Rome on Tuesday

We both have colds!!! We spent the last couple of days lying low at our wonderful new hotel, the Santa Maria in Trastevere. Today is our last day and we forced ourselves out to see some awesome sights. We went to the National Gallery and saw a palazzo designed by Bernini, and a couple of Caravaggio paintings. We walked after that and saw the Fontana di Trevi again, and visited a church by the Piazza Navona that has three Caravaggios! They are amazing, We spent our last evening at the Campo Di Fiori drinking wine andwatching day turn into night. Then on to Da Sergio, our new favorite restaurant, where we had grilled fish and pasta with cheese and pepper. This place is so good that we have eaten there 3 out of our 7 nights in
Rome! On our way home across the Ponte Sisto bridge, we succumbed to the street vendors and spent our last Euros on a few things that our girls will enjoy! Domani...6 o'clock wakeup, 7:15 taxi to the airport, and we will be back in newark in a mere 10 hours. Love it here...don't want to go...

The Vatican and St. Peters Basilica (Thursday)

We walked to the Vatican this morning and got hooked up with a tour that bypassed the long line to get in. It was really wonderful to have the guide and well worth the price. The collection of sculpture and art at the Vatican is staggering and truly overwhelming. I don’t think we even scratched the surface of what is contained there. The hall of maps, the sculptures, the endless busts, every ceiling painted, frescoed, or carved and gilded. The Sistine Chapel is another of the world’s wonders. Not only the ceiling, which is overwhelming in its size and beauty, but the frescoes along the sides and the altar fresco- Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement, It was so powerful and vibrant. All those souls being damned!!! Not so many going up to heaven….

St. Peters Basilica is another place where words can’t really describe it. It’s HUGE!!!! And incredibly grandiose!!!!! The Bernini altar canopy is out of this world. The holy spirit on the far wall with the light shining through, the gold, the mosaics on the floor. The huge sculptures of various Popes. There are 11 different chapels inside the Basilica!
Everyone should visit this place- it is beyond amazing.

After we left we walked to the Piazza Navona for a late lunch. This square is filled with artists/vendors selling prints of various sites in Rome. We enjoyed some wine and shared a pizza. There was a street musician playing some Pink Floyd and Carlos Santana on his guitar so Dan was happy! We did a slow stroll back to Campo Di Fiori, with a stop at ETabli, a beautiful restaurant, for more wine. As Dan says, “so much wine, so little time.”

Traveling to Rome (Wednesday)

After breakfast, checkout of the Pensione Guerrato and hop the train to Rome. It was pretty full, but very comfy and a nice way to get to Rome. In Venice we kept smelling something in our room we thought was salami. During the train ride we discovered it was some truffle oil that had spilled in Dan’s carry-on. It was pretty pungent and I felt sorry for our seatmates. The Italian trains are really nice, with tables that fold up to work on, or spread out your lunch. We snoozed a little and saw some of the Tuscan countryside on the way.

Our cab driver got us to our new digs, the Smeraldo in Campo DiFiori. We checked in only to find our room, though nice, is REALLY SMALL. We got hooked up to the internet and tried to find another room but no luck. Taking a walk seemed the best thing to do, and Dan was longing for a slice of Roman pizza. Getting outside seemed to take the stress out of the room situation.

We wound up at Augusto for dinner, a local place that has great food and very inexpensive. We sat next to a Dutch family and had a nice talk with them. Everywhere we have been people ask us about Obama/McCain and the presidential election. They seemed to be very concerned about the outcome, and are clearly behind Obama. Bush and the Republicans, and their policies, are something that does not connect here. It’s exciting to be in Rome, there is so much life in the streets!

St. Marks Basilica (Tuesday)

Today is our last day in Venice and we are on a mission. After an early breakfast of cereal, banana, yogurt and coffee we set out for the Basilica and got on line. Our timing was perfect and we didn’t have to wait long to get in. Words are not adequate to describe the mosaics, gold, paintings, sculpture and absolute splendor of this remarkable place. We saw the alter screen that has panels of paintings mounted on gold and encrusted with over 2,000 precious stones, and toured the treasury that is a huge collection of chalices, and relics that have been handed down through history. The greatest artists and sculptors were enlisted to create this monument, and every detail is magnificent. It wasn’t a far leap to imagine the crowds of Venetians from 500 years ago attending mass or shopping in the square.

The Naval Museum was our next stop. It was really interesting and had lots of huge models of Venetian galleys and sailing vessels, along with the usual stuff of old cannons, muskets, swords etc. True to form, the fashionable Italians had a whole floor displaying naval uniforms dating back to when Napolean conquered Venice in 1797. This culture loves clothes, shoes, fashion and just looking good!

Lunch, then on to the Accademia Museum to see the collection of paintings. Another WOW collection, The gallery starts of in massive room with lots of Byzantine style religious paintings…but remember to look up! The ceiling is carved with coffers. In each coffer is a sunburst in gold with the face of an angel painted on a placque. It’s stunning. The colors of the art are surprising. As we went deeper into the collections, the pigments were astoundingly brilliant, and the artists used them to vibrantly depict Venetian life. The paintings were vast and surprising in that they were mostly Venetian life and historical events, rather than religious. There was room upon room of the most paintings, many by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. The Venetians seemed to be less interested in having God portrayed in a traditional way, than in celebrating their history and way of life. One painting looked almost surreal, with a blood red jagged line across a desert scene with a small sign in the foreground. We hated to leave this gallery and could have spent the whole day there.

We hopped a vaporetto to get to the train station and buy our tickets to Rome in advance, and then back to St. Marks to hangout one last time. In the evening the square has several small orchestras that play at different points. We spent the evening drinking wine and listening to some very schmaltzy, but fun, selections ranging from a Carmen suite to Viennese waltzes. The violinist was very dramatic and Dan said he looked like Sal’s best friend Tony D.

Murano

This morning we set our sights on touring St. Marks early to beat the crowds. We hopped on a vaporetto at Rialto mercato to the St. Marks stop. Along the canal are lots of vendors and crowds-mostly just an obstacle to get around. Dan was started talking to someone with an “official badge” of the city who offered us a free(water) taxi ride to Murano to view the glass blowing. So- we took him up on it and put St, Peters aside for tomorrow.
The taxi zipped us through the classiest canals in San Marco and suddenly we were on open water headed for Murano. The sunny day was perfect- and what a view of Venice behind us! We were delivered to the door of the factory where a guide met us and brought us to an area where 3 master glassblowers were working. The ovens are instensely hot and it’s a wonder to see the red hot molten lump be turned and swirled into different shapes. Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Out guide brought us to the showroom where we started at the top of the line. Exquisite vases, plates, chandeliers and massive sculptures surrounded us- all of thousands of Euro. It became apparent to him very quickly that we weren’t buying. We went from showroom to showroom, each with products less and and less expensive. The last showroom had glass candies, cherries, fruit, clearance glasses and miscellaneous jewelry. When our wallets didn’t open we were shown the back door and told “the village is on the left.” We were dumped! We actually laughed at the unceremonious way they were through with us. If we had bought the 3500
Euro vase we could have left by the front door, but oh, well…
There were many shops that we strolled through, but one thing caught Dan’s eye. A carafe and glasses with a swirled silver and colored design.
It was time for lunch and we found a delightful place with tables outside. A pitcher of Prosecco and a platter of grilled fish helped us while away a couple of hours more. After due consideration and discussion, we went back to buy the carafe and glasses. This will be a beautiful souvenir from our trip. Our high-end friends from the morning neglected to send our private water taxi back, so we had to get the public transportation boat back to Venice.

Walking these narrow streets and seeing the sights is something we love and we spent the evening strolling. We decided to splurge a little and had a light dinner at one of the places right on the grand canal. It’s very cool, but still warm enough to sit outside. It was the best view in town!

Sunday in Venice

Our first full day started with an Americano breakfast at Guerrato of cereal, yogurt, fruit and coffee and then were off for St. Mark’s Piazza. It was jammed with tourists and a long line to get into the Basilica, so we opted for the Doge’s Our repalace. Entering up the golden staircase brings you into another world, where the fate of the world of 1200 AD was decided. It’s an amazing place, grandiose and highly ornamented with art commemorating Venice’s place as ruler. The Venetians considered there place in the world to be a direct blessing from God, so the work reflects the marriage of Venice as a beautiful young woman with the water culture of Venice. Large rooms where the council of 40 , 10 or just meetings with the doge and powerful council members are the focus. Two huge globes of the heavens and earth dominate the state room. There isn’t much furniture as the doge had to provide his own, and the heirs quickly removed it once he died, But there is artwork everywhere, ceilings included, that was commissioned by some of the greatest painters. Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese. It took us about 4 hours to go through this magnificent place, including some very dreary prisons. It was a great introduction to the culture and life of Venice. Next stop, the Civic Corner Museum across the square,
The exhibit was about printing, but again, the Venetian paintings took center stage. We saw some Etrusan artifacts and some very cool wooden platform shoes from yesteryear. Surprising, but there is very little security in these places. With some of the greatest treasueres of the world its interesting that we didn’t go through a screening process anywhere, This museum had no place to sit and relax so our visit wasn’t too long.
Dinner
On Sunday , many places are closed. We wanted to go to one restaurant we read about , Antiche Stellato, in the Canareggio sestier (neighborhood). We walked thorugh the original Jewish ghetto and saw some kosher restaurants, and were even recruited to find out more by a Lubavitch young man. We politely declined and found our restaurant after a good walk. It didn’t open until 7PM, so we walked down to a charming hotel on the canal and had Prosecco and watched the boats of the neighborhood go by. It was a lovely sunny day, and totally relaxing. Another walk brought us back to our homebase Rialto, and the pensione Guerrato.

Traveling to Venice

Saturday- and we had to take our leave from Ada Nada. One last country breakfast of salami, cheese, fresh-baked rolls, cake and coffee. With a fond farewell to Gian Carlo, Analisa, Elvio and the gang- we were on our way to Venice on the autostrada. The grape harvest was about to begin and Dan was disappointed we didn’t get to help- but more splendor awaits.
5 hours in the car with Daniel Andretti- king of speed- got us to Venice by mid-afternoon, We dropped the car off at Marco Polo airport and hopped the bus with our very heavy suitcases to the Piazzale Roma, where we would take the vaporetto (water bus) to our hotel. If we ever do this again we are both packing 2 outfits and that’s it! Odd coincidence, while on the vaporetto a woman questioned Dan about his shirt – it was embroidered with OMG. Turns out she was an owner, and Dan used to play golf once in a while with her brother Jim Mooney. Small world.
We got off at the Rialto bridge stop, one of the main points of Commerce in Venice
Dan asked around and much to our horror we found out our hotel was across the bridge.It doesn’t sound so bad but we had HEAVY suitcases and the streets were packed with tourists, Sweating and pulling the suitcases was CHALLENGING, but some guy helped me and we made it. The awe of Venice is still on the edge of consciousness as we deal with logistics. A friendly bartender actually guided us to the Pensione Guerrato. It’s old-ish, dark-ish, but full of antique chests and lamps and has a distinct personality. We were thrilled to be in the room- clean and comfy. We practically ran out of the room after getting oriented, and back to our friendly bartender’s restaurant for an incredible Venetian meal of grilled veggies, octopus, veal meatballs with peas and veal in a mushroom sauce. Bottle of refosco to go along with it. The greatest meal of a lifetime!
Now onto the magic of Venice!

We did a long vaporetto ride to Lido, and then back to San Marco to walkabout the Rialto and St. Marks. Venice is incomparable and words can hardly describe the beauty and antiquity. Built around 500-1000AD, it was once the trading empire of the world. I think the uniqueness of Venice is found in its ceilings for they are carved, gold, painted and full of the story of Venice. Some are rustic with ancient beams and some are gilded lavish artwork, mosaics and jewels. Chandeliers are everywhere, and this city looks to its past as the raison detre of the present. One must always remember to look up! It’s crowded and bustling with tourists and has its share of cheap souvenir stands. But NOTHING can alter the beauty of this landscape, It’s one of a kind. We walked the narrow streets and soaked in the watery magic of Venezia.

Alba, laundry and dinner with Luca and Sara

Alba, laundry and dinner with Luca and Sara

We are mentally getting ready to leave the beautiful Piedmonte countryside and make our way to Venezia and the Veneto. We needed to do some wash and Analisa told us about one of the few Laundromats in Alba, Aquazzura. It was a small place, 4 washers and 2 dryers.
Went for a walk while the laundry was drying and we walked into an apartment courtyard to look at an old Fiat,. We found a fig tree loaded with ripe fruit and had a great snack! We had to do a last shopping trip in Alba- but first a glass of wine at an outdoor café. Then to the salumeria for Barolo salami, fresh hazelnuts, torrone, truffle pate, truffles and corn meal and more! Now we have to schlep all the goodies but it will be worth it. The 2 ladies in the last store were charnming and sold us the most luscious almond cookies ever. Back to Ada Nada for a quick change and then we were meeting Luca at his factory in Granzane Cavour. We were being treated to a true family dinner with Luca, Sara, Isabella, Geneva and Claudio.
Luca and Sara’s house is only a year old and it is elegant and fashionable. Elliptical in shape, the two ends are made entirely of glass. At one end is a dining room with an enormous chandelier from Murano, and at the other is Luca’s book-lined library. The central part of the house has a marble fireplace and blond wood curved staircase. All very chic and beautiful.
We were greeted by Isabella and Geneva, two very lively and beautiful children- 5 and 3 years old. Sara was in the kitchen with Claudio in his countertop infant seat. The kids were finishing up dinner and clamoring for Dad’s attention. Happy, noi\sy and boisterous! We had a marvelous meal of marinated sushi fish, pasta with octopus, sweets, figs, grapes and very good wine. Lots of fun and good conversation . Dan showed off Charlotte via the Jessica’s Flickr picture gallery. It was a fantastic evening.

Portofino- Thursday

We’ve toured the little towns and seen the local sights. Today we decided to venture further to the seaside and see the fabled Mediterranean. But where to? Ana lisa and Elvio suggested we drive south to Savona, and then west to Alessio for a lovely afternoon. Not much further west is Monte Carlo, Cannes and Nice. But the other way,…Portofino! Movie stars! Land of the rich and famous! With some discussion J Portofino won the day and we were off. We took the long and winding road down the mountain and passes the wonderful place where we lunched with Rose-Camille and Carlo, and eventually on to the autostrada, Dan loves seeing all the Porsches and Ferraris on the road, but we arseeing them as they zip by our little Fiat Grand Punto. Our faithful “Mind” (GPS) got us turned around in Savona but soon we were on our way to the east. Portofino is located on a tip of land so we had to go through Rapallo to get to Santa Margarita and finally, Portofino. Beauty beyond our limited imagination is the only way to describe this magical place. HUGE yachts next to a small flotilla of rowboats and fishing boats. The town is built around the inlet and soaring cliffs rise up to the sides, There are magnificent homes on the hillsides and we climbed one to the Castello Brown, an old fortress that a wealthy English family bought and renovated into a private home in the 1860s. The view was incomparable, blue Mediteeanean as far as you could see. Breathtaking colors that are a combination of the trees and flowers and the structures that seem to blend so beautifully.”This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” said Dan. We strolled around the harbor a bit more, ate a snack of pizza, onion focccia and soda and had to get back to Treiso for dinner at the Enoclub.

The white truffle was calling to us and we found the right restaurant. We were on a porcini mushroom/white truffle mission and we weren’t disappointed. At this wonderful place we ate mushrooms baked in foil with fresh herbs and some pancetta, and a mushroom soup that was light and fragrant. Next, the divine white truffle shaved on tajarin pasta with butter and perfect rack of lamb and potatoes. Wine- a glorious Barbera from Bruno Rocca.. Dessert- sorbet and hazelnut torte with moscato zabaglione. It was a memorable meal. We are really getting into these 3 hour dinners!

Touring with Rose-Camile and Carlo

We met Stephanie Carr’s mother and stepfather today! Rose-Camile and Carlo Ferraris picked us up at Ada Nada and we drove through the countryside in search of lunch. Carlo has a Lancia, a very substantial and beautiful car that Rose-Camile says only the Mafioso or the diplomats drive. We made our way to a village and a local signora gave us a recommendation for lunch that was superb. At the Albergo we had a leisurely lunch of wine, antipasto (marinated veggies, fried mushrooms, eggplant) pasta with hazelnuts and ricotta and some kind of poultry. It seems that an employer provides employees with lunch everyday and many restaurants have a prix-fixe menu that is paid for with a ticket. It was wonderful to have an introduction to Italy through our new friends. After lunch more driving and we wound up in Bra, at the University of Gastronomy, a program promoted by the Slow Food movement. After our stroll, back to Ada Nada.. Our evening was spent at the enjoying the view from the courtyard, drinking more fine wine and a snack of wonderful cheese.Thank you Rose-Camile and Carlo! We exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. Dan’s new apartment is only 10 minutes away from their house in Palisades Park.

Tuesday, September 30

Tuesday September 30, 2008

It’s a day to go sightseeing! After breakfast Analisa gave us a mini-guide to the towns that have some charm and/or a castle or two, Plugged Granzane Cavour into the GPS and off we went! (Our GPS voice, Daniel, is keeping us on track pretty well!) We toured the castle and visited the wine shop in the castle and walked through the quaint village. The roads are narrow and the villages are a wonderful mix of crumbling antiquity and beautifully embellished modern renovations, On to Barolo, Serralungha, La Morra. In reality all these towns are pretty much the same. LOTS of Enotecas and wine shops, one good church and castle, a few restaurants and that’s about it! We did drink Barolo in Barolo as we stopped in a Tourism wine-tasting place and sampled three different varieties. We found out:
There are about 1000 labels of Barolo
The grapes are grown in sandy soil (produces a fruity, dry flavor), clay soil (produces a more complex and robust wine) and mixed soil (splits it down the middle)

We had missed pranzo and stopped at a small mercato for proscioutto cotto, cheese, a roll and a bottle of acqua naturale. Otherwise known as ham and cheese on a roll with some water, Back to Ada Nada and built a little fire to take the chill off. Looks like it might rain tonight.
No rain, but a great dinner! We found Osteria Dell Archo and FINALLY were wowed by Piedmontese cuisine. It seems like we have to get back in to the city for a good meal.
Danny has the Degustiazone menu- a prix fixe sampling featuring everything with black truffles. Carpaccio, risotto con funghi, filetto con polenta
And a wonderful panna cotta with grappa infused grapes.
I had brandade ( codfish, cream and potates) with black truffles, and a beautiful pumpkin ravioli with black truffles. Extraordinary. Dessert was a divine panna cotta with mele (apple). The panna cotta was so creamy and smooth! We tried to get a reservation for Friday but they are already full. Took a little walk around town and back to Ada Nada. There were just enough hot coals left to build a fire in our living room. This dinner has lifted us up and made us feel as if we are finally experiencing what we came here for. We are planning to help the family pick grapes on Friday. If the weather holds up we are going to grab some shears and a basket and bring in the harvest!

Unwinding on Monday

Wanting to walk and stretch out a little, we took a hiking trail to Treiso, only a couple of km away. The path went behind the Ada Nada vineyards, and past Analisa and Elvio’s house, The firs part was pretty steep and we looked at each other…”Are we going to make it?” Forge ahead, we need to get ourselves in shape! Much to our delight we found the path lined with apple, pear and fig trees laden with fruit, We plucked a few and ate them along the way,. With a good effort we made it to town and had a little rest while watching the schoolchildren in smocks in their playground. We sat under a chestnut tree. At our feet were scores of round, brown chestnuts. If only we had a place to roast them!
Back at Ada Nada with arms full of fruit- we ran into our next door neighbors. A retired couple from Dublin, they had taken a ferry to Cherbourg, then driven through France and then to Italy. They were loading their car with great wine to take back to Ireland. We hit it off and wound up inviting them in for a glass of wine with us and what turned out to be a lively discussion of American politics and their experience with house-swapping. Conclusion- Bush is an idiot, Obama a rookie, Hilary was the best, No wonder I liked Eileen and Frank. We had reservations for dinner in Monchiero at Tra Arte e Querche and we had to hit the road shortly after our neighbors left. This was supposed to be “the place’” for white truffles and the owner was a truffle hunter himself.

Dinner at Tra Arte e Querche
The menus are quite limited at the places we have been to so far. No exception here…Dan had vitello tonnato (again) and I wanted some veggies, so ordered a salad. It came out as chopped celery with shaved cheese on top. OK, but not what I had in mind, Danny says vitello tonnato is off his list from now on. Then, the moment we were waiting for—pasta con trufulo! The owner came out with a covered jar and we got the truffle aroma. He shaved the truffle on our hot pasta with butter. After a few bites it seemed the Emperor had no clothes. It was bland, and we wound up sprinkling it with grated cheese.
What a letdown. Main courses were pork short ribs (overdone) and filleto (beef) with herbs. Not impressive at all. Dessert was very mediocre, peaches in some wine and cocoa, and whipped cream with torrone chunks and chocolate sauce,. It sounds better than it was, The wine however was superb. We splurged on a Barolo that was velvety, dry and complex. No disappointment here!

Sunday, September 28

Sunday
Woke up around 9:20am- much to our delight and surprise. I think we are still in work mode- there was an instant calculation of “It’s really 3:20am at home!” Hoping to lose that feeling soon. We made our way to the breakfast room and were greeted with a sumptuous country buffet, Italian style. Coffee with latte caldo orange juice, fruit, salami, cheese, fresh rolls, honey, jams, hazelnut and apple cakes and the ever-present frittata. In spite of our late dinner, we had to sample everything including the freshly roasted hazelnuts. This is the land of hazelnuts and chocolate and we intend to “sample the bounty!” It was a busy morning at Ada Nada and there were several guest checking out. We decided to take a walk to start the morning. A little gung ho- we decided to take the big walk down to the bottom of the hill. We are so out of shape.
This morning we met Elvio, Analisa’s husband, and Ovideo, a hired hand. Ovidio speaks pretty good English and has some very cool glasses. We watched them hefting wine barrels onto a rack. There is a lot of washing and disinfecting of equipment going on,and it’s right under our suite. There is a distinctive smell of fermentation that hovers around our room constantly.
Elvio told us about a wine festival in Alba today and we decided to go, Let the wine vacation begin!

Alba and the Wine Festival
Drove to Alba around 2pm. What a beautiful town! It looks ancient and modern at the same time. The streets were blocked off for the Festival. There were wine producers at kiosks everywhere. For 20Euro we got a wine glass and sack to wear around our necks. It was a wine-drinking extravaganza, your glass could be filled at every turn, Just a sample, but it could become a lot of wine-drinking! It gave us a good sample of Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera and a new wine called verdugno, that was very peppery. We met a young American, Andrew, who was working for a wine producer and learning the ropes. He gave us a little orientation about the wine territories. After that, strolling through town, drinking wine at every turn, a little sample of salami, and had a preview of white truffles. A couple of stores had displays out and the smell was intoxicating. Prices for the truffle are steep! We bought a honey and hazelnut spread, and a jar of hazelnuts in honey. The roasting chestnuts drew us in, and we shared a bag on the Piazza Savona.
Back to Ada Nada for a great nap, and then dinner!

Sunday dinner
Back to Treiso for another Slow Food dinner at Rissorgimento, described by Analisa as being very typical cuisine. We are begjning to see the pattern here, lots of meat, hardly any veggies and GREAT wine everywhere. We had a mixed appetizer and agnolotti, a region specialty. One with butter and sage, one with a meat ragu. Both delizioso! Dessert of zabaglione over a hazelnut cake and fresh peaches in moscato with vanilla ice cream.. We tried some grappa (made from the must of the grapes after the pressing for wine) It’s in fancy bottles but it’s like firewater and neither one of us could drink it. Our friendly waiter, GianLucca, brought us the Barolo digestivo (made from herbs and Barolo) Helps to settle the tummy. By this time it was 11pm. We are still astounded that we are out having dinner this late every night, but it’s the thing here!

Traveling

Getting ready to take a vacation always feels like double-duty. So many things to do to make sure all the bases are covered! Somehow we made it to Friday, I had a last minute meeting about our new program at Appel Farm, Sample the Bounty of Salem County, and then drive to Morristown. Lindsey is taking us to the airport. Dropped my car off at Deb’s in Millburn and then on to Newark. No glitches except Danny’s suitcase was too heavy and we had to pay $50! The flight to Paris was smooth and we managed to sleep for a few hours. Arrived at Charles De Gaulle around 11:30am and took a good walk around the airport finding Air France’s gate for Turin. We didn’t sit together on that flight and I wound up sitting next to a Salesian missionary who was living in Lagos Nigeria. He gave me a full rundown on Nigerian culture and life at the technical school. Turin airport is pretty small and not busy at all. In fact, the Salesian Brother said you could play football on the landing strip after 9am. Wouldn’t you know it? My suitcase never made it on the plane and Air France promised to deliver it to us the next day. We got our car, a Fiat Punto Grande, and we were on our way! Unfortunately, we were totally confused by the signs and wound up in the middle of Turin instead of on A5 on the way to Savona. After a little circling around the same downtown area we finally got the GPS going and got to Alba within an hour or so. The Force was with us and we found Ada Nada right away. We were greeted at the beautiful farmhouse winery by rows and rows of grapevines on the terraced hills, and by GianCarlo, Analisa’s brother. He took us to our suite, a beautiful and modern apartment with fireplace and mini-fridge. (Danny just came up here with a glass of Dolcetto straight from a tank that Elvio, Analisa’s husband, gave him. It’s 11am on Monday morning!) We were so exhilarated by our excitement at finally making it to the winery and starting our vacation that there was no thought of going to sleep. We unpacked and went to take a look at the grapes. Each step we took brought a new discovery, The grapes are bursting with juicy sweetness and we plucked then right from the vine for a snack. We found a huge fig tree, and made friends with the country dogs that roam around here. The fresh and cool air woke us up and we were ready for our first dinner in the glorious Piedmonte.

Saturday dinner
Our Slow Food guide recommended the Casa Dell’Unione in Treiso, a few kilometers up the road. Gian Carlo made a reservation at this very small place for 8PM. Dan’s friend Anthony told us to say “Fa te voi!” (bring me what you have) and have the chef give you whatever he’s making that day. At the Casa Dell Unione we didn’t even havc to do that. We were handed a wine list and, of course, chose one of Ada Nada’s finest Barbaresos and waited for a menu. What started coming was course after course. We started with salami and prosciutto cotto with some small egg fritters, then sliced beef with chunks of salt in olive oil, vitello tonnato (thin slice veal with a creamy sauce flavored with tuna), homemade pasta with a light marinara, and rabbit braised in Barolo wine. Dessert was a sampler of a fruit tort, panna cotta and a thin slice of chocolate salami, Somewhere in one of those many courses we ordered another bottle of wine. Proddutori Barbaresco. Not quite Ada Nada’s’, but great nonetheless. We closed the place down. Lucky we found our way back to Ada Nada after all that luscious wine! I don’t think a bomb could have woken us after that.