Christmas Dinner at Hotel Carlotta in Belgirate, Italy

We moved into our Italian house a couple of weeks ago and our new landlord is a sweet 77 year old Italian lady filled with more energy then I have ever seen!  She invited us to an art event that she puts on every year at the Hotel Carlotta in Belgirate (on the lake north of Arona).  We were not quite sure what to expect, but this is how the evening played out.  We walked and she had her paintings on display (she creates beautiful art!) and we were taken into a room that had 15 tables and each had the materials to create a nativity scene.  While we worked and built our scenes there were bag pipe players, our landlord sung many songs, the wise men came for a visit!

We had a full buffet of appetizers and drinks and then we were taken into a second room for an 8 course meal that included pumpkin ravioli, risotto, beef, cake, gelatto, etc.! I forgot to take pictures of the food!