3rd Annual "SMTA - Sustainable Mountain Tourism" Ostana, Italy

Heading over towards Monviso, in the distance, to Ostana

It's the beginning of another annual ride around the sun for all of us who mark our calendars beginning with January 1. 
What will 2017 bring to us and what will we focus on in our alpine Italian life?  

Good questions that had one immediate answer when Fabrizio was searching around the internet one night last week. Lo and behold he found a symposium on "Sustainable Mountain Tourism" that was to take place in 2 days time in Ostana, Italy, which just happens to be 65 km away and a couple of mountains over from us, where mighty Monviso peak resides.                                                               

Approaching Monviso -Ostana in the Summer

Naturally this piqued our interest as we started our own "Sustainable Mountain Eco Tourism" - "T.E.M. Association" ( Tourismo Ecosostinible Montano- Associazione Di Promozione Sociale) about 10 years ago. 

What is sustainable mountain tourism you might ask? A simple definition of sustainable tourism that lines up with our beliefs I found on the   The Sustainable Tourism Gateway website. 

"Sustainable tourism in its purest sense, is an industry which attempts to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate income, employment, and the conservation of local ecosystems. It is responsible tourism that is both ecologically and culturally sensitive."

Our Eco Sustainable Mountain Tourism Association Logo

The addition of Mountain into Sustainable Tourism, creates a specific viewpoint as life in the mountains can be a delicate balance between maximizing economic development and protecting fragile environments and sensitivity to cultural heritage.
According to "Euromontana", a European association of Mountain areas, with whom we presented our Bella Baita B&B  mountain living model to their annual meeting in 2013; 60% of all Europeans live in the mountains. I found that statistic to be rather astounding and important to consider how important it is to support these rural and sometimes fragile communities. 

Anyway.....

We were thrilled to write to the SMTA and within minutes find out that they were happy, on short notice, for us to attend their 3rd annual international  edition of "SMTA  Sustainable Mountain Tourism Alliance". 
It was with great excitement that we set off to join the discussion. We really knew nothing about them, but off we went on Friday (the 13th no less)  to check out this day of exploring what Sustainable Mountain Tourism means, building a meta-network (a network of networks) and the circular economy. 

Arriving at Ostana in winter was just as as impressive as arriving in summer. We drove over there in July for a days outing on my birthday to see a restored and revitalized mountain village that we had heard a lot about. The mayor of this village has been committed to revitalizing for the village for the past 20 years or so to try and breathe new life into what was an almost deserted village.  The buildings were neglected and crumbling after the town was all but abandoned when people moved on to look for economic opportunities, mostly after WWII. We have the same scenario in our mountain neighborhood.  And it was the same story in the mountains of Colorado that I use to live in until they started the ski areas. 
Ostana has struggled along, mostly being home to a few hearty souls and a few who came for the beauty of the area and the outdoor mountain activities that are on hand. The Monviso ski area use to draw in people in the winter when the ski industry was buzzing in the 70's. That however has slowed to a trickle as many ski areas have felt the sharp pinch of the Italian economic slow down along with aging equipment and a lack of funds to upgrade. 
The town's mayor has made a real effort to bring in support for getting the buildings renovated and attracting new life into this small but now growing community. 

Sant Antonia - a small borgata, a part of and up from, Ostana, where our meeting was held. 

We had lunch this summer and also during the symposium at the beautiful Galaberna rifugio, another project that has brought business into the  mountains. There is also a bar and a couple of stores, one offering quaint home accessories and another with outdoor sporting goods and local artisanal products which adds quite a lift to this charming hamlet. The revitalization of this community is a testament to commitment to a vision to bring growth and find the ways and means to do so. Good for Ostana and its residents, you are inspiring. 

Back to the symposium. 
Our symposium was up, and I do mean up, the hill to another cluster of houses and buildings  that had a very state of the art meeting room,  along with a tiny bar that made for a cozy day of exchanging ideas and lively discussions on mountain tourism. 
We met some fascinating people that share many of our ideals of supporting life in the mountains through tourism that supports tradition and innovation. The symposium was led by one of the founding members of SMTA, Swiss educator, Dr. Tobias Luthe, who presented what work they have done in working towards making sustainable tourism a concrete and  viable means of income in the mountains of Europe.  Starting with the focus on concrete means of bringing money for rebuilding and attracting others to live in rural areas that are in need of new ideas for saving abandoned hamlets and revitalizing these communities through reconstruction and touristic activities that can support small local businesses. Tobias was the main moderator but there was at least one other founding member and other students and educators and various business partners who participated and shared their vision for mountain redevelopment. 

We broke out into several small groups to discuss specific topics and came back together to share our thoughts.  One of the things that struck me was even thought we all had the exact same discussion topics, we came up with such diverse ideas and angles of approach. I think that is what makes getting people from different countries and diverse touristic backgrounds together such a worthwhile endeavor. It brings many different points of views and ideas to the table. I found the topics stimulating and the company pleasantly interesting. 

SMTA 3rd Annual Symposium Ostana, Italy
 Dr. Tobias Luthe presenting in the top middle photo

We took a break for lunch with a walk down to Galberna Rifugio for a convivial and traditional Piemontese mountain lunch that was outstanding. High quality food and wine, prepared simply with the personality of the chef shining through, made for a delightful meal together with new friends. Then after our break we trudged back up the hill which seemed to get just a tad longer and steeper on the way back, but the fresh air and beautiful mountain scenery made it all worth the effort. It also helped to keep us alert after such a satisfying meal and enabled us to remain engaged for the afternoon topics. 

Photos of Ostana this past July when we had lunch at La Galaberna.
The food was excellent both times we ate their. Highly recommend it!

The small group discussions included not only what exactly is needed to identify what exactly sustainable tourism is, but how to you brand it so that people will know what they are looking for and what exactly they will be receiving.  Also, how do you measure if this type of approach to mountain tourism is easily recognizable and effective. How do we bring this movement forward together and also concretely measure progress being made. 

Sharing our ideas 

I'm not sure how the symposium found its way to Ostana, but I am sure there is an interesting story there. We learned there is the beginnings of a "Monviso Institute" in progress to bring yet another portion of this cluster of mountain neighborhoods back to life. 
Some of these same folks have bought a small cluster of abandoned houses even further up from these buildings and have started to renovate them to turn them into a project 

"as an experimental real-world laboratory for sustainable design and living." MonViso Institue  

It all sounds very exciting to not only meet people that are trying to generate a way of bringing economic life back to the mountains, but who are actually putting in to practice the systems they are trying to create and nurture. 
In summing up the whole concept of sustainable tourism we talked about a circular economy. The term has been used in the industrial realm to move away from the linear model of 'take, make, dispose' economic model to  "a circular economy that is restorative and regenerative by design, aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times. "  
For me a circular economy is really just a getting back to basics of relying on your community to provide services and goods from local sources and sourcing things closer to you so that the money stays in the community and recycles itself around. I love purchasing our food from the farmers that produce it and try to make a habit of keeping that in mind whenever possible. From my perspective we are looking to go back to a system that we lost sight of when the promise of globalization seemed to be an answer to so many needs. Communities use to rely more on each other. I think you still find this interdependence in rural communities still, but it is ever increasingly important to commit to buy and work with local professionals for supporting a healthier and more robust local economy in order to keep the circle to include your neighborhood.  
I think that one of the biggest takeaways from the conference was to generate enthusiasm for thinking globally and acting locally, through talking together and sharing ideas to take back home and see what can be implemented and what other ideas can be generated with ones own community. Our concerns for our natural environment, our neighbors, and communities economic health is brought into clearer focus with an eye towards generating more opportunities to work together with ur neighbors to build the community we dream of. Lofty goals indeed, but starting from where one is situated and reaching out to others is a place to start and communicating around a table, usually laid with  great food, is where we like to start. So we shall see what we can bring about in our community and we look forward to participating with this group again as well as discovering what the MonViso Institute will have on offer as well. 

View of Monviso from our neighborhood

Onward and upward, I say. 

Ciao for now!!

Slow Food's Biennial Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre Arrives Again

I went, I saw, I explored,  I discovered. I sampled, I chatted, I learned. I imbibed, I flagged, I stayed till the end of the night, arriving home around 2 am-ish and was, well,  exhausted, again.
That, my friends, is the nutshell version of my time visiting this years 2016 edition of Salone del Gusto / Terra Madre. Living the slow life, it seems that getting this post up has all the hallmarks of a sloooooooow post. 

There is so much more to tell and share. I was so excited to share my impressions immediately after the event, as it always leaves me in high spirits, inspired and hopeful that real change is coming to the way we eat, produce our food, treat our animals, planet and each other. However I didn't get to do that right away as we have been busy with guests, gardens and "work-away-ers", so I have had some time to digest and reflect on my experience this year and I'm still pretty excited. So was every one else too.

Bernard Elixirs with Fabrizio, Nina and Enrico Bernanrd

First off, you either are familiar with Slow Food or you are wondering what the heck is this all about?! Their Slow Food International website is a great place to start to learn about what the movement is all about. I have attended quite a few editions of the every 2 year event called Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre and have written about it every time I have gone.

Terra Madre Welcomed Representatives from over 140 countries to this years event

 I went into quite bit of detail from the 2014 edition and you can read more about my insights here, here, and here, and if that isn't enough links will come up below those posts to older editions to this event. I have been attending since 2004.  So now let me talk about this years event. 

This year saw the event taken to a whole other level. They blew the doors off of this event, moving out of the Lingotto Conference center and adjacent venues and expanded into the whole of central Torino for the first time ever. It was a risky move. The weather can be a cruel partner, but moving the event to an earlier time in September instead of October, the chances of the weather holding up were better. We were lucky this year as the weather was cooperative.  Being an almost exclusively outdoor event scattered around the town, there was no longer a need to charge to attend the event,

Piazza Reale Turin
The City of Turin Welcomed 2016 Edition of Salone del Gusto / Terra Madre

Fun for everyone

The Lingotto center had just gotten too expensive to justify holding the event hostage there, according to Carlo Petrini, Slow Food International's President and founder. Carlo Petrini really is the father of this movement and person to whom most look to as the driving force of this grass roots movement. He has written many books and works tirelessly to bring about a change to peoples awareness to preserve our culture and heritage of our basic need to survive, and of course that is our need to eat.

Carlo Petrini, leading the way

To eat. To eat together, to eat with pleasure, with awareness and mindfulness of all that goes into the production of our daily ritual and all of the ripple affects. To be aware that others do not have enough to eat  and to consider the consequences of our food choices that affects not only our health, but our planets health and so very much more. This is a celebration and hopefully a raising of awareness of all these issues and more. It's a mammoth undertaking, but in the words of philosopher Lao Tzu "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step", and so we take a step on the journey. 

Terra Madre Parade and Welcome that included trading of native foods with one another

The opening ceremony for this edition of Terra Madre featured a parade of representatives from over 140 countries attending this year. It was colorful and joyous. People were also carrying sign boards, with slogans, such as, Love your Mother, Save Biodiversity, Vote with your Fork and other statements. There was a ceremonial exchange of of traditional foods between diverse countries on stage and an general exchange  in the piazza with much merriment. It was an emotional and inspiring symbolic fellowship. It was a festive start to the festivities.

Terra Madre Opening Parade 

I love seeing what people from near and far are producing and eating from all around the world. Parco Valentino hosted most of the many Italian producers as well as the rest of the world.

Parco Valentino Vendors

There was so much to sample and discover and so little time. I arrived early and stayed very late, but truly I really didn't feel like I had been able to take it all in. I did have some nice chats with various Terra Madre people, but didn't have time to attend the many fascinating forums about such diverse food issues, in just one day, but so it goes. I did really savor every delectable experience that I could absorb in the day. I love too that there are always some crafts that go hand in hand with the food traditions and on display representing other aspects of our food cultures and ways of living as producers of our worlds foods. 

Traditional block stamping for material and paper making lovely crafts

I think I will try and finish off this never ending homage to one of my most favorite events in the world, with a variety of photos, so you can experience a tiny slice of what was on offer. I hope you enjoy the tour.

Beans and Corn of Every Type - Saving Biodiversity

Food, Costumes and Fun

A Few of the Wonderful Things on Offer to Sample and Buy if You Like

People From Around the World, Sharing Their Food and Other Traditions

Perhaps one day you might consider experiencing it on your own. 

Piazza Reale at Night during the Salone del Gusto

Next time around will be in 2018.
See you there.

New Post for a New Year - Nearby Manta Castle

Manta Castle

Here it is past the middle of January and time's awasting.  I must make haste to keep up with some very modest goals I have set forth for myself and my blog for this year. I noticed that when I was writing a roundup of things to do in this area on my last post, that there were many interesting attractions noticeably missing from my lists.  I have been meaning to get around to writing about a few of them for a long tim. Others I thought I already had written up, but couldn't locate them perusing through my back posts, so I thought I would make it a goal to post a least once a month about some of the local attractions that we send our guests off to see and usually have taken in ourselves at least once if not a few times.

One such glaring omission is splendid Manta Castle (Castello di Manta), just past and overlooking the charming town of Saluzzo that sits where the base of the Cottian Alps (Alpi Cozie) and Po river plains unite, in the neighboring province of Cuneo.

Monviso of the Cottian Alps meets the Po river plains

Manta boasts a small castle perched on its hillside that has been returned to its former glory when the Lords of Saluzzo called it their home. The original building dates back to the 12th century and over the years the building grew with expansions and richly decorate with various additions of masterful and fantastical frescos whose handiwork still remains anonymous.  The current family descendants  enlisted the help of Italy's preservation society, FAI to help raise funds to restore the deteriorated  paintings, replace furnishings that had disappeared over the centuries and breath life back into the castle. These frescos are said to be a rare treasure of late gothic paintings still found in northern Italy. They really are worth a visit as they are so well preserved and magnificently interesting.

Héros, Heroines, and the Fountain of Youth Frescos

In addition to the main castle they have also restore an adjacent church and plans to continue to restore other surrounding buildings in the neighborhood. They really have done a fine job. I especially like that included with the very modest entrance fee of around €7.50 adults and €3.00 for children (2016 prices) is the use of complimentary headphones to insure you get the most out of your self guided visit. There are a number of different languages offered and they do periodically update the narration to reflect the ongoing historical discoveries or completion of nearby ongoing projects. 

Manta Castles' Church

 The castle is of a manageable size so that it makes for a great half day visit and suitable for children, who will enjoy the artifacts and furnishings as it is not only the paintings and church that are of interest. Nearby Saluzzo is another great place to stop also for a bit of shopping, sight seeing or eating, naturally. The grounds are peaceful and would make for a lovely picnic setting. You can also walk up through the woods or park closer and take a more direct route.

Castle life

Whatever you do, when you find yourself in northern Italy, you will want to make sure and not miss out on this local treasure, when you visit our slice of Piedmont, preferably when you come and stay with us.  We'll be waiting for you with many more suggestions.

Bella Baita BandB - Italian Alps Retreat

The castle is open Tuesdays - Sunday, closed Mondays (unless it is a holiday in which they say they are open. Always good to check)

10:00 - 18:00 March 1 through the end of September and

10:00 - 17:00 October through 27 of November.
Last entrance 1/2 before closing

Closed December through February.

Directions to Castello di Manta from Bella Baita B&B and Italian Alps Retreat

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

Winter Gifts from the Garden: Savoy Cabbage and Cheesy Potato Bake Recipe

Savoy Cabbage Layered with Taleggio Cheese and Potatoes

It is finally spring and for those of us in the mountains it comes just a tad later than it does for most folks. I still have ample supplies of some of our winter staples like potatoes and savoy cabbage that we are using for a delicious result these days before all the spring delicacies take over. I thought I would share one of my favorite dishes combining these pantry staples. I am sure most of you are thinking of Easter with asparagus and peas and those sorts of veggies, but we are still having cooler temperatures here and sounds like we are not the only ones and this dish is one that I think is sure to please as it has just the right amount of comfort foodiness to it. Let me know if you agree.  

I made it the traditional way the first time in an oven proof pan in the oven and it was like a variation of scalloped potatoes, which will always make me think of my mom and growing up in southern Illinois. I added some parma ham once when I had some that need to be used up and I had some mozzarella as my only cheese, which worked out well with the ham giving it some needed salty element to the dish. I naturally have used all sorts of local cheeses because this is a recipe that lends itself to variations and innovation, so by all means feel free to add your own special touch.  My latest change has been to make it in a skillet on top of the stove without turning the oven on to great success. I do miss that crispy top crunch, but not enough not to make it when the oven is not part of the plan. This recipe is based on Antonio Carluccio's recipe that he used for one of his Italian sojourns that featured Piedmont. By chance it was one of the possible entertainment selections that was on offer on my flight back from the U.S. a few years back.  It was a great episode and a great reminder of a dish that is comforting to anyone and especially those of us from the former kingdom of  Savoie, where Savoy cabbage hails from. 

Savoy Cabbage from our garden and the stove top version 

Oh yes and if you are not familiar with Savoy cabbage, it is the one that is green and wrinkly. I find it to be mild and tender and certainly one of my favorites. It hails from this part of Europe and is a winter time favorite as it will keep under the snow for when you are ready to harvest it when needed. My in laws have always kept some all winter for not only our eating pleasure but also for salad for the chickens when she used to keep them. We aren't the only ones who like some greens in the winter. You can make this dish with regular smooth cabbage as well it just is a slighty different flavor and texture, but it will be almost as good, so do try and find the savoy cabbage if you can. but don't not make it if you can't.

I thought I would also share with you a little video I put together from our harvesting of the last of our cabbages a few weeks ago. We still have patches of snow dotted around now, but the "foehn" (warm strong) winds that have been howling for the past few days have helped the big patches evaporate rather quickly.   

This is me filming Fabrizio harvesting our Savoy cabbage a few weeks ago.  I hope you enjoy my second attempt at making a movie from my videos.

Savoy Cabbage and Potato Bake

(Cavolo Piemontese con Patate)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

650g / 1 1/2 lb Savoy cabbage, cut out the tough main rib* of the leaves leaving two halves of the leaves.

8 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (medium sized floury potatos, although red ones will work as well)

300g / 10oz Taleggio cheese, thinly sliced (or any other melty cheese, fontina, mozzarella and a little parmesan)

Some grated Parmigiano cheese to sprinkle on top and maybe between layers if you are using mozzarella

150g / 51⁄2oz butter for greasing your pans ( I didn't use it when I finished it in the skillet, although I did use a bit of olive oil.

salt 

black pepper, freshly ground

**I have added a layer of prosciutto crudo on occasion and used mozzarella and liked the results

Preparation:c

• Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F.
• Boil some slightly salted water in a sauce pan. 
• Cook the potatoes for about three minutes,in the salted water, then scoop the potatoes out with a large slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Plunge into cold water if you want to hurry them along and make them easier to handle when layering.
• Cook the cabbage for about five minutes in the same potato water until tender. Drain well*.

*You can retain the cut out cabbage rib and the boiling water for a soup if desired or you might want to use it for adding a bit of moisture to your dish as it cooks if needed or dispose of both as you see fit.

You can finish this dish in two different ways. 

• You will layer the cabbage, potatoes, cheese in a ovenproof pan or skillet depending on how you prefer to finish cooking this dish.
• The original recipe calls for baking it in a 9"/ 23 cm(approximately) oven proof pan, which will give you a nice crispy top when you bake it.
• You can also layer it all in a skillet and cook it gently covered adding milk or your leftover boiling water if needed, till all is bubbly and cooked through. 
• Grease the ovenproof dish generously with some of the butter.
• Arrange half of the potato slices, slightly overlapping, on the bottom of the dish, dot with some more butter
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Arrange the cabbage and half of the cheese on top of the potatoes 
• Season with salt and pepper. 
• Top with the remaining potatoes and cheese. 
• Dot with the remaining butter.
• A generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese is a nice finish as well

Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes, removing the foil five minutes before the end of the cooking time. Remove from the oven and serve.

Or cover your skillet with a lid and gently simmer on top of the stove until all is soft and smooth through. If you find the dish is too soupy, you can uncover it for a bit to evaporate some of the liquid. If too dry add some liquid as needed when cooking. 

I have made it both ways and enjoyed both. Sometimes you just don't have enough reason to want to turn on the oven and I am happy with the stove top results too. 

Hope you enjoy this dish.

Her's a stovetop version I served with some chicken strips I made

Hope you and yours will enjoy this hearty Piemontese dish. From our home to yours!

Our Story - Marla and Fabrizio, a Valentines Tale

Fabriazio and Marla -Bella Baita Italian Alps Retreat 2014

San Valentino or Valentine's day is a special day for us. It's our wedding anniversary, and it was an unforgettable experience, however I am getting ahead of my story.

Bella Baita B&B in Summer

If there has been a singular question asked of me in the past 14 years, it has undoubtedly been, "Sooooo, how did you two meet?" or some variation of that phrase. I have a standard short and long form of my answer, that Fabrizio always defers to my telling of the tale. Today, I am going to tell you the condensed long version. I hope you enjoy it.
Before I met Fabrizio, the number one question was, how did you end up working in Europe, so I will start out by setting the stage for "our story" by answering how an American ended up in the Italian Alps of Piedmont, with my darling crazy mountain man. I hope you enjoy our tale.

Marla & Fabrizio - date in Volterra, Italy summer 2001

C'era una volta, or once upon a time.....

I had a desire to do something significantly different from my then so called life in the mountains of Colorado. It might have been a mid life questioning of where I had been and where I was going or perhaps it was the shedding of yet another skin of my layered life. It turned out to be a combination of both. 
After many years of living at big altitude, (9,075 ft or  2,776m) where I made peace with winter by learning to ski and worked my way up the slippery male dominated ladder of professional success, to become the pastry chef for Copper Mt Resort, for abut 12 years,  I felt restless to move on, to stretch and try something new. Thing is in a ski resort area, there weren't always a broad spectrum of opportunities. Usually it seemed that you were changing locations and people, but the seasonality and job ended up being much to be more of the same. I wasn't sure what this change was suppose to look like, perhaps, to travel and not be in one place. I had reached many goals and lived a great mountain life, but my life had changed and I needed a completely new challenge. Running a pastry department in a large ski resort  had been an incredible experience of growth and opportunity as well as meeting and working with a lot of different people. However, mass production for 4 cafeterias, 5 restaurants and conference services with a summer crew of 7 and around 20 ski and snowboarders that changed every season, had worn a little thin over the years. I really wanted a new challenge, one that would be quite different from what I had already done. Hmmm, what to do? 

Skimming through the short and not so sweet want ads in the daily paper I wasn't expecting much. I had been perusing the ads for awhile and knew them by heart, ski resort workers, ski techs, wait staff, cleaners, mountain photographers, and shuttle bus drivers, just to name a few gives you the drift of my indifference. However, when I spied "Chalet Host Required", my interest was piqued. My heart did a little "skip to my lou". The interview with the program director and resort manager from the UK, sealed the deal for me. They were so charming and we laughed so much, and when I told them that I really needed for the job to be more than just for the winter and maybe could I work in Europe for them, I was delighted when they said yes. After much soul searching and reevaluating of how I could completely rearrange my life both physically and financially, to make this kind of crazy seasonal job work, I found myself with a year round (with a few gaps between the two seasons) for a British Tour company that would allow me to work in Breckenridge, Colorado in the winter and the Alps of Slovenia, Switzerland and Austria in the summer. It was, to put it mildly, a blast. I now had guests instead of employees and even though my work load increased and my monetary income decreased, I was happy to be doing things that I knew well and others that were completely foreign. It was a wonderful experience with a whole new world of package holidays and British guests that opened up my European sojourn. That however is another story for another day. Suffice it to say that after about 4 years of the Holiday Representative life, which means mostly living in a hotel, and was suppose to be a one year transitional job, I found myself looking yet again for yet another, different experience. 

On the main street of Casole d'Elsa where I lived

A fortuitous phone call I received one day out of the blue, made my day and sent me on my way to Italy. An American colleague  that I had worked alongside in the chalet hosting days in Breckenridge, called me a couple years after an off hand comment to her, that her job as a chef for an English art school in Tuscany sounded like something I would love and if she ever was getting rid of it, I would be interested. How lucky was that? Turns out it was pretty lucky. Next thing I know I landed that job and I was off to little Casole d'Elsa in the Siena province of Italy to cook my little heart out for the Verrocchio Art Center ( Il Centro d'Arte Verrocchio), for yet another exciting chapter in my life. 

Marla between meals on the terrace of the Centro d'Arte Verrocchio 2002

I would like to point out that this is the happily ever after version of my story. I have included only the best and happiest parts only of my tale. Naturally, the whole tale, has it's dark moments of self doubt, uncertainty, fear of failure, seemingly defeat and triumph as well as heart wrenching loneliness  at times. I traveled through the whole spectrum of human feelings that go with change and the risk of  trying something new.  It is easy to leave those parts out as they are so personal and dark, but just know that my life isn’t charmed, it is real with all the good and not so hot stuff included, but over all I can say I have made every effort to embrace everything that comes my way. It is part of the spice that makes it my life. I just want to share the triumphant part right now. 

So now I found myself in a small (900 people including the surrounding hamlets) walled  hilltop town in Tuscany with only 3 streets running through town. Casole d'Elsa is situated in the neighborhood of Siena, Firenze, San Gimignano and Volterra. Wow, can you say wow! It was amazing and intoxicating as Tuscany's scenery is so iconic and evocative with its rolling hills, slender cypress trees, walled hilltop towns in the distance, oozing beauty, art and history. What's not to love. I busied myself immersing in the local flavor and figuring out what the local cuisine was all about before taking over the reigns of the Centro's kitchen where I would be in charge of the feeding the art school's staff, students and teachers that changed every fortnight. Many of the attendees had been coming to this school for years and years, so there was pressure to measure up and surpass expectations. I was nervous. Luckily my friend, Euni who was leaving the position, was around for a couple of weeks so that I could observe and learn whilst I served food at the local osteria /enoteca, Caffe` Casolani. It was a very confusing time at first, between the language, or more accurately my lack of, and reorienting myself to being in a new kitchen with none of my usual tools since I hadn't been carrying any of that around whilst walking and skiing the Alps. Fortunately, every one was generously helpful with their knowledge and time, so I was starting to relax into this new Italian rhythm.

Caffe Casolani- where I worked when I first arrived

The  first new rhythm I had to adjust to was the heat. It was spring and the mornings and evenings were lovely and cool, but the heat of the day meant that it was best to get up early and get things done and pull down the shades in the afternoon and try not to sweat your soul out or maybe take your mid day break in the local bar whilst chatting and getting to know your new flat mates and coworkers from the art school. So one day, in what was either my first or second week in the job by myself, the two British gals I worked with and I were in Bar Barroccio, passing our mid day break in casual conversation and cooling drinks. I noticed there were a couple of guys in the booth next to us but didn't really pay much attention other than one of them was intently reading the paper. It wasn't too long before the cute curly haired one, who had seemed so engrossed in his paper reading, was leaning over towards our table whilst he commented to his companion. "Hey Johnny, there are some girls over here that you can speak English with, in fact, you can speak American with one of them." What an opening line, and one that I have never forgotten. We all chatted for awhile and as it turned out we all had to go back and serve dinner that night, but we would maybe see them again that night after work. What do you think the chances of that were? Well, there were only 2 bars in town and the other one is where you bought your tickets for the local bus, but seldom ever stayed in there for very long as it was smoky and full of old men usually playing cards. The other bar where we met, was where the night life was, if there was any. It was mostly doing the "passeggiata" up and down the main street of Casole, either getting a drink at one end or a gelato at the other. There were always people promenading up and down the street trying to keep cool on these hot Tuscan nights.

That was how we met and it wasn't long before Fabrizio was kindly offering his help for expanding my Italian culinary knowledge.  He was working as a Maitre' d hotel in a local Agriturismo along with John, who was an American doing a stage at the same restaurant. The restaurant was working toward getting a Michelin star. Fabrizio took a degree as a chef when he was young as he grew up cooking and serving in his family's "La Baita" mountain restaurant. He went on to take a couple more degrees, as he found that he preferred to be out front with the guests and managing the restaurants. Anyone who knows Fabrizio would understand that, as he has such an outgoing personality and loads of energy. Fabrizio can keep the show going and everyone laughing, which are a couple of wonderful qualities that I adore. Fabrizio had found his way to Casole after escaping where he grew up and about four years working in the UK where he perfected his English. Unfortunately for him, he has now perfected his American. He had been working in different parts of Italy with a couple of stints in Poland doing some consulting work on setting up hotel restaurants and various other restaurant work when he landed in Casole to help them reach some of their goals. It didn't take him long to get his apron on and help me out in the kitchen at the Centro, so that I got myself organized and comfortable so that I could relax into the job, but also so I could get out of work a bit earlier on our mid day break and see a bit of the countryside. It was a memorable season and will always be a special time in our lives. It was pretty easy to fall in love with a man that cooks and sings to you in the kitchen. That is also not to mention that he does dishes, will clean the house, fix the car, chop the wood, get up and build a fire before any of us are up and will try any cuisine I make and compliments me frequently. I was to learn all of that along the way.  He is a pretty special man and I am happy we met and that our paths continued in the same direction.  I think we are both pretty lucky.

Fabrizio and Marla in the Centro d'Arte Verrocchio kitchen

Over the next year we came up here to his family's home to assess the possibilities. We went to America to meet my family and check out Colorado where I had lived and still feels like home to me. I returned to Tuscany for another season and Fabrizio came here to work on setting up the rooms that were not in use so that we could open as a B&B and try to make a business where there wasn't one. His parents had retired and were renting out their restaurant part of the building to other people and so we made the rest of the building come to life as Bella Baita B&B. 
We returned to America in 2007 and had been trying to manage the logistics of where and how to get married for a few years without it ever becoming clear or easy. So when one of my friends mentioned the Loveland ski area's Valentines Day promotion, "Marry Me and Ski for Free". We decided that was really just the thing for us. So we got a license and joined 60 other couples on a cold and snowy Valentines day and said our vows to each other on top of a ski mountain. It was special, we both cried and then we skied a few powder runs before enjoying a reception at the ski lodge. We had already booked to teach a cooking class for that night, so off we went to teach and celebrate a lovely evening with friends, good food we made together and wonderful wine from the wine cellar. It was memorable and unique and just right for us. 

The snowy ceremony- many people were inside keeping warm

Fabrizio and Marla February 14, 2007 Loveland Ski Area, Colorado ,USA

As they years have passed, we now have use of the whole of the building, we offer cooking classes, local short break culinary tours, we have a large organic garden that we are constantly improving with the help of volunteers from organizations like Wwoof.it and Workaway.info. We will be offering courses on sustainable living and gardening in the future and expanding our cooking classes with bread workshops  and more varied culinary tours. We are still chefs that enjoy guests and we hope that now that you know a bit more about us, that you might come and meet us in person and share our slice of Italian life in the Alps and discover our not so well known, but certainly deserving valley and what we have on offer. Vi aspettiamo. We are waiting for you. 

Marla and Fabrizio at Bella Baita February 11, 2014

Bella Baita View