View from the Castello, Grinzane Cavour, Piemonte, Italy.
Itinerary:
Mon. July 31 – train to Lugano – drive to Lake Maggiore – 2 nights at Castello del Pozzo
Wed. Aug 2 – drive to Neive – 4 nights at Langhe Country House
Sun. Aug 6 – drive to Milan – 1 night at Four Seasons Hotel
Mon. Aug 7 – depart Milan-Malpensa Airport
The train ride from Lucerne to Lugano is a lovely journey down through the alps. Arriving at Lugano station, you could be forgiven for thinking you were already in Italy. The station is a notch less tidy, and the work being done feels just a bit less well organized. The short walk to the rental car office reinforces this idea. Everything feels a little more relaxed. And so we stuffed our rental Ford Galaxy min van with six people and too much luggage, and headed towards Lake Maggiore, and Piemonte. We would be staying in Piemonte, the western-most region of Italy for most of this trip, only leaving it on our next-to-last day to fly home from Milan.
View across Lake Maggiore to the Rocca di Angera from Arona, Italy.
We were headed for the little village of Oleggio Castello, just up the hill from the popular lake-side town of Arona on the south west coast of Lake Maggiore. Our home for the next two nights would be Castello dal Pozzo, a recently restored hotel and adjacent estate with a castle-like manor house, built in the 1800’s on the remains of a Roman fortification from ca. 1000. Today, the castle and its grounds are used for private events such as weddings, and the elegant hotel and fantastic restaurant provide the infrastructure for those gatherings. We dined in the restaurant our first night, and had the great pleasure of sharing the dining room with the charming scions of the Dal Pozzo family, the husband and wife who are responsible for the restoration of the estate into a resort destination. They have created a lovely place, with well beautiful guest rooms, relaxing public spaces and an elegant restaurant with equally spectacular food.
Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore, Italy.
The next day we hired a boat to tour the lake. There are three islands that form the primary tourist destinations on the lake; Isola Bella, Isola Madre, and Isola Pescatori are collectively referred to as the Isole Borromee, they were the property of the Borromeo family who started acquiring them in the 16th century. Isola Bella has a lovely summer palace with extensive formal gardens and a small town full of shops and restaurants. Isola Pescatori, literally, the fishermen’s island is a residential community where fishermen and their families lived, until recently housing as many as 200 people. Now the primary commercial activity is tourism, with many shops and restaurants. Isola Madre the largest of the three, also has a lovely palace, now a museum, but is most famous for its excellent English style garden, which covers the island and has been maintained since 1823, complete with plants and trees from around the world and a large flock of free-ranging peacocks. Sailing around the lake and exploring the islands makes for a very relaxing day. The towns along the shore are lovely, and its especially fun to see the grand old resort hotels from the water as they were intended to be approached. Our captain also pointed out the famous Candoglia stone quarries up in the hills above the lake. This is where all the stone used to build the Duomo di Milano was quarried.
View from Isola Bella to Stresa, Lago Maggiore, Italy.
That night we decided to try a famous local restaurant, Bue D’Oro. We dined on the outdoor patio and despite having to look up a few menu items via google translator, we had a truly spectacular meal, paired perfectly with local wines. Like most restaurants outside the big city in Italy, I am always shocked at how far the dollar goes. Wonderful food and terrific local wines are both extremely affordable in rural Italy.
Ravioli al burro e rosmarino, Trattoria nelle Vigne, Diano d’Alba, Italy.
The next day we piled back into the car and made the two-hour drive to the town of Neive in the Langhe. The Langhe is the hilly area south of the river Tanaro, in the province of Cuneo in Piemonte. Google maps is your friend here, but all you really need to know is this is the home of white truffles, Barbera, Barolo, Barbaresco, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo. Those of you with a sweet tooth will appreciate it is also the home of Nutella. Piemonte is also the home of the Slow Food movement, focusing on local food and traditional cooking. Italians take this idea very seriously, and everywhere you dine in Italy, especially in rural areas, you come to realize that the fruits and vegetables that make up your meal were picked that morning, that the fresh fish was caught that day. It makes for a remarkable cuisine, and it becomes addicting. You are bound to be disappointed when you get back home and return to shopping in your local market.
Dolcetto grapes, Diano d’Alba, Italy.
No place in Italy better exemplifies the Slow Food philosophy than Eataly. It is a supermarket like none other. Full of the freshest produce, fish, meats and cheeses, baked goods and sweets you will ever see collected under one roof. The original Eataly in Turin also boasts an enormous basement wine shop and several marvelous restaurants and food stalls, as well as a kitchenware shop and huge selection of cookbooks. Did I mention the incredible gelato? The cheese department has someone making fresh mozzarella and ricotta on site, and there is another counter where you can watch fresh pasta being made by hand. Seriously, a market with a fresh mozzarella counter, a fresh pasta counter, and a fresh gelato counter with a wine shop attached. I don’t need to shop anywhere else ever again.
Formula 1 cars, Turin Automotive Museum, Italy.
Turin also boasts some cool history. The Museo Egizio boasts the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt. The Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile is host to a spectacular collection of automobiles, mostly Italian, which is no bad thing. There is a focus here on Turin’s significance in the history of the automobile, for at one point in time, Turin was the center of the automotive universe. Fiat was based in Turin, as were dozens of other companies, and several important automotive design firms, like Pinninfarina, are still based here. One of the treats for me was getting up on the roof of the old Fiat factory, now a shopping mall and a modern art museum, Pinacoteca Agnelli. The roof was built as a banked test track for the factory. Every car built would be driven around the track before sent off to customers around the world. Gear heads and movie fans might remember the scene from the original Italian Job movie with Michael Caine, where they drive the old Mini Coopers across the roof of this building. Today it’s just a curiosity that requires admission to the art museum to see. But fortunately, the museum has a nice little collection of paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir, Manet, and Canaletto, among others. Combine these attractions with the shopping mall downstairs and Eataly right across the street, and you’ve got a nice half-day filled. We drove into Turin for the day from Neive, but it probably deserves a couple of days to see all of the sites.
Rooftop test track on top of the old Fiat Lingotto factory, Turin, Italy.
We arrived back at our hotel, the Langhe Country House in Neive in time for dinner, but didn’t feel like anything fancy. The boys requested pizza, and so our host Alex recommended his favorite spot, the local brewery, Birrificio Citabiunda. The beer was pretty good, the pizza, pasta and porchetta were outstanding, and my wife, who is not a beer drinker, enjoyed a fantastic bottle of Dolcetto. Everyone left happy and satisfied, but after our long day exploring Turin, we were eager to return to the comfort of our hotel. Langhe Country House is a beautifully restored villa and barn. The barn is now the home of the owners, Alex and Nadia and their two kids. Nadia is an architect and has done a beautiful job designing the updated lodgings, converting the barn into their home, and the old villa into a series of large en suite guest rooms. Our rooms were large, comfortable and stylish, with massive and luxurious bathrooms. Breakfast was a wonderful assortment of local baked goods, salumi, cheese and fresh fruit. There were also hard-boiled eggs and the ever-present European muesli. Alex was always on hand to keep everything stocked up and to show off his barista skills. The man makes a truly excellent cappuccino. We enjoyed a quick splash in the pool every day we stayed here. The grounds of the B&B are lovely, but the views of the surrounding hillsides, covered in vineyards and hazelnut trees makes for an incredibly relaxing environment. It was incredibly relaxing to just float against the wall of the infinity pool and stare out at the vineyards below.
Azienda Agricola Camparo, Diano d’Alba, Italy.
The next day we set out for the nearby hill town of Grinzane Cavour. The castle that sits at the top is a Unesco protected site, which now houses a museum, a restaurant, a nice wine shop, and the annual Alba white truffle auction each November. There are several good places in town to grab lunch, but we had come to visit Sara at Camparo Vineyards. For three generations, Sara’s family has been making amazing wines on their completely organic estate here in the Langhe. Today, you can find their wines all around the world, and if you can’t make it to Piemonte to taste them, they are well worth tracking down in your own neck of the woods. After enjoying her family’s wines, Sara insisted on arranging dinner reservations at her favorite restaurant, Trattoria Nelle Vigne. And what a spectacular meal it was. Situated at the top of a hill, surrounded by stunning vineyard views, Trattoria Nelle Vigne is a culinary delight. Dinner is a five course fixed tasting local antipasti, followed by one or two courses of your choice of pasta or protein, followed by dessert. It was an amazing meal from start to finish, but the most amazing thing might have been the bill. 6 people, 7 courses, 2 bottles of wine, espresso and amaro (my favorite Italian after dinner “digestive”) all total was $189 Euro. One of the greatest meals of my life was $32 per person with wine. Have I mentioned how much I love Italy?
The Castello, Grinzane Cavour, Italy.
We spent the next day exploring the beautiful hilltop village of Neive, tasting more excellent local wine and dining in equally fine and affordable restaurants. Neive is considered one of the prettiest villages in the Langhe for good reason. The scale of it is easily accessible on foot, and it is all in good repair and obviously well loved by its inhabitants. There are a number of wineries with tasting rooms here and several excellent restaurants. We especially enjoyed the wine tasting at Rivetti Massimo followed by a marvelous lunch at Degusto. That evening, our hosts Nadia and Alex had arranged a cooking class for us in nearby Alba at the home of Fernanda Giamello, where we would learn to make a few local specialties. It was a treat to learn to make traditional hazelnut cookies, baked peaches with amaretti filling, squash flan with a savory cheese fondue, fresh handmade “Plin” ravioli and one of my favorites, rabbit braised in Barolo wine. These traditional Piemontese dishes will be making an appearance on our table at home soon.
Magnums of Nebbiolo, Camparo, Diano d’Alba, Italy.
The following day found us once again loading up our rental car with people and luggage, making the final leg of our journey to Milan, in preparation for our flight home. Milan is a city that deserves more than one day of exploration, but with the help of Tours By Locals, we hired a local guide, Barbara Quarello to show us around. Hiring a local guide may seem like an extravagance for one day in Milan, but you get to see a lot more in a shorter period of time with a guide. They often have the ability to jump to the head of a line at museums and cathedral tours, and the one thing you never have enough of when travelling is time. We walked through the golden square, where all the top designers have showrooms and studios, explored the Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuale II, La Scala, the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, and the Castello Sforzesco, home to several museums, including one for Michelangelo and one for Leonardo da Vinci, who spent more than 20 years of his life here. The castle was his home during the time when he worked on The Last Supper, which can be viewed at the nearby Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, if you buy tickets far enough in advance.
Il Duomo di Milano.
Sadly all good things must come to an end, the next day we packed up and headed to Milan-Malpensa airport for our long flight home. I should mention we spent that last night at the Four Seasons Milano. A spectacularly beautiful hotel with impeccable service, and every luxury & convenience you would expect from a 5-star city hotel, and the price tag to match. We had originally booked into a small, stylish boutique hotel that occupied a former perfume factory. Unfortunately, they cancelled on us at the last minute due to a renovation project gone awry. No worries, we’ll be back. I need several more days in Milan, a couple more in Turin, and a lifetime to explore the rest of Piemonte and the Langhe.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy.
Good For Your Soul – Northern Italy:
Lake Maggiore – cruise the lake on a hired boat or water taxi, and explore the three Borromean Islands, enjoy the relaxing charm of Castello dal Pozzo and dine well at Bue D’Oro.
The Langhe – Langhe Country House just outside the beautiful village of Neive for accommodations. Wine tasting at Camparo Vineyards, and Rivetti Massimo. Amazing meals at Birrificio Citabiunda, Degusto and Trattoria Nelle Vigne. Just drive around and explore the beautiful hill towns of the area.
Turin – Eataly, Museo Egizio, Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, Pinacoteca Agnelli and the old Fiat factory.
Milan – The Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuale II, La Scala, Castello Sforzesco and the The Last Supper, window shopping in the Quadrilatero d’Oro.
