor, I said, "You know, if I have to go home tomorrow, I'm still ecstatic. I've had the best time ever. So each day was like a bonus day, a bonus day. It just... it can't get any better, and it kept getting better. That's all I can say. This has been no doubt, the best hiking trip I've ever had, and I've been to a lot of places. There was nothing I have to say bad about it. Nothing.   Kit: 25:10Wow. And that sure says a lot.   Christine: 25:12Yes. And I'd actually consider going back again in two years... Do it again.   Kit: 25:17 Yeah. It hadn't really even been on my radar, but then I started doing some research, and I thought, that looks really nice. I think that's now on the radar.   Christine: 25:23Well, it hadn't been on my radar either. I mean I have looked at other places. I've looked at Scotland, I've been to Scotland before. I thought about Iceland and I do know Active Adventures does Iceland now, but I was supposed to go to Mont Blanc with another company two years ago, but I badly broke my arm so that put a caboosh on that. So anyway. But anyways...   Kit: 25:46 In fact, the Mont Blanc episode is probably one of my most popular ones.You'll want to take a look at that? That's episode number 35, and I forgot to mention that Stanley, the guy that I said in the seventies that did Annapurna in Nepal, his was episode number 28. Anytime you want to look at an old episode, just go to ActiveTravelAdventures.comslash the episode number, so it'd be slashed 28 or 35, or if you forget, just go to the Directory Page, and then you can either use the search bar or just scroll down and see what rocks your boat.   Kit: 26:15On the website. You can either directly download and/or listen to the podcasts.Plus, you'll also find more details on the trip itself, including itineraries, tons of photos, often videos, and there's just a lot of information there. If you need either even further details, you can download -for free- the travel planners that have clickable links that can get you directly to the information or places that you need in order to plan your trip. And those come automatically with the monthly -- and note that I say monthly-- newsletter. I do not spam you or sell your name. Or you can download them as you need them from the website. Let's go back to the interview.   Kit: 26:50I know from the pictures that you sent, and from my research that the Italian Lakes area is absolutely gorgeous. But to put that in prospective, residents have included George and Amal Clooney, Richard Branson, Madonna.. These are folks who can buy and live anywhere: where money is no object. Yet, this is where they choose. That demonstrates how beautiful it is there.   Christine: 27:13There are some beautiful mansions and you can tell they've been in families for a long, long time and they're old architecture but so beautifully maintained and what was really neat is the boat pulls into a garage at the side of the cliff. It's like a boat garage, you know, and these beautiful old wooden boats. Oh yeah. Fabulous. Fabulous. Obviously this is a ritzy area, very private, very exclusive, especially at Como and. But you'll also see a lot more North Americans there too. Like eEnglish is extremely common, and British and British accents or North American accent. So on my flight over to Milan, there were people... That's where they were going to Bellagio on Lake Como,   Kit: 28:04 A Huffington Post article once ranked the Italian Lakes district as the most beautiful lakes in the world.   Christine: 28:10Oh, I can understand that! Orto is not as busy a lake. It's the smaller of the lakes. I preferred that lake just because it was less busy.   Kit: 28:21 So let's switch gears and now you're going to the Val Grande National Park. an you tell us a little bit about that?   Christine: 28:24Yeah, that was the one day... We actually that day we did not do that. That was the day we decided not to hike. That was the hookey day. So a couple of us walked into Stresa, which is a small village, beautiful little boardwalk from where we were staying, all the way into Stresa. And some of these beautiful old hotels along the lake side, you know, something you would see from the 1920's-30's. I'm sure they're wildly expensive and then there's three islands on the lake and you could take the boats to them. And we all met on this one island for lunch.   Kit: 29:02 But it sounds like that was a well worth it Hookey Day.   Christine: 29:04It was well worth the hooky day. So no, and everything was fine. We enjoyed our day so I can't comment on Val Grande National Park except to say apparently there's a lot of hiking trails in there. And they suggest you have a guide or a proper map because there are people who have gotten lost and they have never been found there. So that kind of struck the fear of God into us.   Kit: 29:30 So I think to a lot of times when you're hiking in some of these particularly remote areas that it's good to have a guide with you.   Christine: 29:37I think it is too. I mean you learn so much too. Especially somebody local, right?   Kit: 29:41 Yeah. The flora and fauna as well. You might see an animal. You have no idea what it is or a pretty flower and it's just something you take a picture of where they can tell you, oh, that's a little, little whatever it is.   Christine: 29:52Yeah, exactly. Exactly.   Kit: 29:54 When people ask you, "Oh, how was your trip?" What's the story that comes to mind?   Christine: 29:57Well, I did something on the trip that was accommodated for me and for the lady from San Diego. We were able to do it. It's not so much funny, but it was fun. We were able to do it, I think, because we had a small group and we went paragliding.   Kit: 30:17That sounds fun.   Christine: 30:19Yes. So, and that was in Alagna. So two of us went paraglidingone morning. When we went with a pilot -and we went separately- and we had to take a gondola up to the site is about at 8,800 feet. And we were up for about 20 minutes and then you could come in. And we landed over in Alagna and I remember the pilot saying to me, "Do you want to touch the steeple of the churches as we go by?" I said that I'd pass on that one.   Kit: 30:47Oh brother, I don't know if I'd have the nerve to do that!   Christine: 30:52So that's wasn't in the plans. And and I don't think if they had a big group that they could do that, but they accommodated, us. And we were able to do it because we could do it early in the morning and the weather was right, the window was right, that type of thing.   Christine: 31:07So the other things we did that was a lot of fun is we went down, it's called LP Land and it's on Mottarone Mountain and it's up at the top. You start at about 1,490 meters and it's a go cart, and you go down the mountain in a go kart by yourself (or with somebody else) and it zigzags down and you can reach some pretty high speeds. That was, you know, you get a beautiful view of the lake, although you're trying to not scream as you're going down, so not die and hope hang onto your water bottle or if you know. But um, that was fun.   Kit: 31:47 Any funny story come to mind?   Christine: 31:49Oh, okay. I do have a funny one. Actually. We were on Lake Orto. We were out for evening dinner. One night we were at arestaurant right on the lake. Beautiful meal as usual, and w see this boat going by. And there's three naked men in it, and they're raising their glasses of wine to all the patrons of the restaurant. So everybody's kind of stunned and we thought, well, we'll wait for them to come back. We'll have our cameras ready. But they never came back. But we all had a good laugh over that one. That was. Yeah, that was funny. That was funny.   Kit: 32:21 And Europeans have a different mentality about nudity than North Americans.   Christine: 32:25You know what? And that's the other thing too, is I really like. You're absolutely right. I saw a lot of ladies who would be in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and they were wearing bikinis. And I thought, "Good for you!" In fact, I almost thought about buying one for myself, but Jo our one guide, she said that their attitudes over here are so different. And yeah, I thought: it is what it is, and they were out there in their bikinis.   Kit: 32:54I'm surprised they had tops on, but maybe that's just the south of France.   Christine: 32:58I saw all with tops if they were standing up or sitting up. But their men folk were attentive to them. They were draped in gold jewelry and all that.   Kit: 33:08That's so interesting. Yeah. And France, most of the women didn't have tops and it didn't make a difference what shape your body was in skimpy bathing suits.   Christine: 33:17I know, I know. And we have a lot to learn in North America.   Kit: 33:23 Any other things you want to tell us about your Italian lakes adventure?   Christine: 33:27 I want to tell you that we had two guides and I really want to mention our guides, Andrea, who is from Alagna, Italy and Jo.Jo was originally from Wales but lives in Auckland, New Zealand now. Those guys were outstanding. They were knowledgeable. They were patient, they were flexible. Andrea, he was a really good van driver. He navigated all these little narrow roads. Sometimes we go through these little villages where the road was barely wider than the mirrors of vehicle and yeah, he, you know, we always felt safe with him. Jo was funny. We gave her a nickname. We called her '10 minute Jo' and the reason was, if we'd be hiking a particularly challenging day,she'd go, "Well there's a refugio up ahead." "Well, how far is that, Jo?" "Oh, it's about 10 minutes," and then a while later we'd be thinking. Well, it's been 10 minutes. She'd then say, "Oh, it's another 10 minutes." Everything was 10 minutes with her, so we ended up calling her '10 minute Jo'.   Kit: 34:29That reminds me when I was doing a two week section hike of the Appalachian trail with my girlfriends, Gerry and Jane. And I had the elevation map and so I would always know exactly how many more hills we had to climb, but as we're getting tired at the end of the day... Everybody's pooped., ready to find a camp site and all that. I'd be like, "Come on, you can do it. This is the last hill, I promise! This, the last hill!" And we'd get up over that hill, and of course there'd be another hill. I was like, "Oh no,really, THISis the last hill." So I'm not sure what they called me behind my back, but I doubt there were as kind in calling me "10 minute Kit". Sometimes to make it to the end, you've just got to fib.   Christine: 35:03Yeah, I know.   Kit: 35:07 Anything else about your guides or transit?   Christine: 35:09 Well, one of the other little things I have to tell you about is Giuliano, who was the gentleman... He would drive up from Genoa twice with all the kayaks. And the second time he came up he brought us some foccacia from a local bakery. He left at 5:00 AM in the morning from Genoa to get up to the Lakes ,and he had this fresh foccacia. And it was actually still a bit warm when we had it at our break. That was memorable, and it was so good.   Kit: 35:36Oh, how sweet and thoughtful.   Christine: 35:39Yeah. Very thoughtful.   Kit: 35:42 And I forgot to ask you accommodations. Are you in guest houses or are your camping? I know you said you were at one place for three days. Tell us a little bit about where you stayed.   Christine: 35:49We stayed in hotels. The first three nights and we were in Alagna. It was a beautiful old hotel run by a couple from Sweden and I love the wooden shutters because they could open up, you know. And clean, clean rooms. In Stresa, all the rooms were clean and had air conditioning. Yeah, there was nothing too. ..There was absolutely no complaints about the accommodation. It was close to everything. If we wanted to walk somewhere, the one place we stayed at, and I can't think of the name of the town, but they would mostly have balconies or a little doors that open up, although we didn't because it was quite warm. Yeah, it was. The combination was excellent. Excellent.   Kit: 36:30 I'm surprised you had air conditioning. That's great.   Christine: 36:32I know, I know. The one thing, over in Europe, if anybody's ever traveled there, the elevators are very small, so if you know, maybe two people get on with one suitcase each. No more than that. So that's the one adjustment. The other adjustment is a lot of times in Europe they don't use face cloths, so you might, if you, if you are big on using a face cloth, you might want to bring your own face cloth, that type of thing. But other than that it's um, you don't want for anything. I mean, if you need a toothpaste, it's easy to get. If you need wine, it's easy to get. So it's not like you're in a third world country. But little tips like that.   Kit: 37:16 Is there anything you wish you'd known beforehand that you could share with us?   Christine: 37:23No. The only thing I know in the guide -our gear guide- they suggested bringing is a hat and gloves and long underwear. We definitely did not need to pack that. It was too hot. So that took up room and maybe they have a standard gear list they give to everybody, but if I was going in June or July to the Italian Lakes District, definitely don't worry about that. You wouldn't have to worry about that.   Christine: 37:51But I would strongly. I've mentioned earlier, I would strongly suggest poles.   Kit: 37:55Yep. That's a given for me.   Christine: 37:56I know some people don't like them, but I. Yeah, that's a given for me too as well.   Kit: 38:00Yeah. I don't hike without them anymore. I don't care where I'm going and also keeps my rhythm.   Christine: 38:04Oh, it does! Yeah, it does. And it really does. And it gives you a bit of an upper body upper body workout to.   Kit: 38:11 One final thing. You say you travel solo. Usually you will pair up with a group or something like that. I just finished an episode, in fact, I just finished editing it this morning on solo travel. Do you have any thoughts on solo travel?   Christine: 38:23It's how I usually travel. I happened to ask my neighbor. We have traveled once before together and she's a great traveler. We had gone to Point Reyes national seashore in California. We went for a week with a group.   Christine: 38:37I prefer... I like solo traveling because I can, in the evening if I want to go to bed earlier, if I want to read till 1:00 in the morning, I'm not disturbing anybody. You meet some great people traveling solo. I used to be really nervous about traveling solo. Not anymore. There's a lot of women out there that travel solo now. A lot more than one would think. And, and if you find there's other solo travelers, you just kind of end up connecting and looking out for each other. And that's the other thing too, as a group, you spend that much time together. You do become a big family and you do look out for one another.   Kit: 39:16 Two final questions for you. Number one: Somebody says to you, "I'm thinking about going hiking in the Italian lakes." What do you tell them?   Christine: 39:25I say, I'll give you the name of Active Adventures. You will have the best time ever. I promise. I promise you. In fact, I'll go with you.   Kit: 39:34 My last question for you. Where's next?   Christine: 39:38Next year in Switzerland, Italy where you fly into Geneva. So I'm going to do that with Active Adventures. That's my next one. And then in 20,20 I always say I want to go back to the Italian Lakes, but there's so many places to go in this world. I've been to New Zealand but I've never hiked in New Zealand. So I mean there's always that option. There's so many places, so little time, you know, and you want to do those things when you're healthy.   Kit: 40:07And I mean this is not an ad for Active Adventures, but we're both fans. Do you now, when you're picking out which trips are you looking at their website and say where do I go next from there? Or how do you pick your next trip?   Christine: 40:20Well, like I said I had wanted to go to Mont Blanc two years ago and was I had already booked it and I was actually going with my neighbor, the one who went on this one, but I had broken my arm. She went on ahead so it was always in the back of my mind and I was going to go with another company, but I saw through Active Adventures they did Mont Blamc but they also do a kayaking day, which I thought I liked that it kind of changes things up a bit, so that's why I'm going with Active. I've put my deposit down and I'm ready to roll next June.   Kit: 40:51Cool. And so is that how you choose your trips?Is by looking to see where they go now that now that you're a fan or do you follow what I'm saying? How do you choose your next trip? Are you looking at their website to see where they go and choosing from there or do you pull from different areas are or how do you pick your next destination?   Christine: 41:09Oh, so if I was going post 2019, I would see if they have any changes in what places they want or new additions. If there was a particular place I want to go, let's say I wanted to go to Croatia or I wanted to hike in Portugal. I may look online and see about other hiking companies or if it's doable, so I kind of explore. I kind of explore a bit, but to see what others have to say. And like you say, the only reason I found out about Active Adventures was through a friend on Facebook who his Active Adventures kept coming up. So I said, you know, yJo Blow likes Active Adventures. I thought I'm going to have to look into this because I know this guy and he wouldn't just say that. So that's how I got onto it.   Kit: 41:56Well thanks Christine for your time. It's been great and we sure loved learning about the Italian Lakes with you. We'll have to have you back on when you do your next adventure.   Christine: 42:03Alright, for sure.   Kit: 42:05 I love how adventure travel doesn't always mean that you're getting in the mud and all that kind of stuff. Sometimes you can even go to luxurious locations like the Italian Lakes District and live the good life.   Kit: 42:15Regular listeners will know that I don't accept any advertising at all for this program so that I can keep it commercial free. However, I do have affiliate partnershipswith companies that I have selected that I truly believe in, that I recommend to you and with these affiliates at absolutely zero cost to you. Sometimes I'll either get a discount or I might make a commission or sometimes I'll get some bonus travel and such like that. And I want to mention that Active Adventures, even though their name sounds very similar to Active Travel Adventures, we are two totally separate companies, but Active Adventures is one that I highly recommend because my friends and I are true believers that It's just a great company.   Kit: 42:51The people just really spend their time trying to give you a trip of a lifetime, so if like Christine, you want to explore the Italian Lakes District with a guided tour company, I would recommend Active and if you do so, please be sure to let them know that I sent you either by using any of my links or just by letting them know when you book. Using any of my links is a great FREE way for you to show your support of this program.   Kit: 43:13 To get the FREE Travel Planners, be sure to sign up for the newsletter. You can do so by going to the ActiveTreavelAdventures.com website and then clicking on the newsletter tab, or you can just write me a Kit [@t] active travel adventures.com and ask me to put you on. I'll be happy to.   Kit: 43:29 A special shout out to Pat.Pat did just that, and then it wasn't long before we were on the phone chatting. And before you knew it, we're going to be roommates on a great trip to Egypt this fall. I can't wait!   Kit: 43:37 Reach out to me.I'd love to hear from you and I'd like to make this a two way conversation. Until next time, I'll be back in two weeks with another great adventure. This time we're going to go a little bit further north. We're heading up to Norway, which I can't wait to share that with you. Until then. This is Kit Parks, Adventure On.   *According to the Huffington Post      

Per la puntata 98 abbiamo nostra ospite Simonetta Radice che presenta il secondo festival di Alpinismo Molotov e Davide Bracchi a offrirci un'anteprima delle escursioni resistenti degli amici della Valsesia. E poi le segnalazioni d'alta quota e di sport popolare oltre che il consueto appello verso la nostra puntata 100!

Per la puntata 98 abbiamo nostra ospite Simonetta Radice che presenta il secondo festival di Alpinismo Molotov e Davide Bracchi a offrirci un'anteprima delle escursioni resistenti degli amici della Valsesia. E poi le segnalazioni d'alta quota e di sport popolare oltre che il consueto appello verso la nostra puntata 100!

La battaglia dei 41 precari della Città Metropolitana di Milano per il loro posto di lavoro - Moschee a Milano, quale futuro? - Azzardo, contrastare una patologia - Ultima corsa in Valsesia

La battaglia dei 41 precari della Città Metropolitana di Milano per il loro posto di lavoro - Moschee a Milano, quale futuro? - Azzardo, contrastare una patologia - Ultima corsa in Valsesia