Tag: italy

  • The Cathedral of Asti, Piedmont

    The city of Asti is 40 minutes drive from Torino and one hour from Milano. Asti was founded by the Ligurians who named it ‘Ast’ meaning ‘hill’ or ‘high-ground’ in 49 BC. After walking around downtown Asti, looking up at the medieval towers (see our earlier post here), we found the city’s cathedral. The cathedral…

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  • Città delle cento torri, Asti, Piedmont

    Città delle cento torri, Asti, Piedmont

    Continuing with our vacation in Northern Italy … in Piedmont where we were staying, the nearest big town is Asti. Asti has the largest late medieval architectural heritage of the region, in memory of what was once the most powerful town in Piedmont. There are numerous towers, fortified houses, churches, and palaces. The area north-west of the…

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  • Terredavino, Cantine in Barolo

    Continuing with our visit to Northern Italy – Barolo – one of the best-known Italian wines – are made in the village of Barolo in Piedmont.  Partly because of time-constraint, we did not visit any of the famous winery, like Conterno, … and not even Renato Ratti, owner of the villa where we were staying…

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  • Colle del Gran San Bernardo

    Although we have lived in Switzerland for a few years and are only about 2 hours from this famous mountain pass, we crossed the Alps via the Great St Bernard Pass (Colle del Gran San Bernardo or Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard) to Italy for the first time this summer. The pass was at an elevation of 8100 feet…

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  • Ristorante Bovio, La Morra

    La Morra is one of several wine-making commune/village that is in the zone of production of Barolo wines. Located high on a little hill where it commands a panoramic view of the area, it is in the province of Cuneo, south-west of Alba. It was about 30 minutes drive from our villa (see earlier post here). Our…

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  • Villa Pattono, Constigliole d’Asti

    Villa Pattono, Constigliole d’Asti

    Our late summer vacation was spent mostly at this villa situated in the middle of the Piemonte (Piedmont) countryside of Italy. Rather than moving from one place to another several times during the week (like we did in France in June), we stayed here for a good five days. The nearest town is Constigliole d’Asti.…

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