September 27, 2024–
What a day today has been! it was our final full day in our beautiful B&B in Piemonte! It was also a beautiful, sunny, and balmy (about 70 degrees) day that permitted us to admire the local langhe (vineyards), hills, the Apennine Mountains nearby, and perhaps the shadows of the Alps (there was still some haze, so we are not sure that what we saw were Alps).
Breakfast today was yet another Michelin-worthy work of art! Our hosts are excellent listeners, with optimal customer orientation! They have heard me say that I have been searching for polenta in this region but have been yet unable to find any so far. This morning, our wonderful hosts presented us with a large polenta! It was not made with cornmeal alone, however. The cornmeal had been mixed with buckwheat, giving the polenta a tannish color. It had been prepared with diced Gorgonzola, and topped with ooey-gooey Gorgonzola and porcini mushrooms! And because they know that Dad likes chocolate/had worked for M&M/Mars, they made the best tiramisu neither of us has tasted ‘til today. All of this was, of course, in addition to the red orange juice, fresh figs from their gardens, and so on, topped with end-of-meal coffee and sweets.
Our gracious hosts prepared the legwork for us to be able to cast our votes for the US presidential election by mail. (Our hosts printed the necessary paperwork for us, and we completed it the night before). We happily wished our ballots farewell as they faced their flight to the US sometime today! At the same time, we were able to finally walk about the quaint, small medieval town of Montabone, where we have been staying the past six days.
First of all, the people are extremely cordial and helpful! They are most willing to help with whatever is needed, most willing to engage in conversation, and even temporarily interrupt their work to address whatever need I/we might have had. Second, the town itself is charming and so very reminiscent of the towns in which we lived when we were in Italy way back when and the town in which my grandparents lived. Everything about it felt like home to me. Third, the crisp air, the green all around, the hilly roads, and the hills themselves were just spectacular and comfortable in the blood that feeds me. Of particular interest to me is a story about the local Chiesa di San Rocco, a teensy little church with an adjacent small bell tower, perched along the hillside. San Rocco used to walk about constantly from place to place, so all of the churches in Montabone (all three, I believe) were to have been built along the roadsides. Anyway, this church is primarily white in exterior color, except….for a front facet that has been artistically enhanced by a world-famous artist! The problem is that no one can visit this church these days. The reason is that the local priest controls the key, and he is ANGRY, so angry that he has promised that he will never say Mass in that church ever again as long as it is painted in this way! When I first saw this structure, I thought that the artwork looked like a graffitii-like clown image. Not knowing that it was a church, I thought it quirky, colorful, and fun. Now that I know that this is a church, however, I agree with the priest and our hosts that such artwork is inappropriate for this small medieval church that contains the histories of generations of local residents. The mayor, I am told, is thinking of including a referendum in the next election, proposing to erase the artwork…. Our hosts think that perhaps this church has now been decommissioned because of all of this, but they are sure. I would be interested to see how this will turn out in the end.
We traveled to Canelli, a nearby town we have been passing many times this week. Our hosts suggested that we visit the subterranean cathedrals, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well. It turns out that these are not Church-type Cathedrals at all. Rather, they are more like wine storage/aging underground tunnels where wines are kept in perfect temperatures year-round to do their thing on their way to becoming exquisite—and usually more expensive—wines made from the best grapes grown in these langhe. Major wine labels claim their own spaces in this subterranean environment, wines and spumantes, for example, of the likes of Gancia (Asti Spumante), Bosca, Coppo, and Contratto…. We took a tour of the Contratto tunnels and underground cathedral. The tour guide explained how their spumantes are developed, from vine to market, showed us tons and tons of bottles of wine at different phases of maturity, and served us about five different kinds of Contratto spumantes plus one vermouth along with some delectable finger food snack-type items. We purchased a bottle of Rose Spumante for our hosts. This was a most enjoyable and informative tour that we had not planned on taking!
We toured about some of the local towns to see what we could see. Generally speaking, more wine production sites and the typical everyday businesses that address the needs of locals and tourists alike. There are, of course, the typical piazzas and churches, as well as frequent forts/rocche that belonged to some royal and important historical characters centuries ago. Although the towns each have their charms, Dad and I much prefer the beauty and serenity of the green hills themselves. We returned to our B&B.
I took some time to walk around the B&B property, which is huge, while Dad read on the beautiful patio on site. We did a little bit of packing for tomorrow, and we freshened up for a final farewell dinner to which our hosts invited us—made by them.
Dinner was right next door in the hosts’ dining room, where we normally have had our breakfasts. They made three different kinds of pizzas (one from Puglia, one from Naples, and one from Piemonte—don’t remember which it was, but one had Tropei onions that were mild and oh-so-sweet. They served us appetizers first, with even Pringles and homemade dip shaped into a fancy floral design. We had different kinds of olives, Prosecco wine, three different kinds of cheeses from Sardinia (our hostess’ relatives are from Sardinia), Piemonte, and forgot-which-Italian region, huge roasted chestnuts, the first chestnuts of the season, also local to Piemonte (our hosts had heard me say that I have been searching for chestnuts and such foods), ladyfingers from Sardinia and donut-like sweets, a coffee, and a Myrtle vermouth to help digest all of this wonderful food! They didn’t have to do this, but they did! They told us they enjoyed our company because this was the first time they had a couple who stayed six days instead of only a day or two. We had a wonderful evening with these superb, superb hosts! The best hosts we’ve experienced among all of the B&B’s we’ve had the privilege of sampling anywhere! They even handed us our clothes that they had washed, hang-dried, and folded for us this week! Again, we can’t say enough positive things about these incredible hosts!
Our breakfasts are like dinners! We just came back from a multi-course dinner with our new friends at 10:50 P.M.! I think I’ve been hearing the clanging of pots and pans next door, washing up from dinner and likely prepping for the morning’s meal. I leave this blogging project at this time in order to have a serious conversation with my stomach to prepare it for tomorrow’s dinner-for-breakfast a few short hours from now.
Our Travels 