Italy II

Italy - Italia - Piedmont

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AAE - Italy II Piedmont Le Relais San Maurizio – (Relais & Chateaux chain) - is a tranquil place to open a bottle of Barolo and enjoy some outstanding truffle pasta. It is located on the highest of hilltops overlooking the town of Santo Stefano, once a monastery, now turned luxury hotel looks like a chateaux. Welcomed on the gravel driveway and shown through some wrought iron gates to the estate, stopping to take in the panoramic views from little wooden benches scattered on the grass before checking in. 31 rooms may have originally been monk cells, yet they don't lack anything. Country style decor meets modern cons – Sky TV and wireless are available in the room - though with so much to see and do, as we discovered, you won’t need it. Truffle trove: A selection of local produce available at the market This is definitely is the kind of holiday one dreams of. After an afternoon of lazing, we enjoy dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. Da Guido is astonishingly sober for a Michelin-starred restaurant, its dressing code legere. In the cellar, an intimate atmosphere is apparent. A short flight from Milan, one can come here in half an hour. Relais & Chateaux prices are only for special occasions though. The sommelier picks a bottle of red from the novel-sized wine list and we start with Piedmont’s specialty, vitello tonatto, slices of sauteed veal with a creamy tuna dressing, followed by melt-in-your mouth black truffle ravioli. The white truffle season starts at the end of September and it is actually illegal to sell them until then to ensure quality – whereas black truffle is available all year round. The Chef informs me black truffle to white truffle is like Secto (Italian sparkling wine) is to a bottle of Grand Champagne. Maysa - a taste of some of Piedmont's finest wines White truffles grow deep in the soil under trees and are difficult to find, but it is well worth the effort as a kilogram can fetch up to $4,500. Eaten raw in small quantities and when grated over pasta, risotto, eggs, salads or meat dishes, only a few grams give a distinct flavour. A strong scent - not be to everyone's taste - yet for an addict, the unique pleasure is given a reason enough to travel to the region. Truffe fair in Alba Thousands of customers are drawn to the bustling auction in the main street's courtyard - where one can smell truffles a mile away. There’s not much to do in Alba off season, with only one town square – but the shopping is still rather impressive with major designer stores lining the main street. The local vineyard in Barolo. Giuseppe, a young Italian who helps run the Vajra winery that has been in his family for centuries, is greeting us. He tells a fascinating tale of how his grandfather, then in the army, took his children to live in Turin to give them a better life. But one day he found his son, Giuseppe’s father, protesting against war - as you did in the Sixties - outside the town hall. Outraged and feeling disrespected, he took him to spend the summer in the countryside to keep him 'out of trouble.' Wine heaven: Piedmont produces up to 380million bottles of wine a year Little did he know his son would subsequently fall in love with the business and move there to raise a family. Giuseppe has developed his father’s obsession for wine and is both charming and extremely knowledgeable. Giuseppe compares the wine-making process to music, and insists he only sells his produce to people who appreciate art and culture. His father built stained-glass windows in the barn to ‘add elegance to the fermenting process’. Giuseppe sets up a tasting session, between the kings of red wine, Barolo and Barbaresco, and several minutes later, we start to feel light-headed. After another tasty lunch at Real Castello di Verduno, of Vitello - overlooking the hills, we say goodbye to Giuseppe. Le Relais San Maurizio is the ideal place to relax. At Via del Sale (Spa) one can enjoy a salt and honey massage. The modern spa is a great place and free use of the treatment rooms is a compris – with one pool containing more salt than the Dead Sea. +39.0141.841900, or visit Restaurant information: Real Castello Di Verduno, +39 0172 470 125, info@castellodiverduno.com Azienda Agricola G.D Vajra +39 0173 56257, gdvajra@tin.it ITALY INFO PAGE (links to Italy) Back to ITALY MAIN