Highlights in the Piedmont Area

by Traci Smith
(IL, USA)

I wanted to write to you about a few highlights in the Piedmont area, although we were in 4 different areas, these are some special places in my memory.

We stayed in the town of Serralunga D'alba, which is a town of about 500 people.

We stayed at Antico Podere Tota Virginia, a 14 room hotel with a 4 star restaurant, an outdoor pool, and a view in the not too far distance of a medieval castle. A great location, and the pool was a fabulous touch for the heat of the day.

Across the street from this hotel is a place called Trattoria del Castello, which also is a hotel. My husband and I went there for dinner one night not quite knowing what to expect.

It was a degustazione, with no menu handed out for either wine or food......... 14 courses later..... We were heading home across the street. A 3 hour gastronomic experience, with a bottle of wine for 80 euros!

A crazy, unforgettable night, never knowing what course was coming out next, watching others expressions as the night wore on, the loosening of belts etc.... Luigi Baudana, the proprietor, also has a vignetto across the street, and the street is actually named after him. So, I"m sure we were drinking his wine as well.

Nearby in the town of Barolo, we were going to visit the wine museum, however it appears that Barolo is pretty much closed on Thursdays, except we did find a corkscrew museum.

This turned out to be a little gem, and for 4 euro/person this was a nice treat. It took about 1/2 hour to walk through there and it was very interesting to see the different corkscrews of different time periods and countries.

There is also a small shop out in front as well. Barolo is a cute town. I would recommend going there or staying there. We saw a few cute hotels, one of which had a pool as well.

Hope this is interesting and some tidbits that you may not be famiiar with. I did like reading your blog, and appreciate and understand your passion for Italy.




Traci Smith

River Forest, IL