Message: Please help.
I need to find a nice Italian town to spend the night in the area of Piedmont. I'm debating between Turin/Torino or Valle d'Aosta area. Would prefer somewhere with excellent Italian cuisine, not too hard to find from the highway. It's only a 12 hour stopover but I would still like some charm. Are there any smaller towns than Turin which would have charming hotels and great food. Any suggestions for hotel and restaurant? would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello jobellview. You might want to go onto to the SF Chronical website which is: www.sfgate.com. On the upper left side of the screen is "Today's Chronical". Click that on. Then scroll down until you get to the title "Tavel". Click that on. Then click on "Follow the Traveler". there is a letter from a reader who just recently stayed in Valle d'Aosta. It sounds wonderful and the price was very reasonable. Thought you might enjoy reading this, and perhaps it might help you with your decision. Happy travels!

Hi LoveItaly,
Thanks for your reply. I could't find "Follow the Traveller" but I did see "Follow the Reader". I found some information on a boutique winery in Piedmont which sounds lovely but nothing on Valle d'Aosta. Let me know what I'm doing wrong....
Thanks.

The Valle d` aosta is gorgeous. Old Roman ruins, neat towns, high peaks, rivers and the day we were there, they had a festival for cows! They were all wearing bonnets. We liked it so much we went back the following year, and stayed in Aosta, at the Hotel Roma. I would go there rather than Turin, if you want to see small charming towns. We ordered in a restaurant closer to the French border, and the people spoke a combination of italian, french and German. I don`t know why more people don`t visit the area, as it`s green and lush and just beautiful.

Hi jobellview, yes you are correct. It is "Follow the Reader". The third letter down refers to Aosta Valley. My mistake, not "Follow the Traveller". It may not be of interest to you as you only have 12 hours, which I did not pick up on when I first read your post. The person that wrote about their experiences in Aosta Valley stays there for four nights and they do a lot of skiing.

But anyway, the third letter from the top is written by Rick Norman, info on the hotel etc. May not be what you want, but check it out. Happy travels!

A timely thread.
We've just started planning this years trip (Oct.) and we are planning on starting in the Valle d` aosta area.
Thanks for the recommends.

Thanks for the info Pat. I can't seem to find a web site for Hotel Roma. I found their phone number but I would like to see a photograph of the place. It sounds nice though from what I've read. Let me know if you have more info on this hotel. Thanks.

Try http://www.adava.vao.it/Alberghi/roma/roma.htm