Some cooking stories mixed with some history and the visit of Rosa from Varese

On Monday Tina’s mum and sister are flying in from Milan.  They live in Varese which is about an hour from Milan and depending on the road you take just fifteen minutes from the Swiss border.

Now I have written about Varese http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Varese quite a few times in the past.  It is a bustling lively place and all of us enjoy going there.

It has two railway stations, a market plenty of fascinating shops along with some delightful piazzas and intriguing old buildings.  And of course is the gateway to the Lakes.

Simone and Rosa settled there in the 1970s after a spell here in Britain and while they miss their native Naples are comfortable in Varese.

We saw them in the summer when the family went to Sardinia, and they were last here for the Christmas of 2010, and so we are all looking for to Rosa and Virginia’s arrival, not least because of Rosa’s cooking.

And with that in mind I thought I would re post a few stories about her cooking and the history of her country from Monday on wards.

Picture; Il Broletto, once part of the monastery and now a delightful little area off the piazza, from the collection of Andrew Simpson