Out with 2015 and Benvenuto 2016

Part of our Bella Baita view

Greetings from the Italian Alps. 

2015 is rapidly coming to a close and 2016 is not far ahead. We' re happy to say that we've had a superb year here at Bella Baita. After a couple of quieter years, it seems people decided to move around for their holidays this  summer and we were delighted that many decided to come our way.

Monviso on the horizon on the way to Bella Baita

We enjoyed  "Cooking Together"  with some of our guests, as we offer cooking lessons for everyone. and we always enjoy our forays to the Pinerolo market on Wednesday or Saturday, when we aren't foraging from our garden.

Family group lesson

Some things I made

Garden gifts

Market Tomatoes

Cutting Parmigiano cheese to order. 

We also had some folks that enjoyed learning about our local wines while they sipped and sample the local wine whilst learning about our traditions here.

Wine tasting in the garden

There were walk ins in the mountains, excursions out and about, meals together in the evenings and making new friends and in some cases reuniting with old friends. All in all it is good to be here in the mountains and be able to open our home, share our cuisine, wine, neighborhood, culture and passion for Piedmont with all whom stop in. We hope that your coming year is a blessed one and perhaps you might come and visit with us and share in some of our adventures this coming 2016. 

I've listed a few links below to some other articles I have written about other things there are to do in the area that you might find of interest. 

Happy reading and exploring our Piemonte mountains here in Val Chisone.

Happy New Year to all our friends and all our friends we haven't met yet.

 Articles about Points of interest close to Val Chisone

• Fenestrelle Fortress / Forte di Fenestrelle

• Lake Avigliana and Sacra San Michele

• Vendemmia in Val Chisone

• Occitan Dancing in Usseaux

• Piemonte Birthplace of the Slow Food Movement

• Waldenses or Valdasians - the first Protestants

• Sculptor and Ghironda Maker

• Pinerolo's Man in the Iron Mask

From our Home to yours, Buon Anno  or Happy New Year 2016!

Bella Baita in the Snow last January 2015

Off to Play Tourist

Well, I have family in town or rather up here in little Serre Marchetto, the name of our little borgata, which is just a cluster of houses, inhabited by a handful of us hardy few and other wise weekend villas and baite (cabins). When the family makes a trip for the first time it's time to do the Val Chisone meander. We'll go up the valley to check out the Fenestrelle Fortress , making a variety of stops to enjoy the beauty of our upper valley, Usseaux for a bit of mural gawking, perhaps Lago Laux for lunch or just to see the huge stocked trout swim around in the very clear mountain lake a peek at the Pragelato Olympic ski jump on up to Sestriere World cup and Olympic venue, for a panoramic view of the upper Cottian Alps and impressive Chamberton peak, with a variety of other stops tucked away to discover. The drive up is impressive as you pass by the edges of 2 regional nature parks and a glimpse of mountain living, unvarnished and still maintaining itself in a changing world. Lined up tomorrow is Bra Cheese Festival, so we need to save room for all that tasting tomorrow and hopefully meet up with Rowena and Maddie from Rubber Slippers in Italy
as she makes another addition to her quest to visit 100 Italian sagre and festivals this year. She seems to be making good progress. We hope to make as much progress seeing as much of Piemonte and Val Chisone as possible too. I'll be sef ourom adventures later on.