Barolo, Barolo: Perfumy Aromas, Lovely Views

Outside the Brezza family's kitchen in Barolo, Italy, a tantalizing smell wafts around us--Brasato al Barolo: a veal roll simmering slowly in its sauce of strong, perfumy Barolo wine, onions, celery, yellow pepper, carrots, garlic, nutmeg, cloves and handfuls of rosemary and laurel from shrubs outside. The signora pours in liberal amounts of Barolo now and then. Her cooking tip: Don't use cheaper red wine. It won't hold up under all the simmering. Easy for her to say. The Brezza winery just downstairs gives her a constant supply!

Some Typical Piedmontese Appetizers with Chef Franco

The Piedmontese are famous for their wealth of cold and hot appetizers! After a siesta you head to pretty Ristorante La Cascata set in a private park with a small lake where black swans swim. Smiling Italian Chef Franco shows you how to make five tasty Piedmontese appetizers like a delicate red pepper flan and bagna cauda. In the winter in this region of Italy, people sit around tables drinking red wine, singing and dipping raw vegetables in pots of bagna cauda, a tangy cooked sauce with one garlic clove and one anchovy per person and olive oil, whipping cream and butter.

Full Menu Lesson at a Special Italian Restaurant: Wonderful Hospitality & Heavenly Food!

With the terribly outgoing Chef Esther and her daughter, you learn to make an easy Italian appetizer that looks pretty on the plate. A parsley roll made of a very thin potato omelette with a layer of tuna and parsley spread inside, then rolled up and cooled. You cut it like a jelly roll. Our main plate, sliced beef simmered with herbs, vegetables and wine, then topped with a fresh basil sauce, is a real treat for the tastebuds.

Out at your table on the terrace surrounded by vineyards, drinking elegant Barbaresco wine with this plate, I think, " I never want to leave." A magical evening in Italy.

Medieval Towers, Market & "Sins of the Throat"

You stroll around the food market and Saturday street stalls in Alba, Italy, a bustling hub of 30,000. Its medieval centre, with only a few towers remaining, reminds you of San Gimignano in Tuscany and has a variety of tempting Italian gastronomic shops with names like "Peccati della Gola" "Sins of the Throat".

In the picturesque main piazza, the imposing terracotta brick cathedral, rebuilt in 1486, faces dignified yellow and gold buildings and a series of covered archways. You many want to sit back in a beautifully decorated, 19th century Italian cafe, with apricot walls, curly gold trim and frescoes, that faces the piazza and just watch local life go by.