Lake Como, Piemonte (Piedmont) and Nice
Dec 4th, 2009, 09:33 AM
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Lake Como, Piemonte (Piedmont) and Nice
This report will cover the 13 days, three hotels and 38 meals we (my husband, Val and I) spent in Italy and the French Riviera in Late September/early October of this year.
I started planning at about the same time as Ekscrunchy started planning her trip to the Piemonte area of Italy and was able to coast along on a great deal of her research—thanks, Eks.
To keep things easy to find, I’ll break the report into sections:
Overview
Hotels
Sights—in each of the three areas
Dining—in each of the three areas
<b>Overview</b>
We flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Malpensa/Milan via JFK, rented a car from Europcar arranged through Autoeurope and returned from Nice to Ft. Lauderdale on Delta via JFK again. We congratulated ourselves for snagging exit row seats which afforded lots of legroom, but I’d have to think hard before doing it again. The seats themselves are narrower because they hold the tray tables in between the seats and it’s really cold by the larger windows/door.
Here’s how the time was divided and where we stayed. We felt like the amount of time in each place worked out well and we liked our hotel choices very much—with a couple of caveats.
Lake Como—staying in Varenna at the Hotel du Lac for 4 days
Piemonte—staying at the Villa Marcarini near Neviglie and Treiso for 5 days
Nice—staying at the Goldstar Resort for 4 days
<b>Hotels</b>
<b>Hotel du Lac in Varenna</b>
We’ve stayed here before and have recommended it to others who have also enjoyed it. It is one of three Hotel du Lacs on Lake Como, one each in all three of the towns in the middle of the lake—Varenna, Bellagio and Menaggio. So if you decide you’d like to stay at the Hotel du Lac, be certain you know which one you’re booking. This one is a taxi drive (or a long, uphill walk with luggage) from the ferry dock or a somewhat shorter but still hefty walk from the train station, downhill from the main square of the town where the church stands. It can be a bit hard to find but they do have parking (for 15 euros per day in their garage) so you can leave your car and get around by ferry, steamer or walking all/most of the time you are there.
The place feels like a nice house with a lovely terrace/garden and rooftop patio where you can have drinks, snacks and breakfast as you watch the lake and best of all the sunset over Lake Como and the hills/mountains that surround it. We think the view from the terrace is quite one of the loveliest places on earth, bar none. It’s relaxing and beautiful beyond words. Even if you don’t stay at the hotel, you can stop by the terrace for drinks. I recommend it highly.
Rooms are nicely appointed, some with narrow balconies able to hold a single chair (others with nice wide balconies but in a higher price category) for 187 euros a double. Ours had a bed, desk, and sofa. Everything is very clean and well cared for. Our bathroom had a shower with a seat where you could sit but not an actual tub. The one drawback if you have knee replacements like I do, is that there is no elevator and rooms on two or maybe even three levels, so be sure to check ahead if climbing stairs is a problem for you.
Breakfast is included in the room rate and includes all of the standard offerings, including nice cheeses and cold cuts, and usually a homebaked sweet treat. Service is truly caring and friendly.
We’ve stayed at the Grand Hotel Menaggio and the Grand Hotel Victoria in Menaggio (never in Bellagio) and find the du Lac in Varenna superior as a hotel. Unfortunately, we find Menaggio as a town superior to Varenna, so it’s tough to decide where to stay next time we’re on the Lake but I’m guessing that we won’t be able to resist the tug of the wonderful view at the Hotel du Lac in Varenna once again.
<b>Agriturismo Marcarini</b> --stands by itself in a vineyard owned by the prestigious Marcarini wine family outside of Neviglie and Treiso in Piemonte, about 8 km or so from Alba. I owe Ekscrunchy for this one. She stayed there for one night during her trip and thought highly of it. I loved the pictures on the website and at 100 euros a night (because we were staying 5 nights), I couldn’t pass it up. It was a delight.
The hospitality was genuine. We arrived early and Elisa, the woman who manages the place, apologized that our room was not ready (it was our fault for arriving early, not hers) and poured us glasses of the vineyard’s arneis wine to help us overcome our travel fatigue. She arranged to have a taxi meet us at a standard meeting place in the area and take us to the Alba Truffle festival opening and parade which was—lucky for us—scheduled for that day.
During the course of our stay Elisa performed many other acts of assistance to us, looking up train schedules on the internet, recommending and booking restaurants, all with a sincere interest in having us have the best possible time in Piemonte and at Marcarini. She was a true delight.
The place was exquisite. A lovely villa-like stone structure of two floors, with a beautiful staircase, nice, very clean rooms with large bathrooms in pleasing, muted tones, and nice touches here and there. The breakfast room was on the second floor of another building over a garage-like structure with a nice outside seating area and hot tub available for guest use.
Breakfast was included in the price of our room and while not the best feature of the lodging, perfectly fine with toast, or rolls, meat and cheese, and probably some sweets. The room was rustic but with a very flamboyant glass chandelier, a nice contrast.
Looking out the windows of the room or the bathroom to see the vineyards all around us was an additional and unique treat. I can’t recommend this place highly enough, especially at its incredibly reasonable rates.
But if you book and stay there, be sure to have a working GPS with you. We debated whether to book at an “on its own” agriturismo or at a hotel in a town, and decided that with our handy-dandy Garmin we’d be fine fending for ourselves in the dark on small country roads. And we would have, had the #%*@! thing not quit working on us. Still haven’t figured out whether the problem was the Garmin itself or the car’s cigarette lighter into which it was plugged, but after an hour’s worth of direction old Gretel just up and died on us, leaving us navigating those small, country roads with only a very old, crumbling Michelin map. By the end of our time there we’d become quite proficient at finding our way, but the first couple of days, it was tough going. Lesson learned: Be sure your Garmin works before you drive off the rental car lot
.
<b>Gold Star Resort in Nice</b>--was a fine but sort of quirky hotel. I booked via 1800hotels.com which was questioned on this board, so I was a bit concerned. It turned out just fine. I got a terrific rate, of 177 US, prepaid but including breakfast. This compared very favorably with the 250 euros or so that was posted in the hotel and with rates for similar hotels in the area of Nice where we stayed—a couple of blocks off the Promenade and in the downtown area.
I’m guessing that the hotel is Russian owned, because that’s what the folks at the front desk appeared to be speaking to each other. Russian was also the first language listed among the 4 translations used for signage in the hotel and there is a large Russian population in Nice overall. That assumed, the décor was predominately Asian with full-size terra cotta warriors at various places in the halls and public rooms.
What was really wonderful about the hotel—besides its reasonable price, good location, and overall cleanliness and classy décor—was its rooms. It’s apparently an all suite hotel, with rooms that feature separate living rooms with desk, chair, and sleeper sofa. The toilet and bidet were separate from the tub/shower vanity area and there was even a highly compact little kitchen facility with frig, cooktop, sink and dishwasher (in about a square yard of space, amazingly laid out). Everything was polished marble from the floors to the walls and very streamlined and modern. It was great—and again, at an incredibly reasonable rate.
Buffet breakfast was served in the hotel restaurant space which had small decks holding two tables each where you could take your breakfast while enjoying the lovely Nice climate. The breakfast was ample and included the usual selections we’d had other places plus scrambled eggs and bacon. The restaurant/breakfast room was large but broken up into a couple of areas, showed evidence of sound machines for dancing or just loud music and even had an area with raked sand. Quirky but kind of fun.
There was a pool and sunning area one floor up from the restaurant and probably a workout room. I never checked out any of this but Val assured me it was there. I know they had a computer and wifi for guest use since I used it each day.
The one really problematic thing about the place was its garage. Luckily I got out of the car and attended to the luggage and check in while Val drove down the ramp to park the vehicle. Glad I did or my ears would still be ringing. Just getting down the ramp took him 3 tries for each turn since the ramp was so narrow—as were the actual places to put the vehicle. All that and they charged 25 euros a day. Once we got the beast down there (actually it wasn’t even a large car) we left it for the entire time we were in Nice which cramped our style a bit since I had intended to drive to Tourettes and a few other places during our stay.
So, if you are in Nice and not driving a car, you should consider Gold Star Resort. Except for the parking situation, it’s a wonderful bargain and a really nice hotel.
<b>Sights and activities On and near Lake Como</b>
Arriving at Malpensa/Milan, we drove to Lake Como via <b>Lugano, Switzerland,</b> an incredibly prosperous appearing small city on Lake Lugano with a lovely lakeside promenade with terrific modern outdoor sculpture, beautiful old arcaded buildings surrounding its central piazza and lining its streets. Looks like fabulous upscale shopping as well and a really nice salumeria which has always been one of my favorite food places in town. We had a nice lunch, walked the town a bit and moved on to Menaggio from which we took the car ferry to our home base in Varenna.
From what I could gather reading the boat schedule, the more frequent summer schedule is probably in effect through the end of the weekend that covers the last days of September. Boats run roughly every 30 minutes between Menaggio and Varenna but the last of the night leaves Menaggio for Varenna at 7:30 (important to note for its effect on dinner options). Boats from Bellagio to Varenna leave at 8:30 and sometime around 10 p.m., presumably because they carry only people and not cars.
While staying in Varenna we took trips by boat to Menaggio, Bellagio and Tremezzo.
<b>Menaggio</b> has undergone a real spiffing up since we were last there 3 or 4 years ago. Several of the buildings have gotten new coats of paint including a couple of the churches. Restaurants have improved their décor, the plantings along the waterside promenade have become more profuse and a new and very attractive sculpture dedicated to the women silk weavers of the area installed.
The Menaggio tourist information center is one of the best run anywhere and certainly the best for a town of its size with staff happy to arrange almost anything and enough free pamphlets to take away to start a sizable bonfire. The whole town exudes charm and good grooming and a real interest in capturing the tourist dollar while still preserving to the greatest possible extent the small town atmosphere that makes it basically attractive even without all the fix up.
Several shop windows were filled with pictures of places to buy in the area. Contrary to what is happening elsewhere, a real estate boom seems to be continuing in Menaggio and other Lake Como towns, possibly fueled by the glamour of their famous resident, George Clooney.
It is always delightful to walk about <b>Bellagio</b> if the tourist hordes aren’t swarming. It has more tourist-directed commerce than Varenna or Menaggio which makes window shopping fun. But for my money the big draw here is Villa Melzi, or better put, the grounds of Villa Melzi. Though there are few flowers appearing anywhere on the immense grounds, the trees and shrubbery are incomparably beautiful just on their own. There are wide paths to walk, along the water with fantastic specimens of all manner of trees from places all over the world—surely some among the largest of their kind. There is a sweet family chapel and a lovely gazebo, but I’ve never been into the villa itself and don’t even know if it is ever open to tour. I find the grounds far superior to those at Villa Carlotta which seems to get more (undue IMO) attention than Villa Melzi among those who post on this board.
I should report that the grand old hotel-like structure in Bellagio which you pass enroute to the Villa Melzi and which so captured the imaginations of Fodorites at one point that there erupted on this board something of an ersatz formation of an exploratory effort to purchase and renovate the place as the first Fodorite hotel, is no closer to being renovated by anyone than it ever was. Such a shame. It's a lovely, haunting place that if remodeled (at a cost of multi-millions), could surpass the Villa Serbelloni there.
With 4 days on Lake Como and having been there several times before, I wanted this time to do a longer day trip by train to someplace we’d not been before. We chose <b>Bergamo</b> on the strength of a Rudy Maxa episode filmed there. We enjoyed it thoroughly and I recommend it highly.
It was less than an hour train ride (local, not so fun train, though) from Varenna to the Bergamo train station in the new, lower part of the town followed by a ¾ mile walk to the funicular that takes you to the upper, old part of the city where you will find a lovely square surrounded by nice buildings, many housing very nice restaurants. Nearby is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore with it’s incredibly ornate, Baroque ceiling, much more interesting than the main Duomo of the town, which is not, however, shabby.
One of the streets leading away from the main square is almost completely food shops with old-fashioned décor and great food displays. Perhaps that’s why I was so hooked on Bergamo. It’s a truly worthy day trip if you can tear yourself away from the natural beauty of Lake Como.
We took the ferry to Villa Carlotta for the requisite visit to those gardens about which I’ve already commented above. After stopping there, we walked on down the shore to the village of <b>Tremezzo</b> and had lunch under the arcades of the shops lining the road along the water. If your time in Lake Como is limited, Tremezzo, IMO is one of the places you don’t need to push to get to. Save the time and go sit on the terrace of the Varenna Hotel du Lac, order a drink and watch the sunset over the mountains instead.
Next installment: Dining in and around Lake Como
I started planning at about the same time as Ekscrunchy started planning her trip to the Piemonte area of Italy and was able to coast along on a great deal of her research—thanks, Eks.
To keep things easy to find, I’ll break the report into sections:
Overview
Hotels
Sights—in each of the three areas
Dining—in each of the three areas
<b>Overview</b>
We flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Malpensa/Milan via JFK, rented a car from Europcar arranged through Autoeurope and returned from Nice to Ft. Lauderdale on Delta via JFK again. We congratulated ourselves for snagging exit row seats which afforded lots of legroom, but I’d have to think hard before doing it again. The seats themselves are narrower because they hold the tray tables in between the seats and it’s really cold by the larger windows/door.
Here’s how the time was divided and where we stayed. We felt like the amount of time in each place worked out well and we liked our hotel choices very much—with a couple of caveats.
Lake Como—staying in Varenna at the Hotel du Lac for 4 days
Piemonte—staying at the Villa Marcarini near Neviglie and Treiso for 5 days
Nice—staying at the Goldstar Resort for 4 days
<b>Hotels</b>
<b>Hotel du Lac in Varenna</b>
We’ve stayed here before and have recommended it to others who have also enjoyed it. It is one of three Hotel du Lacs on Lake Como, one each in all three of the towns in the middle of the lake—Varenna, Bellagio and Menaggio. So if you decide you’d like to stay at the Hotel du Lac, be certain you know which one you’re booking. This one is a taxi drive (or a long, uphill walk with luggage) from the ferry dock or a somewhat shorter but still hefty walk from the train station, downhill from the main square of the town where the church stands. It can be a bit hard to find but they do have parking (for 15 euros per day in their garage) so you can leave your car and get around by ferry, steamer or walking all/most of the time you are there.
The place feels like a nice house with a lovely terrace/garden and rooftop patio where you can have drinks, snacks and breakfast as you watch the lake and best of all the sunset over Lake Como and the hills/mountains that surround it. We think the view from the terrace is quite one of the loveliest places on earth, bar none. It’s relaxing and beautiful beyond words. Even if you don’t stay at the hotel, you can stop by the terrace for drinks. I recommend it highly.
Rooms are nicely appointed, some with narrow balconies able to hold a single chair (others with nice wide balconies but in a higher price category) for 187 euros a double. Ours had a bed, desk, and sofa. Everything is very clean and well cared for. Our bathroom had a shower with a seat where you could sit but not an actual tub. The one drawback if you have knee replacements like I do, is that there is no elevator and rooms on two or maybe even three levels, so be sure to check ahead if climbing stairs is a problem for you.
Breakfast is included in the room rate and includes all of the standard offerings, including nice cheeses and cold cuts, and usually a homebaked sweet treat. Service is truly caring and friendly.
We’ve stayed at the Grand Hotel Menaggio and the Grand Hotel Victoria in Menaggio (never in Bellagio) and find the du Lac in Varenna superior as a hotel. Unfortunately, we find Menaggio as a town superior to Varenna, so it’s tough to decide where to stay next time we’re on the Lake but I’m guessing that we won’t be able to resist the tug of the wonderful view at the Hotel du Lac in Varenna once again.
<b>Agriturismo Marcarini</b> --stands by itself in a vineyard owned by the prestigious Marcarini wine family outside of Neviglie and Treiso in Piemonte, about 8 km or so from Alba. I owe Ekscrunchy for this one. She stayed there for one night during her trip and thought highly of it. I loved the pictures on the website and at 100 euros a night (because we were staying 5 nights), I couldn’t pass it up. It was a delight.
The hospitality was genuine. We arrived early and Elisa, the woman who manages the place, apologized that our room was not ready (it was our fault for arriving early, not hers) and poured us glasses of the vineyard’s arneis wine to help us overcome our travel fatigue. She arranged to have a taxi meet us at a standard meeting place in the area and take us to the Alba Truffle festival opening and parade which was—lucky for us—scheduled for that day.
During the course of our stay Elisa performed many other acts of assistance to us, looking up train schedules on the internet, recommending and booking restaurants, all with a sincere interest in having us have the best possible time in Piemonte and at Marcarini. She was a true delight.
The place was exquisite. A lovely villa-like stone structure of two floors, with a beautiful staircase, nice, very clean rooms with large bathrooms in pleasing, muted tones, and nice touches here and there. The breakfast room was on the second floor of another building over a garage-like structure with a nice outside seating area and hot tub available for guest use.
Breakfast was included in the price of our room and while not the best feature of the lodging, perfectly fine with toast, or rolls, meat and cheese, and probably some sweets. The room was rustic but with a very flamboyant glass chandelier, a nice contrast.
Looking out the windows of the room or the bathroom to see the vineyards all around us was an additional and unique treat. I can’t recommend this place highly enough, especially at its incredibly reasonable rates.
But if you book and stay there, be sure to have a working GPS with you. We debated whether to book at an “on its own” agriturismo or at a hotel in a town, and decided that with our handy-dandy Garmin we’d be fine fending for ourselves in the dark on small country roads. And we would have, had the #%*@! thing not quit working on us. Still haven’t figured out whether the problem was the Garmin itself or the car’s cigarette lighter into which it was plugged, but after an hour’s worth of direction old Gretel just up and died on us, leaving us navigating those small, country roads with only a very old, crumbling Michelin map. By the end of our time there we’d become quite proficient at finding our way, but the first couple of days, it was tough going. Lesson learned: Be sure your Garmin works before you drive off the rental car lot
.
<b>Gold Star Resort in Nice</b>--was a fine but sort of quirky hotel. I booked via 1800hotels.com which was questioned on this board, so I was a bit concerned. It turned out just fine. I got a terrific rate, of 177 US, prepaid but including breakfast. This compared very favorably with the 250 euros or so that was posted in the hotel and with rates for similar hotels in the area of Nice where we stayed—a couple of blocks off the Promenade and in the downtown area.
I’m guessing that the hotel is Russian owned, because that’s what the folks at the front desk appeared to be speaking to each other. Russian was also the first language listed among the 4 translations used for signage in the hotel and there is a large Russian population in Nice overall. That assumed, the décor was predominately Asian with full-size terra cotta warriors at various places in the halls and public rooms.
What was really wonderful about the hotel—besides its reasonable price, good location, and overall cleanliness and classy décor—was its rooms. It’s apparently an all suite hotel, with rooms that feature separate living rooms with desk, chair, and sleeper sofa. The toilet and bidet were separate from the tub/shower vanity area and there was even a highly compact little kitchen facility with frig, cooktop, sink and dishwasher (in about a square yard of space, amazingly laid out). Everything was polished marble from the floors to the walls and very streamlined and modern. It was great—and again, at an incredibly reasonable rate.
Buffet breakfast was served in the hotel restaurant space which had small decks holding two tables each where you could take your breakfast while enjoying the lovely Nice climate. The breakfast was ample and included the usual selections we’d had other places plus scrambled eggs and bacon. The restaurant/breakfast room was large but broken up into a couple of areas, showed evidence of sound machines for dancing or just loud music and even had an area with raked sand. Quirky but kind of fun.
There was a pool and sunning area one floor up from the restaurant and probably a workout room. I never checked out any of this but Val assured me it was there. I know they had a computer and wifi for guest use since I used it each day.
The one really problematic thing about the place was its garage. Luckily I got out of the car and attended to the luggage and check in while Val drove down the ramp to park the vehicle. Glad I did or my ears would still be ringing. Just getting down the ramp took him 3 tries for each turn since the ramp was so narrow—as were the actual places to put the vehicle. All that and they charged 25 euros a day. Once we got the beast down there (actually it wasn’t even a large car) we left it for the entire time we were in Nice which cramped our style a bit since I had intended to drive to Tourettes and a few other places during our stay.
So, if you are in Nice and not driving a car, you should consider Gold Star Resort. Except for the parking situation, it’s a wonderful bargain and a really nice hotel.
<b>Sights and activities On and near Lake Como</b>
Arriving at Malpensa/Milan, we drove to Lake Como via <b>Lugano, Switzerland,</b> an incredibly prosperous appearing small city on Lake Lugano with a lovely lakeside promenade with terrific modern outdoor sculpture, beautiful old arcaded buildings surrounding its central piazza and lining its streets. Looks like fabulous upscale shopping as well and a really nice salumeria which has always been one of my favorite food places in town. We had a nice lunch, walked the town a bit and moved on to Menaggio from which we took the car ferry to our home base in Varenna.
From what I could gather reading the boat schedule, the more frequent summer schedule is probably in effect through the end of the weekend that covers the last days of September. Boats run roughly every 30 minutes between Menaggio and Varenna but the last of the night leaves Menaggio for Varenna at 7:30 (important to note for its effect on dinner options). Boats from Bellagio to Varenna leave at 8:30 and sometime around 10 p.m., presumably because they carry only people and not cars.
While staying in Varenna we took trips by boat to Menaggio, Bellagio and Tremezzo.
<b>Menaggio</b> has undergone a real spiffing up since we were last there 3 or 4 years ago. Several of the buildings have gotten new coats of paint including a couple of the churches. Restaurants have improved their décor, the plantings along the waterside promenade have become more profuse and a new and very attractive sculpture dedicated to the women silk weavers of the area installed.
The Menaggio tourist information center is one of the best run anywhere and certainly the best for a town of its size with staff happy to arrange almost anything and enough free pamphlets to take away to start a sizable bonfire. The whole town exudes charm and good grooming and a real interest in capturing the tourist dollar while still preserving to the greatest possible extent the small town atmosphere that makes it basically attractive even without all the fix up.
Several shop windows were filled with pictures of places to buy in the area. Contrary to what is happening elsewhere, a real estate boom seems to be continuing in Menaggio and other Lake Como towns, possibly fueled by the glamour of their famous resident, George Clooney.
It is always delightful to walk about <b>Bellagio</b> if the tourist hordes aren’t swarming. It has more tourist-directed commerce than Varenna or Menaggio which makes window shopping fun. But for my money the big draw here is Villa Melzi, or better put, the grounds of Villa Melzi. Though there are few flowers appearing anywhere on the immense grounds, the trees and shrubbery are incomparably beautiful just on their own. There are wide paths to walk, along the water with fantastic specimens of all manner of trees from places all over the world—surely some among the largest of their kind. There is a sweet family chapel and a lovely gazebo, but I’ve never been into the villa itself and don’t even know if it is ever open to tour. I find the grounds far superior to those at Villa Carlotta which seems to get more (undue IMO) attention than Villa Melzi among those who post on this board.
I should report that the grand old hotel-like structure in Bellagio which you pass enroute to the Villa Melzi and which so captured the imaginations of Fodorites at one point that there erupted on this board something of an ersatz formation of an exploratory effort to purchase and renovate the place as the first Fodorite hotel, is no closer to being renovated by anyone than it ever was. Such a shame. It's a lovely, haunting place that if remodeled (at a cost of multi-millions), could surpass the Villa Serbelloni there.
With 4 days on Lake Como and having been there several times before, I wanted this time to do a longer day trip by train to someplace we’d not been before. We chose <b>Bergamo</b> on the strength of a Rudy Maxa episode filmed there. We enjoyed it thoroughly and I recommend it highly.
It was less than an hour train ride (local, not so fun train, though) from Varenna to the Bergamo train station in the new, lower part of the town followed by a ¾ mile walk to the funicular that takes you to the upper, old part of the city where you will find a lovely square surrounded by nice buildings, many housing very nice restaurants. Nearby is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore with it’s incredibly ornate, Baroque ceiling, much more interesting than the main Duomo of the town, which is not, however, shabby.
One of the streets leading away from the main square is almost completely food shops with old-fashioned décor and great food displays. Perhaps that’s why I was so hooked on Bergamo. It’s a truly worthy day trip if you can tear yourself away from the natural beauty of Lake Como.
We took the ferry to Villa Carlotta for the requisite visit to those gardens about which I’ve already commented above. After stopping there, we walked on down the shore to the village of <b>Tremezzo</b> and had lunch under the arcades of the shops lining the road along the water. If your time in Lake Como is limited, Tremezzo, IMO is one of the places you don’t need to push to get to. Save the time and go sit on the terrace of the Varenna Hotel du Lac, order a drink and watch the sunset over the mountains instead.
Next installment: Dining in and around Lake Como
Dec 4th, 2009, 11:10 PM
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I've been anxious to hear about your impressions of Lake Como, Julie! I am enjoying your trip report very much!
I have to agree that the gardens at Villa Melzi in Bellagio are magnificant! I remember walking along the paths when suddenly vistas of the lake would open up! It was breath-taking!!! Did you ever stop to imagine what it must have been like to travel & to stay here in the early 1800's?
Looking forward to more!
2010
I have to agree that the gardens at Villa Melzi in Bellagio are magnificant! I remember walking along the paths when suddenly vistas of the lake would open up! It was breath-taking!!! Did you ever stop to imagine what it must have been like to travel & to stay here in the early 1800's?
Looking forward to more!
2010
Dec 5th, 2009, 04:24 AM
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Thanks for all your kind words. Hoping to get back to this sometime today. It's competing with my Christmas letter for attention.
I'm excited about all the interest in Piemonte that we're starting to hear on this board. I've been trying to convince Katie that Fodors should get ahead of this trend and include more info on the region in their guides--actually I think they should get going on a European wine tour guide. I'm ready to call Piemonte the next Tuscany (Umbria having already had its day.)
I'm excited about all the interest in Piemonte that we're starting to hear on this board. I've been trying to convince Katie that Fodors should get ahead of this trend and include more info on the region in their guides--actually I think they should get going on a European wine tour guide. I'm ready to call Piemonte the next Tuscany (Umbria having already had its day.)
Dec 5th, 2009, 06:17 AM
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<b>Dining on and near Lake Como and in Bergamo</b>
In <b>Lugano</b>, we chose <b>Sass Café and Wineria</b> from among the many places lining the main square. What a treat to have the first plate of the trip served to us appear with beautifully folded prosciutto slices arranged in a flower centered by peeled figs with the chartreuse edges encircling their pink seeded centers and topped with fresh red currants and spikes of dark green chives. Absolutely beautiful and very tasty.
My plate of charcuterie had more variety and great taste but certainly nowhere near the same visual appeal. Nonetheless it too was good as was Val’s fettucini with porcini and my gnocchi with trout and gallerini mushrooms.
As we dined, exuberant school children were entering the square to whoop and holler after a day’s lessons and some very well-heeled mothers wheeled their expensive baby carriages between the expensive shops. A truly prosperous city and a delight to dine in.
<b>Nuovo Isole 1169</b>, a new place in <b>Varenna</b>. Little so excites me as the opportunity to try a new place to eat in a destination where we’ve been before, so I was delighted to have this place appear only about 100 yards from the door of our hotel. Cute with nice outdoor seating (though no water view) on a sort of residential square with lovely old trees, the place has been open less than a year and seems to be holding its own with some of the more established places in Varenna.
We started with smoked salmon toasts and a glass of prosecco, then a double order of risotto with gorgonzola and small bits of porcini—the hit of the meal, and secondis of Lavarello, the local Lake Como fish for Val and roasted goat for me (It’s my favorite meat and if it’s on the menu, I have it.) Both were good and at 15 euros each, very reasonable.
I wouldn’t go all out to recommend this new place, but for the traveler staying several nights in Varenna with limited options, it’s certainly a welcome, substantive addition to the dining scene.
<b>Ristorante di Paolo in Menaggio</b> is a place we’ve eaten on previous trips. I mistakenly called it Paolino in one of the reports on this forum—sorry. It is in or shares space with the Hotel Corona right on the main square of Menaggio and we found it serviceable to good when we ate there. We didn’t eat there this time but we did note, that like so much of Menaggio, it’s come in for some spiffing up. New lettering on the windows announces its correct name and a cute bicycle with flowers in a basket sits in front. The interior too has undergone a nice upgrade. While I can’t speak for any changes in the food, (which really didn’t need to change, offering as it did, nice homecooked, family style meals with great mac and cheese, or Quattro fromaggi in Italian, etc.) the place sure seems to merit a meal for anyone staying in Menaggio.
Our lunch that day was in <b>Bellagio</b> to which we took the steamer after renewing our acquaintance with Menaggio. We had planned to have it on the lakeshore under the wisteria vines of the outdoor space served by the Hotel Florence but alas they had closed a day or so previous for the whole season—important information for people to note who are planning trips to Lake Como. Apparently not only does the ferry schedule change in October, but some places close for the season.
Anyway, when we were turned away from our intended destination, we walked the area under the arcades across from the ferry stop and perused the menus of the hotels and restaurants there. When I spied pizzochieri on the menu of the one star <b>Suisse Hotel</b>, that was it. We plunked ourselves down in their outdoor seating area and awaited the wonderful buckwheat noodles and bitto cheese dish that is a trademark of the area.
This turned out to be one of the best meals we had in the Lake Como area. Val started with melon and prosciutto (he has a habit of eating habitually) and moved on to lavarello with onions and olives that he liked so well he made notes about it so we could try to duplicate it when we got home.
I had beef carpaccio with Dijon vinaigrette and parmesan and some really good, mellow capers of the kind you can never get in jars, and then the piece de resistance or however you say that in Italian—the pizzochieri. It was something of a deconstructed version with thick, homemade buckwheat noodles (which Val described as “meaty”) accompanied by potatoes that had to have been marinating in butter, and the cheese, all under a cape of par-boiled savoy cabbage as a substitute for the more traditional swiss chard. It was rich and wonderful. Two days into the trip and already I’d had goat and pizzochieri. This was shaping up to be a very good trip.
Dinner that night was in <b>Varenna at the La Contrada Ristorante</b> in the Villa Cipressi. Again, we’d eaten here before and so weren’t expecting great things food-wise, but knew the ambiance would be special—sitting outside next to the lovely villa, looking past the fountains of the garden to the lake on the horizon.
Food was ok, but not great. I had octopus with potatoes and arugula in oil and veal with a pistachio coating. Val had shrimp with tomatoes and mozzarella and swordfish with a wimpy tomato sauce.
When I say the food was ok, I mean just that. If you are in Varenna for several nights and want some variety in your dining and can accept ok food with a terrific ambiance, this can be a good choice.
The following day, after touring the Villa Carlotta gardens we walked to <b>Tremezzo</b> and stopped under the arcades at the <b>Helvetia Ristorante</b> for lunch. Val again had prosciutto and some very sweet melon and I had an assortment of meats. Then he had an anchovy pizza and I had ravioli with pesto. Again, a serviceable place with reasonable prices.
Dinner was at <b>Vecchia Verenna</b>, on their deck cantilevered over the lake. This place was once quite good and featured in an article Bon Appetit did on Lake Como complete with their recipe for pizzochieri, watered down for American ingredients. It’s no longer so good, but still ok, in the same sense as La Contrada is ok as explained above.
I had pumpkin gnocchi which was pretty with a touch of orange in butter and parmesan but not a hint of the promised sage. Val had a nice plate of local sausages including his favorite, boar. His spicy fish soup was pretty much just tomato broth with Tabasco. (He should have stayed with the safe sausages.)
My rabbit was nice and tender but the sauce in which it was served and the accompanying potatoes and ratatouille were not exciting. We were in and out in an hour. The saving grace of the place is that the meal, less wine and espresso, cost less than 50 euros.
<b>Bergamo</b> appears to be quite a food-centric town, with its streets of food stores and square surrounded by restaurants. I had a few notes from guidebooks telling me which restaurants to look for, but we wound up at a place I had no notes about but looked good—the <b>Trattoria Sant Ambroeus</b> on the main square in the upper city. Seating was in a nice outdoor area on Phillippe Starck type dark plastic chairs which reflected the buildings of the square opposite us—an interesting, if unintended, touch.
Food here was very good. Val had smoked fish and polenta, then branzino in fennel and cream sauce with black olives. I had baby octopus in tomato sauce over grainy polenta then ravioli stuffed with meat sauce and pancetta and fried in butter and sage—finally, the sage I’d been expecting but gotten cheated out of at the previous night’s dinner. Again, this was one of our better meals in the Como area—though a bit distant to be technically Lake Como.
Our final dinner in <b>Varenna was at Il Cavatappi</b>, the preferred spot of most foodies staying in the area. Again we’d been there once before and were not as impressed as others who had written about it seemed to have been but were willing to give it another try. It performed better this time than previously but I’m still not sold on the wonderful reviews it is so often given. It is an interesting experience for sure.
The place is teeny, tiny with a crazy chef and one woman who handles the service for the 5 or so tables and helps him in the kitchen. Timing is the reverse of Vacchia Varenna. This place takes a very long time to serve your dinner.
We started with salami slices then risotto with crispy porcini (the best dish of the meal) and finished with lamb chops for me and beef with more porcini for Val. My lamb chops were ok. Val pronounced his beef with porcini very good. Price without wine was about the same as at Vecchia Varenna and I must say that this meal was better.
So, in total, our dining in and around Lake Como was not outstanding. It certainly was not awful. But food is not the primary draw for travel in this area of Italy IMO. (It must be noted that I have not dined at the well-thought of Plinio, as others posting here have --Ekscrunchy, I believe. Nor have I dined at Mistral, the super dupe place in the expensive Villa Serbelloni hotel, raved about in the Wine Spectator article on Lake Como.)
There is some interesting local cuisine to try—pizzochieri and the local Como fish—but there is nothing in my experience to knock your sox off. Oh oh, even as I say that, I recall that it isn’t true. There is one place that provided me a truly memorable meal. We just didn’t repeat it this time. That’s the multi-course, rustic, three hour meal with fire and story on the <b>Isola Comacina</b>.
I’ve written about it in previous reports, as have many others here, and someone furnished this link to an article that describes it. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tra...cle5676207.ece
I have also found the report my son-in-law (Candert) posted about it here on this forum after our trip with him to Lake Como in 2004. I think he captured the experience well and so I repeat his description below. (NB prices have changed since 2004, but I expect the experience is the same.)
From Candert’s report:
<b>Locanda dell'Isola Comacina</b> was my first flag of our trip. I'm far from a foodie, but I'm increasingly enjoying the eating experience, and from what I've heard this was going to be a good one. I was definitely looking forward to it. We had a little difficulty getting to the right boat stop for crossing over to the island. It led to a minor disagreement, but nothing that would tarnish the evening.
We found the correct boat dock, and sitting there was a little vaporetto fishing boat, like the toy one we bought today. Things are looking up! It was 5E a piece for the ride across. It includes a return after dinner. The sun was just setting as we came over. We had 7pm reservations. Kind of early for Italy, but we didn't want to book too late with it only being our second night. We walked from the dock up to the restaurant. We were greeted by our host and the owner Benvenuto Puricelli. He was quite the character all dressed up in a plaid vest wearing a matching ski hat.
Upon seating we were given a couple copies of the menu. It's actually more of program than a menu. They have served the same meal since 1947, and I don't think there are plans to change it anytime soon. It's 55E per person for the food and wine.
We were the second table to be seated that night. After being greeted came a bottle of white wine and the antipasto. It was huge. If this was a sign of things to come they were going to have to roll us out of there. The antipasto was an array of eight large plates; celery, carrots, baked onions, sweet peppers, courgettes, beans, broccoli and french beans. Then came separate plates for each of us with a slab of prosciutto, some kind of salted beef with cucumbers and melon. All very tasty. More people rolled in.
The second course was local grilled lake trout. It was dressed at the table adding lemon, salt and olive oil. After that came fried chicken which was actually quite tasty, even Liz ate it. Between courses we tried to "secure" a menu that we could abscond with to bring home and frame. Every time we got a hold of one and sort of tucked it away they would come back to the table and find it immediately. They must get a lot of that. By this time the restaurant is packed.
After our two meat courses they rolled out a huge round of parmigiano reggiano cheese. They scoped out blocks of it and deposited them into our hands. Great, gritty texture and very rich. Dessert was peaches in a banana liqueur served with vanilla gelato. They kept bringing us extra gelato so the other customers who arrived later could finish up their meal. The goal is for everyone to finish at once so Bienvenuto can have his big finale.
The lights darken and at the sound of a bell Bienvenuto enters the room and starts to burn brandy in a large black pot. He goes through the history of the island while performing the fire ceremony with the brandy. We actually almost left before this all began. The fire ceremony didn't start until 10pm, three hours after we arrived. It was taking all our strength to hang on, but it was certainly worth it.
We quickly exited after the production to head back to Menaggio and get some rest. We rated the place a 12.5 on our 15 point scale. Bascially 4's across the board, a great experience!
Me again:
So there you have it. Reports on meals we ate in the Lake Como area and even one we didn’t eat, at least not on this trip.
Lake Como is so beautiful that even a dedicated foodie like myself, is willing to make allowances for the less than gourmet food experience overall, to experience the spectacular views and terrific, relaxing ambiance this wonderful place has to offer.
Next installments: Sights and dining in Piemonte—after I get my Christmas letter written.
In <b>Lugano</b>, we chose <b>Sass Café and Wineria</b> from among the many places lining the main square. What a treat to have the first plate of the trip served to us appear with beautifully folded prosciutto slices arranged in a flower centered by peeled figs with the chartreuse edges encircling their pink seeded centers and topped with fresh red currants and spikes of dark green chives. Absolutely beautiful and very tasty.
My plate of charcuterie had more variety and great taste but certainly nowhere near the same visual appeal. Nonetheless it too was good as was Val’s fettucini with porcini and my gnocchi with trout and gallerini mushrooms.
As we dined, exuberant school children were entering the square to whoop and holler after a day’s lessons and some very well-heeled mothers wheeled their expensive baby carriages between the expensive shops. A truly prosperous city and a delight to dine in.
<b>Nuovo Isole 1169</b>, a new place in <b>Varenna</b>. Little so excites me as the opportunity to try a new place to eat in a destination where we’ve been before, so I was delighted to have this place appear only about 100 yards from the door of our hotel. Cute with nice outdoor seating (though no water view) on a sort of residential square with lovely old trees, the place has been open less than a year and seems to be holding its own with some of the more established places in Varenna.
We started with smoked salmon toasts and a glass of prosecco, then a double order of risotto with gorgonzola and small bits of porcini—the hit of the meal, and secondis of Lavarello, the local Lake Como fish for Val and roasted goat for me (It’s my favorite meat and if it’s on the menu, I have it.) Both were good and at 15 euros each, very reasonable.
I wouldn’t go all out to recommend this new place, but for the traveler staying several nights in Varenna with limited options, it’s certainly a welcome, substantive addition to the dining scene.
<b>Ristorante di Paolo in Menaggio</b> is a place we’ve eaten on previous trips. I mistakenly called it Paolino in one of the reports on this forum—sorry. It is in or shares space with the Hotel Corona right on the main square of Menaggio and we found it serviceable to good when we ate there. We didn’t eat there this time but we did note, that like so much of Menaggio, it’s come in for some spiffing up. New lettering on the windows announces its correct name and a cute bicycle with flowers in a basket sits in front. The interior too has undergone a nice upgrade. While I can’t speak for any changes in the food, (which really didn’t need to change, offering as it did, nice homecooked, family style meals with great mac and cheese, or Quattro fromaggi in Italian, etc.) the place sure seems to merit a meal for anyone staying in Menaggio.
Our lunch that day was in <b>Bellagio</b> to which we took the steamer after renewing our acquaintance with Menaggio. We had planned to have it on the lakeshore under the wisteria vines of the outdoor space served by the Hotel Florence but alas they had closed a day or so previous for the whole season—important information for people to note who are planning trips to Lake Como. Apparently not only does the ferry schedule change in October, but some places close for the season.
Anyway, when we were turned away from our intended destination, we walked the area under the arcades across from the ferry stop and perused the menus of the hotels and restaurants there. When I spied pizzochieri on the menu of the one star <b>Suisse Hotel</b>, that was it. We plunked ourselves down in their outdoor seating area and awaited the wonderful buckwheat noodles and bitto cheese dish that is a trademark of the area.
This turned out to be one of the best meals we had in the Lake Como area. Val started with melon and prosciutto (he has a habit of eating habitually) and moved on to lavarello with onions and olives that he liked so well he made notes about it so we could try to duplicate it when we got home.
I had beef carpaccio with Dijon vinaigrette and parmesan and some really good, mellow capers of the kind you can never get in jars, and then the piece de resistance or however you say that in Italian—the pizzochieri. It was something of a deconstructed version with thick, homemade buckwheat noodles (which Val described as “meaty”) accompanied by potatoes that had to have been marinating in butter, and the cheese, all under a cape of par-boiled savoy cabbage as a substitute for the more traditional swiss chard. It was rich and wonderful. Two days into the trip and already I’d had goat and pizzochieri. This was shaping up to be a very good trip.
Dinner that night was in <b>Varenna at the La Contrada Ristorante</b> in the Villa Cipressi. Again, we’d eaten here before and so weren’t expecting great things food-wise, but knew the ambiance would be special—sitting outside next to the lovely villa, looking past the fountains of the garden to the lake on the horizon.
Food was ok, but not great. I had octopus with potatoes and arugula in oil and veal with a pistachio coating. Val had shrimp with tomatoes and mozzarella and swordfish with a wimpy tomato sauce.
When I say the food was ok, I mean just that. If you are in Varenna for several nights and want some variety in your dining and can accept ok food with a terrific ambiance, this can be a good choice.
The following day, after touring the Villa Carlotta gardens we walked to <b>Tremezzo</b> and stopped under the arcades at the <b>Helvetia Ristorante</b> for lunch. Val again had prosciutto and some very sweet melon and I had an assortment of meats. Then he had an anchovy pizza and I had ravioli with pesto. Again, a serviceable place with reasonable prices.
Dinner was at <b>Vecchia Verenna</b>, on their deck cantilevered over the lake. This place was once quite good and featured in an article Bon Appetit did on Lake Como complete with their recipe for pizzochieri, watered down for American ingredients. It’s no longer so good, but still ok, in the same sense as La Contrada is ok as explained above.
I had pumpkin gnocchi which was pretty with a touch of orange in butter and parmesan but not a hint of the promised sage. Val had a nice plate of local sausages including his favorite, boar. His spicy fish soup was pretty much just tomato broth with Tabasco. (He should have stayed with the safe sausages.)
My rabbit was nice and tender but the sauce in which it was served and the accompanying potatoes and ratatouille were not exciting. We were in and out in an hour. The saving grace of the place is that the meal, less wine and espresso, cost less than 50 euros.
<b>Bergamo</b> appears to be quite a food-centric town, with its streets of food stores and square surrounded by restaurants. I had a few notes from guidebooks telling me which restaurants to look for, but we wound up at a place I had no notes about but looked good—the <b>Trattoria Sant Ambroeus</b> on the main square in the upper city. Seating was in a nice outdoor area on Phillippe Starck type dark plastic chairs which reflected the buildings of the square opposite us—an interesting, if unintended, touch.
Food here was very good. Val had smoked fish and polenta, then branzino in fennel and cream sauce with black olives. I had baby octopus in tomato sauce over grainy polenta then ravioli stuffed with meat sauce and pancetta and fried in butter and sage—finally, the sage I’d been expecting but gotten cheated out of at the previous night’s dinner. Again, this was one of our better meals in the Como area—though a bit distant to be technically Lake Como.
Our final dinner in <b>Varenna was at Il Cavatappi</b>, the preferred spot of most foodies staying in the area. Again we’d been there once before and were not as impressed as others who had written about it seemed to have been but were willing to give it another try. It performed better this time than previously but I’m still not sold on the wonderful reviews it is so often given. It is an interesting experience for sure.
The place is teeny, tiny with a crazy chef and one woman who handles the service for the 5 or so tables and helps him in the kitchen. Timing is the reverse of Vacchia Varenna. This place takes a very long time to serve your dinner.
We started with salami slices then risotto with crispy porcini (the best dish of the meal) and finished with lamb chops for me and beef with more porcini for Val. My lamb chops were ok. Val pronounced his beef with porcini very good. Price without wine was about the same as at Vecchia Varenna and I must say that this meal was better.
So, in total, our dining in and around Lake Como was not outstanding. It certainly was not awful. But food is not the primary draw for travel in this area of Italy IMO. (It must be noted that I have not dined at the well-thought of Plinio, as others posting here have --Ekscrunchy, I believe. Nor have I dined at Mistral, the super dupe place in the expensive Villa Serbelloni hotel, raved about in the Wine Spectator article on Lake Como.)
There is some interesting local cuisine to try—pizzochieri and the local Como fish—but there is nothing in my experience to knock your sox off. Oh oh, even as I say that, I recall that it isn’t true. There is one place that provided me a truly memorable meal. We just didn’t repeat it this time. That’s the multi-course, rustic, three hour meal with fire and story on the <b>Isola Comacina</b>.
I’ve written about it in previous reports, as have many others here, and someone furnished this link to an article that describes it. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tra...cle5676207.ece
I have also found the report my son-in-law (Candert) posted about it here on this forum after our trip with him to Lake Como in 2004. I think he captured the experience well and so I repeat his description below. (NB prices have changed since 2004, but I expect the experience is the same.)
From Candert’s report:
<b>Locanda dell'Isola Comacina</b> was my first flag of our trip. I'm far from a foodie, but I'm increasingly enjoying the eating experience, and from what I've heard this was going to be a good one. I was definitely looking forward to it. We had a little difficulty getting to the right boat stop for crossing over to the island. It led to a minor disagreement, but nothing that would tarnish the evening.
We found the correct boat dock, and sitting there was a little vaporetto fishing boat, like the toy one we bought today. Things are looking up! It was 5E a piece for the ride across. It includes a return after dinner. The sun was just setting as we came over. We had 7pm reservations. Kind of early for Italy, but we didn't want to book too late with it only being our second night. We walked from the dock up to the restaurant. We were greeted by our host and the owner Benvenuto Puricelli. He was quite the character all dressed up in a plaid vest wearing a matching ski hat.
Upon seating we were given a couple copies of the menu. It's actually more of program than a menu. They have served the same meal since 1947, and I don't think there are plans to change it anytime soon. It's 55E per person for the food and wine.
We were the second table to be seated that night. After being greeted came a bottle of white wine and the antipasto. It was huge. If this was a sign of things to come they were going to have to roll us out of there. The antipasto was an array of eight large plates; celery, carrots, baked onions, sweet peppers, courgettes, beans, broccoli and french beans. Then came separate plates for each of us with a slab of prosciutto, some kind of salted beef with cucumbers and melon. All very tasty. More people rolled in.
The second course was local grilled lake trout. It was dressed at the table adding lemon, salt and olive oil. After that came fried chicken which was actually quite tasty, even Liz ate it. Between courses we tried to "secure" a menu that we could abscond with to bring home and frame. Every time we got a hold of one and sort of tucked it away they would come back to the table and find it immediately. They must get a lot of that. By this time the restaurant is packed.
After our two meat courses they rolled out a huge round of parmigiano reggiano cheese. They scoped out blocks of it and deposited them into our hands. Great, gritty texture and very rich. Dessert was peaches in a banana liqueur served with vanilla gelato. They kept bringing us extra gelato so the other customers who arrived later could finish up their meal. The goal is for everyone to finish at once so Bienvenuto can have his big finale.
The lights darken and at the sound of a bell Bienvenuto enters the room and starts to burn brandy in a large black pot. He goes through the history of the island while performing the fire ceremony with the brandy. We actually almost left before this all began. The fire ceremony didn't start until 10pm, three hours after we arrived. It was taking all our strength to hang on, but it was certainly worth it.
We quickly exited after the production to head back to Menaggio and get some rest. We rated the place a 12.5 on our 15 point scale. Bascially 4's across the board, a great experience!
Me again:
So there you have it. Reports on meals we ate in the Lake Como area and even one we didn’t eat, at least not on this trip.
Lake Como is so beautiful that even a dedicated foodie like myself, is willing to make allowances for the less than gourmet food experience overall, to experience the spectacular views and terrific, relaxing ambiance this wonderful place has to offer.
Next installments: Sights and dining in Piemonte—after I get my Christmas letter written.
Dec 8th, 2009, 09:56 AM
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Hi Julie:
Another great trip! Once again I am jealous!
Waiting on Piemonte! And oh by the way..Shhhhhhhhhhhh! Do not say the next Tuscany, lets try to keep this GEM for a bit longer! BTW I do agree, but the secret is leaking out!
John (Mi Mama Piedmontese from Fontenile!)
Another great trip! Once again I am jealous!
Waiting on Piemonte! And oh by the way..Shhhhhhhhhhhh! Do not say the next Tuscany, lets try to keep this GEM for a bit longer! BTW I do agree, but the secret is leaking out!
John (Mi Mama Piedmontese from Fontenile!)
Dec 11th, 2009, 06:10 AM
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Since my last post, I not only finished my Christmas letter, but also survived the worst of a miserable cold and I’m now ready to relate my experiences in Piemonte.
<b>Piemonte Sights and Activities</b>
<b>Alba Truffle Festival</b>
We arrived in <b>Alba</b>, as luck (rather than astute planning) would have it, the Saturday of the Grand Parade marking the Alba Truffle Festival. When I learned that we would indeed get there in time for the parade, I corresponded with Elisa, the wonderful director of the Agriturismo Marcarini and got her to arrange a local taxi to take us from the area outside of Alba where we’d be staying to the center of Alba where the festival was—and where I knew there would never be a parking place by the time we arrived.
Turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did. Val is not a patient man and when we can’t find a place to park the car, he’s been known to skip whole towns and just move on. Getting dropped right at Piazza Savona where a market was already in full swing was perfect. We arranged with our driver to meet us back at the same spot about 4 hours hence and we were free to enjoy the festival with no muss, no fuss, no bother.
And enjoy it we did. Since we hadn’t had lunch, our first order of business, after exploring the Piazza Savona market area, was to find a restaurant. We did so easily right off the piazza at Caffee Umberto. More about the food later, but the location couldn’t have been better. As we filled our faces, we heard drums and trumpets behind us and realized that the parade of the nobility was passing right behind us.
Val left his plate (we were seated at the bar and everyone was popping in and out for glimpses of the parade) and ran outside to photo. The costumes were grand and the entire spectacle fantastic and far more intimate than scenes I’ve seen of the Palio parades in Siena where I assume that a glimpse is about all you can get if you’re not seated in the viewing stands. We have pictures of the flag tossers and their flags, the nobility and the peasants, all of it. What fun.
After viewing all of that and finishing a good lunch, we strolled on down the main street of town, the Via Vittorio Emmanuele ll, intending to find the site of the Palio di Ascini, the donkey races. Along the way we got diverted by two churches (nice interiors to photo), the Palatartufo or Truffle Palace, and another market.
It’s a good thing that drbb has described the actual palio at length in her wonderful report http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-and-wine.cfm because we never did make it all the way down the street to see the races. But we were so fascinated by all the displays in the Truffle Palace (and all the wine tasting options) and at the market that we just couldn’t pull ourselves away. Since markets are my favorite things in all of Europe and these were some of the most unique even a donkey race couldn’t compete.
Watching the truffle vendors in the Palatartufo display their wares in their plexiglass encased display cases was a lot like watching a member of the Tiffany sales staff display a great diamond necklace. There’s love involved –and possibly a little greed. Certainly a lot of interest in the rare.
But it wasn’t just all truffles in the raw. There was every imaginable auxiliary enterprise—truffle butter, truffle salt, truffle this and truffle that. I even purchased for my granddaughters a children’s book about a small boy and his grandfather and the wonderful truffle hunting dog who leads them out of poverty. What a story!
Added to the interest of being surrounded by truffles was the usual excitement of a small town fair. There were folks going every which way, eating everything imaginable and purchasing everything they could lay hands on. Great, great fun.
And I especially liked the neighborhood spirit you could see with each of the respective neighborhoods carrying their neighborhood flags in the parade and flying them from the buildings to mark their territory. After several glasses of wine drunk at our many stops along the way, I was struck by the preposterous thought that we should return to Ft. Lauderdale to float the idea of an Iguana palio and challenge other condos in our area to a race with a parade and flags and festivities as a means of building condo spirit. Such are the machinations brought on by too much vino—another reason the taxi we had arranged was such a good idea.
If you ever have (or can make for yourself) a chance to attend the Alba Truffle festival, arrange to go for the parade and the palio. You can’t help enjoy it.
Our other days in Piemonte were not quite as exciting as our first, but they were lovely, filled with beauty, good wine, good food and a great sense of well-being.
On day two we explored the sweet little hill top town of <b>Neive</b> with its interesting Macedonian Orthodox Church. Who would have expected such a thing in Piemonte.
We also took in <b>Barbaresco</b> and stopped to sample a 2005 Barolo at the Boffa tasting room, a modern tasting room built onto a house along the main street. There is also a nice outdoor terrace overlooking the vineyards (or winefields as we call them) stretching out below.
We also watched workmen clean a grape crushing machine on the main street of Barbaresco just across the street from the lovely old tower which is the trademark of the town.
Additional vistas of winefields were the order of the day as we passed through <b>Neviglie and Mango</b> (alas the regional enotecha in Mango with its Asti wines was closed). Val and I argued about whether the Piemonte vineyard vistas are better than those we’d experienced in Rioja Spain. He said, yes, though I held out for Spain as somehow more dramatic with mountains in the background. But we agreed that both are more exciting and exquisite than those of Sonoma and Napa. As a wine region, Piemonte is quite spectacular.
We like wine and enjoy drinking it but are not the connoisseurs that drbb and her husband appear to be, so this report will be lacking in information about specific vineyards or vintages. We stopped in to see several of the regional enotechas and did a couple of tastings at individual wineries but did not arrange tours or ship wines home as we had done in Bordeaux and Burgundy on previous trips. We may be getting lazy in our planning and sampling, however, we still enjoyed the wines we drank while there very much.
When we returned to Neive for dinner on the evening of our second day, we were early for our reservation and so stopped for a drink at a little cantine just across from the main church of the town. A youth group was just letting out and it was interesting to watch a fairly large group of local teens for so small a town and so different from those we see hanging around movie theaters or restaurants, etc. in Ft. Lauderdale and to muse on the many differences in influences and values presented by small town living in Italy from those of big city living in the US.
On day three we took in <b>Pollenzo</b> with its Slow Food university, <b>Cherasco</b> with its snail obsession, and <b>Monforte d’Alba and Barolo</b> before scrapping the rest of our planned itinerary for a nice nap.
We liked <b>Pollenzo</b> a lot. We’d considered staying there liking the idea of a small town with a hotel directly in town but were persuaded by ekscrunchy’s good words about Agriturismo Marcarini to be brave and stay in the hinterlands instead. I expect we’d have been perfectly happy at the La Corte Albertina, but we were all but delirious at Marcarini so we’re more than satisfied with our final answer. Nonetheless Pollenzo has a lot to recommend it
For one thing the Albertina is practically on the campus of the Slow Food University, directly next to the Duomo. The whole complex is a very harmonious blend of old and new in dark red brick. The campus is vast with main buildings and side buildings, a large tower, and lovely green spaces. The brick duomo is a right fanciful pile with spires and buttresses which, however, we were unable to get into at the time or day or somesuch when we were there.
It’s apparent that the Slow Food university is very much a going concern with plaques identifying their illustrious faculty and a trattoria where those in residence can perfect their craft—by eating or possibly by cooking. It feels very much like a university of higher learning not like a trade school of cooking.
We also liked <b>Cherasco</b> a lot. It was ekscrunchy’s report http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-bicerin.cfm wherein I discovered this little gem of a town. Thanks, eks. The town is larger than many of the others we were in. I believe it even had stop lights. It had a couple of wonderful churches, one with a great dome and the most beautiful Baroque ceilings in white, grey and pink.
Cherasco has nice arcaded streets and squares and some wonderful old shop windows which now feature baked goods—including breads baked into snail shapes. In fact, almost every window you look into in this town has some snails of some sort. It was hard not to seek out a restaurant and order some escargot right on the spot. It sure helps to remember a city when there is one so outstanding a characteristic about it to be seen everywhere.
I had also thought at one point to try to book a hotel in <b>Monforte d’Alba</b>. There I was glad I didn’t. Although the town was lovely with good restaurants and a nice main street with lots of wine shops, and a really beautiful cathedral with lovely blue ceilings, it also had hills to climb to the hotel I looked at—really big hills, not just hard to climb by foot, but also by car. So we didn’t feel like we’d made a mistake on this one either.
We moved on to our final stop of the day, <b>Barolo</b> with its regional enotecha and some more wine tasting. Again a nice little town to walk about in and the enotecha was delightful. These regional enotechas are, for my money, a wonderful way to taste the wines of an area without needing to make multiple stops, spend lots of time on a tour and listen to redundant information about how wine is made. We enjoyed them thoroughly and would like to have had the time to do more of them as a great way to explore the area overall.
On our fourth day, something I’d eaten caught up with me and caused us to take it easy. We returned to <b>Alba</b> to see some of things we’d missed on our day there for the festival. We took in the Duomo and the areas around it. It is a lovely church. It too is dark red brick with an exterior somewhat like that we encountered in Pollenzo but with modern touches on the interior including one of the most interesting baptismal fonts I’ve ever seen—two semi circular seating areas surrounded by a curved wall encircling the area almost like a mother’s arms and a low, very large shallow bowl to be filled with the baptismal water. Very striking and so modern in contrast to the rest of the church which, like that in Monforte, has strikingly blue ceilings.
We also walked again, the main street of Alba, and saw at a more leisurely pace the wonderful old shops lining it and noted that the palio flags of one neighborhood adorned the buildings on one side of the street while those of another neighborhood were flying from the buildings on the other side.
I stopped into one of the shops hoping to buy an English language book, having run out of the supply I’d brought from home. It was a sweet little shop so I was prepared for the selections to be a mixture of Barbara Cartland and others of that ilk, but I was surprised to also find among the 6 or 7 selections total, a 1984 paperback by Xaviera Hollander of “Happy Hooker” fame. I didn’t even know she’d written others and couldn’t resist. Wish I had. After a chapter I was again bereft of English reading materials but possessed of something of an antique literary treasure. If anyone has need of “Fiesta of the Flesh” just let me know.
After lunch we explored <b>La Morra</b>, a disappointment to me, but we may not have given it a proper chance, then <b>Verduno</b> which we found cute enough but very small, and finally <b>Grinzane Cavour</b> which we thought swell, especially enjoying the castle there which houses another regional enotecha on a hill with fantastic views over the surrounding winefields—some of the best views of a trip filled with them.
And so it was only on our final day that we got to <b>Turin</b>. We caught the train from Neive and immediately took a cab to Eataly, probably the single thing most responsible for us going to Piemonte in the first place, having been featured prominently in an article about Turin after the Olympics which I read in the New York Times.
It was pretty fantastic--an immense food emporium in a very modern (or modernized) building with two and one half floors of fresh and processed foods, wines, cookbooks and culinary paraphernalia. I was enchanted with the bright, open displays of colorful foods and foodstuffs everywhere and with the multiple places to sit down and try some of those foods right on the spot. It was sort of a cross between the old fashioned Boqueria in Barcelona and the modern, trendy Dean and DeLuca in DC (I don’t remember their flagship in NYC).
I was, however, a bit put off by the packaged meats, cheeses, and other goods. Somehow it just seemed like everything should be cut fresh. But you have to look around at people marching down the aisles with shopping carts and recognize that for some lucky people this is their grocery store and they probably like the convenience of being able to pick up a prepackaged chunk of cheese rather than having to wait for it to be hand cut and packaged. At any rate, Eataly was fun and a great stop for some beautiful pictures
After we finished at Eataly, we crossed the street to the remodeled Fiat plant building which is now a shopping mall. It’s interesting to look up at the corkscrew-like ramps between floors and think that they were once used to transport cars. Unfortunately our time was limited and when I wasn’t able to immediately find the Agnelli art gallery within the complex, old Mr. Impatient hurried us on to local transport to get to the main part of the old center of the city.
We liked Turin for a large city. While it’s hardly Paris, it’s also not Palermo, but rather reminded me most of Bologna in my experience, possibly because of its many arcaded streets. It is, however, more open and lighter with incredibly large piazzas.
We walked the arcaded via Roma with its many upscale shops, passing a couple of squares before getting to the larger Piazza Carlos, where we stopped for lunch and admired the two nearly identical churches at the entry to the piazza, much like the two churches at the entry to the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.
The city is possessed of lovely old buildings, some housing lovely old cafes. We’d like to return, something I hadn’t expected to say. There’s much more there than just Eataly. In fact there’s so much in Piemonte to see and explore that we’re sure we’ll go back.
I’ve urged Katie to tell the folks at Fodors to get ahead of what is bound to become a trend here and include more information about this area of Italy in their guides, perhaps even to make it a large chapter in a guide devoted to wine tourism in Europe. Piemonte is the new Tuscany.
Next Dining in Piemonte, the highlight of our trip
<b>Piemonte Sights and Activities</b>
<b>Alba Truffle Festival</b>
We arrived in <b>Alba</b>, as luck (rather than astute planning) would have it, the Saturday of the Grand Parade marking the Alba Truffle Festival. When I learned that we would indeed get there in time for the parade, I corresponded with Elisa, the wonderful director of the Agriturismo Marcarini and got her to arrange a local taxi to take us from the area outside of Alba where we’d be staying to the center of Alba where the festival was—and where I knew there would never be a parking place by the time we arrived.
Turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did. Val is not a patient man and when we can’t find a place to park the car, he’s been known to skip whole towns and just move on. Getting dropped right at Piazza Savona where a market was already in full swing was perfect. We arranged with our driver to meet us back at the same spot about 4 hours hence and we were free to enjoy the festival with no muss, no fuss, no bother.
And enjoy it we did. Since we hadn’t had lunch, our first order of business, after exploring the Piazza Savona market area, was to find a restaurant. We did so easily right off the piazza at Caffee Umberto. More about the food later, but the location couldn’t have been better. As we filled our faces, we heard drums and trumpets behind us and realized that the parade of the nobility was passing right behind us.
Val left his plate (we were seated at the bar and everyone was popping in and out for glimpses of the parade) and ran outside to photo. The costumes were grand and the entire spectacle fantastic and far more intimate than scenes I’ve seen of the Palio parades in Siena where I assume that a glimpse is about all you can get if you’re not seated in the viewing stands. We have pictures of the flag tossers and their flags, the nobility and the peasants, all of it. What fun.
After viewing all of that and finishing a good lunch, we strolled on down the main street of town, the Via Vittorio Emmanuele ll, intending to find the site of the Palio di Ascini, the donkey races. Along the way we got diverted by two churches (nice interiors to photo), the Palatartufo or Truffle Palace, and another market.
It’s a good thing that drbb has described the actual palio at length in her wonderful report http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-and-wine.cfm because we never did make it all the way down the street to see the races. But we were so fascinated by all the displays in the Truffle Palace (and all the wine tasting options) and at the market that we just couldn’t pull ourselves away. Since markets are my favorite things in all of Europe and these were some of the most unique even a donkey race couldn’t compete.
Watching the truffle vendors in the Palatartufo display their wares in their plexiglass encased display cases was a lot like watching a member of the Tiffany sales staff display a great diamond necklace. There’s love involved –and possibly a little greed. Certainly a lot of interest in the rare.
But it wasn’t just all truffles in the raw. There was every imaginable auxiliary enterprise—truffle butter, truffle salt, truffle this and truffle that. I even purchased for my granddaughters a children’s book about a small boy and his grandfather and the wonderful truffle hunting dog who leads them out of poverty. What a story!
Added to the interest of being surrounded by truffles was the usual excitement of a small town fair. There were folks going every which way, eating everything imaginable and purchasing everything they could lay hands on. Great, great fun.
And I especially liked the neighborhood spirit you could see with each of the respective neighborhoods carrying their neighborhood flags in the parade and flying them from the buildings to mark their territory. After several glasses of wine drunk at our many stops along the way, I was struck by the preposterous thought that we should return to Ft. Lauderdale to float the idea of an Iguana palio and challenge other condos in our area to a race with a parade and flags and festivities as a means of building condo spirit. Such are the machinations brought on by too much vino—another reason the taxi we had arranged was such a good idea.
If you ever have (or can make for yourself) a chance to attend the Alba Truffle festival, arrange to go for the parade and the palio. You can’t help enjoy it.
Our other days in Piemonte were not quite as exciting as our first, but they were lovely, filled with beauty, good wine, good food and a great sense of well-being.
On day two we explored the sweet little hill top town of <b>Neive</b> with its interesting Macedonian Orthodox Church. Who would have expected such a thing in Piemonte.
We also took in <b>Barbaresco</b> and stopped to sample a 2005 Barolo at the Boffa tasting room, a modern tasting room built onto a house along the main street. There is also a nice outdoor terrace overlooking the vineyards (or winefields as we call them) stretching out below.
We also watched workmen clean a grape crushing machine on the main street of Barbaresco just across the street from the lovely old tower which is the trademark of the town.
Additional vistas of winefields were the order of the day as we passed through <b>Neviglie and Mango</b> (alas the regional enotecha in Mango with its Asti wines was closed). Val and I argued about whether the Piemonte vineyard vistas are better than those we’d experienced in Rioja Spain. He said, yes, though I held out for Spain as somehow more dramatic with mountains in the background. But we agreed that both are more exciting and exquisite than those of Sonoma and Napa. As a wine region, Piemonte is quite spectacular.
We like wine and enjoy drinking it but are not the connoisseurs that drbb and her husband appear to be, so this report will be lacking in information about specific vineyards or vintages. We stopped in to see several of the regional enotechas and did a couple of tastings at individual wineries but did not arrange tours or ship wines home as we had done in Bordeaux and Burgundy on previous trips. We may be getting lazy in our planning and sampling, however, we still enjoyed the wines we drank while there very much.
When we returned to Neive for dinner on the evening of our second day, we were early for our reservation and so stopped for a drink at a little cantine just across from the main church of the town. A youth group was just letting out and it was interesting to watch a fairly large group of local teens for so small a town and so different from those we see hanging around movie theaters or restaurants, etc. in Ft. Lauderdale and to muse on the many differences in influences and values presented by small town living in Italy from those of big city living in the US.
On day three we took in <b>Pollenzo</b> with its Slow Food university, <b>Cherasco</b> with its snail obsession, and <b>Monforte d’Alba and Barolo</b> before scrapping the rest of our planned itinerary for a nice nap.
We liked <b>Pollenzo</b> a lot. We’d considered staying there liking the idea of a small town with a hotel directly in town but were persuaded by ekscrunchy’s good words about Agriturismo Marcarini to be brave and stay in the hinterlands instead. I expect we’d have been perfectly happy at the La Corte Albertina, but we were all but delirious at Marcarini so we’re more than satisfied with our final answer. Nonetheless Pollenzo has a lot to recommend it
For one thing the Albertina is practically on the campus of the Slow Food University, directly next to the Duomo. The whole complex is a very harmonious blend of old and new in dark red brick. The campus is vast with main buildings and side buildings, a large tower, and lovely green spaces. The brick duomo is a right fanciful pile with spires and buttresses which, however, we were unable to get into at the time or day or somesuch when we were there.
It’s apparent that the Slow Food university is very much a going concern with plaques identifying their illustrious faculty and a trattoria where those in residence can perfect their craft—by eating or possibly by cooking. It feels very much like a university of higher learning not like a trade school of cooking.
We also liked <b>Cherasco</b> a lot. It was ekscrunchy’s report http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...nd-bicerin.cfm wherein I discovered this little gem of a town. Thanks, eks. The town is larger than many of the others we were in. I believe it even had stop lights. It had a couple of wonderful churches, one with a great dome and the most beautiful Baroque ceilings in white, grey and pink.
Cherasco has nice arcaded streets and squares and some wonderful old shop windows which now feature baked goods—including breads baked into snail shapes. In fact, almost every window you look into in this town has some snails of some sort. It was hard not to seek out a restaurant and order some escargot right on the spot. It sure helps to remember a city when there is one so outstanding a characteristic about it to be seen everywhere.
I had also thought at one point to try to book a hotel in <b>Monforte d’Alba</b>. There I was glad I didn’t. Although the town was lovely with good restaurants and a nice main street with lots of wine shops, and a really beautiful cathedral with lovely blue ceilings, it also had hills to climb to the hotel I looked at—really big hills, not just hard to climb by foot, but also by car. So we didn’t feel like we’d made a mistake on this one either.
We moved on to our final stop of the day, <b>Barolo</b> with its regional enotecha and some more wine tasting. Again a nice little town to walk about in and the enotecha was delightful. These regional enotechas are, for my money, a wonderful way to taste the wines of an area without needing to make multiple stops, spend lots of time on a tour and listen to redundant information about how wine is made. We enjoyed them thoroughly and would like to have had the time to do more of them as a great way to explore the area overall.
On our fourth day, something I’d eaten caught up with me and caused us to take it easy. We returned to <b>Alba</b> to see some of things we’d missed on our day there for the festival. We took in the Duomo and the areas around it. It is a lovely church. It too is dark red brick with an exterior somewhat like that we encountered in Pollenzo but with modern touches on the interior including one of the most interesting baptismal fonts I’ve ever seen—two semi circular seating areas surrounded by a curved wall encircling the area almost like a mother’s arms and a low, very large shallow bowl to be filled with the baptismal water. Very striking and so modern in contrast to the rest of the church which, like that in Monforte, has strikingly blue ceilings.
We also walked again, the main street of Alba, and saw at a more leisurely pace the wonderful old shops lining it and noted that the palio flags of one neighborhood adorned the buildings on one side of the street while those of another neighborhood were flying from the buildings on the other side.
I stopped into one of the shops hoping to buy an English language book, having run out of the supply I’d brought from home. It was a sweet little shop so I was prepared for the selections to be a mixture of Barbara Cartland and others of that ilk, but I was surprised to also find among the 6 or 7 selections total, a 1984 paperback by Xaviera Hollander of “Happy Hooker” fame. I didn’t even know she’d written others and couldn’t resist. Wish I had. After a chapter I was again bereft of English reading materials but possessed of something of an antique literary treasure. If anyone has need of “Fiesta of the Flesh” just let me know.
After lunch we explored <b>La Morra</b>, a disappointment to me, but we may not have given it a proper chance, then <b>Verduno</b> which we found cute enough but very small, and finally <b>Grinzane Cavour</b> which we thought swell, especially enjoying the castle there which houses another regional enotecha on a hill with fantastic views over the surrounding winefields—some of the best views of a trip filled with them.
And so it was only on our final day that we got to <b>Turin</b>. We caught the train from Neive and immediately took a cab to Eataly, probably the single thing most responsible for us going to Piemonte in the first place, having been featured prominently in an article about Turin after the Olympics which I read in the New York Times.
It was pretty fantastic--an immense food emporium in a very modern (or modernized) building with two and one half floors of fresh and processed foods, wines, cookbooks and culinary paraphernalia. I was enchanted with the bright, open displays of colorful foods and foodstuffs everywhere and with the multiple places to sit down and try some of those foods right on the spot. It was sort of a cross between the old fashioned Boqueria in Barcelona and the modern, trendy Dean and DeLuca in DC (I don’t remember their flagship in NYC).
I was, however, a bit put off by the packaged meats, cheeses, and other goods. Somehow it just seemed like everything should be cut fresh. But you have to look around at people marching down the aisles with shopping carts and recognize that for some lucky people this is their grocery store and they probably like the convenience of being able to pick up a prepackaged chunk of cheese rather than having to wait for it to be hand cut and packaged. At any rate, Eataly was fun and a great stop for some beautiful pictures
After we finished at Eataly, we crossed the street to the remodeled Fiat plant building which is now a shopping mall. It’s interesting to look up at the corkscrew-like ramps between floors and think that they were once used to transport cars. Unfortunately our time was limited and when I wasn’t able to immediately find the Agnelli art gallery within the complex, old Mr. Impatient hurried us on to local transport to get to the main part of the old center of the city.
We liked Turin for a large city. While it’s hardly Paris, it’s also not Palermo, but rather reminded me most of Bologna in my experience, possibly because of its many arcaded streets. It is, however, more open and lighter with incredibly large piazzas.
We walked the arcaded via Roma with its many upscale shops, passing a couple of squares before getting to the larger Piazza Carlos, where we stopped for lunch and admired the two nearly identical churches at the entry to the piazza, much like the two churches at the entry to the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.
The city is possessed of lovely old buildings, some housing lovely old cafes. We’d like to return, something I hadn’t expected to say. There’s much more there than just Eataly. In fact there’s so much in Piemonte to see and explore that we’re sure we’ll go back.
I’ve urged Katie to tell the folks at Fodors to get ahead of what is bound to become a trend here and include more information about this area of Italy in their guides, perhaps even to make it a large chapter in a guide devoted to wine tourism in Europe. Piemonte is the new Tuscany.
Next Dining in Piemonte, the highlight of our trip
Dec 12th, 2009, 03:26 AM
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Julie I am only halfway through and absolutely loving this report. So well written, so much detail, and so well organized. I am delighted that you were pleased with Agriturismo Marcarini! I wish that we had had more than the one night there! Will await further word from you!
Dec 12th, 2009, 11:34 AM
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Julie: Me again...I just wanted to say that I thought of you again later this morning. The goat woman at my local farmer's market had some little rib chops and I bought some. this week I will attempt to cook goat meat for the very first time. I fell head over heels with it after trying it for what was probably the first time at La Libera in Alba!
Do you ever cook it at home?
Do you ever cook it at home?
Dec 12th, 2009, 11:59 AM
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Enjoy. Sounds great. Unfortunately I never got to La Libera though we did walk past on one swing through Alba. If you haven't already seen this article from the NYTimes, check it out. They allege that goat is the meat most eaten in the world. Who knew!! and here I thought I'd practically discovered it. Just goes to show how narrow our perceptions sometimes are. Join the world!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/di...goat.html?_r=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/di...goat.html?_r=1
