christyldc

Has anyone any experience travelling the area south of Turin, Italy? I'm specifically interested in the area around Saluzzo. Would it be a good area to explore by car, in April?

ekscrunchy

Since this old post echoes the exact question I have, I will bring it up here!

vincenzod

Saluzzo deserves a not short visit.
The historic centre of the town is one of the prettiest of Piemonte and the area enables very interesting day trips, not only Turin, but Alba, Bra and the Venaria Royal Palace just refreshed and ready for interesting visit.
Then, do not forget the wines, from Alba, Langhe and Roero !!!
Plus, there is in Saluzzo an hotel which is,IMO, one of the most charming and comfortable of the whole Piemonte. COUNTRY HOTEL ANTICO PODERE PROPANO www.anticopoderepropano.com.



Vincenzo

ekscrunchy

Superb, Vicenzo!

I do not think we would have enough time to stay overnight in Saluzzo, but I was thinking about visiting en route from Alba to Turin.

The hotel Podere Propano looks lovely and they have wonderful information about the area on their website, which I will read in depth later today.

I promise not to forget the wines! And the foods!

bniemand

My husband and I visited Saluzzo a couple of years ago in early May. We stayed in Acqui Terme and had a car to do day trips to the beautiful villages of Piemonte.

I would recommend avoiding a visit to Saluzzo on a Sunday. We wandered the historic center virtually alone and everything was closed and shuttered up. It was indeed a very pretty town, and I'm sure would have a different vibe during the week.

We stopped in Bra on the drive back to AT, hoping to find a fabulous lunch in the home of slow food, and found the same ghost-town qualities.

We frequently found on this trip that the small visit-worthy villages (there are so many in Piemonte!) observe siesta in the afternoon. My advice would be to visit in the morning, or maybe late afternoon, to get the best sense of the place.

ekscrunchy

Thanks so much! Happily, we will be able to avoid Sunday as we will be leaving for home on that day.

Was the scenery and feel of Saluzzo very different than the towns of the Langhe and the AT area where you were based? It looks spectacular in the pics I've seen (see those on the site for the hotel mentioned above)?

bniemand

I guess I would not say Saluzzo had a different look or feel. I'm not sure I'm a good judge because I don't feel like we had the best impression due to the odd emptiness when we were there. But it wasn't originally on our itinerary and we got a strong recommendation to go there by the owner of our B&B (Diana at Baur B&B), so I think it must be special.

Other villages we liked, just to wander and explore, were Barolo and Serralunga D'Alba. Really the best part of Piemonte is the driving from village to village. There is hardly a piece of land without vines. So pretty!

Give Acqui Terme at least a full afternoon and a dinner if you can. It is a bigger town and has lots of nice shops. There are several incredible restaurants there. If you like beef tartare you MUST order carne cruda.

OK, ekscrunchy, now if I can digress and ask you for a favor! I am leaving for Vietnam on Sunday (!) and have been devotedly following your year-in-the-making trip report for quite awhile. It has been priceless for my planning! I just posted a question yesterday about currency to use in Vietnam and Laos. If you wouldn't mind popping over to the Asia forum, I'd love to hear if you agree with the other people who answered.

Thank you!
Beth

ekscrunchy

Beth: I am embarassed that I have not yet finished the report, but if you take a look you will see that I did add the first couple of days in Saigon, a city that I loved.

I am heading to your question right now!

Have a wonderful trip and please let me know if there is anything else I can help with..

ekscrunchy

Thanks, Bniemand!

I am wondering if we should cut our nights in Turin to 2 and add one night to Saluzzo after Alba.

Or, is there another recommended one-night-stand destination that I should consider adding between Alba and Turin?

As it stands now, I planned 3 nights in Turin--opinions on this amount of time in the city? (We will probably drop off our car upon entering Turin, so will not have it in the city)

bniemand

We had hoped to fit in a day trip to Turin but it didn't work out, so I can't weigh in on how many days are best in Turin. But if you're thinking of cutting a day in Turin for Saluzzo, I would say this... Alba and Saluzzo are located quite close to each other, if I recall correctly, maybe a 30 or 40 minute drive. So just to avoid packing and unpacking hassles, maybe you should add another night in Alba and use it to do a day trip to Saluzzo?

Hopefully Vincenzo will pop back in since he sounds like a local expert.

ekscrunchy

Many thanks, yet again. I forgot--did you write a report about your Piedmont trip by any chance (not that I m suggesting that you do, based on my laughable performance on the Asia board lately, but if you did write one, I would love to read it).

Zerlina

ekscrunchy, You'll find lots of information about Piedmont in the various threads listed here:
http://slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a...423#1601047423

Most of them were contributed by the aforementioned Diana when she was building up business for her B&B in Acqui Terme.

There's a long list of restaurants in this thread on egullet:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=118587

You might want to search for other contributions by Swiss Chef; he lives in the area and seems to know whereof he speaks.

bniemand

Wow, Zerlina, that SlowTalk thread on Piemonte is a real gem! Now I can't stop thinking about the food and want to go back right now.

Eks, alas I have never managed a trip report, but I could send you our itinerary. It doesn't have much detail (unlike my current Vietnam itin which is sick with detail.)

Looking back at the restaurants we went to, dinners we really enjoyed in the area (Diana recommendations) were at La Curia in Acqui Terme and Antica Osteria in a tiny village north of AT called Castel Rocchero.

ekscrunchy

Thanks to you both!

Zerlina:I spent hours last night reading eGullet; Swiss Chef certainly is a mine of information! I kept reading names of restaurants and looking them up on the internet and in my books at home. Not a bad way to pass an evening, but now I am overwhelmed with possibilities!!

I think I will start a new thread on eating in Piemonte..but from what I read, and from thebrief experience I had in passing through the area for lunch last spring, you cannot go too far wrong in this region as far as food and wine..

ekscrunchy

Here is a restaurant in Saluzzo that appears to have a good reputation, in case anyone else is interested. There is a lower priced dining room and a more formal restaurant.

http://www.ostudijbaloss.it/home.htm