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Regions of Italy : Piedmont - Piemonte
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| This is a food lover's paradise, so we guess that means there's
something here for everyone! Occupying a large area that borders on France
and Switzerland, Piedmont is the ancient dominion of the Savoys, the
ill-fated royal family who ruled Italy from the Unification in 1870 until
abdication in 1946. But Piedmont is a world unto itself. Perhaps it was the
thick fogs that often shroud its world-class vineyards - even giving their
name, nebbiolo, to the region's premier grape - that cut it off from the
rest of the peninsula. Certainly we can say that of the Alps, which loom so
magnificently on the eastern and northern borders. Add to that the region's
hopelessly picturesque lakes and hills (of which there are far more per
square mile than in Tuscany), and you get a people who long ago learned to
rely on their own small community for everything.
 It has only been since the 1970s that even the rest of Italy has
discovered the beauties and the bounties of Piedmont. Now it is a mecca for
gourmands from every corner of the universe. They come to sip its wines,
nibble on its cheeses, savor its stupendous meat dishes (in a country where
fresh meat is rarely a mainstay), and last but far from least, they come to
pay whatever price they must to taste its truffles. In the autumn, every
small town in the region has a truffle, wild mushroom and/or wine festival,
and here you will see the happy travelers devouring free samples, mingling
in the piazza with the sweet and friendly but often rather bewildered
locals, who are flattered but still not quite accustomed to all the
attention.
We don't want you to think all you can do in Piedmont is eat and drink!
Far from it. Spend a few romantic days on Lake Maggiore or teensy Lake Orta.
Visit a Sacro Monte, a very unique local invention that offers you the
chance to stroll among a dozen or so miniature chapels in an idyllic
setting. Tour an authentic medieval castle - the region has some of the
country's most dramatic fortresses. And do try to schedule a couple of days
in the capital, Turin. This stately 19th-century city is virtually free of
tourists, except for the aficionados who come to see Europe's best Egyptian
Museum, the Automotive Museum or the Savoys' Royal Palace. The Holy Shroud
also abides in Turin and is periodically on display for believers and
skeptics alike.
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Alba
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capital of the white truffle is also nicknamed the town of a hundred towers;
only a few of them have survived, fine red-brick towers which give the town
its distinctive appearance.
Of Celtic and Ligurian origin, called Alba Pompeia by the Romans, the
town has kept a spiral-shaped medieval plan. To explore it, leave from
Piazza Savona (car park) and take Via Vittorio Emanuele to Piazza
Risorgimento, where you will find San Lorenzo cathedral (12th century), a
beautiful medieval tower and the communal palace.
The truffle fair and the finest food boutiques are in Via Vittorio
Emanuele, which is also where the inhabitants of Alba take their daily
passegiata (promenade). |
Gastronomy
THE region is famous for its white truffles, which are available
mid-autumn, sprinkled over risotto and other local specialties. The renowned
restaurants of Turin feature vitello tonnato (a cold dish of veal and tuna),
salami and bean risotto and hare. Polenta, gnocchi and rice are more common
than pasta. Order a pot of la bagna cauda (warm anchovy sauce) as a dip for
raw vegetables. Wines from this region include barolo, barbaresco and fizzy
asti spumante. A trip to the Langhe, a hilly region south of Turin,
is a taste experience in itself. The leading products of this opulent region
- truffles, cheese, hazelnuts, chestnuts and chocolates - are served by a
gastronomic tradition that is still very much alive. A journey through the
Langhe is inevitably an itinerary of good taste. The gastronomic tradition
here shows an astonishing vitality that is profoundly rooted in daily life.
The gastronomic fairs (such as the Cheese Fair in Bra) or those devoted to
gastronomic literature (La Morra), wine tastings and, of course, Alba's
international truffle fair are proof of this. Good places to eat, star-rated
restaurants, osterie and wine bars abound. Nor is it by chance that the Slow
Food movement was born in Bra, inspired by the beauty of the surrounding
scenery and the natural quality of the produce.
Chefs calmly draw on a very rich repertoire of recipes - tajarin,
agnolotti, vitello tonato, veal braised in Barolo, rabbit in Arneis - that
they lighten, refine or modify according to their sensibility (see Turin, a
gourmet's paradise). The succulent desserts make the most of the cultivation
of chestnuts, hazelnuts and the chocolate tradition born during the reign of
Emmanuel Philibert in Turin. |
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Piemontese
Hotel Turin
