Our Excursions in Italy

We’ve had three weekends here in Italy to do a bit of exploring. Out first trip focused around a business meeting that Roy had in Torino, the second was a visit with our Italian family in the Genova area and, the third trip was to the Asti region of Italy to see the vineyards and the renovated house of a friend of ours in Connecticut.

All three trips were fun, restful, interesting and very different!

Torino:

Torino is a business city. It is huge, spread out and you must take the autostrada from Imperia, a city near San Lorenzo to get there. The autostrada in itself is an experience! We have had a plan of switching drivers every hour since Roy’s surgery so that neither of us gets too tired while driving. We have continued that plan while driving here in Italy. Which means that I now drive on the autostrada!

Those of you who have traveled in Europe know about the autostrada, those of you who have yet to have this terrifying experience, let me tell you, it is not for the faint of heart. First of all the speed limit is 90 – 100 km/hr. All that means is that everyone sees this as a guide as to how slow you are allowed to go, not how fast. Cars come up behind you and wiz by you doing 140-160 km/hr. You literally have seconds to move to the right or get run into.

The other big difference between the autostrada and the highways in the US is the road work signage. The sign postings for road work are literally 10 feet before the road work begins, if you don’t know road work is coming you almost slam into the red cones positioned to merge traffic or slam into the cars merging with you.

Signs for Service and Rest Areas are the same. They arrive 10 feet before the turn off for the Service Area. Imagine: you are doing 100 -120 km/hr. and so….you miss the signage for the Service Area or you miss the turn off to get to the Service Area. Ok, you tell yourself, I’ll plan to make the next Service Area, this time your co-pilot is also spotting for the signage. Your co-pilot sees the signage and screams “Service Area”. You slow, but at 120 km/hr. you can’t slowdown in time, and you miss it again. Our strategy became, slowing to 80 -90 km/hr. whenever we wanted to stop at a Service Area with both of us spotting for the signage in hopes that we would be able to make the turn off in time. NO GOOD! What finally worked best was just ditching the idea of the Service Areas altogether and stopping anyplace where there was a turnout in the road to change drivers.

While in Torino we had three fun experiences: two are about food and the third about shopping! The first night in our hotel we decided to have an aperetivo (a cocktail before dinner). We went into the hotel bar and met the nicest young bartender. I asked for 2 Aperol-spritz. He smiled and said, “I will make a special one for you with my mother’s recipe”! Oh, how delicious! As if that weren’t enough, the antipasti spread that the hotel put out was amazing! Salami, cheeses, small sandwiches, torta, artichokes (which are in season now and in every dish imaginable) and meatballs. It is a dinner in itself.

Genova and Family:

Roy and I have been coming to the Genova area of Italy since our first trip in 1976. This coastline of Italy has many, many wonderful memories for us. We’ve spent many pleasant times here with friends, with our children and grandchildren, and with our Italian relatives. This week-end was no different. We stayed four lovely days at one of our favorite hotels, the Cenobia dei Dogi, in Camologi, Italy. Camologi is a picturesque ancient Italian seaside village

Once a haven of fishermen and their families, it is now quite touristy with lovely cafes, restaurants, art galleries and shops. Though the town has a number of nice hotels, the dei Dogi is unique in its location and in what it has to offer. The dei Dogi is located on the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The location is breathtaking and so are the amenities. The main dining room literally hangs over the cliffs above the sea and spans the length of the hotel. The pool, terrace, sundeck and lido are lovely and so is the service.

We spent our second weekend here visiting with both sides of Roy’s family. On Saturday night fifteen of us piled into an excellent local pizza restaurant in Camologi for food and fun! On Sunday we drove 25 minutes into the mountains above the sea to spend the afternoon with another side of the Roy’s family. Here, as always, the food was key! Homemade foccia, and antipasta (sausage, mushrooms, and cheeses) followed by homemade pasta with pesto, and lots of great local wine. Over the years, it has been a joy for us to see the children in these families grow, marry, and have families of their own. We have visited them often here in Italy and they have visited us in the U.S. It has been an enriching and special relationship that extends beyond Roy and I now, to our own children and grandchildren.

Asti

This was our first trip to the Asti region of Italy, and we found it to be beautiful! So different from other regions we visited, Asti is rolling fields, and gentle mountains and row after row of grape vines, olive trees and produce. We stayed in a lovely old Bed & Breakfast – Il Grappolo and spent the morning talking with the daughter of the owners, Roberta and her friend, Joke from Brussels. The farm has been in Roberta’s family for 6 generations. I asked her how she felt about that, “It is a tremendous responsibility” she replied. They grow or trade for most of what they use in the B & B and in their family. In Mongardino, a very small village where the B & B is located, the people rely heavily on each other to survive and prosper. The wine they make, as you know, is some of the finest in the world. It was great to visit here and take in the breathtaking views of this farming area.

We finish our tutoring adventure this week…stay tuned for our final goodbyes.

Ciao for now!

Patti