La Nodada de la Befana is 22 this year! Saturday, January 6, 2024, in fact, at the Porto alla Ressiga will take place the twenty-second edition of this winter race now fully entered into the heritage of the traditions of Brissaghesi. ‘Winter food’ was the term used to describe it by its promoter: The late Ilario Fidanza, who passed away in 2017.
“It will be difficult to repeat the record of 75 participants reached last year, as these events have multiplied in the meantime and as many as four are scheduled for this period in northern Italy, one of them in nearby Ghiffa, on the Piedmont side of Verbano”. However, he liked to point out that some swimmers came to Brissago from different Italian regions to cover those 80 metres from one end of the Port to the other, and among them was his friend Roberto Giuria, president of the ‘Italian Federation of swimmers of adverse weather’.
But, despite the competition, the Nodada has maintained its charm, reaching a record of 90 participants in 2019. ‘Since 2018 – explains Aris Arrigoni, who, as president of Verbano Sub Brissago, now plays the role that was once Fidanza – we have maintained the original spirit of Nodada, with the imprint that Ilario gave it, which was inspired by the New Year’s Eve bath in Leman, scheduled in Geneva every first January: a strong vocation for fun and a convivial moment’.
A few years ago, the mayor Roberto Ponti was also among those who challenged the winter lake. Would you do it again? "Well, let's see... if I don't go skiing, I might as well think about it," he says. He stressed how important this Epiphany event had become for the village: ‘In the meantime, it gave visibility to one of our important companies, Verbano Sub. And then it represents a beautiful moment of aggregation, an opportunity to toast together with the new year and close the festive period. The mild climate of recent years helps, even if, perhaps, someone preferred the charm of the Nodada under the snow ...”.
More than a sport, says Fabio Solari, ‘the Nodada de la Befana and, more generally, diving in the cold waters, can be defined as a life experience, or rather a lifestyle that determines a state of personal well-being. In the icy embrace of the waters, each swim becomes a dance between strength and endurance. Every breath is an art, a challenge accepted between a closeness of nature and the determination of the soul. The icy waters welcome the brave swimmer, offering a feeling of absolute freedom and a deep connection with the power of nature.”
The idea of immersing oneself in icy water is like embracing an iceberg for the municipality, which is responsible for the municipal Dicastery for Sport, which professes to be a non-lover of water – unless it reaches or exceeds 25°C. “Only that, instead of a warm hug, you get an immediate invitation to dance polka with muscle spasm. A unique way to exchange a few heartbeats with the North Pole and find that frost can only be a good friend if you are a penguin.”
Solari then looks with ill-concealed envy and admiration at the participants in the traditional Nodada.
Bathing in the cold waters of lakes and rivers has now become a widespread practice. Aris Arrigoni cites, for example, the New Year's Eve bath scheduled for some years in Tenero, and notes that even characters such as Alessandro Veletta have contributed to the spread of these events. For the record, Veletta, radio animator, tenor and experienced swimmer (in 2022 he attempted the ‘dolphin’ crossing of the Strait of Messina) is also a ‘gelidist’, in short, one who loves to bathe in cold water.
After two years of forced pause during the pandemic, the Nodada returns on January 6. “The last edition – says Arrigoni – was a success. We count many loved ones, people who participate regularly every year, for whom the Nodada has become an appointment not to be missed. The weather forecast for the first days of 2024 seems to be looking good, and if confirmed for us it will undoubtedly be a positive factor. In recent years, the temperature of the lake has been higher than in the past, reaching 9 degrees on 6 January 2023, compared to 6 degrees on average in the past. In the sense: It is nice to swim in winter, but if the water is a little less cold it is even nicer ... In any case, until the day of the event we will not know the number of swimmers, as the registrations take place on site”.
Arrigoni recalls, finally, that participation is free, with mulled wine offered, and that security is guaranteed: At the port, as always, there will be a SALVA ambulance, a doctor and a diving patrol in the water to watch over the swimmers.