A WEEK IN NORTHERN ITALY


	This trip was a short trip to one of our favorite places - northern Italy. We spent 3 days in Genoa, 3 days in Torino (Turin) and a couple of days at the end in Varese. Genoa is geographically in Liguria, Torino is the largest city of Piemonte, and Varese is in Lombardy and is conveniently located between several lakes and only a half an hour drive from Malpensa (where we flew in and out of). Genoa is an old town on the coast and has the largest seaport in Italy. The last time we were there, we spent 2 hours looking for parking and then left without seeing anything. As for Torino, we visited once for a few hours several years ago, and vowed to return one day for a longer visit. As for Varese, it's a quiet town in a great location with very few tourists.

	This trip did not start out in the best way, as my suitcase didn't arrive with Alisa's suitcase. We spent a couple of hours waiting and searching and filling out forms. And then, a miracle happened. While waiting for the rental car, Alisa noticed a couple with a suitcase which looked like mine and which we had seen waiting forlornly on the luggage carousel while we were looking for mine. It turns out that they had taken mine by mistake, and had now returned to the airport to find their own. Mine was back at "Lost & Found". So we set off after a delay of 3 hours with all of our luggage.	ONLY BECAUSE THEY NEEDED A MAP DID THEY REALIZE THAT THEY HAD THE WRONG SUITCASE.

	We had planned to visit Casale Monferatto for lunch and after that, a lovely winery in the mountains nearby called Tenuta la Tenaglia. Last trip here, we planned the same thing, but cancelled both activities because I got violently ill after eating some raw meat which "disagreed" with my digestive system. See my web page here about that trip. This time, because of the delay at the airport, we skipped Casale and went straight to Tenuta. You can check out our visit to Tenuta later on this page.


FERRARI SQUARE AND FOUNTAIN IN GENOA CENTER	Genoa was a pleasant surprise for us. It's a very interesting city with an amazing old quarter and the largest port in Italy. The old quarter is one of the largest in Europe and the old port has been turned into an entertainment and dining venue. Genoa is the "capital" of Liguria, the coastal province which is called the Riviera of Italy. It stretches from the French border to Cinque Terre.	BOCCADASSE (THIS IS NOT A POSTCARD)
THE ENTRANCE TO OUR HOTEL IN GENOA	To the east is a pleasant town called Nervi which is also a pleasant place to visit, and on the eastern edge of Genoa is Boccadasse, which is called by most tourist sites as "an ancient fishing village". Despite its small (miniscule) size, It has a surprisingly active night life, and there's a lovely walk up onto the nearby hill. To the upper right is a shot of the view looking back down to the village.. We stayed at a lovely family run hotel called Il Giardino di Albaro, which is located in a nice neighborhood just outside of the city center and is about a 2 minute walk from Boccadasse. It is at the eastern end of the shore promenade known as "Corso Italia". It's about a 4-5 KM walk to the city center along the promenade, or you can take the bus which stops right outside the hotel and runs every 10 to 15 minutes.	TYPICAL NARROW STREET IN THE OLD TOWN OF GENOA

CORSO ITALIA	In short, it was very convenient. The best part is that it has its own convenient parking which costs 10 Euros per day. The breakfast was more than adequate and the staff was very kind. Our favorite desk clerk was Walter who was most helpful. It's also right next to a little supermarket and that made Alisa very happy.	EVENING EVENT IN BUSY BOCCADASSE

BOCCADASSE	We didn't have any particular program in Genoa. We strolled in the center, and visited the old port twice. We spent lots of time in the narrow alleys of the old quarter. We had lunch one day in a restaurant in the old quarter called Pintori, and the other day on the pier of the old port with the view to the right.	THE OLD PORT OF GENOA

THE OLD PORT OF GENOA	While we were there at the old port (actually for the entire week), there was a "Slow Fish Fair" sponsored by "Slow Food" going on. It was full of tents, vendors and all kinds of fish products. The event is dedicated to the world of artisan and small-scale fishing. We also visited "Eataly", the elegant supermarket chain which features the very best of gourmet Italian products (and only Italian products). It's located at the old port, as well as in several other Italian cities, Japan, and the USA. It also houses several restaurants.	VIEW EAST FROM THE MOUNTAIN ABOVE BOCCADASSE

	In Genoa, we ate at several nice restaurants, the best of which was Osvaldo, located in Boccadasse. See more about Osvaldo below in the "restaurant section".

CASCADING WATER IN ACQUI TERMI CENTER	When we left Genoa, we headed to Torino with a couple of stops on the way. The first stop was Acqui Termi. This lovely little town is known for its hot water springs. In one of the small squares, called Bollente is a fountain spewing hot sulfurous water, known for its healing powers. To the right is a picture of Alisa at the fountain. Note the woman standing to the side. She is holding her baby in the vapors from the hot water. Apparently the baby has some ailment, and the mother has brought it to the fountain in the hopes of using its healing properties.	ALISA AND MADONNA WITH CHILD TAKING THE WATERS IN ACQUI TERMI

DIANA BAUR WRITES ABOUT ACQUI TERME	Our next stop was at Villa Sampaguita for lunch with the owners, Tim and Rina. On our last visit to Piemonte, we stayed for part of our visit here at Sampaguita. We became fast friends and have remained in touch since. It is right next to Asti and I can highly recommend this B&B as a great place to stay. Tim knows his wines, and Rina is a great cook.	ALISA, RINA AND TIM AT VILLA SAMPAGUITA

	We've been to Piemonte at least 3 times, usually to enjoy the wine and local cuisine. On one of those visits, we visited Torino for a few hours. Torino is the capital of the province and with almost 1 million inhabitants, is easily its largest city. Its most famous attractions are the "shroud of Turin", and being the home of Fiat, and is considered the "Detroit" of Italy. It's also home to one of Italy's premier football clubs, Juventus. We had instructions from our grandson to bring back an Italian football for for him, so it was very convenient that there was a Juventus store right near the hotel.

CITY HALL SQUARE IN TORINO	As noted above, Torino was one of our bases, and we stayed here for 3 nights in a family run hotel called Chelsea. This hotel is right in the center, with its own restaurant and its own parking. The parking area is somewhat cramped and holds only a few cars, and you have to leave your car key at the desk so that they rearrange things to let cars in and out. The owners and staff were very helpful, and the restaurant features a Pugliese menu, as the owner, Mr. Lantini is originally from Puglia. He was very pleased when he found that we had visited and enjoyed Puglia (a not very visited area by foreign tourists), and he started spoiling us at breakfast with his own hand made tomato salad. The only negative was that our room (in fact all the rooms) are above the ground floor, and there is no elevator.	10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TORINO TRAVEL ARTICLE ABOUT VISITING PIEMONTE ABOUT WINE IN PIEMONTE

THE ENTRANCE TO THE CHELSEA HOTEL	Getting to the hotel on the day we arrived was not easy. It was a Sunday and it was around 5 PM. On that particular Sunday, the Italian national sport day was going on and the entire center of the city was shut down and hordes of people were roaming about and taking part in the activities. It took us quite some time to maneuver around the festivities and get to the hotel. After that it was fairly straightforward getting to and from the hotel, but not with the car. We didn't touch the car until the morning we left.	THE CHELSEA HOTEL "PARKING LOT"

MILITARY MONUMENT IN TORINO	Torino was the first capital of Italy and home to the royal family. It is an attractive city and we found the center to be very elegant and beautiful. It has a series of lovely and interesting piazzas connected by the elegant shopping street of Via Roma, which is the main axis of the city center. At the northern end is Piazzetta Reali whose main feature is the Palazzo Reale, the royal palace of the Savoy royal family. Today the palace is a museum with regular visiting hours. Behind the palace are the royal gardens which are part of a large park, the Giardini Reale, which includes some old city walls.	EMPTY STREET NEAR OUR HOTEL IN TORINO

PIAZZA COSTELLO IN TORINO	Just south of the Piazzetta Reali is the Piazza Costello, the heart of the city and one of the largest piazzas in all of Europe. Check out the picture to the left. Our hotel was located just steps from Piazza Costello. To the south of Costello is Piazza San Carlo, and further south is the Piazza Carlo Felice which is directly across from the main train station. The street between Piazza Carlo Felice and the train station is called "Puorto Nuovo, and is most centrally located point for bus and tram service for the whole city.

THE TORINO OPEN-AIR MARKET	To the east of Piazza Costello is the old part of town, the Roman quarter called the Quadrilatero and on the north side of this large area is the Piazza della Repubblica where there is a giant market every morning. Roman ruins to the right and the market to the left. The market is really huge, although on Saturday it is the largest of the whole week. It includes everything - produce, cheese, meat, as well as clothes, house wares, suitcases, bags - you name it.	ROMAN RUINS IN TORINO

THE VIEW FROM ATOP THE MOLE ANTONELLIANA	Just east of Piazza Costello is the city's landmark and probably the most visited attraction in the city - the Mole Antonelliana. The Mole is the tallest tower in the city, (and the tallest monument in all of Italy) and has a very interesting history. It also houses a very unusual C inema Museum. This museum is a must for any cinema lovers. We loved the museum and also took the elevator up to the observation deck of the tower. On the day we were there, the museum opened at 9:30, and the elevator started running at 10:00. There's a great view on a clear day, but do the elevator early, because it is quite small (and there's only one), and you can wait for quite a while to go up or down. There's a combination ticket which is well worth it for doing both these activities.

	If you walk east from Piazza Costello you can get to the river Po along Via Po, a very nice street for a leisurely walk. You will arrive at the river at Piazza Vittorio Veneto, another one of Torino's huge and elegant squares. here you can have a gelato, or a coffee, or have lunch in one of the many cafes and restaurants. Across the river you can see the Chiesa Gran Madre di Dio, a church similar in shape to the Pantheon in Roma, and built on the ruins of a Roman temple. It looks beautiful and interesting but we didn't visit. Picture to the right.	THE CHIESA GRAN MADRE di DIO ON THE RIVER PO

PASTIFICO DEFILLIPIS PASTA STORE AND RESTAURANT IN THE CENTER OF GENOA	We walked a lot in Torino, and enjoyed our visit here. We ate at a couple of nice restaurants whose details are below. One day we ate lunch at at a nice little pasta store and restaurant called Pastifico Defillipis. It is apparently a famous place and is located on one of the nicest streets we came across in downtown Torino - Via Lagrange. To the left is a picture of the front window of this place. Torino has many lovely small squares, and lots of museums and numerous number of statues. We only scratched the surface. Here is a site which describes the main attractions in Torino.	TORINO PALACES TORINO ESSENTIALS


A LOVELY PEDESTRIAN STREET IN THE CENTER OF VARESE	Varese is a nice little town, in a great location - pretty much at a central point between Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano and Lake Como. It is close to the Swiss border and there's lots to see in the area. You can read more about Varese in my page on a previous visit there. It has a beautiful center and several nice restaurants. It also has very few tourists, and is only 30 minutes from Malpensa Airport, so it's a convenient place to stay overnight before a morning flight. Unfortunately, it rained for most of the day and a half we were here.

	The most interesting aspect of our trip was the unique hotel where we stayed, which was the Hotel di Varese. The last time we stayed in Varese, we stayed at the Art Hotel which was very “arty” and very nice (with a very good restaurant) and which is located just outside the city center. The Hotel di Varese, on the other hand, is located right in the center of Varese, and is the complete opposite of the Art Hotel. It is totally modern, and is only 2 or 3 years old. The rooms are large, and the very young staff was super helpful. Breakfast was adequate, and overall, the hotel gets top grades. There's so much to write about this hotel, but instead of reading it here, you can go to my review about it on Tripadvisor.	THE BEAUTIFUL AND HUGE BATHROOM AT HOTEL di VARESE



	When we visit northern Italy, we usually visit lots of wineries, but this wasn't a wine trip. So, we visited only 2 wineries, and both were really great and we bought several bottles. Here's description of the 2 wineries.

US AT TENUTA	The first was Tenuta la Tenaglia which is located in northern Monferatto very near the entrance to the Sacre Monte di Crea, a sacred mountain with a number of chapels built all along the grueling ascent to the top. It's a nice visit (the Sacre Monte) if you've got the time (and are in good shape) and it's a nice day. The winery is in a beautiful setting, and they make a wide array of wines. To the left is a picture of us in the lovely tasting room, and to the right is a picture of the snacks provided with the wine. We were given a lovely tasting and tour of the winery. After the tasting, the tour and the purchase of a few bottles, we continued to Genoa.	OUR TASTING SPREAD AT TENUTA

AT BAVA WITH OWNER ROBERT BAVA	The second winery we visited was Bava , a beautiful winery in the Monferrato area of Piemonte. We visited here when when we left Torino. Bava is a leading winery in the area, and we really enjoyed the tasting. We toured the winery and we were joined by the owner Robert Bava (picture to the left). The winery is greatly involved in local culture and holds occasional concerts amongst the barrels. Mr. Bava is also involved in the Italian chocolate industry, and we were very impressed by the Barolo Quinata, a dessert Barola designed to be eaten with chocolate. We bought a bottle as well as the special chocolate which goes with it.



	OSVALDO IN GENOA
THE ENTRANCE TO OSVALDO	Trattoria Osvaldo is reputed to be the best fish and seafood restaurant in Genoa. It is located in the old fishing village of Boccadasse on the eastern edge of Genoa. We ate there and loved the food, the atmosphere and the service. It was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel, and very easy to find.
	We made our reservation (highly recommended) via email several weeks before our visit. However, when we got there on the Saturday night of our reservation, they couldn’t find our name. Fortunately we had brought with us our written email confirmation sent by Verusca, who turned out to be the very capable hostess on duty. She remembered our name and our reservation, and realized that she had made a mistake and had written our reservation down 1 week later than intended. Despite the restaurant expecting a full house (Saturday night), she found us a nice table and then made sure we were well taken care of.	BEAUTIFUL ARTICHOKE FLAN AT OSVALDO

	The restaurant is small, and doesn’t have a paper menu. The menu is written on a chalkboard and the waiter brings it around for you to order. To the right is Jerusca with the chalkboard menu. We had capon magro (a rich seafood plate Genoese style) a beautiful and delicious flan of artichoke (picture above to the right), pasta in a rich pesto sauce, red snapper Genoese, and everything was so good, we ordered another dish which we hadn’t planned to order – a local Genoese specialty which was a kind of thick fish and bread stew. For dessert we had strawberries and Vin Santo (not together).	THE LOVELY JERUSCA EXPLAINING THE MENU AT OSVALDO
	We really enjoyed this place. It had a fishing village atmosphere, but the food was first rate!

	LA PORTA ROSSA IN TORINO
	La Porta Rossa is another restaurant ranked as one of the best fish and seafood restaurants in its city We couldn’t agree more. We loved our meal here. The place is elegant, and the food is terrific.
	Our waiter was Mauro. To the right is a picture of Alisa and Mauro. He couldn’t have been more helpful. When the wine they brought wasn’t the year advertised on the menu, the owner (didn’t get his name) came and provided us with a selection of comparable wines to choose from. The wine we picked was an Estrosa white and it was excellent.	ALISA WITH WAITER MAURO AT THE PORTA ROSSA
MY BEAUTIFUL FISH CARPACCIO		ALISA WITH WAITER MAURO AT THE PORTA ROSSA
MY BEAUTIFUL FISH CARPACCIO	For appetizers, we had tagliatelli with seafood, and a fish sampler. The fish sampler was a combination platter of fish carpacio, and 2 different seviche. It was delicious and is in the picture to the left. For mains we had king prawns and bread crumb encrusted sea bream with black rice and an orange sauce. Everything was delicious.

OUR COMPLIMENTARY OCTOPUS AND SEAFOOD SOUP	Mauro took a liking to us and brought us an extra which was a delicious seafood and octopus soup. When he saw how much we enjoyed it, he brought us another bowl. It was probably the best dish of the meal and is in the picture to the left. We finished with a complimentary grappa and a complimentary dessert which were both excellent. The dessert was a sampler of petit four and chocolates.	OUR COMPLIMENTARY DESSERT OF CHOCOLATES AND COOKIES

	TRE GALLINE IN TORINO
THE MENU AT TRE GALLINE	Tre Galline (the 3 hens) is one of Torino's best known restaurants. It serves traditional Piemontese cuisine, which means mostly meat, and then some more meat. I eat everything, but Alisa doesn't eat much meat so this restaurant was a bit of a problem for us. The main fish on the menu was cod, which neither of us like. The restaurant was more elegant than I expected and the service was very attentive. (It helps that one of us (not me) speaks fluent Italian!)

THE CONDIMENTS FOR MY BOLLITO	We started with a chef's snack of a slice of beef with a patè of tuna and capers. It was quite tasty. For starters we had taglierini with asparagus and trout eggs, and ravioli (I don't remember the filling.) For mains Alisa had cod of course, (with green bean pureè and sun-dried tomatoes), and I had the number one classic Piemontese dish they served - Bollito Misto - six kinds of boiled meat and a whole host of spicy condiments, apparently to give some flavor to the boiled meats. I am not crazy about boiled meat, and this dish didn't change my opinion, but the condiments were fantastic. See the meat extravaganza to the right and the condiments to the left.	BOLLITO AT TRE GALLINE

OUR WAITER AT TRE GALLINE SERVING MY BOILED MEAT	We didn't ask for dessert, but were served the chef's sabayon, which was excellent. The restaurant had a nice selection of wines, and we had a nice bottle of Nebbiole D'alba, which is what's needed to go with all the boiled meat. It came in a 500 ml liter bottle which is just the right size for the 2 of us, but is really hard to find with decent wines inside. Alisa's cod dish was really beautiful. Here's a picture to the right. This was a very nice restaurant.	FRESH COD IN A GREEN PEA AND BROAD BEAN PUREE

	I should also mention that we had a snack and an aperitif at a sister establishment, owned by the same people, and located about 2 blocks away. It's called the Tre Galli (the 3 roosters) and is a wine bar which serves light snacks. We met a local friend who directed us here, as well as to the Tre Galline. To the right is the cheese plate we had there, with the names listed next to them. It doesn't come that way - it was done at our request so that we could later buy some of the delicious cheese.	CHEESE PLATE AT TRE GALLI
	HARU IN VARESE
	We don’t eat very often at Chinese or Japanese restaurants when we are in Italy, however, it was raining when we arrived in Varese and we didn’t want to walk far for dinner. We asked the hotel staff for the closest restaurant to the hotel and they quickly said “Haru”, the Japanese “fusion” restaurant right around the corner. They said it is the best Japanese restaurant in Varese, (among the 4 they knew about in the city). Since 4 was more than I had expected, and it was still raining, we decided to give Haru a try.

	The restaurant calls itself "fusion". I thought that this would be "fusion" of the cuisines, but it was mainly fusion on the menu. They served sushi, other Japanese dishes, Chinese dishes, and also served Italian food. The prices were quite reasonable, and we were pleasantly surprised. The dish in the picture to the right is was one of the best dishes we had anywhere on this trip. It is shrimp cooked in zucchini flowers. It was both beautiful and delicious (and surprising)!	BEAUTIFUL AND DELICIOUS SHRIMP DISH AT HARU IN VARESE

	We enjoyed the food, and when we asked for a combination (chicken and vegetables) that they didn't have on the menu, they were happy to oblige us and the chef whipped up a nice dish in about 5 minutes. The sushi was good, the fish was fresh, and the service was "perky" - we were served by 3 young giggly waitresses - 2 of Japanese descent and one of Chinese descent (fusion again). Check out the website - it's interesting to say the least.
	PINTORI IN GENOA

	Pintori is a nice little restaurant in the heart of the old town of Genoa. This was the first restaurant we ate at on this trip. It has great reviews and we weren't disappointed. It is a typical family owned and run Italian restaurant, with great food and a great wine list. They even had several Israeli wines on the wine list. We had 2 pasta dishes, broiled whole fish and wine by the glass. The menu specializes in Genoese and Sardinian food, and the bread they serve includes a crispy Sardinian wafer like bread called Carasau. In Sardinia this bread is a staple, and in Italy it is called "sheet music" bread because of its similarity to pages of sheet music.	SARDINIAN CARASAU "SHEET MUSIC" BREAD
PINTORI RESTAURANT IN GENOA	The only negative was the dangerous descent to the toilets in the basements. A flashlight, a hard hat, and a snapling harness are recommended, but this didn't detract from our enjoyment at this restaurant. A reservation is recommended but we got there early and the place was empty, as can be seen in the picture to the left.


	ONE SHORT SECTION OF THE 4 KM VIA ROMA ALONG THE BEACH IN GENOA