Milan Day 3

Sunday September 17, 2017

Another early start today as we travel to the region of Verduno, Piedmonte. For those who enjoy their wines you might be more familiar with the names Barolo and Barbaresco as this area is famous for their production. However, in our grand touring style we have a few stops planned along the way. After a quick breakfast (eating very light as we know what is coming later on!) we packed up our belongings ("how can we make such a mess in only 2 days?" asks Grant and yet, remarkably his suitcase is reassembled and zipped up as he wanders around trying to be "helpful".) We take a short walk to where we have parked the rental car; find joy in the fact that for the next few days we can use the car as an extra closet, set the GPS and off we go.

Now for those who read our original Italy blog you might remember our last encounter with the Italian road system and how we got stuck in a toll booth when it would not take our money and we accidentally pushed the Italian button for assistance. Apparently that emotionally traumatic event was not far from our minds as we encountered our first highway toll today. It was not the maze of roads leading out of Milan or the traffic (that doesn't give any indication of their intentions) that jangled us. It wasn't even the most dangerous of road designs they have here. It was simply the tolls… which actually ended up being very simple when you don't mess it up and have no need to speak Italian!! As for the driving here, we have the advantage that Grant is very familiar with the "Round About" system; in fact he is a fan. In Milan, when you exit a "Round About" and start to accelerate into your lane you immediately find yourself at a red light and hope to come to a screeching halt. This certainly got our attention. We happened to be the second car in line and thank goodness we stopped in time. The cars behind us seemed to be sitting in the exit of the Round About. We thought it was a fluke but there were several more of these. We note… an auto insurance appraiser's dream idea!!

Our first stop of the day was only a 30 minute drive and only a little off route. The Alpha Romeo Museum and showroom would be our first stop of the day. We spent some time here admiring the wonderful collection of vintage, new, "test cars" and racing car collections that are in this impressive space. Check out some of the pictures if you are a car buff or if you are like me, skim through to see some of the most impressive colours they have! Even if you are not interested in the engineering it is fun to observe the evolution of the automobile and watch how things like the horn, lights, wipers, doors, handles and seat belts etc. evolved. They also had a small airplane engine section which was the cream on the gelato for someone! At the end of the museum you arrive in the new showroom. I thought I might get my Italy souvenir here, after all, it is customary for tourists to come home with a keychain isn't it? Mine would just have a key fob attached to it belonging to a new car! I have to admit even for me (as someone who chooses cars by colour and how proportional they are), these vehicles were very beautiful.

From here we were off to Castagnole Monferrato,to enjoy lunch at a village restaurant where you could enjoy a traditional Piedmonte style meal at Trattoria da Geppe. After ending up in the wrong village (we entered a restaurant with a similar name) and winding our way back down through the narrow and windy streets we drove about 5 minutes down the road and wound our way back up the next hill where we had our reservation for lunch. This place is another spot where there is just enough English and Italian between us to ask for a table. Our fellow diners were locals having Sunday lunch together and we seemed to be the only visitors. Many seemed to know each other and there were some large family groups with babes and toddlers all charging around. We managed to explain that yes, we did have a reservation (I had made on Facebook as I could not communicate over the phone) and once I used the word Facebook they had a table by the window ready for us. Lunch was wonderful. We followed their suggestions of what to try to have as an authentic local style meal (much pointing involved). Starting with a leak soufflé with a blue cheese sauce (this was AMAZING even for someone who is not a huge Gorgonzola fan), 2 types of Ravioli with local cheese and sauces and we shared the Piedimonte stew (more like Sunday roast dinner, rather then a stew). We had a bottle of Ruche wine from a local winery which was, as Grant says quick to "hit the temples"… more then very quickly. Ruché di Castagnole Monferrato comes from a very small part of this area and is, therefore, one of the lowest production varietal wines in Italy. Sadly the store was closed so this remains our one experience with this rare and very powerful Ruche wine. We had to spend some time in this quaint town, which was far from a hardship as it was at the top of the hill with views of sprawling hills and vineyards with other hilltop villages off in the distance. These are the parts of Italy that we have come to love and we feel so grateful to be back again. As we were strolling outside, we saw a line up of tractors with some being obvious antiques. I thought of my Grandfather Earl Thomas and I'm sure that he would have really enjoyed this and what came next. A group of people began to gather and the next thing you know we were watching a harvest parade. There was a clown on stilts who took an interest in the obvious "out of towners" and was trying to explain some what was going on (more hand gestures). The marching band began to play and the tractors began to rev their engines. At one point you couldn't hear the band as this group of farmers and their tractors were so loud. The most interesting part of this to us was the Landini Land Tractor which we think dates from 1939. In order to get this particular tractor started they had to use a propane torch to heat the air intake for the diesel engine and when they turned the engine manually, it sucked the hot air in so it could start. It is impressive as it gets rolling with the fly wheel turning as the farmer started it with the hand crank. (I married an appraiser for this exact moment!) Grant was fascinated with this process and kept stepping in to look at the tractors engines up close. Sadly he couldn't communicate with the farmers but I know he would have loved to have talked engines wth them for hours! The parade began and what seemed to be the whole town followed the band, the tractors and the town folk dressed in costumes and carrying baskets of grapes etc. Ironically, by the time the celebration of the harvest of the Ruche wines was finished, we had sobered up and were ready to head to our next destination. Originally we had planned to stop at the Ferrari Winery which is only a few minutes away from where we were but decided it was likely not a good idea to drink anymore so we headed onward.

** As a side note, the Ferrari winery is not like Wayne Gretzky slapping his name on a bottle of wine at home but actually this award winning winery has been in production since 1902 and likely funded the other projects that Ferrari has dabbled in. You might have heard of them? The vineyards are still in use today and apparently the awards keep coming!

About an hour later we had arrived at our destination in the town of Verduno. This is another very old town with some of the walled city remaining. Here we are staying in Castello Di Verduno which is an Agrotourimo location and is a working winery. We had no idea of it's amazing history and were even more surprised to discover our accommodation. At the start of the XVI century, the Cerrato family started building the Castle. In the 1631 Verduno passes under the jurisdiction of the House of Savoy with the Treaty of Cherasco, Later the new owner Carlo Luigi Caisotti has part of the castle rebuilt and the history continued.

On arrival we were charmed by the enormous chestnut trees and the beautiful facade of this ancient building. We were warmly greeted and were brought coffee and water to their garden where we enjoyed the warm sunshine and the beautiful view. I went to see where our room which was located up two very narrow flights of stairs (wondering how we would get our bags up!) and our host opened one of the ornately decorated doors (#4) with an old fashioned key. I'm already thinking this is amazing because I love big old keys and the doors they belong to. When we walked in the room I was immediately taken with the height of the ceilings. We are guessing they about 18-20 feet high and domed. There are lovely shuttered windows all around that can open to the backyard views. The room is HUGE… but then… she goes through the room and opens an internal door. There is another full size room including table and chairs and a huge king size bed in this room. In broken English she tells me that this is the King room. I am thinking King size room. NO… she means the King's room. This "Castle" was the summer home of King Carlo Alberto of Savoy in 1838 and our room that they have given us was their Royal Suites. WHAT?? I went down to find Grant and told him quite somberly that the room that we had been given was not what we had booked nor what i had expected. He was a trooper reassuring me not to worry and that we would make the best of it! He as equally as surprised as I was but also immensely enjoyed the fact that we watch a lot of BBC dramas so he knows that the King would have the grand room and the Queen would have the other and was quick to inform me as well as taking every opportunity to remind me for our stay!

We made ourselves at home and after a short nap went for a nice walk (visiting the many friendly cats who seem to live at each home) through the village making our way to our late dinner plans that I had made for our first night here. Ironically it was the restaurant of one of the family members who was born in the country home we are staying in. Dinner was wonderful and we tried more local delicacies including meat with a tuna sauce Viitello Tonnato that is meant to be a "must have". We had our first glass of wine from the winery here and it was really enjoyable so we are looking forward to trying more from Castello Di Verduno winery tomorrow on our tour here.

We walked home and enjoyed the cool sweater weather air as we hiked up hill to get back "home" and brought a nightcap up to our room. Grant has started a book so I imagine conversations will be a little bit shorter now but this gives me time to type out what I can recall from the day before turning in.

No internet here so it's been quiet at home although just for my own memories… Baby Sabrina has arrived safe and sound so there is something wonderful to look forward to when we get home!