Winter blooming camellias and tea of the Lago Maggiore, a weekend in Villa Della Porta Bozzolo

A weekend focused on the Camellias and also on the Lago Maggiore with its territory and products. Villa Della Porta Bozzolo is making preparations in order to host the winter edition of the “Days of the Camellias” programmed for Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 of November, a two-days event focused on the discovery of the beautiful flower and more. In fact, you will be able to taste tea that is cultivated near Lago Maggiore, meet the perfumes and essences born on the Verbano or  taste the grappas born beneath the Angera Fortress.

“Our desire is to involve the entire territory with this event, create a connection. For us it is important to collaborate with the realities that animate the territory and its excellences in order to make Villa Della Porta Bozzolo a milestone for Lago Maggiore and its visitors.” So explained the General Manager of FAI Lombardia Prealpina, Giulliano Galli, during the press conference held this morning at the hotel Camin Di Luino.

“We welcome with great pleasure this initiative which is going to be presented just in Luino. In fact, the historians say with certainty that the first Camellia was born here,” explained the councillor responsible for the transports, green public spaces and urban furnishing of the Luino municipality, Alessandra Miglio.

“For us, the winter edition of this event means proposing to the guests to live for two days in the villa, but it’s also part of a schedule that’s been created during these months,” explains Elena Ambrosoli, Property Manager of Villa Della Porta Bozzolo. “At the end of the year we have 35% more people than the year before and 28 thousand guests and we have bigger ambitions for next year. This growth is also due to the journey we made with the local organizations that are all around us. This is why today I like to say that we brought Villa Della Porta Bozzolo by the lake, and that we still have so much to build and tell together.”

“The idea of sharing resources in the territory, giving value to local strong points, looks like the trump card to increase attractiveness, and with it a possible economic benefit,” said Giorgio Piccolo, president of the Mountain Community of the Valleys of Verbano, speaking on behalf of his institution. “To cover the territory with cycle paths, that cycle tourists will soon be able to use to go from Ticino to the border of Switzerland, passing through Lake Maggiore and Valcuvia, is one of our priorities and we’ve been working on it for a long time. That’s why Villa Della Porta Bozzolo, Fai site and real treasure of the territory, is going to be connected with the Valcuvia’s cycle path, that thanks to a detour in its course will pass right by this amazing place full of culture.”

SCHEDULE FOR THE DAYS OF THE CAMELLIAS

During the two-day trip in Villa Della Porta Bozzolo, the participants will have the opportunity to admire and to get to know the villa, where various attractions are going to be installed: a garden with big camellias, a trade show, conferences, laboratories and the opportunity to taste the organic tea produced in the Lake Maggiore area. In fact, the event has been organised in collaboration with the Italian Society of Camellia, and a lot of collectors are going to participate, and are going to be willing to give advice and information about the plant to the guests. “In particular, it will be possible to learn about winter samples of the Camellia and in particular the Camellia sasanqua, that is the only plant that makes flowers during winter and the Camellia sinensis, known to the larger public as the plant of Tea,” explains Andrea Conero from the Italian Society of Camellia.

For the entire duration of the demonstration, the garden of the Villa will host the setting-up of a yard where it will be possible to access to the camellias’ exhibition and market, buy the plants and benefit from the knowledge of the expert judges of this amazing flower. Then, the Villa will host an exhibition dedicated to the tea which will allow guests to discover the manufacturing processes and preparation of the beverage and to taste certain types. In preview, the project of experimental plantations on the shore of Lake Maggiore perpetrated by the Lake Company of Paul Zacchera will be presented.

Guests of honour, two major products of the Maggiore: the perfumes of the Lake Maggiore Style and the Rossi’s schnapps of Angera. “Lake Maggiore Style,” tells Leonardo Luz, the founder of Lake Maggiore Style, “was born from the love for our lake and this territory, certain that it is possible to concretize the elegance and the refinement of an exclusive atmosphere into something that each and every one of you could bring with itself on special occasions as in everyday life, the sight of an azalea in bloom, the reflection of the sun on the waters of the lake, the penetrating fragrance of the sweet wood of our mountains, the perfume of the camellias. The Lake Maggiore Style collection, includes different fragrances all born from the territory and inspired by it”.”From a young and fragrant perfume to a product that this year turns 170 years old.

“We maintain the tradition taking a closer look at the foreign countries,” explains Arialdo Pigionatti of the Rossi’s schnapps of Angera, “where our products are more and more appreciated with an increasing number of exports.

The Lake Maggiore brand is beginning to get known and for this reason we want to enhance our territory. We have a catalogue with about forty products among schnapps, liquor, appetizers, bitter, extracts of herbs and roots.”

Program of the meetings and the conferences:

Saturday, 4^th November

At 3.00 p.m. – “The botanical collections of camellias” – conference – with collectors from Lombardy and Piedmont, Tuscany, Veneto, Emilia Romagna and Liguria, Switzerland.

Sunday, 5^th November

At 11.30 p.m. – “International congress of the camellia of Nantes 2018.”

During the day, the Villa will also host the annual meeting of the Italian Society of the Camellia.

 

Guided tours

On Saturday, 4^th November and on Sunday, 5^th November

Guided tours to the Villa and to the garden

 

Laboratory for children

Sunday, 5^th November

At 3:00 p.m. From the seed to the cup: the story of a flower that becomes a beverage.

The children are going to learn the characteristics of the Camellia Sinensis, the plant of the tea. They will learn about the seeds, petals, leaves and perfumes and they will pick up the information in a precious notebook. Once completed the search, they could invite their mom and dad to sit with them for an elegant tasting.

 

HOURS

From 10.00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

TICKETS

Members of FAI: € 4.00

Full price: € 10.00

Concessionary tickets (Children from 4 to 14 years old): € 4.00

Families (2 adult + 2 children): € 25.00

 

CONTACTS

FAI – Villa of Porta Bozzolo

Casalzuigno, Varese

Telephone: 0332-624136

E-mail: faibozzolo@fondoambiente.it