The Cathedral of Asti, Piedmont

The city of Asti is 40 minutes drive from Torino and one hour from Milano. Asti was founded by the Ligurians who named it ‘Ast’ meaning ‘hill’ or ‘high-ground’ in 49 BC.

After walking around downtown Asti, looking up at the medieval towers (see our earlier post here), we found the city’s cathedral.

The cathedral of Asti  (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) was built in the 13th century, one of the biggest in Piedmont, in late Medieval, Romanesque-Gothic style.

The exterior is made of brick and tuff, with areas of polychrome decoration, brick alternating with sandstone.

The interior surface of the church is completely covered with frescoes.

I have never seen a church with this much frescoes – it makes me think of a densely tattooed body !

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The church apparently has two organs, a real one and a painted one.

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From a distance, I cannot tell if some were painted or they were sculptures.

At the intersection of the nave and the transept is an octagonal skylight. This is spectacular.

Standing directly underneath it and looking up.

The Romanesque bell tower with a square base, which was originally seven stories tall, dates back to 1266. Near the bottom of the tower is a sundial-like device mounted on the exterior wall. We could not figure out how it works. We were there at around 3-4pm – can someone tell me how to read it ?

The last big church I saw was the Doms in Köln in May this year (click here to see pictures.)

 

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Città delle cento torri, Asti, Piedmonte

Continuing with our vacation in Northern Italy … in Piedmont where we were staying, the nearest big town is Asti.

Asti has the largest late medieval architectural heritage of the region, in memory of what was once the most powerful town in Piedmont. There are numerous towers, fortified houses, churches, and palaces. The area north-west of the city, between the city center and the Cathedral, is very rich in medieval merchants’ houses and palaces, many with monumental towers. It was once known as the ‘City of One Hundred Towers’ (Città delle cento torri).

Apparently, from early 14th century, Asti enjoyed enormous wealth and power with extensive trading rights granted by the Holy Roman Empire. During the 17th century, there were an incredible 125 of them, though today only a dozen or so still survive.

Of the 12 or so towers that remain, only this one can be climbed. Torre Troyana Dell’ Orologia is a 38m-tall tower that dates from the 12th century. The clock was added in 1420.

These are the towers in Costigliole d’Asti, a commune outside of Asti which we passed when we ventured out from our villa.

One of the most famous events held in Asti is the famous annual Palio di Asti, in which all the old town wards, called “Rioni” and “Borghi” plus nearby towns compete in a bare-back horse race.

There are 14 old town wards in Asti. The coats of arms of several old town wards were prominently displayed, the race being only a couple of weeks from our visit.  Based on the colors, this one is for Borgo Viatosto.

This one is for Rione San Secondo.

This is the coat of arms for Borgo Santa Maria Nuova.

Asti is famous also for the sparkling wine – Asti Spumante – we passed a massive Martini & Rossi factory. The name today is usually shortened to “Asti” in order to avoid associations with the many wines of dubious quality which are labelled as Spumante. Asti is typically sweet and low in alcohol (often below 8%). It is made solely from the moscato bianco (white muscat grape).

 

A premium version of Asti is known as Moscato d’Asti – Sue absolutely loves it and we brought several bottles of La Gatta from Terredavino (see earlier post here) back home with us.

Terredavino, Cantine in Barolo

Continuing with our visit to Northern Italy – Barolo – one of the best-known Italian wines – are made in the village of Barolo in Piedmont.  Partly because of time-constraint, we did not visit any of the famous winery, like Conterno, … and not even Renato Ratti, owner of the villa where we were staying (see earlier post here).

Instead, we visited Terredavino, at the suggestion of one of my Italian colleague. It is a super-modern top winery that services over 5,000 hectares of local vineyards cultivated by over 2,500 growers.

If we understood our winery guide correctly, Terredavino acts as a collective facility to serve local growers who may not be able to afford all the equipment to make and bottle their wines.

The growers join as members and the facility only makes DOC and DOCG regulated wines from grapes grown in Piedmont.

The winery has a shop and enoteca for tasting.  I (Chris) did a quick flight of four reds and Sue just tried the Moscato d’Asti. We ended up buying several different Barolo, Barbera and Moscato D’Asti wines.

It also has a library/bookstore for literature and maps about wine-making and cuisine.

The architecture of the winery is so different from what one might expect from this very historic agricultural area. It was definitely designed to showcase itself to not just passing tourists like us, but also as we suspect, to grape growers and producers who pay to use the facility.

According to its web site:

Grapes from the largest producer members are vinified separately and the name of the original producer appears on the label. The grapes from the small producers and particular lots are blended. In this case the labels contain the titles of books by famous local authors whose works speak about the lands which produce our wines.

We were given a quick tour of the facility. This is the barrel room where the wines mature. This space is capable of containing up to 2,000 oak barriques in an area that is entirely temperature and humidity controlled.

Oak barrique-matured wines are labeled “Superiore” if I remember correctly.

This area is the bottling and automatic packaging lines with all functions carried out in a clean environment.

The winery.

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We encountered a group of Ferrari owners who had just gathered at the winery for drinks and snacks. Never seen so many in one place (all different model, even some vintage).

Were they not all drinking and driving ?

Off they go, a touring caravan of Ferraris.

Ciao.

Brasserie Bahnhof Basel

When it comes to finding a place to eat at a train station, the Brasserie at the Basel train station is hard to beat. I stumbled into this place recently.

This brasserie is located in the Basel SBB train station on the Swiss side of the border and not the Basel Badischer Bahnhof which handles the German train services. I (Chris) had passed through this station several times but did not have the need to wait for a train.

 

When I walked in, I did not expect such a space – the dining hall with a high ceiling enhancing the retro ambiance.

 

All four walls are covered with art or painting by Swiss artists – Dieter Roth, Pierre Haubensak – well-known locally.

The back of the dining room. The classic Swiss railway station platform clock is probably the only thing to suggest that this dining room might be located inside a train station.

The center section of the brasserie sits on a raised platform, illuminated by a skylight directly above. It could make one feel like the center of attention.

There are other dining rooms in adjoining wings, separated from the main room by heavy velvety curtains. What chandeliers!

 More art above the entrance.

The brasserie is almost a destination itself. The only other railway station I know that has something similar is Grand Central in New York. There were several bars and restaurants that share the magnificient space with the main waiting room at Grand Central. This place is more intimate than grand.

Unfortunately, the food is not what motivated me to write this place up.

The restaurant’s website is here.

Mont d’Or, France

Let’s talk about cheese. Mont d’Or. Like most cheeses, it is named after where it comes from. This place is named Gold Mountain because of the cliffs in this mountainous area which reflect the golden light of the setting sun. By the way, the mountain range is named Jura which gave rise to the name of a geological period – Jurassic – which is in turn made famous by the dinosaur movies – Jurassic Park 1, 2….

Mont d’Or, or Vacherin du Haut-Doubs, from France, or Vacherin Mont d’Or from Switzerland is a soft, rich, seasonal cheese made from cow’s milk in villages of the Jura region. Both cheeses are strictly controlled by its Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) or Appellation d’Origine Protégée (AOP) and there were histories of rivalry between the two countries.

The French version has a grayish-yellow washed rind and contains 45 to 50 percent milk fat and is produced between August 15 and March 15, and sold between September 10 and May 10. We checked before going on a September weekend. It was a cross-border day trip up the Jura mountains from Lausanne. Our friend F joined us and we left shortly after lunch on a sunny fall day.

The Swiss Vacherin Mont d’Or is generally made with pasteurised milk, while the French Vacherin du Haut-Doubs is unpasteurised. That means the French version is illegal in the US and one should expect it to be confiscated by customs if it is discovered.

The cheese is traditionally made in the winter months when the cows come down from Alpage and there is not enough milk to make Comte. It is marketed in round boxes of various diameters made of spruce, and often served warmed in its original packaging and eaten like fondue.

The destination of our little trip was the Sancey Richard Fromagerie in the town of Metabief, no more than one hour drive from Lausanne. The cheese factory contains an exhibit of their old equipment as well as a short film about its history.

They also constructed a viewing area where one can see in a hygienic way how the cheeses are made. This area is for making Comte and Morbier.

The grand dame of the family that owns the fromagerie received the National Order of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier légion d’honneur) presumably for her family’s contribution to the local cheese-making culture.

Attached to the factory is the shop (fromagerie) that was doing brisk business. We bought 2 Mont d’Or, about 0.3 kg of each of Comte Fruite and Comte Vieux as well as a wedge of Bleu de Gex.

In the shop, we were most impressed by this hydraulically-operated, laser-guided cheese cutter (see the line of red light). Very professional and lethal !

We started snacking on the Comte as soon as we walked out. It is one of our favorite cheeses.

Back home that evening, we pushed several pieces of whole garlic into the cheese and poured some white wine into a little well we dug in the middle. After 25 minutes in the oven, it melted and we ate it like a mini fondue with potatoes and charcuterie also from the Franche-Comté area.

Great local-style dinner, fine wine and good company. Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random photos #121 – #125

These are the photos I (Chris) took and posted on Facebook. The series was started in March of 2013. There is no theme – just something random and visually interesting. We gave each a title and noted where it was taken (to the extent we could remember the city).

random photo #121 – red – Sintra, Portugal

random photo #122 – longing – Dorset, England

random photo #123 – steamy – Baden Baden, Germany

random photo #124 – shades in many shades – Paris

random photo #125 – chard – Vevey

My third pair of ic! berlin – Harmonic Oscillator

My (Chris’s) eyesight is not getting better and as a result, I have to change the prescription on my lens – it is getting thicker but not quite coke-bottle thick. I changed my glasses about six months ago.

I wrote about my loyalty to the ic! berlin brand of eyeglass here – click to see the other models I wore in the last 8 or so years.

I am sticking with this German, handmade-in-Berlin (handgefertigt in eigener herstellung, berlin) brand a third time around. In retrospect, the shape and curvature of my first pair were quite special; the second and now third are quite similar to each other and somewhat conventional.

It was a bit of a decision since they are well known for their light-weight frames made with sheet metal, as were my two earlier purchases. Now I am trying one of their plastic model.

The plastic model still uses their unique screw-less hinge that works by the springiness of the metal. Having a white middle layer seems very popular at the moment as many brands are coming out with it.

The frame is made with a three-layer sandwich of acetate resins – the one closest to the face is translucent light grey-ish blue, the middle layer is white and the outermost is imitation turtle shell. It is a big, size 56 frame.

The frame did not come with a nose bridge but the store ordered one from the factory specially for me.

The model is named Harmonic Oscillator and there is even a little diagram etched on the inner side of the frame to illustrate the concept. I have no idea how this concept is connected with the design of this frame. My first pair was named “roman” and the second pair was named “hotel neutor”.

The limbs of the frame are partially metallic and are finished with a matt brown coating (it says black although it is really dark dark brown to me). On closer inspection, the coating on the metallic part reflects multi-color light. Look at the spots of colors on the edges.

I am quite happy with it and hopefully my eyesight does not deteriorate too quickly.

The brand’s website is here. It appears that they now offer a factory tour, I will definitely check the place out when I am next in Berlin (hopefully in May 2015).

Colle del Gran San Bernardo

Although we have lived in Switzerland for a few years and are only about 2 hours from this famous mountain pass, we crossed the Alps via the Great St Bernard Pass (Colle del Gran San Bernardo or Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard) to Italy for the first time this summer.

The pass was at an elevation of 8100 feet or 2469 meters. We used the Italian name here because most of the pictures shown below were taken while climbing the Alps (by car) on the Italian side on our return trip back to Switzerland. Visibility was very poor when we were descending on the Swiss side and thus no photos were possible.

Most of the information below came from Wikipedia.

The pass is the third highest paved mountain road pass (E27 or SS27) in Switzerland. It connects Martigny in the Canton of Valais to Aosta in Italy. We were coming back from a weekend trip to Aosta with F and A.

For a long time, however, the road was only passable for a few months during summer due to the unfavourable climate conditions. The Great St Bernard Tunnel, opened in 1964, allows year-round passage and enters the mountains at the 1,915 m (6,283 ft).

It is the lowest pass lying on the ridge between the two highest summits of the Alps, Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa. The pass itself is located in Switzerland.

We passed the tunnel entrance and continued further up. From this point, there are no trees due to the altitude.

The winter snow in the pass may be as much as 10 metres deep. The temperature may drop as low as -30°C. The natural lake at the pass is frozen for 265 days in a year. We did not see any snow at this late summer time of the year.

The pass appeared in history books as early as the Roman Empire. In May 1800, Napoleon marched 40,000 men and artillery over the still snowed-in pass to defeat the Austrians in Aosta and Genoa.

Straddling the highest point of the road, the Great St Bernard Hospice was founded in 1049. The hospice later became famous for its use of St. Bernard dogs in rescue operations. We posted here about a kennel and museum (Fondation Barry du Grand Saint Bernard) dedicated to St. Bernard dogs in Martigny.

We thought this little square building visible soon after the tunnel entrance was the hospice but we were wrong. There were quite a few more turns before the pass.

The landscape is dramatic every way you turn. Love the view from below of the road zigzagging its way up the mountain.

As we drove higher, visibility got worse. As you can see in the photo, despite the ruggedness of the environment, the road surface is extremely well-maintained.

We knew cattle were left to roam in the mountain during summer but did not expect to see them at this elevation. Cheese made from milk collected at this time of year are supposed to taste slightly different (more floral and fruity) from those made in winter because the cow eats alpine grass and flowers in the summer but dried hay in the winter. This distinction, its recognition and control of the practice is the basis for appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC), and an extension of the terroir argument. So, cheese, which is a form of preserved food, is also seasonal.

On the Italian side of the border, there is a hotel. Again, from a distance, we thought this is the famed St Bernard Hospice. Nope.

The fog was so dense on that day that we could not see the hospice across the pond. Nor can we see the peaks and ridges of the mountains on either side of the pass.

Next summer, we will come back and have a proper look of the hospice and mountains. I like mountain passes – there is something inspiring about the passage of a barrier at the lowest point which is itself already a high obstacle to overcome.

There are some historical pictures (immagini storiche) of the hotel from the 1930’s when it was built. Browse around on the hotel web site for some pictures of the area taken on a sunny day.

 

Ristorante Bovio, La Morra

La Morra is one of several wine-making commune/village that is in the zone of production of Barolo wines. Located high on a little hill where it commands a panoramic view of the area, it is in the province of Cuneo, south-west of Alba. It was about 30 minutes drive from our villa (see earlier post here).

Our out-of-date guidebook says one of the better restaurant in La Morra is the Belvedere. Our hotel manageress told us that the owner had moved the restaurant to another location just below the town.

The restaurant is now known as Bovio. One could have easily driven past the entrance as the restaurant is situated below the steep road that leads up to the town, and thus not visible to the driver.

The ristorante is situated on a hill side which offers stunning views of the Langhe area, effectively 180 degrees.

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This is a link to the La Morra tourist office.

We ordered the degustation menu. Our amuse bouche was deep-fried zucchini flower.

Veal tartare, black truffle, parmigiano

Their version of Vitello Tonnato (alla vecchio maniera) – a dish we encountered daily including at the breakfast buffet.

Porcini tart with Raschera cheese fondue, black truffle

Those were the starters.

We sat indoors. View from the dining room.

Roast baby goat (alla Alta Langa)

Ravioli in beef sauce

Risotto with porcini mushroom and Cuneo valley cheese

Simple, well made, local ingredients = slow food – this area gave birth to the catchy term to contrast itself from the now universal concept of fast food.

Another satisfying lunch. Ciao.