| Mon. | Date | Week | Region | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | 20 | 1 | Lombardia | Milan |
| 21 | ||||
| 22 | Piemonte | Novara | ||
| 23 | Valle d'Aosta | Aosta | ||
| 24 | ||||
| 25 | ||||
| 26 | Piemonte | Asti | ||
| 27 | 2 | Alba | ||
| 28 | ||||
| 29 | Barolo | |||
| 30 | Cuneo | |||
| July | 1 | |||
| 2 | Torino | |||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | 3 | |||
| 5 | Liguria | Genoa | ||
| 6 | ||||
| 7 | Camogli | |||
| 8 | ||||
| 9 | ||||
| 10 | Lombardia | Milan |
About
2010 sees us getting married, Sam turning forty, Hal just turning thirty, and a leukaemia diagnosis. Given that Hal has been studying Italian and we enjoyed it so much last time, we figured we would give Italy another go. So with our new Lonely Planet and our ever trusty "Fred" ("Italy for the Gourmet Traveller", by Fred Plotkin) we are ignoring Spain once again! The plan is for four full weeks, arriving on the 20th of June around 1030 and leaving on the 18th of July at 0800.
Milano (June 20-21)
It is always a delight to undertake the flight to London. Particularly when you are not interested in going to London, but instead want to get to Italy. To explain, we want to visit the north west of Italy and hence Milan is the best place to fly to, and the best way to do that is to fly to London, at least that was what we found in November last year when we booked the flights. We finally touch down in Milan Linate at around 10am. The closer to the city centre of the two airports, Linate lacks any of the gloss of Malpensa. (I've officially flown into this country too many times.) A short bus ride to the main train station later, we gather our bearings and head to our hotel, where we are told we can check in at 2pm. So we gather some stuff together and prepare to kill time: a quick wandering around the Duomo and the Galleria -- location of the world's first seven star hotel, the shop that originated Campari, and of course a MacDonalds. We return to the hotel check in and nap. I think my body clock got on a separate flight to Suva.
Around aperitivo time we decided we'd head to the local bar -- "Cocktails, Wine and Spirits" so the neon sign says -- for a quick drink. We get there just as Itay's second World Cup game commenced the second half. Playing Nuovo Zelanda, they are tied at 1-1, and the second half did't produce any second half goals. The crowd was pensive and the commentators seemed stunned that this was happening. New Zealand, of course, were overjoyed by the result.
So for dinner we decided to try and find a Enoteca that was the location of our first meal on our previous six month odyssey. Roughly knowing the location and bearing an incorrect name, we decided to chance our arm at the Milanese trams. We'd previously asked for a map of the tram network, given that maps of the train network are easy to come by, and are told that they do not exist. Catching a tram on a loop we thought only had 90 and 92, it turns out we were on a number 5, a metalic construction that put in my mind the idea of cold war era Soviet Bloc design. After a quick arguement on which direction we were travelling, we jump off the tram, walk fifty metres and turn into the restaurant: Gibsons Vini Enoteca. A bottle of wine, a platter of cold meats and cheeses, and bruscetta later it looks like we are not going to have the same problems ordering food that made our last visit here so entertaining. Mind you the restaurant had changed hands... The return journey put us on the Milanese version of a W-class tram, alighting somewhere near our hotel.
The next day we take things at a relaxed pace, other than the getting up at 6am. Breakfast involved trying to find a recommended cafe, but having coffee and brioche at another. Then we went searching for another cafe in the fashion district. This one, opened in 1849 or something, was colourful with bar staff wearing bow ties, but still about the same cost. From there we wandered back down to the Duomo, failed to go to Peck and a gallery given that it was Monday and they do not open on Mondays, and were just about to head home before deciding to go to the local Bascilias. Of course they have several.
Home, sleep, out to climb Duomo roof, visit Peck and other foodie places, apperitivo, restaurant.
Novara (June 22)
For our first sojourn out of Milan we did not travel far: a little prosperous town called Novara. The location of the invention of Campari, and now the main location for the production of gorganzola in Italy, within a couple of hours of commenting to locals that we were from Australia, we got the repeated response "why did you come here?" Fair point, but it is a beautiful spot. There is an aweseome series of winding streets in the old town, passed churchs, a Duomo of course and a theatre of some reputation.
I would like to point out something about travelling in Italy on the trains. They generally run on time, the stations can be fascinating -- particularly somthing as stunning as Milan's main station -- and they take you through all the parts of Italy. The fields and villages, the apparent squallor of some of the suburbs, and my favourite bit: the appropriation of land for the sole purpose of growing vegetables. Along just about every trainline somewhere is a spot of land, deemed too worthless to build on particularly in the suburbs, where a family or families have set up full vege patches.
Valle d'Aosta (June 23-25)
The smallest region in Italy, Valle d'Aosta also contains it's largest park. Formed as a special administrative region in 1948 from Piedmonte in recognition of it's unique culture -- they are half French but don't tell them I said that -- the main industries are wine, cheese and tourism, the latter being mostly during the ski season. We made three stops here: Aosta the capital where we stayed, Courmayeur which is a ski village and gateway to the Italian side of Mont Blanc, and Cogne which is further into the parks.
One the events that occurred while in Aosta, actually on the day we went to Courmayeur, was the 24 June Calcio game between Italy and Slovakia. Italy needed a win to remain in the tournament. I was hoping for a win to see the Italian passion for the game. I got glimpses as the Italians seemed to be staging a recovery, but mostly disappointment from the locals as the Italians put in a reasonably insipid effort. To give them their due, the Italians continue to show all the games, half on RAI One the main public TV station.
Asti (June 26)
Alba (June 27-28)
Barolo et al (June 29)
We left Alba by bus early on the 29th and headed to Bra (via Cinzano of course). Bra is famous for being the home of the Slow Food Movement: this is the first town that actively campaigned against fast food. Ignoring it, then, we hired a car a short but hot stroll from the station, and headed to the hills of Piedmonte with our final destination planned for Barolo, famous for one of Italy's finest wines, made from Nebiollo grapes. The car we hired this time is at least big enough for me to fit in comfortably, which probably makes the driving safer: I could put the seat down enough to see out the windscreen.
Cuneo (June 30 - July 1)
We managed to arrive in Cuneo a couple of times. After catching the bus from Bra after dropping off the car, we landed in some forsaken location to change to a train through to Cuneo. This wended it's merry way through fields until suddenly taking a bridge over a practical gorge just before arriving at Cuneo station. The city itself is built on a plateau carved out by the confluence of two rivers. (I like the word "confluence".) We arrived again after trekking from the station through vast streets with high-roofed walkways set in a regular pattern, until we happened upon the Piazza Galimberti, a vast area built apparently by a zealous planner who doubled the dimensions given to him by the town council. The old town of Cuneo is more typical of Italian towns with winding streets coming off the main Via Roma as it heads towards the point of the town at the confluence end of the plateau. You can tell when you have reached Piazza Dante by the two petrol stations. Via Roma used to be the old market and hence has the older style covered walkways which formed when the market was covered to ward of heat in summer and snow in winter, and eventually covered by expanding housing.
The next day we were so impressed we got the hell out of Dodge and headed for San Remo on the Ligurian coast. I know it's not in Piedmonte, but you do what you can. The journey is a slow two-hour winding ride through the mountains near the coast, going from Cuneo up to some snow resorts and then back down to the coast through numerous tunnels, mostly in France, given the labelling of the stations. Nice to do loops over yourself inside hills.
We finally got to Sane Remo and wandered from the station -- a task of it's own given the station is inside the hill -- and down to the water front. From there we wandered to get lunch, moving into the La Pigna which is the old area above the main stretch of town. So San Remo has it's poor quarter as well as it's 1800s ritzie buildings. A long lunch was followed by a walk to the lookout, then back down through the poor quarter to go for a swim in the Med. We could have picked a better spot, but the beach was free. A gentle stroll took us back to the station and another two hours sees us back in Cuneo. Gellato and a shower, and we should be ready for the pizza and beer festival that starts today!
Turin (July 2-4)
I came to Turin with reasonably low expectations given previous reports I had received from a friend who had visited before. To give that comment some context, he had lived in Italy for a number of years and did not have high opinions of the fourth largest Italian city. Our actual thoughts of Turin is that it is a spectcular place: museums and galleries that we avoided, vast areas of pedestriation malls, amazing coffee shops and simply the best gelato we have tasted. Turin basically invented chocolate as we know it, ice creams on sticks, vermouth, and after that I don't think they particularly care. Long covered walkways made the heat bearable, and in the evenings their spritz with snacks are some of the best we have seen. The time we spent here has been mostly simply wandering the streets, eating ice cream and chocolates, stopping for coffee and snacks, and visiting one of the man piazzas. What seems to be the main piazza sloping down towards the river Po is a fantastic construction. Turin was the first capital of a united Italy before Rome, and gave their royal family to become the short lived royal house of Italy. Count Cavour, whose castle we visited previously, and whose name is plastered over a street in nearly every Italian town, used to drink coffee at one of the places we visited while waiting for the royal family to attend church: Al Bicerin. An athiest even at that time, Cavour is revered as the father of unification. The hot chocolate from this cafe is rather kickass as it contains an espresso shot. Apparently Nietsche also used to drink here. I onl saw horny pigeons.