Every horizon feels softer when I am with you

From Varenna's lakeside walk, Bellagio lights up across the dark water one window at a time while the sky over it turns violet.

Our hour there

We came down to the Lovers' Walk before sunset and took the edge of a walkway, feet over the water, a rowboat knocking softly below us. I had promised you the sun would go down right behind Bellagio. It did not. The orange slid off to the right, over the ridges, and you laughed at me for a full minute. Then the sky above the town went violet, the clouds turned pink, and the lights came on one by one along the promontory until the bell tower stood out. You still tasted of the lemon gelato from the afternoon. Somewhere behind us a glass clinked on a terrace. Neither of us said much. The far shore stopped looking far.

If you two sit there from about fifteen minutes after sunset until the blue goes deep, Bellagio waits straight across the water, small and warm under dark mountains. In early August or early September, on the right evenings, a thin crescent hangs above the town or just to its right. Around full moon there is none, so check before you choose your night. The lake goes still and silver, and the vines over the iron arches turn black against the sky. Everything at the edges gets gentler.

One honest thing. The walkway edges fill up, so arrive before sunset and plan to stay until the moon shows. If you are sleeping across the lake in Menaggio, look up the last ferry back before you sit down, because blue hour makes you forget the time.

♡ We bet a second gelato on which lit dot across the water was the bell tower, and you won, and I am still sure you cheated by looking it up that morning.