Anyone travelling to Italy this year?

[jimv]

We are spending a week in Naples/Amalfi area in late June. Anyone else heading over this year?

[Waiters Friend]

We are spending a week in Naples/Amalfi area in late June. Anyone else heading over this year?

Yes, but not that far south. Ours is at a different time, and includes 4 weeks in the centre of Lucca.

[PaulV]

Puglia for a couple of weeks from mid June then up to Turin as a base for a week. Will pop down to Alba and Bra but unfortunately by train not car.

[Ian S]

Hi Jim
Probably not, but your destination is one we've enjoyed a lot over the years (more so Amalfi coast than Napoli - I'm not gregarious enough for Napoli ). Do enjoy a cake in Andrea Pansa in the cathedral square in Amalfi, and https://www.ristoranteparanza.com/ in Atrani is the place for a true education in seafood via their degustazione menu. All with lots of walking via the Julian Tippett walking guide, which helps open up that wonderful resource, and if that gets you too hot, a cooling tub of granita (di Limone typically) is a wonderful way to cool down quickly. It's a superb place to relax and get some good walking in as part of the daily getting around.

Hi Paul
Where in Puglia? We stayed in Speziale, a little village to the north of the 'Trulli' zone, in easy reach of Locorotondo. Very easy driving in the region, albeit punctuated by more intense focus navigating the old streets in the towns/villages.

As for Turin/Torino, I love the choice as it's been a favourite of ours over the years. Easy to navigate, wonderful food, wine and also beer. Quirky museums and a large covered & uncovered daily market at Piazza della Repubblica to the north. Historic coffee houses from the fancy ones in Piazza San Carlo, to our favourite, the rather low key and intimate Al Bicerin in Piazza della Consolata. Superb chocolate (Odilla my favourite on via Fratelli Carle in La Crocetta district, south of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II). Loads of superb specialist food shops, plus possibly the best supermarket in the world in the form of Eataly at the Lingotto.

Two quirky recommendations: Museo Pietro Micca was pretty dull as a museum of the French besieging the city, but the tour of the countermining tunnels under the city was very atmospheric. The other is Kelemata which is a cosmetics / toiletries shop, but I love their Arome e spezie range, especially the unisex deodorants. Some really classy use of herbs and spice.

Embedded in this post on a travel forum, is the google map I made up with a big focus on specialist food shops (see Torino food explorer). Hopefully it's of use. https://www.sloweurope.com/community/threads ... post-43543

Regards
Ian

[PaulV]

Hi Ian

Thank you for all your recommendations. Always been impressed how helpful you have been in freely providing advice, information on wineries, restaurants etc. to all of us who due to distance have limited opportunities to travel often in Europe. We are staying a bit further north than you in Puglia , in the hills between Monopoli on the coast ( where we have stayed before) and Castellana Grotte. No need to be near the beaches given we live at Manly beach in Sydney . We have a few favourite osterias in Ostuni, but if you found some nice eating places anywhere in Puglia happy to look them up.

Yes much prefer Turin to Milan, but haven’t been there for over a decade so your recommendations will be very useful. Will be training down to Alba and Bra ( have stayed near La Morra before with a car) so any ideas for eating or sightseeing that’s a bit different would be appreciated. Any day train trips west towards the mountains from Turin would be helpful too. ( Someone we know mentioned Bardonecchia would give us a taste of a small town in the mountains.

Cheers

Paul

[PaulV]

For some reason the link you gave to the specialist food shops in Turin doesn’t work on this site, unfortunately.

[Ian S]

Very odd, it seems there's something amiss with posting links here. e.g.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

[Waiters Friend]

Very odd, it seems there's something amiss with posting links here. e.g.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

I've cracked the code. Copy the link, including the https: and then paste into the URL bar at the top. Not all of the link is hyperlinked when pasted into the message, so the link isn't working properly. .

[Ian S]

Hi Ian

Thank you for all your recommendations. Always been impressed how helpful you have been in freely providing advice, information on wineries, restaurants etc. to all of us who due to distance have limited opportunities to travel often in Europe. We are staying a bit further north than you in Puglia , in the hills between Monopoli on the coast ( where we have stayed before) and Castellana Grotte. No need to be near the beaches given we live at Manly beach in Sydney . We have a few favourite osterias in Ostuni, but if you found some nice eating places anywhere in Puglia happy to look them up.

Yes much prefer Turin to Milan, but haven’t been there for over a decade so your recommendations will be very useful. Will be training down to Alba and Bra ( have stayed near La Morra before with a car) so any ideas for eating or sightseeing that’s a bit different would be appreciated. Any day train trips west towards the mountains from Turin would be helpful too. ( Someone we know mentioned Bardonecchia would give us a taste of a small town in the mountains.

Cheers

Paul

It's a pleasure, and helps remind me of visits gone by. I don't think I noted down the places we ate in Puglia, excepting the one we stayed at - Masseria Narducci. The accommodation was ok, but into the start of November wasn't an ideal time, as it felt a little cold. The food was good rustic agriturismo fayre - great value for lots of food and great insight into the local food. We absolutely lucked on an aged Primitivo there for very little money that was right in our style slot (a bit of brett, a little tertiary influence, yet also with decent fruit, and at ~13% alc. avoided the heat that can be found in those pursuing the Zinfandel model). It's between Fasono and Ostuni, so in range for sure.

Parco Archeologico di Egnazia was nicely low key / interesting, simply wandering through the excavations of a Roman town

On the whole, the beaches didn't much excite us, though Trani was a joy of a town on the coast, complete with Venetian architecture.

For Torino, sadly the wonderful antica enoteca del borgo closed, a favourite wine bar / shop. Plenty of others including Rossorubino, a swanky/lively new one on Via Lagrange, plus some decent ones in the old town south of Piazza della Repubblica and in La Crocetta. Tre Galli / Tre Galline still have really good wine lists including wines with age on them, at very reasonable markups for relative maturity. For other wine shops, I like the one on via Cibrario (west of Porta Susa station), which also has a selection of old bottles in the cellar which they're at pains to advise might be a bit of a crap-shoot, but we've found some decent stuff there. Out in the western suburbs is old bottle specialists Grandi Bottiglie. Gone are the days of screaming bargains mixed in with wines that felt like they'd be long gone. Still some decent value to be dug out though and I still have fond memories of chatting and tasting wines with them when they had a tiny shop in the Northern suburbs. Vitel Etonne just off via Po (IIRX on via Accademia delle Scienze, but might be via Francesco di Paola) has been ever so variable over the years, from ok to wonderful, but remains a good wine focused cozy restaurant in a good location... but I do miss their underground wine cellar). Our favourite is slightly odd - Taverna Dell-Oca on via del Mille. Not fancy in styling, but with a hard-working husband and wife team. We just like their cooking (recommended dish is the goose prepared in many ways, and if they still have a Timorasso on the list, it's a superb match for the food). They also have a good source for white truffles in season, and happy to also sell them if asked.

Definitely indulge a quirky museum that interests, as their is a nice eclectic selection in Torino. I'm told the Egyptian museum is brilliant now - our visit was before the major refit, when it felt dry and dated (and not just the exhibits). The trams are definitely something I'd recommend, and getting a copy of the map (if you're lucky) in a tabaccheria will enhance the wonder at this intricate and extensive network. Nowadays modern apps make route planning easier, but I still take joy in hunting for an ideal route from A to B.

Bra is an odd place. Yes its got a restaurant that was instrumental in the birth of the slow food movement and it's good (albeit not mind-blowing). A few interesting artisan shops, but otherwise a little humdrum (not that I mind that). It's an enjoyable day trip, but one a friend felt important to set expectations for me on, so I'll share that same view with yourself. It's not too far from station to the centre.

Alba has much more to excite, especially when the truffle season is in full swing. A decent outdoor market, lots of good food shops and the wine shops always fun to browse. If you're wanting to squeeze a winery visit in, then I'd suggest getting a taxi from the rank in Alba for the short hop to one of the Barbaresco villages. If good lunch is also important, Treiso is superb, with each place good / different to each other, from a once hyped trattoria that simply carried on being just a good trattoria, to a classic regional trattoria, to a fancy ristorante, plus a good solid wine bar with tasty light food. Barbaresco itself might appeal more to walk around, and there are loads of great places in walking distance. Albino Rocca was a standout for us, with not just great reds, but also impressive whites. Another one worthy of note is a previously under-the-radar place in the village itself (La Ca' Nova) who have suddenly been 'discovered' by Galloni. Prices should still be very reasonable at the somewhat sprawling winery, for wines in the four-square style that I've always liked.

We've only been properly out west of Torino once, to Giaveno on the bus (pullman as the locals might call it). It's a bit of a mushroom focused place (with a very good chocolatier), but probably not enough there to really justify the day trip in hindsight. Actually, that's a lie, as we've stayed twice in Cuneo, and love it there, but that might be a bot far for a day trip. It's got a lovely central old town area, and compact to walk, some good restaurants and a superb twice weekly market.... including one that sold small tractors - now that's a PROPER market!

To the north, Ivrea appealed to me, and although the stink from the orange festival still lingered (we think from the local dogs eating decaying oranges!) it's a lovely setting in the shadow of the Alps. Ristorante La Mugnaia was a star, with elegant setting and food, for a lot less money than similar places would charge. Also of note were the bread shops selling regional speciality grissini, with lots of great ideas for me to try when I got back home. Enoteca Berta was a good little wine shop, with a wider selection than just local wines (I ended up buying some Emidio Pepe Montepulciano D'Abruzzo there).

An easy day trip is the Basilica di Superga, up in the hills to the north of the city, and that hill claimed the lives of the great Torino football team when their plane crashed into it. They never won the title again, and there's a memorial to them there, along with the basilica itself which is also interesting. To get there, it will be 1-2 tram journeys, plus then taking a rather steep rack railway up the hill. A fraction shallower than the one in the Blue Mountains, but not much so.

Also quirky in Torino is the fake medieval village (Borgo mediovale), made up for some expo a century or so ago. It's rather well done, so was interesting, if walking through a faux piece of history can appeal!

[Ian S]

Very odd, it seems there's something amiss with posting links here. e.g.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

I've cracked the code. Copy the link, including the https: and then paste into the URL bar at the top. Not all of the link is hyperlinked when pasted into the message, so the link isn't working properly. .

Yes, that looks like the problem.

[Waiters Friend]

Ian, you are a fountain of information. Let's test you (and others) out on some specific requirements.

After we leave Lucca at the end of September, Rita and I will be celebrating what we call our "approximate anniversary" - not a wedding, just when we got together, and we're not sure exactly when that was, but it is around the start of October. We usually go to dinner in Perth at our favourite restaurant (Balthazar) and sometimes stay at our favourite hotel (Como The Treasury) - but we will be just leaving Lucca around then.

We've visited places like Castello di Volpaia previously, but I am not convinced that the accommodation is worth AUD500+ per night, and I am wondering if there are other wine locations in Chianti where we could stay in a village, enjoy the local restaurant / osteria, maybe do a winery tour and a cooking class at around the AUD300 per night range. Alternatively, I think we can do something special for $500 per night, and I'd like to see some options. Please let me know (Ian and anyone else) what you might recommend.

Cheers

Allan

[Ian S]

Hi Allan
I'm afraid you have me beaten on that, but I can offer congratulations to you both.

It may be worth a browse of 'special places to stay / alasdair sawday', as they aim for places with genuine charm, with quirkiness welcomed.
https://www.sawdays.co.uk/italy/tuscany/

I'm with you on the accommodation price, as we've had excellent for ~150-200 AUD and don't especially appreciate ostentatiousness as the prices go up. Also worth a browse of agriturismo.it for any wineries that might cover wine, cooking class and be an appealing place to stay.

If you like white truffles, they might be around by then, depending on the weather, so worth putting some cash aside to indulge in them.

If you've not been to Montepulciano, then that's not far from Lucca, has lots of winetasting opportunities in the centre, is a lovely small hilltop town. La Grotta near San Biagio wasn't expensive to eat in, but very good. Not sure about cooking classes, and the excellent place we stayed (Politian apartments) seems to have shut.

[jimv]

Hi allan,

Not sure if San Quircio D'Orcia is in the area but it is a wonderful town, not so touristy. We stayed here and loved it. Great restaurants around too.

https://www.palazzodelcapitano.com/en/

[Waiters Friend]

Hi allan,

Not sure if San Quircio D'Orcia is in the area but it is a wonderful town, not so touristy. We stayed here and loved it. Great restaurants around too.

https://www.palazzodelcapitano.com/en/

Hi Jim

After way too much research, we have finally settled on your suggestion - thank you!

Cheers
Allan

[Ian S]

FWIW I hold by the premise there is *never* way too research

Once we've settled on location(s), flights, accommodation, I tend to go into overdrive, scouting out places to eat, specialist food shops & markets, enoteche (both wine shops and wine bars), quirky local sites, walks, events, other shops and local / nearby places of interest and so on.

This is my antidote to that feeling I recall on prior holidays, of feeling somewhat lost / not knowing which direction to head when hungry etc. and ending up in some rubbish places because that's where we stumbled across. The prep helps me ensure that we find the things that interest us, have options to choose from when hungry, don't miss out on interesting local events etc. but in addition, poring over the map / google map to see where things are, starts to build up a knowledge of the road layouts in that location, such that when arriving, it already has a degree of familiarity. It also builds up the excitement.

[Waiters Friend]

FWIW I hold by the premise there is *never* way too research

Once we've settled on location(s), flights, accommodation, I tend to go into overdrive, scouting out places to eat, specialist food shops & markets, enoteche (both wine shops and wine bars), quirky local sites, walks, events, other shops and local / nearby places of interest and so on.

This is my antidote to that feeling I recall on prior holidays, of feeling somewhat lost / not knowing which direction to head when hungry etc. and ending up in some rubbish places because that's where we stumbled across. The prep helps me ensure that we find the things that interest us, have options to choose from when hungry, don't miss out on interesting local events etc. but in addition, poring over the map / google map to see where things are, starts to build up a knowledge of the road layouts in that location, such that when arriving, it already has a degree of familiarity. It also builds up the excitement.

I'm with you to some degree, Ian. My partner (the delightful Rita) is the opposite, and so in practice it ends up being a balance between 'acquired local knowledge', and 'serendipity' We will see what the balance is in next month's trip.