twoflower

Having read rave reviews in this forum about Piedmont, I tried locating it on viamichelin.com. Nothing came up for that spelling, but a very similar spelling came up for a place just NE of Florence which seemed likely because fodorites had been recommending it as a less touristy alternative to Tuscany.
Now I'm looking at Karen Brown's "Charming Inns & Itineraries" and she raves about a Piedmont way to the west between Turin and the French border.
Which is the one that fodorites might have been recommending as a beautiful but less touristy alternative to Tuscany?

Also where is Greve, San Quirico and Val d'Orcia which I've seen recommended recently on this thread? Viamichelin gives 2 equally likely locations for Greve, 20 for San Quirico (!), and none for Val d'Orcia.

norween

For an idea about Val d'Orcia : http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1026

norween

Sorry, that not the link i wanted to post, this is the one : http://www.valdorcia.it/
the problem in this part of Italy is that, due to the historical conditions, you often have a double spelling ; italian and french

twoflower

Thanks Norween. The website is in Italian which I can't read, but the sense I'm getting from it is that Val d'Orcia is a region containing Pienza, San Quirico and Montepulciano. That clears up 2 mysteries - only Piedmont & Greve to go!

Pvoyageuse

Piedmont = literally "at the foot of the mountain", in this case the Alps in the North Western part of Italy.
Torino is the capital of Piedmont.
South of Piedmont is Liguria.

ekscrunchy

The town you are probably referring to is Greve in Chianti. There are often multiple towns with the same first name; they are distinguished by what comes after the first name.

Why not look at a real paper map; spread it out and get an idea. Piedmont should be well delineated on any map of Italy. Asti, Barolo and Alba are two of many popular tourist destinations in that region.

stefm

Piedmont (EN) = Piemonte (IT) is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy. Its capital is Torino (Turin). The region is the birthplace of FIAT carmaker, Nutella chocolate cream and it also hosted the recent 2006 winter Olympics. It is located in northwestern Italy, at the botder with France.

Dukey

Try this link for maps

http://www.travelpost.com/EU/Italy/P...in/map/6981080

cmt

Here's a map showing the 20 REGIONS of Italy, using the English names. Tuscany is a region as well. (These are the engliah names of the regions)

http://www.roangelo.net/valente/regioni.html

cmt

I checked your viamichelin.com site and found that you can in fact search for n entire region. I did not try entering the name in English, but I did get a result when I entered the Italian name for the region: Piemonte. You just have to wait a while for it to load.

twoflower

Thanks everyone. It's all in knowing which of the (slightly) differently spelt options is the one that someone else who just uses the English name with no other geographical clues might be referring to.
Now I know!

bellacqui

Piemonte (Piedmont in English, Piemont in German) is the Italian Region to the Northwest of the country. It borders on Switzerland and France to the north/northwest, the region of Liguria to the west, Emilia Romagna and Lombardia to the south and east.

The region is the second largest in the country (behind Sicily). It is most prominently known for wine production, with the nobile wines of Barolo and Barbaresco DOCG taking their names from towns of the same name. There are many DOC wines in Piemonte, and the three subregions of the Langhe, Monferrato and the Roero are comprised of hundreds and hundreds of small and large wineries producing Moscato, Arneis, Barbera, Ruche, Grignolino, Brachetto, Chardonnay, Cortese.

The landscape is a combination of wine hills, Alpine panorama, gorgeous lakes (Lago di Maggiore is in Piemonte), ancient stone cascine and rusticos.

To the southwest, the French Alps ring around the beautiful city of Cuneo. COming further east, to the Langhe, the city of Alba is known for its White Truffles. The festival takes place in Oct. and is internationally attended by the food industry. Bra, a small city to the west of Alba, is home to the international Slow Food Movement. THrough the Langhe, the gentle hills slope and the roads wind through LaMorra, Monforte d'Alba, Doglinai, Nieve, Barolo, Barbaresco, and countless other small village, each with its own culinary specialities. COming further east, to Asti, known for the oldest Palio in Italy, one arrives in the best Barbera territory in the region - sloping south toward Nizza MOnferrato and then into Acqui Terme, founded 2000 years ago by the Romans as a thermal spa.

Once in Acqui, you are only an hour by car to Genoa and the Ligurian coast line.

And I have not even mentioned the beautiful capital city of Torino, the city where the chocolate bar was invented and a city alive with culture, art, and food.