Bergamo to Castell'Alfero

I’ve really been looking forward to this part of the trip - we’re off to Piedmont. This region is in the northern part of Italy (think Turin and the Olympic Winter Games of 2006). My mum and dad were born here in little rural/rustic villages (all cobblestone streets, terracotta tiles and washing hanging outside windows). We booked a little apartment next to an old castle in a small, very old, hilltop town called Castell’Alfero (near Asti - I’m sure many of you would have, in your youth, drunk too much Asti Spumante). It should also be a nice drive through Piedmont - in Italy Piedmont is as famous for wine as Tuscany is, and more famous for food (home of Nutella for a start!!). It’s just that the Italians want to keep it a secret for themselves.

Before heading off we had breakfast at a close-by cafe, thought we’d have something traditionally Italian like bacon and egg sandwiches. We didn’t get what you would get at home. Instead we got two pieces of un-toasted bread with pancetta and fried eggs on top, some greens and tomato. Not bad, if only they supplied cutlery!!!

We had a bit of a hiccup with our navigation and ended up going through the middle of Milan. There’s Italian traffic, and then there’s Milan traffic. We ended up doing some pretty radical turns and crossing lanes but eventually we got out of Dodge. After this the drive is pretty normal, but once you hit the hills of Piedmont it’s just plain beautiful. Rolling green hills with small towns throughout the valleys. But, most spectacular, almost every hill has a castle or church sitting atop with a village rolling down the side - it’s hard to keep an eye on the road.

We arrived at Castell’Alfero early/mid afternoon after a drive up the hill towards the castle. The road has signs showing you must carry snow chains between November and April. It’s cold, but not that cold yet. The village looks like it hasn’t changed in hundreds of years. The castle itself is thought to be about a 1,000 years old - most of the people who live here look old enough to have been there when the foundation stone was laid 😛. Anne and I definitely brought down the average age of the town population!!!.

The apartment we booked for 6 nights is 3-stories (tall but reasonably narrow). It’s on a one-way cobbled street. We’re living in Italy!!!!! Anne unpacked while I had a walk through the village and used a couple of locals to try out my Piedmontese (local dialect of the region and quite different/seperate to Italian - I t’s actually so different that UNESCO has classified it as a language). Let’s just say I did okay but maybe there was a smattering of both Italian and English words thrown in - when in doubt add an “A” or an “O” to the end of an English word and it sounds Italian, even if it makes no sense.

During the next few days we get to start exploring and visit the birth places of my mum and dad (Sala and Cereseto - see what I mean by the “O” and “A”).

More tomorrow.Read more