Barbaresco to Siena

The rain was still falling Monday morning in Barbaresco and apparently in much of Piemonte. We had a leisurely breakfast sharing coffee and travel ideas with David and Carina, a couple from Vancouver. It turns out Carina runs her own travel business in British Columbia and was in Tuscany inspecting a number of sites she recommends to her clients. (photo: Alessandra and her little girl Costanza, outside of Aimone's new enoteca in Siena.)

After breakfast Giovanna and Italo gave the four of us a tour their “wine cellar,” in effect their wine operation. (They produce about 18,000 bottles a year.) At the opposite end of their farmhouse Giovanna showed us the wine production and storage facility as well as a wonderful tasting room. Because the facility is built into the side of the hill the backside of essentially underground. And at the backside of the tasting room they have excavated a portion of the hill to demonstrate what the soil, the ground of the vineyard looks like – a very cool idea. This wall of striated rock consisted of alternating layers of gray clay and blue marl, and at the bottom there was a shallow pool of water. A fascinating demonstration of how the local water seeps, collects and then runs off. Amazing.

It was still raining after we all scurried around the side of the building back to the coziness of the dining room to say our final goodbyes. David and Carina were off to Cinque Terre and we were off to Siena.

We have pledged ourselves (again) to make a point of returning to Barbaresco for a more prolonged stay – there is so much to see and experience in this part of Piemonte. The food is uncommonly good in a land where uncommonly good food is a common trait. And the wines, Barbaresco and its more robust big sister Barolo are among the finest red wines in the world. And Cascine has a wonderful apartment that would do very nicely for a week.

I brought the car around, loaded or bags, Susie slid in beside me and we were off in the light drizzle heading to the autostrade and looking for Genova.

An hour later we began to pull away from the brutish weather of the mountains and the closer we came to the Ligurian Sea the more sun we found and the warmer it became.

We passed around Genova, through the notorious tunnels and bridges of the highway system in this part of Italy. In fact, the roads here are all either cantilevered, on bridges or through tunnels in Genova and this is not for the faint of heart. But the effect is nonetheless fascinating: you feel as if the roads are suspended out in midair, hundreds of feet above the gorges of high-rise apartments and industrial complexes far below. The Italians are geniuses when it comes to designing their roads.

We cruised southward on the A12 toward Livorno, past La Spezia and then cut inland toward Lucca on the A11 and then around Florence to the SS223 to Siena.

We exited at “Siena sud” and followed the signs to the Porta Romana where we found the Hotel Santa Caterina just outside the city walls. (A recommendation by Roberto Bechi, the hotel is also very close to another favorite spot of ours, Peccati di Gola, one of the best pastry shops in or outside of Siena.) We parked the car in the very tiny and slightly challenging hotel lot, unloaded our bags and checked in,

After unpacking, we headed into the city on foot, through the Porta Romana and up Via Pantaneto toward the Piazza del Campo.

During our trip we have heard more than once how the tough economic times have taken its toll on the travel and tourism industry here in Italy. Some things have certainly changed in Siena – businesses change hands, some have closed and others have moved. It has become increasingly obvious my website is out of date and probably slightly out of touch as well.

But that’s one of the reasons for being here is to bring that website up to date. Good timing to be sure.

On our way to find Aimone’s new wine ship on Via Stalloreggi (he had since closed Cantina in Piazza and recently opened a new shop near the Duomo), we stopped by to see Lisa and her English-language bookshop. She was there and promptly informed us thsat she and her husband (who runs the wonderful Palazzo Ravizza hotel in the city) had decided to close the shop and move it to the hotel. The reasons are clear enough today: tough economic times. The hotel had closed its restaurant business some time back so there was space available. The move is to happen by the end of April so we caught her just in time.

After chatting with Lisa – she’s always full of details about the latest changes in Siena --- we strolled to Aimone’s, noting that one of our favorite places to eat, Boccon del Prete was still open. A good dsign indeed.

A few meters around the corner on Via Stalloreggi we found the wine ship, “Enoteca,” but Aimone was not there. His wife Moreena was however and we chatted with her for a few minutes. She told us that Aimone was on his way to the shop and would be there soon. So we decided to “fare un giro” until he returned. (Literally “to go around,” “fare un giro” means really to travel around for a bit, rather like a passegiata but without purpose or direction).

After joining in the evening passegiata we stopped by Nannini’s for an aperitif (“negroni sbagliati”) and thought we recognized one of the bartenders. Susie asked him if he had once worked at another favorite haunt of ours in 2005, Bar Quattro Cantoni and he said, “Si!” We talked a bit – learning he is there on just a month-long contract tending bar. Hmmmm. Curious we thought,

We said “Ciao” and left Nannini’s heading back outside, wading through the crowds of Italian teenagers still out of school for the spring break.

A few minutes walk and were back in Aimone’s shop and met up with the wine guru himself. And just a few minutes later Alessandra showed up along with here little girl Costanza. (Alessandra, whose English is impeccable works for Aimone in his wine export business.)

We all laughed and talked, mostly in Italian, halting or otherwise, all of us trying to impress little Costanza. Odd behavior for adults but it felt fun. We then walked over to the Bar Quattro Cantoni for caffe.

A little while later Ale and Costanza had to go and so did we – the plan is to meet up on Tuesday for “pranzo (lunch). Tuesday is big day for us since Roberto will pick us up at the hotel so we can have dinner together with him and Patti and their kids that evening, probably in Asciano.

So we said “Ciao” to Aimone and Moreena and strolled back down Via Stalloreggi just a few meters and turned right heading to Boccon del Prete. We were glad to see they were open on a Monday, still going strong and it was also nice to have the owner recognize us. He had often given us impromptu Italian lessons in 2005 and his kindness and understanding behavior always struck as so typical of our experience with Italians over the years. Anyway, their food had never tasted better. Susie had beef and I had pork and we both shared a bottle of Brunello.

Good to be alive and good to be in Siena once more.