Milan, Varenna and Bellaggio

IFLA 2009 was hosted by the always fashionable City of Milan in italy. Its been over 19-years since I was last in Italy and while lots has changed in Milan, much of what I loved most about this picturesque country has remained the same. At the congress, my Standing Committee on Libraries Serving Persons with Special Needs sponsored an awesome program regarding Prison Libraries on Tuesday August 25th and then led an interactive tour of the Bassone Prison in Como, Italy on Wednesday August 26th. The interactions with the inmates just made our day. To hear first hand accounts of what exceptional work our fellow library colleagues in Italy are doing to ensure the educational and literary development of the inmates and their children was simply priceless. After the IFLA Congress, a colleague and I traveled by train North of Milan to vacation on Lake Como in the town of Varenna. The picture associated with this post was taken in Varenna outside a Cafe on a lazy afternoon. Our lodging for 5 days, Hotel Milano, is in the background. During our stay, we took the ferry to the town of Bellaggio to view gardens, villas and to do some shopping. We heard that the famous USA actor, George Clooney, purchased a Villa in Bellaggio, but we never got a chance to see where. What great memories for this Librarian from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!