Langhe and our romantic street

Last April we went to visit the famous and extremely beautiful Tuscany…This April we chose to spend one weekend in the less touristic but also very beautiful area of Langhe.

Langhe is the plural of Langha and means in the local dialect, the narrow ridge of a chain of hills. It is situated in the south of Piedmont (Piemonte) but our trip was mainly in the area of Cuneo that is situated in Langhe. Since we like a lot the countryside we chose to visit the little villages there that are very close to each other and spend a weekend in the Italian way.

But let me start from the beginning….

On Friday afternoon a surprise was waiting for me at the Malpensa Airport of Milano. Instead of the familiar Fiat Punto, a Camper was waiting for me, in other words a house in a car. This time we would combine transportation and accommodation which was a new experience for me and I was very enthusiastic about it. In fact, it was very cute inside and much more comfortable than a car to travel. Although I could not have expected it was quite fast too.

Our first stop was the village Monforte d’Alba where we dined in a very nice restaurant “Le case della Saracca”. It is not only a restaurant but they also offer rooms. The particular thing about it was its architecture and its structure. They had made the restaurant in a way that there were floors connected with stairs made of glass so you could have a broader view of the place wherever you were sitting. In its floor there were one or two tables made of wood and steel that seem secluded and romantic. There were bottles of wine everywhere and they had highlighted the medieval atmosphere of the place. The food was tasty but the portions were small. The prices were not so expensive for a place like that for sure it is worth visiting. We had a variety of 4 cheese and salami and a first dish of pasta with a sauce of deer meat. There was a wide variety of wines and we had “nebbiolo”, a red typical one of the region. After leaving the restaurant we had a walk in the village to see how it looks under the street lights and we were happy to realize that it was worth going there.

We spent the first night in a camping in “Vergne di Barolo” where we were only us and another camper but it was fine. The most important was that the bathrooms were clean and warm.

On Saturday morning we were lucky to meet a very nice weather. First we visited “La Morra” a medieval hilltop village that it should offer a fine view. Unfortunately the atmosphere was not perfect clear for that. I have to admit that the touristic office there was very well organized. There was rich material about places to eat and sleep, sights and information about activities in the area (guided walking tours, winery tours, hot-air balloon flights e.t.c.).I wanted to find a colorful church that I saw in a picture there. It was a little bit outside “la Morra” but the street is not so normal for a camper to reach it. The good thing was that you could have a nice view of the village from there. To give you a picture of the landscape, there were hills like in Tuscany but the difference was they were full of vineyards, perfectly in order, covering every spot. Wherever we were in the camper or in a village we fell in love with that landscape. There was harmony and absolute beauty. Maybe the locals are used to see everyday this beauty but fortunately they don’t forget to respect it and take care of it.

About the wine, the most important product of the area, Barolo and La Morra are made from Nebbiolo grapes. The robust reds produced around Barolo are described by critics as “velvety truffle-scented with orange reflections and the king of wine”.

The next village was “Castiglione Faletto” where there was a castle. Basically in most of these villages there were castles that are supposed to be some of the nicest in Italy but in my opinion the ones in Valle d’Aosta or other ones in Piedmont are by far better than them. We had lunch in “Bar la Terrazza” an incredible place because we could taste very nice local dishes in very reasonable prices. The tables were outside where you could admire the landscape and the view was once more amazing. This time we chose a white wine also typical called “Arneis”. At that time I thought: this is the perfect to relax and escape from the daily routine, to be in the countryside, eat nice food and drink good wine with a good company.

Then we passed from Serralunga d’Alba to have a coffee. It is a hilltop town where there is another castle “Castello Falletti di Barolo”.

In Langhe there are 7 villages that are supposed to consist the “Romantic Street” (Strada Romantica delle Langhe e del Roero). We visited 2 of them, Benevello and Neive but especially the first one did not meet our expecations at all. In Neive it was better because on the way to go there the landscape had changed a little bit. There were more trees especially Hazelnut to accompany the wineyards. When we arrived there we went to a cantine to taste wine. We tasted Barbaresco and Barbera that are red wines. While Barolo is said to be the “king” of wine, Barbaresco is softer, more delicate red and is known to be the “queen of wine”.

The last short stop of our trip was the town of Alba that is famous because the factory of Ferrero is situated there. So it means that nutella was born there, therefore it is a very important place…Nevertheless it is also renowned for its white truffles and its wines. We had a walk in the city, we found it cute. There was medieval architecture, towers and tower houses. There is the 12^th century Cattedrale di San Lorenzo in Piazza Duomo. It was quite pleasant to walk in the cobbled streets full of nice shops bars and restaurants.

We spent the last night in camping Alba Village that it was very organized too, even better than the previous one। The location was very nice because it was situated in the nature and there was also a park next to it. The next morning we went back home thinking how wonderful idea was this short but full of nice and romantic images trip!