The trip was to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We spent nine days and eight nights landing in Genoa, with three nights in Asti, two at Lago Orta and two in Cannero Riviera. The last night was at a hotel near Malpensa.

Firstly thanks to everyone who recommended Villa Sampaguita. We would like to add our praise to Tim and Rina who provide all that a B&B should be. The rooms are large, clean and pleasant and they are perfect hosts. Every morning Tim puts together custom tailored itineraries for each of his guests complete with hand drawn maps and advice on what to look for and what to avoid. Rina is delightful, a wonderful cook and has a special relationship with the restaurants in the area, especially the small ones that provide regional cooking (ask her about Barolo and Company). They also seem to draw a very nice mix of people.

One of the highlights of our stay there was going truffle hunting. We were in a party of eight and had a great time. We first heard a presentation on truffles, their history, and the history of this family who have been trifulau for five generations. We then went up into the hills with he and his dog and watched while he spoke to his dog, who ran around until he sniffed out a truffle. The trifulau has to move in quickly so his dog doesn't eat the prize. He gives him a treat while he carefully digs out the little white treasure. After finding two white truffles we returned to his villa where the truffles were cleaned, and shaven onto a fresh cheese which was served with salami, bread, and local wine. Olive oil steeped with truffles was poured onto. A wonderful little spread. Their website is www.lacasadeltrifulau.it.

A special thanks to Bob the Navigator for his many recommendations of Lago Orta. We stayed at Hotel Orta with half board and the large balcony facing Isola San Giulio. We had bought bread, cheeses, cinghali salami, fruit, and a great Nebbiola in Turin, which provided our lunches in Orta. The food at the hotel was only so-so the first night, but very good the second. Orta San Giulio is a deliciously picturesque place, serene and charming. Sacre Monte and the island wonderful visits.

Since we wanted a place with a little more luxury for our actual anniversary we went to Cannero Riviera on Lago Maggiore only about ssix miles from the Swiss border. We stayed at Hotel Cannero and splurged with their suite, which is a wonderful room overlooking the lake. We again had the half board and the food was excellent. So much food is put out for breadfast that you have to exercise some discipline. The service could not have been better. Cannero is a very cute and small town. There is not very much there except the hotels, but the ferry stops there and so is a convenient and quiet place from which to see the lake.

We travelled down the lake to Stresa and Arona before reaching Hotel Cervo near the Malpensa airport. We had a 7:15 flight and wanted to be close. We found the room clean and comfortable. The food was ok.

There was some confusion as to whether or not you could carry-on bottles of wine back to the US. And how can you visit Piedmont and not bring back wine? From Italy it seemed possible. We carried a box with two bottles through Malpensa security. However at Charles deGaul we had to check the box. We had the most amazing help when a Continental agent took us through locked doors and past the hundreds of people waiting to check-in and brought us to the front of the first-class line. Unless you know you are going to visit a winery that ships, and so has the right boxes, I would recommend bringing over a shipping box with the styrofoam inserts. We had a hard time finding an enoteca that could give us the right boxes.

Anyway we had a great trip and it was thanks to all the wonderful advice available at Fodors.

What a great trip---Prego !
Glad to hear that Villa Sampaguita is all I had heard. We will be spending 9 nites there next Sep for the Palio Asti festivities.
We celebtrated our 25th in Bermuda. Already starting to plan for the 50th in 2009.

Loved reading your report I'm very interested in touring that area this time next year. Which spot was your favorite? And did you have the right amount of time in each?

Great report. I am planning to bring 2 cases of wine back from Piedmont. You mean there were no wineries in Piedmont that had the styrofoam boxes to ship wine? If they had the boxes to ship it, the same boxes you could use to put with your checked baggage? Help!!!

Wow blej, thanks for coming back and telling us now your trip went! Sounds like you had a blast. The truffle run sounds fun! When did you go?

We were in Italy October 13th through the 21st. The weather was great for most of the time. It was much warmer than the forcast. One day it was at least 71 or 72. Even in the 60's it felt warmer. Oranges were full on the trees in Cannero. At the end we had a day of rain so we went to Cannobio and did some shopping.

As to the wine boxes; I'm sure there are plenty of places that have the right boxes. In fact, we went to Rivetto dal 1902 in Sinio where we bought their '97 Barolo Riserva and they had a beautiful three bottle box with styrofoam inserts. We only bought the one bottle and foolishly did not think to get the box anyway. It was perfect for checking with luggage. They are a winery that sells mostly in England and the States. The smaller producers may not have them. We just didn't go to many wineries and once in the lakes region the enotecas we visited were small. A couple said they were planning on getting the boxes - I guess they have been hearing about the changes on the planes.

As to a favorite spot, that's hard. We only just scratched the surface of the places we went. We could have spent the whole time around Asti and still not seen alot. Just imagine - we never made it to Barbaresco. We were supposed to go there on the way back from Barolo. As it happened we stopped at different little towns, spent a long time in Barolo having a great little lunch, and then got lost on the way to the winery. I really enjoy being lost when I have some time. It forces me to talk to people to get directions and since I only know a few words in Italian we always have a great time trying to communicate. Turin seemed like a nice city to explore but after spending a couple of hours at the street market and walking to the palace, we were pretty tired and returned to the villa before we saw very much. Had we spent four days at Lago Orta and explored from there we would have seen less but had time to spend a day doing nothing. The rule, I hear, is four days minimum at each place. It makes sense. However, I know my wife wants to visit Prague, Israel and a host of other countries. I knew we would not get back to Italy for a while and wanted to get a taste of different areas in Piedmont. We had hoped to go around the top of Maggiore the last day and come down to just see Lugano and Como, but the weather was very misty with wet roads and we didn't want to drive so far like that. In NY I'm a very fast driver, in Italy I get passed by little old ladies. Some of the smaller winding roads in the mountains are very narrow. It doesn't seem to bother the drivers there. They fly by. I wonder what the accident rate is. The only answer is to go for longer or return every year - which I would love to do.

Robert, thank you for your kind words, too bad you didn't have more time, Piedmont has so many attractions to offer....

About the styrofoam shipping boxes,which I strongly reccomend to bring your liquid gold home as check-in baggage, normally mail-box outlets (all over Italy) sell these for shipping wine (but they won't ship to USA as the regulations are still confusing) and you can but them for check-in use. However they have had a shortage these last few months due to the new liquid carry-on security measures, and at a pinch you can buy special padded cardboard 3-pack mailing boxes from the Post Office.

I am looking into finding a supplier for these boxes so we can keep some for our guests, and still checking how people like Rivetto can ship to certain states in the US, but I think he can do this through his distributor, and I think its a bit pricey.

Oh and BTW you can't check-in wine on Alitalia, be warned.

Hi Tim. If you stocked a few wine boxes I'm sure your guests would be happy. Part of the problem for a vacationer is that it isn't always practical to look for the mailbox outlets. Once we reached the lakes area we couldn't find one, even with the hotel calling around. The post office we tried was no help. The key is to think ahead and take advantage of the availability near the wineries and larger enotecas.