Nancy's Travels

22 hours after leaving our home, we arrive in Orta, thanks to Chris' TomTom which navigated us out of Milan and up through the countryside. I was duly impressed and am now conviced that it works. (In Italy.) It was dusk when we arrived in town, but the view was nonetheless breath-taking. Our hotel sat right over the water's edge, facing Islo San Giulio. The island was lit up at night, lights shining up across the ancient stone buildings, reflected in the lake. Our room was very modest, but opened up to a balcony facing the same view, and another set of doors opened up to the balcony facing the piazza. Voices drifted up from the night life still buzzing in the courtyard as the full moon hung contently above. We set our things down and quickly set out to explore this newly found village town. We found our way to the first meal along the main cobblestone street - Risto Olini. I was so happy to be here, and the Barbera d'Asti was delicious. My first course was little gnocchi sauteed with pancetta and greens, followed by risotto al funghi (porcini mushrooms are big here). I still think Chris' risotto is better. Overall, the meal was yummy yummy. We waddled back to our room and collapsed into bed, eager for tomorrow.

Tommorow came a bit too early... by 4am we were both wide awake, unable to convince our bodies that it was still sleepy time. We watched as the windows grew lighter and the sun rose to announce a new day. We walked out to our balcony - the view was incredible, we could barely believe it. The church bells of Orta and Islo San Giulio sounded across the water to formally welcome us (or so we'd like to think). We stood in awe as the town rubbed the sleep from its eyes and began to stir. Apparently, Wednesday is market day.

Chris and I got an early start and wandered around in search of breakfast. Eventually we ended up with some fresh strawberries, grapes, a hunk of parmaggiano (the cheese guy didn't speak a lick of english), bread, salami, and a can of Fanta orange soda. We sat on a bench by the water and enjoyed our strange but fitting meal. By this time the piazza had filled with vendors selling clothing, jewelry, leather goods. Surprisingly, I stayed focused on our itinerary for the day.

We took the next available boat ride out to the island of San Giulio. It was a quick 5 minute trip over the water, and beautiful. It was neat to look back at Orta from the lake, and make out "our" balcony above the lakeside ristorante. The Islo was a beautiful and sad place to me. Narrow cobblestone streets and alleys were lined with old buildings with ornate doors and windows, but the place seems abandoned, like it belonged to some forgotten yesterday. I liked the random signs protruding along the stone alleyways, announcing some snippet of wisdom in four languages. "Be true to you" one advised. The main church was beautiful as well, and is the resting place of the saint which allegedly chased away an evil serpent from the island back in its hayday. Chris and I think the serpent story was made up so no one would want that piece of sweet property, as all the surrounding real estate was constantly fought over in the early years. (I'm no good with historical dates, so just use your imagination.)

Within a couple hours, we were back in Orta enjoying our first gelatos! Mine was biscottini (creme brulette w/ sweet biscotti), and Chris' tasted like yellow cake mix batter. Both yummy!! We walked all over the cobblestone lined streets and alleys of Orta, and even made our way up to the hill to Sacra Monte. Sacra Monte is a local culture hot spot featuring multiple stone buildings with over a hundred frescos dedicated to the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. What I loved most about this place was the acoustics! I couldn't help but start humming, and my voice filled the ancient chamber in an enchanting way.. I wanted to keep going, but got shy.

Back in Orta, we bought a bottle of Dolcetto along with some local salami and cheese. When the balcony picnic was set up, I was so sleepy I begged Chris to let me nap instead. Like a true man, he took care of the picnic all by himself. Refreshed by my nap, I was ready for some pizza! There were 2 places advertising pizza in this town, so we said, why not? We split a pizza from each place, and the verdict was... Rosso's in Santa Rosa was better, hands down! Is it possible to beat the Uovo pizza? We have 3 weeks to find out. A rum raisin gelato offered me more than adequate consolation for the disappointing pies, and I went to sleep with vocabulary words leaping through my head, like Italian sheep jumping over salami logs. My favorite word today, I decided, was ciotole (chee-o-toe-lay): Bowl.

Today is Lake Como day! I'm so excited! This is the place that initially inspired this trip. It took 2 hours for us (God bless Chris) to drive from Orta to Bellagio, located at the center of Lake Como. The narrow cliff-hugging roads demanded a committed driver, willing to navigate around bikers, runners, oncoming traffic with no lane separation, and little old italian ladies pulling shopping bags on wheels behind them. Once at Bellagio, we realized shortly that this was the grander Italian version of Sausalito. The main streets were lined with tourists swinging shopping bags and sucking on gelatos. Determined not to be one of them, we sought out the tourist info center and bought ferry tickets on the spot to a villa across the lake. Given some time to kill, I suckered up and bought myself a new scarf from a nice lady who should really give up smoking. After munching on a panini of fresh tomatoes, ham, and cheese, we hopped on our ferry ride and headed to Lenno. Lenno is a place I would visit again - it is a small, quiet, almost sleepy town meant for get-away summer vacations. And the chocolate gelato nearly gave me an orgasm, but somehow I managed to hold it together and catch our little boat ride to Villa Balbierenello.

This villa, which was originally built by a cardinal from an affluent family, did not disappoint. The view was completely astounding - it was exactly what I thought Lake Como was about. Mountain ranges rising out of blue lake water, offsetting the greenery of the immaculately kept grounds, and colorful flowers potted and strategically placed so there is always a splash of red when looking out at the water. Beautiful architecture integrates with landscaping, and sculptures adorn the building structures, lovingly restored over the last several years. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll spare you the inadequate vocabulary to describe this place, and share the pics when they're available for posting. But this is why we wanted to come to Lake Como. On the ferry back to Bellagio (after another chocolate gelato), Chris and I decided that Lake Como is like combining the majesty and beauty of Yosemite and Lake Tahoe all in one place. It was truly worth visiting.

Back in Orta, we wandered into Jazz Cafe - totally magical little place tucked in a small alley doorway. Acoustics were great for the lovely slow jazz music designed to romance us in the candlelit atrium. A couple glasses of wine, bruschetta, lasagna, eggplant parmeggiano, and machiatto made this the perfect ending for our stay in Orta. We meandered back to our hotel on the lake and sighed contently in bed as we anticipated the next day's events: Wine country, and our castle on the hill! Sleep overtook us before we had a chance to get too excited. Buono notte!

We are in Borolo wine country!!! The drive from Orta was approximately 2 hours, and the sky threatened to rain. Sinio turns out to be smaller than half of Cotati, and our hotel is the center of attention. At the top of the hill in Sinio, surrounded by vines, is the beautifully renovated 900-year old castle run by James and Denise from San Francisco. We plop our bags down after check-in and head out to taste some wines.

To our surprise, the Barolo wine region can be covered in one afternoon. We set out for the La Morra cantina communale (tasting room featuring local wines), and meet Nicola (pronounced ni-COLA), the local Barolo know-it-all. He instantly garners our respect and friendship, pouring us tastings and recommending which bottles to get that can only be purchased here due to small productions. He also set up reservations at local trattorias for the two nights we'll be here. "Trust me!" he says. The view from La Morra is a panoramic topography of nebbiolo vines as far as the eye can see, a sea of various shades of green rising and falling along the skyline. It is a beautiful sight, even with the haze from the weather. Chris and I realize now why California wine production is an afterthought compared to the sheer magnitude produced from Italy and France. We continue driving through the other "villages" - Barolo (not much here, surprisingly, and the castle was closed.), Monteforte, and Serralunga. My joke with Serralunga, which the locals find quite amusing and true can be summed up in the following - Serralunga: Tre canne, Due gatto, Una Persona! The place litterally has 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 person (running the local Enoteca). Oh, and they have a beautiful castle as well. The drive between villages is just breath-taking, with hill after hill covered by rows and rows of 7-feet tall nebbiolo, barbera, and dolcetta vines.

Dinner was truly memorable at Ristorante Bovino, La Morra. Mainly because I got the local taglietelle w/ tartufo bianco - thin egg pasta w/ shaved white truffles. (We are bordering the white truffle capital, Alba, you know.) I couldn't help but order it when I saw the table across the room being served - the fragrance filled the room! Chris took a video of the waiter shaving white truffle over my dish... the cash register going off in his head with every pass of the truffle over the blade - *ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching.... and it goes on until the whole truffle is gone. Ai-yaaaaa! Needless to say, it was amazing. Scarpetta! Chris had a veal steak topped with a huge, grilled porchini mushroom, wrapped like a christmas present, complete with ribbon. We split a dessert plate featuring semi-freddo chocolate, and panna cotta with fresh fruit. Yummy!

Absolutely overtaken by the meal - and the bottle of 2006 Ravello borolo recommended by Nicola, we navigate our way back to Castello di Sinio and enjoy our first chance to check email and post our blog. The castle is quiet in the night, with only the gattos roaming about. We retire to our room, and peer out the window into the courtyard below, a splash of green bordered by pink and white flowers, lit by the night lights. Indeed, it was time to rest.

Early in the morning (well, about 9:30am), we set out for the town of Alba to check out the local mercato (market), hoping to catch a glimpse of the local produce and maybe, if we're lucky, a truffle! The market was buzzing, crammed into a narrow street lined with shops, gellaterias, and patisserieas on either side. We were dissapointed to find most stalls filled with pajamas, cheap purses, and various types of clothing not made in Italy. We did, however, come across a wine and fine foods shop which had some black and white truffles on display. They are ugly little suckers, the smallest white truffle about the size of a regular mushroom going for 27 Euros. Across the way we found a bakery crammed with customers and naturally got in line for some ham & cheese filled foccacia, yum!

After Alba, we head to Bra (apprx. 30min away) for the cheese festival. Bra is allegedly the founding city of the Slow Food Movement (all I know is that it is something for foodies). After searching through the town piazzas and unable to find any signs of pungent dairy products, I look closer at the printout Chris had in our itineray packet and read "Bra Cheese Festival, 2007". Chris looked defeated and crestfallen when I broke the news. There is no cheese festival this weekend. What do we do? Head back to see Nicola of course! He'll know what we can do for the afternoon...

Before long we are driving out to our first Barolo winery, Ravello. Carlo Ravello greets us in the parking lot, and we tell him in broken Italian how much we enjoyed his wine with dinner last night. He seemed pleased, I think. Either that or he's thinking "these americans have no clue." He takes us up to his tasting room, a round room on stilts with large glass windows offering a semi-panoramic view of the surrounding vineyards. We proceed to taste his wines and he gets out books with pictures to convey the terroir of the region, and where each of his wines gets the grapes. He proudly shows us articles featuring his wines in Wine Spectator and Barolo books. Apparently 80% of his wines are slated for export, and California distribution goes through San Rafael! yay! After going through a few Dolcettos and Barberas, we try the lovely Barolos - very drinkable now, but can easily lay for another 6 years to realize its full potential. We buy 3 bottles and plan to drink at least one of them when we get to cook in Rome. We say arrivederci to Carlo and move on to our next winery, only 5 minutes away - apparently Carlo and Renato are also very good friends.

Renato Corino winery is located in a lovely brick-red house surrounded by vines. There is a wooden picnic table set up on the front patio with several bottles, wine glasses, and a basket of breadsticks. Lilianna (wife of Renato), is most gracious and speaks great English. She instantly warms to us and gabbles on about their vines, the area, Renato. Renato joins us - he is quintessential Italian - his smile conveys genuine warmth, and there's a twinkle in his eyes. You can tell he loves the land and what he does. There is dirt in his fingernails, and his hands are worn but gentle. He does not speak English, but we manage to communicate nevertheless. He tells us that the nebbiolo grapes love warm weather during the day and cold nights. Lilianna explains that the word Nebbiolo may actually stem from "nebia", meaning fog. We enjoy their Dolcetta, Barbera, and Barolos (of course). Our favorite turns out to be their Barolo from the vines directly surrounding the house, the Arborina vineyard. I notice two little hands printed in gold on their label, and look inquisitively at Lilianna. It turns out they represent Signore Renato's hands. He is known for his large hands, so they decided it was fitting to have them on the lable. As I drew my camera to shoot the label, he sticks out his hands and exclaim "Originale!", so I took a shot of his extraordinarily large hands instead. Bravo! Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed and we had thoroughly enjoyed their company. As the sun started to retreat behind the Piemonte hills, we said our good-byes and pulled our car out of the gravel driveway. Warmed by such hospitality, Chris and I agree this visit with Renato & Lilianna will definitely be one of the highlights of our trip.

Per Nicola's earlier recommendation, dinner was at a local trattoria -Nonna Gennia's. There was no menu, and they spoke little english. So we ordered a bottle of Barolo and waited to be fed. I don't think I was even hungry yet. The antipasti arrived (3 tastings - carpacio, greens, egg with pickled cabbage of sorts), followed by another antipasti (3 tastings - i forget), followed by taglietelle pasta, followed by tortellini pasta filled with meat & cheese, followed by a stewed beef with polenta, and followed by a stewed rabbit with carrots. Then dessert showed up (we insisted on only 1 serving), which was 6 little dessert items arranged like a flower. Stuffed, we asked for the check - only $50 euro for the meal (not counting wine)!!! Ultimo! Back to Castello di Sinio for our last night in Piemonte...