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We’re returning to Italy next week to enjoy the vendemmia, or grape harvest. This is the most beautiful time to be in Piemonte, and we can’t wait for beautiful days, delicious food and amazing wine.
We lived in Piemonte for ten years full time, and have lived there part time for the last ten years.
The region of Piemonte, dominating the most northwestern part of the peninsula, is dotted with castles, is surrounded by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, and produces some of the most important wines in the world. While it has never had the overwhelming tourism of Tuscany or Venice, it’s become very well known among those in the know about food, wine and culture, who look for something outside of the throngs of the crowds.
People ask me all the time about going to Piemonte and what to do while there. My answer is always the same. Take it slow. It’s a region to be savoured and enjoyed, not rushed through in some attempt to “take it all in” while taking in nothing. The villages are precious, the attitude relaxed, the nature majestic and the people shy but friendly.
Piemonte is arguably the top wine region in the world, and every village here has bragging rights and the responsibility to promote its own wineries.
It’s tradition in Piemonte that antipasti is served for free with whatever you choose to drink. Because of the excellence and depth of the Piemontese wine culture, every village has a place to go to taste a few vintages. There is the very human custom of providing free delicious nibbles to eat - things like frittata, salumi, olives, bread with various salads - all of this so that you can just stay and enjoy without breaking the bank. People mingle from table to table, greeting friends and catching up. Everyone should feel comfortable and no one should drink without eating something.
A favorite stop in our home village of Novello (one of the famous 11 Barolo villages) is the wine bar Nascetta, where our friends meet every Sunday for an aperitivo before lunch. Nascetta is actually an exquisite local white wine grape specific to Novello, and many of the local producers have some Nascetta vines and produce this wonderful dry, crisp white wine with long aging potential.
The Slow Food Movement started, with no surprise, in Piemonte, and it’s here that it has grown into the international antithesis of our fast-food, throw away culture. I thought I knew food before moving to Italy in 2003; I had grown up in a chef family with roots in Emilia Romagna. But being in Italy allowed me to explore food so much more fully, and also grew my interest in experimenting and understanding ingredients. This is why projects involving food and pottery interest me so much, and why I love creating plates for Italian chefs. It inspires me to grow and change.
Swinging between the German and Italian cultures as we do has been nothing short of extraordinary. It’s hard to know what’s best, because there is no best. The two places are so very different. But when it comes to food and wine, Italy wins hands down. That’s a bit unfair to Germany, because what country can really compare to Italy on those counts?
It’s la cucina Italiana that inspires me to create new plate designs and to try my hand at combining the incredible ingredients I find there. We come back to Germany with a car full of pasta, tomatoes, tuna fish, anchovies, capers and coffee - enough to last us until the next trip.
It’s always hard to leave, but then we come back here, to the forest, to the black earth and pine trees, my pottery studio and our neighbours here.
But the question is what is it about Italy that pulls people in? What happens to people when they get to Italian soil, put their faces in the Italian sun and never want to be anywhere else?
Italy draws people to it like a mothership. There’s a sense of heightened humanity to be found in Italy that is visceral. People will give you time in Italy, because time has a different dimension. Conversation is part of being alive, even if it’s just a few words on the corner or in the cafe. And because people give you time, you feel seen in Italy, in a different way than in a culture that places its priority on speed and efficiency. Being seen by people means you see them back, and there is an energy exchange. This is one of the things that I miss most about Italy when I am not there - the warmth that is simply part of being in a culture so old and established, it’s really go nothing to prove.
I love Italy. But it’s a complicated place.
Nothing about the infrastructure really works, and living there while trying to make a living is not easy (to say the least). Systemic corruption means the government isn’t trusted by the people, the bureaucracy is a bloated monster, and the system is a labyrinth of punitive, archaic and confusing rules which can cost money, time, and peace of mind.
In 2014, ten years into restoring old buildings, clearing land and owning/running a B&B in there, life had become a saga of exhaustion and frustration. My level of drain brought on anxiety that dogged the last four years of life there. I hadn’t respected my own physical and psychological limits, drawing for too long from an empty well, not allowing anything to show on the surface - scared to death that if I did, we’d lose our guests, our business, our livelihood, in short, everything. My anxiety ruled our existence for a long time, and it was hard on both of us.
By the time we sold our magical place on a hill, I needed one thing, and that thing was rest. We decided it would be best to return to Germany, where we had lived before, but this time opting for the south of the country. The Black Forest gave me not only respite, but sanctuary, comfort and beauty. I regathered my strength and regrouped among the tall, black-green pines. Germany allowed us to build wonderful things with our new found strength.
An Italian wine business for my husband. I started building websites for creative clients and making plates for exclusive restaurants and wineries (all located, ironically in Italy, because it’s Italy that appreciates true artisan craft).
Germany brought with it a calm lifestyle. Italy brings with it Italy.
Germany - Yin.
Italy - Yang.
It’s been this way for a long time now, this emotional and physical back and forth between two countries. We’re close to a point in life where life between two places is getting to be a little much for us. The question is, what’s next? How will this next, important, and most likely final chapter of our life adventure look for us when we’ve had the chance to experience so much goodness in different places?
What lifestyle and place would allow us to live out our lives while continuing to grow and learn new things?
Follow along as we head down to our tiny house, where we hope to be dining on porcini mushrooms and white truffles for the foreseeable future!
Have a wonderful weekend!
“Take it slow and savor” when in Italy or in Piemonte in particular. I like that advice.
I love the wines.
Having just returned from my 20th trip to Italy and in my typical mourning phase your title got me. I fell in love with Italy the first time I landed there ( like so many !) it’s soft and maternal , even the oranges seem to glow .