If you are planning to tour Europe, why don't you consider the Piedmont region of northern Italy? Depending on your specific interests, this beautiful area might be an ideal vacation spot. You can get classic Italian food, and wash it down with fine local wine. There are even some parts of Piedmont that haven't yet been discovered by tourists. This short article presents "the rest of Piedmont", Piedmont outside Turin, the region's capital and largest city. A companion article presents Turin.
Piedmont means foot of the mountains, and that describes the area perfectly. A large part of the region is surrounded by hills and by mountains such as the Alps. While the setting is beautiful, you should not expect a Mediterranean climate such as found in most of Italy. The Piedmont climate is continental, with hot summers and cold winters, especially in the plains.
Stupinigi is a small village southwest of Turin in central Piedmont. Be sure to see the Hunting Lodge and its Museum of Art and Decoration.
The sunny Alpine valley ski resort of Bardonecchia near the French border hosted some events during the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. It includes snowboarding and ski trails for all skill levels. The nearby village of Sestriere was a major site during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games and the 2006 Winter Paralympics. The resort offers night skiing and, during the summer, Europe's highest altitude eighteen hole golf course.
Alba contains a cathedral and several churches worth seeing and a great Municipal Museum of Archaeology and Natural Science. But people mostly go to Alba for the wine and the white truffles. Both Barolo and Barbaresco wines are produced within a few kilometers of the city.
Asti has often competed with its neighbor, Alba. Both produce white truffles. And they are both important wine producers. Asti Spumante, now called Asti, was probably the best-known Italian sparkling wine. Each September Asti celebrates its victory in a Middle Ages battle against Alba in a bareback horse race which is preceded by a medieval pageant. You'll also want to see the city's remaining towers, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (Saint Mary of Assunte Cathedral), and the Gothic San Secondo Church.
In 1986 in the Piedmont city of Barolo Carlo Petrini founded the Slow Food association as a protest against a MacDonald's opening in Rome. Within twenty years Slow Food has grown to 80,000 members in 100 countries. See our companion article I Love Touring Italy - Small Town Piedmont for a sample menu and more information on Piedmont wines as well as an in-depth examination of the area's tourist attractions. Piedmont is the region of Italy with the most wines in each of the two top classifications.
Over the years Levi Reiss has authored or co-authored ten computer and Internet books, and yet he prefers fine Italian, German, or other wine, accompanied by the right foods and good company. He knows what dieting is, and is glad that for the time being he can eat and drink what he wants, in moderation. He loves teaching a variety of computer classes at an Ontario French-language community college. Visit his Italian travel, wine, and food website www.travelitalytravel.com and his Italian food website www.fooditalyfood.com.
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