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Friday 6th June 2014

 We say a fond farewell to Maurizio and Mara with Maurizio getting quite emotional. He is a very open, emotional fellow and the name which he chose for his agriturismo says it all- “yearn for the moon”. They have been wonderful hosts and they have offered all that we could wish during our stay.

After leaving Castiglione we head north to Moncalvo and then take a detour on a beautiful winding old road to the Santuario Di Crea, one of 9 Heritage-Listed sacred mountains in Piedmonte.

Quite apart from the wonderful gently mountainous scenery of Piedmonte what will live long in the memory will be the striking houses painted in colours such as ochre , salmon, terracotta and mustard yellow, making them so different from those in Umbria and Tuscany. What we will also remember is the friendliness of staff in restaurants and cafés, so pleased that we are all making an effort to master some of their language. More on this later when we get to Stresa.

 Continuing on towards Casale Monferrato and eventually to Stresa Gail makes the interesting comment that it would be better if we only visited places with no ‘r’ in as she and Maureen had both been struggling with rolling the ‘r’. I shudder to think what this would have done to our itinerary and had we applied it to other areas such as food we could have been living on a diet of’ latte’ and ‘pane’!

The arrival in Stresa is a bit of a shock to the system. Whilst its location on the shores of Lago Maggiore is undeniably breathtaking the sight of such hotels as Grand Hotel d’ Isole Borromee, with its over-the-top Italianate garden and hordes of very pink English tourists is such a far cry from the low-key villages which we have encountered earlier in this beautiful province.

Lunch at what is a dream location on the lake leaves us feeling as cold as the chips which arrive at our table, obviously only having made a brief contact with a frying pan.  My enquiry as to the whereabouts of the toilet is met with a dismissive finger pointing to some stairs below the cafe. I arrive at the said loo to find that the door is padlocked  so I trundle up the stairs again and receive the vital info that I need to get a key from the bar. It’s a bit like being sold a car without a steering wheel.

We do take a very pleasant walk along the lake and the views over to the three islands, Bella, Madre and Dei Pescatori are superb. However, watching some young people swimming in the murky waters or sunbathing under fairly cloudy skies makes us both realise how fortunate we are in our part of the world.

We leave Stresa at shortly after 3.00 and arrive at the Sheraton Milan Airport in good time to return the nightmare of a Hyundai car, the gearbox with which I have struggled for about 2500 kms. I could swear I heard my good left knee breathe a sigh of relief when I handed the keys back.

The Sheraton is a fine hotel within walking distance of the airport and we decide to pay 50 euros to become Sheraton Preferred Members. This gives us free Wifi,access to a special lounge where we can get drinks and light meals and breakfast.

We duly make full use of this for our evening meal and get to bed by 10.00

Tomorrow we fly to Berlin for two nights and we will leave with  very fond memories of Piemonte, a hidden gem on the Italian landscape.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Thursday 5th June 2014.

We arrange for breakfast at a slightly earlier time than previously so that we can make full use of the day during our visit to Turin, the largest city in Piemonte. I had been to the city about 45 years ago when working in export for Ladybird Childrenswear but have few memories of that trip. However, it appears that Turin was given a huge lift at the time of the 2006 Winter Olympics and its mainly industrial image has been superseded by a greater focus on its history and culture.

Our first port of call is MAUTO, the National Automobile Museum, providing a truly staggering array of vehicles through the ages and tracing the development from early cars to the current mass-produced vehicles. One very poignant moment during our 2 hour tour is when we see a photograph of a triumphant Michael Schumacher holding aloft a Grand Prix trophy, particularly having heard the very negative news that morning on his very slim chances of recovery.

Back in the centre of Turin we follow the suggestion of the guidebooks and focus on the Via Roma area between Piazza Castello and Piazza Carlo Felice.

We had not really visited any large Italian cities during our trip I was wondering how we would cope with the expected crowds. As it turns out Turin is an absolute delight, with so many superb large squares, museums and elegant streets. Many of the arcades are reminiscent of those in Bologna but seemingly the 2006 facelift has put this city on a different level to its Emilia-Romagna counterpart.

Whilst we don’t get to try the chocolates for which Turin is famous we do get the next best thing with some scrumptious ice cream.

The only negative note is that Gail fails to find a fashionable quilted jacket which she had had on her wish list for some time.

We finish our day in this very appealing city with a walk down to the River Po and again we are pleasantly surprised to find that the river itself and the embankments are free of the pollution so evident in other large cities.

Our train journey back to Asti is a bit more adventurous than anticipated when the ticket collector on the train advises us that we should be fined as we are travelling on a fast inter-city train instead of a regional fast train and we had failed to validate the tickets at the station. I probably made matters worse by pretending at first to speak only English and then explaining to him in fairly fluent Italian that the ticket collector had not pulled us up on the way to Turin that morning. That made me look even more devious and Gail told me later that I should have played dumb a bit longer, something that comes quite easily to me! In the event we only incurred one fine and he couldn’t really throw us off as the first stop was Asti.

Back at our home away from home Maurizio serves us with some wine and chips on the terrace and during our chat Gail comes up with a classic comment. We had been discussing how hungry we were ahead of the usual great dinner and she told me that whilst she had been ” ravishing” the previous evening she wasn’t too hungry today.

Dinner as always is spectacular although all this food is doing nothing for our waist lines.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Wednesday 4th June 2014.

 Today is the day we have set aside to explore the region to the south of Asti, including Alba and at  Maurizio’s suggestion we follow the wine trail to visit such small towns as Govone, Priocca, Magliano Alfieri, Castagnito, Neive and Barbaresco. The last-mentioned is the most touristy of the region, with many, Germans, Belgians and Dutch in evidence. The glorious scenery in this part of Piemonte never ceases to amaze us and with the notable exception of Barbaresco it’s a welcome change to be able enjoy the sights without hordes of tourists.

Alba is a delightful town,more impressive than Asti and we enjoy lunch and a glass of the local wine in the main square. Whilst Alba is best known for the wines and truffles in this area it has much to offer with its cobbled streets, medieval towers and Renaissance and Baroque palaces.

With the weather gods once more smiling on us we take a pleasant stroll around the town before heading south towards Diano d’Alba. Our route then takes us north-east to Canelli through still more stunning scenery, on to Nizza Monferrato and finally Rochetta Tanaro where we buy some wine from the Cantine Post Dal Vin winery. The owners are friends of Maurizio and he buys his wine for the agriturismo from them. He had visited the winery earlier in the day to tell them of our possible visit and they made us very welcome. We purchased two bottles of their best red and we ended up with a bonus bottle of red and a bottle of sparkling wine , both gratis.

The usual fine meal from Mara finishes off another thoroughly enjoying day in this surprisingly unheralded part of Italy.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Monday 2nd June 2014

Great breakfast in keeping with everything else at Villa Pardi.

On a beautiful sunny morning we take our time to pack our bags and bring blog and blog photos up-to-date. Check out at 11.00 and spend a short time sitting by their superb pool, which unfortunately we have not been able to use.

Cinzia, the owner of Villa Pardi had given us instructions to find the nearest ATM but had not told us that it was over 10kms away. We, therefore, spent quite some time backtracking before giving up and heading off towards Genoa. After a fairly lengthy drive came across Massarosa, the location of the above Bankomat!

Finally, we pick up the main autostrada to Genoa which from time to time gives us glimpses of the lovely towns along the Cinque Terre. We again marvel at the Italian genius for building some truly breathtaking freeway bridges and tunnels through the mountainous coastal regions and we wonder how Maureen, even with her new-found determination to handle vertigo problems, would have coped with some of these sections of the autostrada. Shortly after Genoa we turn north on the E 25 towards Alessandria and eventually arrive our accommodation for the next 4 nights, Bramaluna B&B.

This is set up in the hills above the city of Asti ( of Asti Spumante fame ) and we are welcomed by the extrovert owner Maurizio who is also an architect. He has used his talents to convert an old farmstead into a modern, beautifully appointed house with a number of guest rooms the home decor is superb.

As we are the only guests at present we are given a choice of rooms and opt for the one on the top floor with balcony where he serves us tea and biscuits shortly after our arrival. We have booked evening dinner and shortly before the meal arrives Maurizio introduces us to his elegant wife, Mara, who cooks all of the meals. What follows is one of the best meals of our trip with five courses of local organic produce, as befits a B&B situated in Piemonte, home of the Slow Food movement.

Maurizio speaks reasonable is his own excitable way and seems determined to use us as an English lesson, giving me little opportunity to fine tune my Italian, which is gradually improving after a shaky start on this holiday.

Go to bed hoping that we will see more of the improved weather on the next day and that this bloody leg of mine will give me less grief.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Tuesday 3rd June 2014

No surprise that continental breakfast is beautifully presented and ideal after some fairly heavy breakfasts at some of our previous stays.

Maurizio provides us with maps and brochures of Asti and the area and on reading some of material I have noted how often they refer to buildings and sites being very ‘ suggestive’.

For a while I was looking forward to various houses and ladies of ill repute when it dawned on me that the writer had done a direct translation of the Italian word ‘ suggestivo’ which usually means  ‘evocative’, or ‘enchanting’ or ‘ interesting’. Life is full of disappointments!

We take the short drive into Asti to purchase train tickets for our trip to Turin later in the week and find that the town is far more appealing than we had expected. Whilst it certainly doesn’t have the ‘wow’ factor’ of other cities visited the narrow streets of a ‘ pedestrians -only’ area  have a charm and ambience of their own.

We have decided to take an afternoon drive north-west out of Asti on an historic trail to the small town of Cocconato. This lovely little town is a real surprise and we are able to get some very tasty piadine for lunch. The green rolling hills of the area, whilst less dramatic than those of Umbria and Tuscany ,offer some magnificent vistas both on the journey up to Cocconato and back through the towns of Montiglio, Rinco, Frinco and Castel’Alfero. Rinco, in particular, was fascinating as at first sight it seemed to be a town that the world had forgotten. However, on closer inspection we saw evidence that the town, with a large fortress, is a work in progress with lots of renovation taking place.

We return to Bramaluna to relax and do such things as writing this blog before enjoying what will no doubt be more of Mara’s superb culinary creations for dinner.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Sunday 1st June 2014

A great agriturismo breakfast and a gloriously sunny day make for a wonderful start to the last day of our European journey with Maureen and John and a visit to Pitigliano caps off what has been a fantastic experience.

I had been told so much about Pitigliano by Ross Bromel , Jane Yates and Peter Coates that I had become concerned that the town would not live up to the hype. Nothing could have been further from the truth and it’s difficult to come up with enough superlatives to describe its spectacular location, on a precipitous rocky outcrop. It is quite simply like nothing else we have ever seen on our travels. Sadly, we only have about 3 hours to tour the town but this us enough time to view the immense aqueduct, the Etruscan tombs which dot the cliff face and the Jewish Ghetto.

Dave in Jewish Ghetto with Tommy Cooper’s brother

The visit to the town is made even more memorable when yours truly discovers that he has mislaid the car keys. J and I make a quick walk back to the car as I recalled that I last had them when I was putting a bandage on my troublesome left knee ( not my titanium knee which just rusts!). On arrival back at the car we find that a very kind old man had placed the keys, which had obviously dropped out of my pocket, under the driver ‘s door handle. I seriously thought of giving him a hug and a kiss on both cheeks but settled for an expression of heartfelt thanks for his helping me  to avoid a potential disaster. John and I return to the girls and although nothing is said I feel sure that all three of my travelling companions are gloating that after all the blog barbs this old bastard has finally got his comeuppance.

We eventually drop M and J off at Orvieto train station and say our goodbyes.

We have been together for just short of four weeks and they have been great travel companions. All too often we here of friendships being destroyed by a holiday together but the dynamics of our foursome have been fantastic all along. Hopefully J and M feel the same way!

We are on our way north by just after 1.00 pm and have decided to stick to the toll autostradas all the way to the agriturismo, Villa Pardi a few kms from Lucca.

After having fallen asleep on the Nullabor when driving over to WA in 2009 I decide to take a stop at a freeway parking area and to Gail’s surprise I fall asleep immediately. The 15 minutes of very deep sleep leave me feeling very refreshed for the remainder of the trip and Gail very happy that I have obviously learned a lesson from my Nullabor experience.

By the time we arrive at Villa Pardi the knee is in a pretty bad way so at the recommendation of Cinzia, the owner of Villa Pardi, we take a very short drive to a nearby restaurant, Il Borghetto.

The seafood dinner is as good as any on this trip and very reasonably priced. Once again we see evidence of the cross- generational family culture with large groups out for an evening meal.

Villa Pardi is a very fine large house about 300 years old and for future reference it is perfect for anyone wishing to stay near to Lucca without the hassle of staying right in the centre.

Off to bed with me full of Nurufen tablets and hoping that my troublesome ‘good’ knee will come good the next day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Saturday 31st May 2014.

 No surprise to find that we get up to an absolute downpour and once more remind Barry of his initial glowing praise of the climate in this area. However, the girls are presented with a fine linen apron as a farewell gift and one has to say that Barry and Beaulah have established a superb house and garden for guests to enjoy and it is just unfortunate that we have not been able to spend more time either in the pool or lounging by it. We have instead compensated for this by making far more visits to some magnificent locations in Umbria so we can’t really complain.

Set off on the fairly long drive to Orvieto, a city which Maureen and John have not previously visited. M had predicted that the weather would clear up for our visit and her prediction was spot on as we were able to stroll around the centre in glorious sunshine.

On arrival we manage to get a good parking spot near Via Roma and walk a short distance for our usual coffee break.

The jaw-dropping view of Orvieto from a distance as we approached the city had given M and J some idea of the special place that the city holds among so many hilltop towns. Rising 300 metres sheer from the valley floor it is more of a cliff top than hilltop town and it is this superb setting and of course the Gothic Duomo which make it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy.

The cathedral, with its unbelievably beautiful facade, never loses its impact and it is a testimony to its unique beauty that M and J, after seeing so many fine churches,find this awe-inspiring. ( as  G and I do )

After enjoying a takeaway lunch on a park bench we stroll to the funicular which takes us down to the railway station to book the Nichs’ tickets to Rome for next day. Maureen is doing a sterling job in tackling her vertigo demons and copes with the fairly steep funicular very well.

Having sorted the tickets we continue our journey to our accommodation for the night which is 6 kms out of Pitigliano. On the way out of Orvieto we are able to take more stunning photos of this amazing town and as a bonus we gain our first sight of the much-vaunted Pitigliano.

Dinner is taken at Poggio di Tufo, our agriturismo, but not before we have knocked back a bottle of Montefalco Sagrantino to celebrate on the last evening of our trip together.

Poggio di Tufo is a fine agriturismo and especially for Gail and myself it’s great to enjoy a lovely hot shower. At La Torretta we ended up with the larger of the two rooms booked and on the ground floor but the shower had been one of those traditional English styles with a hand-held shower head which could not be attached any where and set in a very deep bath which almost required crampons to climb into! Climbing out was almost tantamount to abseiling.

Off to bed looking forward to seeing the remarkable Pitigliano at close quarters.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Friday 30th May 2014

Wake up to some very heavy fog over the valley below the villa but with a promise of 24 degrees later in the day.

We have decided to have a very relaxing day at the villa before the long drive south on Saturday.

However, we meet up with Barry who is cleaning  the pool and he suggests that we visit Montone, a small hilltop town ( is there any other type in Italy?) which he says is a hidden gem.

Before setting off we do give Barry a bit of grief on his comments when we first arrived at La Torretta that the weather patterns are always favourable and the rough weather almost never affects this area. We remind him that we have had rain on virtually every day and have been hit by some severe thunder and hail storms. He falls back on the final refuge of all locals which is to say ” you should have been here last week” or ” this is very unseasonable”. The only thing in Barry’s favour is that in his present work checking the safety of hot air balloons he is able to provide very accurate predictions. Today he smilingly lets us know that the afternoon will be wet so we should get off to Montone this morning.

Montone is indeed a gem, perched high on a hill, far from the madding crowds of tourists and with some beautiful buildings, alleyways and offering glorious views of the surrounding hills.

We find a great little coffee bar on the main square although the coffee is still a bit too strong for Maureen. We have , therefore, decided to buy a single coffee bean which we will hand over to any coffee bar on arrival and after they have dipped it very quickly into the hot water we will retrieve the said single coffee bean for re-use at the next coffee stop. Problem solved!

We return to the villa with the weather good enough for us to eat out on the veranda for once but the threatening skies are looming on the horizon and before long we have the now familiar deluge. Faced with few alternatives we just relax indoors before driving the village of Niccone about 15 kms north of the villa for dinner at Locanda di Nonna Gelsa.

We have some organic waste to drop off in one of the roadside bins and on the way to Niccone Gail provides us with another G moment when she says we must find a ‘refuge’ bin instead of ‘ refuse’ ( rifiuti in Italian ). We were still trying to find out what Gail is taking refuge from when we arrive at the superb little restaurant which Barry has recommended in his notes. Chiara, who is serving us, speaks fluent English and we enjoy a great evening meal in a restaurant which is packed to the rafters by the time we leave at 9.30.

Off to Orvieto and Pitigliano tomorrow.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Thursday 29th May

After so much driving on previous days we had made a decision to travel the relatively short distance to Lago Trasimeno , taking the minor road via Umbertide, Mercatale and Tuoro. However, before getting on our way over the mountains we stopped at the small town of Niccone to book a table at Locanda di Nonna  Gelsa, a small restaurant recommended by Barry Bower. It was closed when we arrived but an elderly lady’s head appeared from a window above the restaurant and I was able to organise things for Friday evening. I suspect that this may  have been our first contact with ‘Nonna’ but we will no doubt find out in due course.

The drive across the mountain range is very picturesque and we arrive at Passignano on the eastern shore of the lake in time to stop for our obligatory coffee and pastries and the catch the 12.45 ferry over to Isola Maggiore in the middle of the lake.

Barry’s notes had recommended a restaurant De Sauro on the island and we enjoyed a lovely lunch overlooking the lake.

We had ample time to take a leisurely stroll around the island before taking the ferry back to Passignano. Gail was a bit ambivalent about driving round to Castiglione, the main town on the western shore of the lake but I felt that it would be worth the detour.

This made us slighter later than we wanted to be for our return to our villa and we then had to make a choice between returning via the minor road or taking the autostrada. It came to my casting vote and I , with no argument from anyone else, opted for the autostrada.

Approaching Perugia we encountered some VERY heavy traffic and In a criticism of myself I commented that this had probably not been the best option What followed bordered on farce when Gail responded by giving me a verbal barrage and in a very defensive mode told me not to have a go at her. When I pointed out that I was, in fact, merely criticising myself Gail told me that she would appreciate it if I could criticise myself more quietly. By now the Nicholsons in the back were cracking up and even Gail eventually saw the absurdity of the situation.

Arrived back at the villa after a very demanding drive dealing with even more manic Italian drivers than usual and Gail with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together. Obviously visiting so many religious locations is finally having some effect.

I for one am feeling totally shattered so it’s off to bed very early by my standards.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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