My Wonderful Italian Adventure, a Guest Post

All aboard, let's go!

I recently was contacted by a fellow  blogger Bob from http://travelingtripster.com about exchanging posts on Italian travel.  Bob's site is full of stories about travel around the world as well as a few travel tips to help you get out on the road. His site is worth having a nosy around. I am still polishing my piece for him, but it's not too far off from done. In the meantime, please welcome today's guest blogger Bob, from Traveling Tripster. 

My Wonderful Italian Adventure

Italy was one of the most amazing places I visited in my travels. As a history enthusiast Italy was of great interest to me because of the way world history was taught. I learned about the Roman empire but I never understood how Italy fit in with their grand legacy. Unlike most people, rather than do research on the internet, I like to experience a place first hand. You can't truly learn about a place or people without being in the physical location. So I did what I usually do... I did a little research and planning, I purchased my ticket (http://www.cheaptravelhunter.com), I packed my things, and I was on my way. For me planning is sometimes as fun as the trip itself. I visited a bookstore and picked up a few history and travel books. I always prepare myself for a trip with information so I'm ready for any potential problem.

My first stop was to the Ferrara where I spent some time paying my respects to the director Michelangelo Antonioni who's films were an obsession of one of my college professors. I remember watching "Identification of a Woman" and "Blowup". Both of these films were incredible so when I learned I was going to be near his burial space, I had to visit. While in Ferrara I decided to visit a local jazz club. I have never actually listened to jazz before but I went for the experience. I admit most music goes over my head, but the atmosphere was very exciting.

Next I visited Ravenna where my first stop happened to be another tomb. Dante, the author of the Divine Comedy was a figure I had admired for a long time. I had read his work when I was in high school and it left a permanent impression on me.  Most people who visited along with me were disappointed that there was nothing to see, but it was the atmosphere and history that intrigued me. Because I was so interested in his book, I felt like I had accomplished something great just being there.

Not the Dolomites, but the  Italian Cottian Alps, worth hiking as well

Anyone who is familiar with my personality knows that I love to do anything outdoors. Naturally this lead me to the hike of my life across the dolomite mountain range. The stunning scenery, delicious food, friendly people, and an extensive trail and mountain hut system made this a terrific destination for hiking. I stayed in Arabba where guides were available to help me learn my way around the area. They were incredibly helpful and taught me everything I needed to know about the area.

This is only a small fraction of my experience in Italy, but I hope this is enough to explain why I love it so much. If I decide to go back to Europe, Italy will be on the top of my list. It is a wonderful place with incredible diversity and history.

Rome in a day or two

All roads lead to Rome....so the saying goes. 

Colosseum by Day 

Or  the Colosseum by night,
probably Rome's most recognizable symbol

And so, we finally found ourselves there as well recently. 

What an exhilarating trip to Rome we embarked upon.

 It seems that all Italian trains eventually arrive in Rome too. At least, that is what it looked liked when we rolled in to to Roma Temini one Saturday morning in March. Our train stopped a fair way back from the terminal, with so many tracks stretching across to the other side it was difficult to count how many there actually were. 

We're not exactly that close to Rome, being that we are in the alps on the French border and Switzerland is just over our shoulder, so to speak. So to decide at 5:30 pm that we would take the overnight train to Rome and be on it by 9pm was one of those spur of the moment decisions that keeps life sweet and good for the telling of tales later on. One of my all time favorite things about Europe has always been the trains. Making connections to major and, to a lesser degree, minor cities through out Europe is really a breeze. If you want to get off the beaten track, it isn't quite the way to see the country side. It does make the city break a great option. After we left Torino about midnight and seemed to be left in a cabin all our own we snoozed off and on till reaching Rome in the early am and ready to discover all over again, what makes this city so worth a neck stiffening jaunt on down the coast. The weather was warm, the flowers and trees were just starting to break out of their winter dormancy. We felt the same way. After a stop at the terminal information office, we walked all of 2 blocks to a 2 star hotel that was adequate and a perfect location for us for the night, but if we had been staying longer, I would have upgraded slightly. Last minute budget accommodation was a little slim.  Sufficiently comfortable and helpful friendly staff made it a reasonable choice. On our return home, I discovered The Beehive hotel and cafe, through an ex-pat group, and I think that would be an excellent starting point for checking out affordable Rome accommodation.

Cafe culture 

I must say that we were more than a little surprised to find Rome to be quite welcoming and friendly. It was a far cry from the fast paced, in your face kind of city that I remember from my childhood. Perhaps time has softened the edges. Fabrizio agreed that he thought Rome and Romans had changed too. We found them very helpful with a much more open, "can do" attitude. Perhaps too it was spring before the toll of the heat and the massive amounts of tourists have maybe worn their welcome a little thin. The city seemed fresh and easy going for a grande old dame.

St Peters Square at the Vatican

I haven't been to Rome since I was a kid and it had been a few years since Fabrizio had been there as well, we were perfectly happy to just see and do all the usual tourist sights of Rome.  I hadn't even picked up a guide or made any attempt to do any research, so it was kind of liberating actually. Two full days in Rome and you can skim the surface of the basic sights. If, however, you want to see any museums, dig deeper than the main core of Rome, or get a bit further away from the center,  do add on more time.  I feel like if we went to Rome again, I will enjoy finding the more obscure nooks and crannies that are "off the beaten path".  I am perfectly happy with our jaunt around the town. Course we didn't see or do it all, but it was a couple of fabulous days made even better by decent weather. Not too hot, and yet sunny with a bit of wind, and manageable crowds. Early spring in Rome is a good time to visit.

View of Rome's National Monument form our Roma Cristiana Tour bus

Ideally, it would be nice to do a mixture of obvious tourist "must sees" and not so well known ones. If you've never been to Rome before, I would suggest to stay at least 4 days. Another nice option for accommodation is to rent a flat, especially if you stay for more than a couple of days. You may not feel like going out to eat every single evening and it's nice to have breakfast more casually sometimes especially if this stop is part of a longer journey. It's fun to shop in the mercato or small shops and put together your finds, even if perhaps you are just snacking or putting a picnic together. It's a fun way to go and you can feel like "when in Rome"...

Trevi Fountain

My other top tip for a whirlwind tour of the city is to take one of the hop on and off sightseeing buses. They really are great for getting yourself oriented to the city and the lay of the land and landmarks.

The Pantheon

There are quite a number of options to choose from and if you make good use of them, they can be economical. We found that we needed one for one full day with the hop on and off option which worked well for us. 

Pick your flavor

If we had been going to make the time to got to at least one maybe two museums or such type pay sights, then a longer 2 day pass would have made sense for us, but we were only able to use it one day and we were quite happy with our choice, especially after the first day and our legs were so sore from all the walking we did. It was quite delightful to be able to ride around for awhile, with the wind in our face and all the sights and sounds of the city there for you to just relax and take it all in. As far as eating, you will be spoiled for choice I think. 

Pizza by the slice. No this isn't one slice

Plenty of "grap and go" options. I've always found the fast food options in Italy so much more to my taste, real food prepared simply fresh. 

There are many wonderful restaurants to choose from and I must say, that we chose at random by just looking at the menu, interior, gut reaction, that sort of thing. I found that we broke several of my normal rules for selecting places to eat, like steering clear of the places in the heart of the tourist centers, menus that look to be oriented to the tourist and that sort of thing.  To our great relief and delight, we ate one block from the colosseum and the other night closer to the train station with a set tourist menu which we noticed on our way home the previous night, that had been busy with an interesting tourist menu and we enjoyed delicious fresh food. It stands to reason that Fabrizio being Italian and having worked in the food business his whole life, has excellent instincts about restaurants. He does. Gotta love that in a guy.

Grilled calamari that was part of a €18- 3 course meal. Delicious!

If you're feeling like you could use a bit of hand holding with the choosing, I think you would find the "Eat Rome" application for your smart phone a godsend. Elizabeth Minchilli knows her Rome and is happy to share her secrets. Her blog,  is wonderful as well and will whet your appetite for eating your way around Rome and beyond.  I wish we had a smartphone to have taken this along. There are a number of websites and blogs dedicated to helping you make the most out of your time there.  Katy Parla's Food is another great tantalizing blog about Roman food and beyond.  Some you might not be so familiar with, aside from Rick Steves, whose guides are deservedly helpful, if not now, quite mainstream.

Some other wonderful  and extremely helpful resources for information for Rome and Italy are  Go Italy and  Why Go Italy? It's a shame that Why Go Italy doesn't feature any Bed and Breakfasts, but fortunately Go Italy does and you'll find our Bella Baita B&B listed in their picks.  The Eye on Italy podcasts are quite  informative about a wide range of topics all relating to all things Italian. They have had quite a few guests lately on concerning various diverse elements of Italy and Rome specifically. You can find them on itunes. You will need to scroll back a ways. It seems I am a bit behind on the podcasts. 

Always good to research where you are going, but an adventuresome spirit,  open mind and embracing of the moment will take you far on your travels anywhere you go. 

Marla in from of fountain in Piazza Navonna

Seize the day, you never know, you just might find yourself in Rome one of these days. 

I recommend it!

"BookMe.com" an easy way to get outta town...

Bella Baita View full winter mode

I've been slow on the up take these days as I ease in to 2009. I have a few recipes and a great story about our holiday guests here at Bella Baita, but just haven't gotten them all pulled together just yet, but they are in the pipeline. As they like to say here, "piano, piano", or all in good time.
The big news has been the non stop snow and digging out yet again (see photos at the bottom). I know some of you out there are starting to think about where and what you might be doing for a holiday break this year and starting to look around, all this talk of snow has fueled the desire to do something about it. Shovel, you say? Heavens no! Get away somewhere, probably.
I know it was just Christmas but that winter time cabin fever starts to sink in as soon as the yuletide fades away. For some it's to ski in some of that fluffy white stuff and for others it's to get as far away from it as possible. Me, I like both. So where to find the best deal and get outta town you may be asking yourself?
A great place to make your way to as fast as you can is quite simply and aptly named "Bookme.com". I recently received a chatty email from a friendly, ambitious entrepreneur touting their website, that helps you easily find the best deals on travel options as well as tickets for concerts, shows and sporting events, so I figured it was a place to share with others bent on making some plans. That would be you.
The founders of "Book Me" were frustrated with trying to book tickets on line and having to "run" all over the Internet to find them. From their frustration this site was born, placing many sites together to give you the convenience and best choice of prices all in one stop shopping. Plus you are also helping them realize their dream to donate a portion of their profits to rescuing pets around the world.
It's incredibly simple to use and it has several options all in one spot to compare and make sure you are getting the best deal around. I gave it a little spin around the block looking for some flights and found several sites that I didn't think would come up on their site as they are European based, but they did, convincing me what a great site this is.
Have a look at their site and I think you will find it is an extremely useful and easy to use site that gives you great results, ie, great prices. My only word of the down side to it is, that if you are looking for off the beaten path and smaller operations like ourselves, then this is not going to direct you to us, but it will give you the best flights and car deals to make your way to get off the beaten path. So give them a spin and make some plans and maybe make your way here while you're at it to the Italian alps and Bella Baita Mountain Retreat while you're at it.

Enjoy some winter shots from here in the Italian alps of Val Chisone.

Bella Baita in full winter snow

Our entrance to Bella Baita from the street

Entrance to our flat

Entrance to the chicken coop

Ciao for now!

Bella Baita View

After having pretty off and on weather for a few days we have some glorious weather today showing off our bella view, so I just thought I would display a few pictures from our balcony.


Our sunset the other evening

This view is actually from Pinerolo last week after all the surprise snow we received.
"Bella Baita"
is located on the upper left of the photo where the green meets the white.
This view of the Grandubbione area is located at the end of our road.

Stalking the Black and White Truffles of Asti

Actually it's more like stalking the elusive Internet, which one expects it to be there when you want it. In other words I'm happy to be back on line after 5 long days of frustratingly being off line. Although I do have to say that it did allow me permission to get my little neglected garden patches tended before the unusual early cold weather set in. There's snow on the peaks at the moment, that is further down than all of last year. Perhaps those predictions of a hard winter that my father in law keeps mentioning the signs of, might come to fruition. Stay tuned on that account, as they also say that when it comes this early, then it won't be much of a season. And so it goes with the predictions of the weather and whether or not it'll be a good mushroom season, ski season or fill in the blank. Discussing the weather; humankind's favorite past time down through the ages.
Whenever you start making arrangements 8 months ahead with guests for an annual event that is reliant on Mother Nature being cooperative, you can be sure you will not be able to predict how it will all turn out. So when some of our last guests told me how they were coming because they not only had a great passion for good food and wine, but a particular passion for porcini and truffles and were planning their trip around, I had a bit of a crossed fingers reaction. We are known for our porcini mushrooms here in our neighborhood, truffles are found out on the hilly vineyard area about an hour from us. I wanted their and all of our guests holiday to live up to their hopes and expectations, especially when people come from halfway around the world for mushrooms, white Christmas, sunny summers and food that knocks your socks off. So it was a bit alarming when our season wasn't panning out to be the banner season that it usually is.
So after all these months of corresponding, they have finally arrived and I start back peddling on expectations, telling them how it isn't a stellar year, but we'll find mushrooms and truffles no matter what, and on and on.Do try to imagine my surprise when they came back from a little stroll before dinner having only arrived less than an hour before and Jamie was carrying a plump ole Porcino that made her day, well actually, it made all of our day, to have such an auspicious beginning to their visit. So I started to breath a bit easier. When it came round to the weekend, Fabrizio called up his friend who is the president of the Truffle association of the Asti region to find out where to have luck with trying to purchase truffles. He recommended the festival in Montiglio, a hilltop town in the Asti region, as an alternative to the more famous festival of Alba. Alba is a bigger, sophisticated town and well known for their month long truffle festival every weekend in October, as well as the home of Ferrero Rocher of chocolate and Nutella fame. We knew we would be fighting the crowds and the prices would be steep. So off we went on a warm foggy Sunday for a small town festival that had something for everybody. It is not possible to just head off in the woods to search for Truffles, like here where the hordes descend like locusts at times. No, you can't just set out and search for truffles with your pet pig and dig up everything in sight. Oh no, you have to be licensed and only select licensed hunters are able to deal in the much prized treasure. All the vendors we saw that day had certificates. Upon arriving the seasonal fog burned off to give us a beautiful sunny day. It really was an excellent choice. Rest assured we were not alone in our quest for truffles. There was a steady stream of people out for a Sunday outing that didn't disappoint. The town was hopping with a couple of buses and a makeshift parking lot filling up fast. There were all sorts of vendors in the main piazza selling cheeses, wine, bread, juice, salami with truffle, books, jewelry and decoupaged nic nacs for the interested. They even had an antique car show with some great old Fiats too. Further past the main avenue of the truffle market in the center of town, the vendors making baskets and brooms, and all sorts of handicrafts snaked through the winding streets till you reached the top of the village where the Pro Loco were dishing up some mighty fine fare and the smell was intoxicating. Carne crudo topped with black truffle, cannellini beans and truffle, Tomini cheese topped with, you got it, truffle. The smell at times could almost be overwhelming, but we managed to hang in there and sample our fair share.It didn't take us long to find the truffle spreads and dips and finally the vendors of the very lusted after, truffle. The people were very friendly and everyone was having quite a good time. When Jamie finally found the truffle of her dreams, well, at least of her budget the woman was so taken with her that she not only added in a free black truffle to keep the white one company, but she even gave her a book about the town of Montiglio. It was a great outing, but it wasn't over yet.









In part two I'll tell you about the rest of the day, where we carried on for a bit of wine tasting before heading home to prepare our indulgence of truffles and porcini.

Sacra San Michele.....at last

They say the 3rd time is the charm,, so the 5th time ,must really make it special, no? Finally after several attempts to have our timing right to visit this imposing monastery and back drop for the cult movie classic, "The Name of the Rose", based on the book by Umberto Ecco, ( See my Amazon selections in the side bar for links to both the book and movie),I finally make it inside with my 3rd sibling. One of our guest this summer had sort of panned it as they said it has been restored from being heavily bombed during WWII. That may be true, but it is truly an imposing structure stuck high on the hillside and overlooking the entrance to the Susa valley and the lakes of Aviligiana. The views are stunning and the monastery interesting , perhaps a bit austere, but then I thought that was part of monastic life. There are several of the Savoy royal family crypts here, making for an interesting tour . Sacra San Michele is also one of 2 symbols of our Province of Turin, with the Fortress of Fenestrelle being the other over in our valley and both are about the same distance from us with the Fortress being slightly closer and yet another reason to come visit our area and have a look around.

Festa della Repubblica , Late of course

Continuing on with the review of the past few...events, days, things that interest me, et al, I found myself on the tour of Torino with my brother and sister in law, on what turned out to be Festa della Repubblica. Having worked in the tourist industry my entire adult life, I am quite use to working when everyone else is on holiday, so I seldom have the experience of crowds during peak holidays. Perhaps that was why I pleasantly surprised to be in Torino on a lively day indeed. It reminded me of Memorial day in the US with a bit of parading and strolling around. It seemed to usher in the summer season just as it does in America, with friends and family bar-b-queuing at home or eating out. It was quite a fun day out. As a B&B host, I find that if our guests want to mix relaxing in with seeing the sights, they're going to have to be very organized to make sure that their time fits in with Italy's lifestyle. Most tourist attractions, such as museums and such are closed on Mondays and usually break for lunch at 12:30 till 15:30 without fail, daily. The cities are a bit better about being open more round the clock, but not always. I always want our guests to be able to relax and yet, see as much as they want to fit in. A tall order it seems here in the land of siesta. Heaven forbid, that you might have staggered staff lunches at the touristic sites, so that the tourists who felt like lingering over a leisurely breakfast before setting off in the morning to conquer the daunting list of places to go, things to do, things to see, might actually see and do a fair amount on said list.
Michele, I still have yet to see the inside of it yet. I just can't hurry up people when I know they are tired and it's going to be a long day out. It just doesn't seem right to be on a rigid schedule. Of course, we started off from our house just in time to make sure we missed the timing to see the inside of most of the tourist attractions. On 5 visits with friends and family to Sacra San Michele on vacation when it's pleasant to enjoy the tranquility of our mountains, as well as catching up over coffee and pastries. So we enjoy the impressive monastery from the lovely drive past Avigliana lakes and the bucolic scenery of the twisting drive up to the still mysterious monastery that was used for the back drop to the Umberto Eco novel that was turned in to a cult classic movie, "The Name of the Rose", and ponder what it might be like to actually see the inside. I'm still wondering about the movie and book as well. Add those on the list as well....
Anyway, it was nice to arrive in Torino/Turin on a Saturday to a semi quiet town that still was serving lunch after 2pm and then cranked back up in the afternoon . I was a bit surprised at how packed Torino was and that there just seemed to be so much going on, complete with a procession of costumed people making their way to Palazzo Madama, reopened after 10 years or so of renovation. By that time we were just enjoying strolling around, soaking in the sights and keeping under the arcades like everyone else to dodge being soaked from the random rain, just like the King's walk was intended to do when constructed for the Savoy's so many years ago. Torino is always a great place to wander around and be surprised by it's charms.

Vi raccomando una visita!Cafe Baratti & Milano

The Wind in Your Hair

Our recent guests from the UK brought along their sports cars to enjoy the sun, the wind in their hair and the hairpin curves coming up and down our road along with all the other points of interest along the way. They drove down thru France and came to us via the Upper Chisonethru Sestriere, still with a bit if snow left over from the ski season and along past the always impressive Fortezza di Fenestrelle, sometimes referred to the Great wall of Piedmont.
After a stay with us the are spending some time in Liguria before heading home to Great Britain by way of Nice. There they will load their cars onto this season's inaugural Monorail overnight trip back home. Seems like a relaxing way to enjoy the journey home to me. It's the stuff of memorable trips and adventures that you talk about for years to come. I'm glad we were included in the itinerary. Reminds me of my family's European travel adventure when I was a kid. My father was the king of "the art of the deal". He arranged for us to do a home exchange in Great Britain for a month, had traded in an old Saab "96" model that he had rescued from the junk yard, as no one could get their heads around putting the oil in with the gas, so they were always a supply for my fathers side line of spare time car mechanic. Armed with "Europe on $5 a Day", we picked up a brand new Saab in Slough England, broke it in whilst we stayed in England, taking in as many sights and experiences as possible. Then we embarked on the grand European tour for 6 weeks before driving our well broken in Saab onto a train, that eventually went onto a boat, that took us to Copenhagen where we had the car shipped back to the US for a mere pittance. We naturally luxuriated on the Icelandic 12 hour propeller plane, flight back home. It was an adventure and very life changing for me I suppose. I have such vivid memories of it all, least of all the food and customs that were so foreign and exotic to a young kid from a very small town in midwest, now quaintly referred to as the heartland of America. I suppose it has helped shape the course of my life directly and more indirectly than I realized. I am still deeply grateful and appreciative of the sacrifices that my parents made in order to give my youngest brother and I, a very special summer abroad. It's a wonderful memory especially as my parents are no longer with us but their adventuresome spirit lives on particularly in that summer. When it came to cars, my father had a passion for car trading, and these sports cars brought it all sweetly back home to me. So, although I digress from the subject, the wind might not be whistling thru my hair at the moment, but the childhood memories of "European Vacation" still evoke some pleasant feelings. I guess I would encourage those of you, especially with children to consider an adventure that might be more budget that splurge, but splurge anyway as the memory will live on long after the bills are paid.

April comes lately

It seems to take a bit of doing to get back in the blogging groove after a bit of time away. So to kick start me back into a groove, a wander around the neighborhood is always good for a bit of inspiration. I always love this time of year in the mountains when the snow is still up top and the valley can't wait to spread it verdant greenness everywhere. The vibrant greens are turning into the more serious dark forest greens and the progression of wildflowers are finally making their way up to our part of the hill. It's good to see what 's popping up and every day new color awaits me. These gentians caught my eye from a distance as they stood out against the hillside of green. Seems they caught the attention of this busy bee too.

Bella Baita Road Show

Well, here we are again after a bit of a hiatus. A much longer hiatus than anticipated as we left Bella Baita for a trip across the big pond to the USA to mix a bit of business with family. The fires have been quenched in Val Chisone when we left with a bit of snow but not enough to make us hope for more moisture. We landed in Chicago, the windy city living up to it's name indeed and all thoughts of strange warm winters have become a distant memory. We visited with my brother and family enjoying the charms of this big city, seeing the sights as this is only Fabrizio's second visit to the states. We have been enjoying all sorts of interesting people and places. We have been keeping ourselves in culinary shape by doing a bit of cooking along the way starting one evening off with a bit of brushetta.

We hope to do a few cooking classes to promote our classes back home for this next season. It also keeps us enjoying great food and wine with others and as always, talking about our area and what it has to offer as well. I hope to bring you our road show for your enjoyment as we feature some of our classes and menus. Unfortunately, we have had a bit of technology melt down with my computer so progress is slow.

Stay tuned as we travel to Colorado and my old stomping ground for a bit of fun as we bring our Bella Baita road show to altitude.

Universiadi Flame Arrives, Snow Hasn't

Well, it isn't quite the exciting event as last year's Olympic games, when the snow arrived late but arrived before the rest of the world. Pinerolo Market day had a tight turn around to get its town square cleaned and spiffed before the flame arrived in late afternoon. They of course managed to get it done. This year's University games are more like spring break in Daytona with out the beach or the crowds. Having said that, there was still a fair gathering of enthusiastic crowd that turned out in Pinerolo today to welcome the Olympic flame for the Games later this week in many of the same venues as last year. A bit of walk down memory lane. Pinerolo has the honor of hosting the curling events again this year like last year's regular and Paralympics curling events. It's an interesting game that when I worked in Austria, the local curling games usually turned into a drinking game somewhere between chugging Red Bull or Schnapps(and I don't mean the syrupy sweet stuff that passes for the real firewater that every bonafide mountain dweller thru out the alps makes for their winter supply).
Today the University supporters were handing out Red Bull to the crowd.
But I digress.
The flame arrived in a little lantern carrier, the torch was lit, and paraded thru town by a variety of flame carriers, but unlike last year instead of walking or running these torch holders were paraded about in a bevy of antique Fiat cars by a local motor club. The cars were stunning. The weather clear and lovely, the mountains pretty bare of snow, but there is still time for a bit of snow to save the day. Perhaps the act of parading the torch around will have the desired effect. We shall hope so.



Pinerolo is the birthplace of the calvary in Italy, so any chance to bring out another type of horse power is welcomed and attended. The horses were amazingly calm and impressively beautiful.

Update> RenneyBA"s Terella latest post talks about their lack of snow in Norway also. Not sure if that is reassuring or not, but Renny's blog is an interesting read anyway.