Torino. Castel Bianco and the Piemont Mountains.

The drive to Torino through the Piemonts Mountains showed us yet another part of Italy that was worth seeing. It was 3 hours of beautiful, green, lush, majestic mountains with small villages either perched on the top of the mountains or nestled in the valleys.

After visiting theTown of Castel Bianco,(one of the perched villages where the London chap from the wedding party in Portofino suggested), and enjoying the incredible views from vistas higher than we ever imagined, we stumbled upon a small village nestled in a valley called Garessio, hoping to find a place for a quick lunch. This town was as authentic as you get and it was here that we experienced the real “Italian” culture. We found the only café in the village where we struggled as we tried to request food since there wasn’t really a menu. There were 3 very personable women there who were excited to speak to us with the limited English that they spoke. It didn’t seem that they have many visitors from other countries. The mayor was there as seen in the picture posted on the blog. He sat there and enjoyed the interaction between us and the women. It was extremely enjoyable until the “town drunk” stumbled into the café for his afternoon glass of vino and all of a sudden, the women scattered like rats. The mayor was gone as well. One distinguished resident stayed and pulled the annoying man away from us and proceeded to scold him-we thought there might be an altercation between the two but it turned out to be just emphatic italian expression! We proceeded on our journey but were so grateful to have found this wonderful village and the warm, friendly people who lived there (including the drunk).



Once we were through the beautiful Piemont Mountains and descended upon Torino, we saw the amazing Alps surrounding the city. The Alps seemed like a natural border for the city (much like Denver and the Rockies) and the snow seemed to be plentiful on many of the peaks. Torino, much like Boston, had a beautiful river running through the center with rowing clubs lining the embankment, many business men and women bustling through the streets, and the buildings were old with many modern details. Statues and monuments were appropriately situated along the streets and throughout the city as well. Torino is a vibrant, commercial city.



The Piemont Mountains, and the glimpse of the Alps gave us a totally different perspective of Italy’s northeastern area. Beautiful and very scenic, much like Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.