Agriturismo VERDITA

Autumn in Merana

2010-10-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Barbaresco

2010-08-11T23:46:00.001-07:00

The town of Barbaresco lies northeast of Alba in Piemonte. This is the heart of the Barbaresco wine production, boasting more than half the registered vineyards for its namesake wine and most of its best vineyards (Asili, Rabaja, Roncaglie, Martinenga...)

The villages is very well preserved, with its castle and medieval watch tower on the top of a cliff above the Tanaro river.

In a former church you find the Enoteca Regionale del Barbaresco. It sells nearly al of the appellation's labels.

Grow lavender grow

2010-06-07T11:10:00.001-07:00

Official Opening

2010-05-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a little opening party for our agriturismo. The people from our village all came to have a look at our apartments and to eat and drink of course. We had a great time and it was fun to hear all their positive comments.

Pasquetta walk: Alpicella - Mount Beigua - Alpicella (ring-route)

2010-04-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

Pasquetta (literally "Little Easter) is an Italian holiday and occurs the monday after Easter Sunday. It's a day you spend outdoors and of course there's always eating involved. Many choose a beach destination that day, but because we don't like the big crowds we went for a big Pasquetta walk on Mount Beigua, a very charming itinerary with fantastic vieuws. One time you can admire the Apuanian Alps, on other places you can see the Maritime Alps and of course there's the never ending sea.

You find a full description of the itinerary here.

Here's a little slideshow of our walk:

If you're in Liguria and you like walking, you really have to do this one. It's not like Cinque Terre were the whole world walks around, most of the year it is very quiet and it's only you, nature and impressive views. Just the way we like it !

International Course on Piedmontese Wines

2010-03-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

This week I left my boyfriend, dog and lavenderfarm alone for a few days to follow a very interesting course on Piedmontese wines at the Slow Food University (Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche) in Pollenzo.

I didn't make it through the selection, because this was a course for wine experts and people in the wine business, and well, ... you can say a lot about me but not that I know something about wines. But I thought it could be interesting as a lot of our guests want to visit wineries and come to this region, not only for its natural beauties, but also because of the great wines.

Sunday, when the course started, I heard about someone cancelling, packed my bags, and was just in time to enjoy the first diner of the course.

During this week I learned a lot about the history of Piedmontese wine-production, we tasted a lot of Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Moscato d'Asti ...

There were some interested visits to wineries in Dogliani, Barolo and Barbaresco.

It was a great week, with superb wines, interesting people ...

And I must say, I was very impressed how well this course was organised.

For me, it was a unique experience even if I'm not a real "wine person" and I hope my guests will also benefit from what I learned in this course.

My life in Italy: Impressions of sunday march 14

2010-03-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Wine Course at the Slow Food University

2010-03-14T23:24:00.001-07:00

I'm on holiday !

I have the unexpected opportunity to follow a free wine course at the Slow Food University in Pollenzo (1.5 hour drive from Agriturismo Verdita) and so I left Nicolas and the dog home and here I am now in the Albergo dell'Agenzia.

Yesterday we had a great meal with wines from La Spinetta, a langhe bianco (savignon blanc),barbera d'asti superiore, barbaresco, moscato d'asti. Producer Giorgio Rivetta from La Spinetta was here too. A very charming man and enthousiastic winemaker.

A good start for a wonderful week !

Pietra Ligure

2010-02-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Pietra Ligure, a sea town on the west of the Italian Flower Riviera, between Imperia and Savona (a one hour drive from our agriturismo).

Every last sunday of the month there's a little antiques market and jumble sale.

February

2010-02-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Last year I discovered that I love February in Italy. In Belgium there was no hope for spring at this time of the year, but here in Italy you can expect everything.

You still can have real winter snow showers, but there are other days, you can work in your top, even if it's only for one hour.

The first picture I have made yesterday (we had 25 cm of snow) and the 2nd picture shows how I painted our facade this afternoon .
Quite a difference!

Visiting wineries

2010-01-15T04:04:00.000-08:00

Piemonte = wine !

It's very simple, when you live in Piemonte you drink wine, you talk about wine and most people also have a vineyard for their own table wine.

It's only logical that we visit the wineries in our neighboorhood, to look for possibilities to work together for our guests.

Yesterday we really found a little hidden gem. In the hills above Montechiaro d'Acqui, there is a natural winemaker with only 20 000 square metres of vineyard, but with a passion for it that I can't discribe, you have to see him. He's 80, but seems a lot younger, always smiling and telling stories about wines but also about the book he wrote (about his experiences in the resistance in WWII).

This wine farm existed when Napoleon (in 1797) passed here and it was always the same family.

With his daughter in law we made plans for pizza and wine evenings, degustations ...

I'm sure it will be great working with them !

Heavy Snowfall

2010-01-08T00:53:00.000-08:00

They had predicted the snow, but 40 cm ... that's a little too much.

White Christmas in Piemont, Italy

2009-12-22T02:23:00.000-08:00

This year we experience a white Christmas again, fortunately it's only a few inches of snow this time, unlike last year when we had one snow storm after the other.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-21T00:21:00.000-08:00

Wild Boar

2009-12-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

A while ago we received a gift from one of the hunters: pieces of a wild boar they shot on our hills and that's what we had for dinner this evening.

Delicious !

A Google Map of the Regional Park of Piana Crixia

2009-12-16T02:13:00.000-08:00

Regional Park of Piana Crixia weergeven op een grotere kaart

Enjoying the views, the sun and my dog

2009-12-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

Pictures of my walk with the dog yesterday. At the moment we have perfect december days: blue sky and mild temperatures, but ... sunday it will be snowing !

Arenzano

2009-12-08T01:17:00.000-08:00

Sunday we explored Arenzano, a coastal town in Liguria, Italy.
This ancient fishing village is now a seaside resort and a popular holiday resort for Italians, close to Genoa.

The little streets are very charming with a lot of medieval accents: votive niches, ancient portals and small squares.
The city hall is situated in an elegant park with rare trees. Here you can also find a centuries-old watch tower, build to prevent sudden incursions of pirates and a monumental glass and wrought iron green house. The city has a lot of villas and prestigious residences.

Arenzano has one of the most popular sanctuaries in Liguria: The Santuario del Bimbo di Praga.

The first snow of 2009

2009-12-04T00:22:00.000-08:00

A week later than last year and fortunately many centimeters less !

Flower Riviera Cycle Path

2009-12-01T04:46:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, an unsightly train line ran on the sinuous coastline between San Lorenzo al Mare and Ospedaletti, looming large and metallic over the cobalt sea. Several years and an enlightened administration later, the railway line has been moved inland, and the former tracks have been turned into a 24-km route open to ramblers and cyclists.

The views along the way are enchanting, with verdant trees and pretty villages on one side and wavelets lapping the foot of the trail on the other. Four large terraces allow visitors to rest and make the most of the panorama. Bikes are available to rent at either end of the track, making it perfect for families and occasional cyclists. Die-hard ones, though, can continue on to the 2,000 km of the Alpi del Mare route, which starts from sea level and climbs all the way up the mountains.

http://www.verdita.com/

http://www.casamare.net/en/news/?p=53

Acqui e Sapori - Acqui Terme

2009-11-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

Every year in november there's a food fair in Acqui Terme: "Acqui e Sapori" with on sunday a truffle exhibition.

I made some pictures to give you an idea:

Wine: visit to cantina La Maranzana

2009-11-21T05:42:00.000-08:00

It doesn't matter if you're into wine or not, when you live in a wine region like ours wine becomes part of your life. But I don't think that's a big problem for most of us ;-)

Sunday we were invited at cantina La Maranzana, in the middle of the most beautiful vineyards you can imagine. It was foggy, so we weren't lucky with the views, but we had our own private tour in the cantina and they spoiled us with food and wine. The best of all : if we ask them, they will organise also a private tour of the cantina for our guests.

Following other blogs (part 1): Casa Dolcetto

2009-11-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

Like a lot of other people I love to follow blogs. They give you new insights, they reveal little gems to visit and offer a lot of usefull information.
I'm particularly interested in blogs from people who live in the neighboorhood. As I only moved here in june 2008 I still have a lot to explore and then it's easy to use other blogs for finding out what the possibilities are.

One of the blogs I discovered is the one from "Casa Dolcetto": http://casadolcetto.blogspot.com.
If you want to visit Piedmont, there are some interesting articles you can read:

Top 10 tips for Turin: http://casadolcetto.blogspot.com/2009/10/top-10-tips-for-turin.html
Reflections of Bergolo: http://casadolcetto.blogspot.com/2009/10/reflections-of-bergolo.html
Truly Truffle Town (about Alba): http://casadolcetto.blogspot.com/2009/10/truly-truffle-town.html
A brief look at Cuneo: http://casadolcetto.blogspot.com/2009/01/brief-look-at-cuneo.html

Do you know other interesting blogs I could follow?

Truffles

2009-11-10T02:08:00.001-08:00

May I present you, Roberto, one of our local truffle hunters. These days you can't find him home most of the times, because it's truffle season. For him, it's not only a way to make money, but it's his passion and that you can see because he love sharing his stories about truffles and he shows people how he finds them. That's rare in a profession like his, because we're talking about big money.

Did you know that in Alba they just sold a truffle of 750 gr. for 100 000 euro?

Well, knowing this, you can imagine that most truffle hunters aren't very willing to share their secrets. Villagers told us there was even a man who wore his boots in the wrong direction so that others wouldn't know where he went !

But Roberto is different. Ok, he will not show the most secret places but since we opened our agriturismo he took a lot of our guests on a truffle walk and showed them how his dogs find these expensive delicacies.

Bomba di riso

2009-11-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

Today I made a bomba di riso, ... why they call it a bomb?

Well, I think I understand now after eating it: the amount of cheese in it make it, well, very very heavy.

But it's delicious, and that's what food is all about in my opinion. Sorry, no counting calories for me.

Una domenica in campagna

2009-10-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

A nice initiative in our neighboorhood "Una domenica in campagna" at the Cantina La Maranzana.

Every sunday in november you can enjoy a free degustation of their wines and for those who want there's the possibility to eat a lunch with truffles in one of the agriturismo's in the neighboorhood.

There are a lot of events around wine in our region and we haven't seen a lot of tourists visiting them yet.

Our Lavender Farm

2009-10-20T00:02:00.000-07:00

Since last week we can call ourselves an organic Lavender Farm, 25 000 plants we have now !
First we had to plant the rows of lavender with a tractor, now we're controlling every plant and putting in the ones we have forgotten + some extra.

I look forward to see them grow in the spring, our own lavenderfields !

Twitter and Facebook

2009-10-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Now summer is over and guests are gone, I take the time to familiarize myself with new things, like twitter. Joined today and not sure if it's something interesting or just a waste of time. We'll see, I'm a bit of a computernerd so love to find new internet-things to do.
If you want to follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/AgriVerdita

We also have a group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=agriturismo+verdita&init=quick#/group.php?gid=66232584198&ref=search&sid=1347408835.1456215010..1
Thanks to Facebook I have more contact with people in Belgium (where I come from) than when I lived there. Strange, isn't it?

Something completely different: tomorrow we start planting our lavender, then we will really be a lavenderfarm. Very excited about this !

Mushrooms

2009-10-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

At the moment there's an obsession for mushroom-hunting here in the village. The woods are ful of the most delicious porcini and other mushrooms that I don't know the name of, but they sure taste good !

Of course we have done our part of searching. The first times we walked miles and miles without seeing or recognising anything. After a while I think the people here got a little tired of seeing us like this and one day we got visit from someone who wanted to show me which mushrooms are edible. And since then I fill my basket with the most delicious species.

Of course after the walk I have to prepare them. This means we eate a lot of them during the last days and I have a full freezer.

Really love this ! Walking around, collecting food and preparing the most wonderful dishes with it.

Interesting articles

2009-09-14T04:21:00.001-07:00

Surfing around on the web I found some interesting articles about places you can easily visit while staying at Agriturismo Verdita:

Alba & Asti in 48 hours: http://www.italia-magazine.com/alba-and-asti-in-48-hours
Both cities are ca. 1 hour from our place.

Genova in 48 hours: http://www.italia-magazine.com/holidays/liguria/genova-in-48-hours
Genova is about 1 hour and 15 minutes from our agriturismo.

Truffle Fairs in the Province of Asti (Piedmont) 2009

2009-09-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

National Truffle Fairs

18 and 25 october in Moncalvo

8 november in Montiglio Monferrato

Regional Truffle Fairs

4 and 11 october in Montiglio Monferrato

8 november in Canelli

14 and 15 november in Asti

Medieval festivities in Cassine

2009-09-11T02:03:00.001-07:00

http://www.festamedioevale.it/

Guardian article

2009-09-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

A Guardian article about walking holidays in autumn that also mentions Piemonte as interesting destination: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/05/walking-holidays-autumn

The hills of Italy's Piedmont region are thankfully on the gentle, rolling side
- conquerable for even the wooziest of ramblers, who have over-indulged on
the area's delicious barolo and barbera wines.

Fun begins !

2009-08-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Now the renovation works are done and guests are enjoying the apartments and our lovely region, we realise that this was why we chose this work: making people happy, is sooo much fun !
Some pictures of our agriturismo :

Walking through the Calanche

2009-05-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Every now and then our little village organises excursions through the surrounding Calanche, a protected nature phenomen, these are grey and naked hills that look like slate.

Some pictures of the last time :

Restoration works

2009-05-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

Since october we're renovating our old farm house to make it a little holiday paradise and that's a real adventure for us, people with two left hands. Luckily we have a good building team who is helping us out and day by day we see the transformation. Hopefully we're ready by the end of june to welcome our first guests !

Some before and after pictures of studio La Ginestra:

Before

After:

Our website: http://www.verdita.com/indexeng.html

Wine Grape landscapes: Langhe, Roero, Monferrato and Valtellina

2009-04-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Description
In Italy, wine grape growing is in itself a highly significant cultural value in that it is widespread since Roman times and the produce has long been appreciated the world over. It is also an accurate indicator of Man's ingenuity in modelling the land to serve this purpose and in the never-ending strive to achieve high quality wines which are in great demand in several foreign countries. Indeed, Italian immigrants played a major role in introducing wine grape growing and wine production to the United States and to Australia.
Implementation of the vineyards, wine grape growing and grape-processing are the main elements that, in the course of centuries, have irreversibly bound Man's activity to the territory leaving enduring, characteristic, marks on the landscape. In these areas, where the soil is not sufficiently fertile for agriculture and the land is fractioned in small fields, wine grape growing wrote history and determined the distribution of human settlements. So much so, that the present landscape is the result of centuries of historically documented experiments and activities, with data going back to the Middle Ages when master stone-cutters from Como and Benedictine monks favoured the diffusion in these two areas of the much appreciated wine grape variety, Nebbiolo.

The areas of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato form a spectacular expanse of rolling hills on prevalently Tertiary sandstone, with sandy, acid soil. Here, the various combinations of climate, cultivation techniques, type of graft and grape variety determined the development of a wide range of natural ecosystems. The landscape is marked by a succession of vineyards, where the lines of wine grapes are arranged differently according to the type of contour ploughing, (ritocchino, cavalcapoggio, girapoggio) but there are also some vineyards with a more ancient structure, known as impianti a sostegno vivo, where the grape vines are kept high and left to grow around the trunks of elms, mulberry trees, maple trees and poplars. The grapes are processed following long-standing traditional methods to produce table grapes, particularly strong wines used for improving lighter wines, dessert wines, aged wines, sparkling wines and spirits.

The vineyard's architecture, within the framework of each landscape, is also closely related to wine production, distribution and export systems; each farmhouse with its outbuildings for grape processing and, most importantly, with its wine cellars and vaults cut in the rock, where the wine is aged and stored, is typical of the area. Distribution, layout and shape of these structures are rooted in custom and particularly interesting since they are the outcome of long-lasting research and experience.

Valtellina's geomorphology, climate and orientation are particularly indicated for viticulture. With unrelenting patience the inhabitants terraced the land, managed to overcome the drawbacks of this sandy, silty, very permeable and arid soil, and to exploit the area's distinctly favourable orientation for wine grape growing thus achieving the production of high quality wines. The terracing system with dry walls used in Valtellina is commonly used for agriculture in mountain areas and in the Pre-Alp; the outstanding feature here is the extension of these terraces (nearly 2,500 kilometres distributed over 30 kilometres of mountain slopes) and the fact that they represent the result of an experimental activity that has been carried out for centuries, in particular between the second half of the 16th century and the 18th century, when the area was part of the Swiss Canton Grisons. The wine grape landscapes of Langhe, Roero, Monferrato and Valtellina have also been extensively celebrated in the arts and in literature. Modelling of the land through laborious cultivation techniques, followed by the rewarding moments - harvesting, grape processing and bottling of the wines - have created a vast heritage of age-old traditions and legends associated also to devotional phenomena. Lastly, these wine grape landscapes are the result of long research and experience reported in several scientific treatises.

Justification for Outstanding Universal Value
Satements of authenticity and/or integrity
Regional planning programmes and land utilisation charts establish that land in the proposed sites may be destined solely to viticulture, while the Chambers of Commerce of Asti, Alessandria, Cuneo and Sondrio are responsible for the site identification required, according to national legislation, for the registered declaration of origin (DOC) of the wines produced in these areas.
Valtellina's terraced cultivation comes under the protection of national legislation on cultural heritage, (Codice per i beni culturali ed il paesaggio); it is impossible here to use the usual agricultural machines so that the traditional cultivation techniques are still in use today.

Comparison with other similar properties
The comparison that immediately comes to mind is that with the areas of Tokaij production in Hungary and the Higher Douro Valley in Portugal and, in Italy, the extraordinary terraced slopes on the coastline of the Cinque Terre in Liguria.
However, the unending succession of terraced hills of Langhe, Roero, Monferrato and Valtellina, have greater spectacular value and their extension is certainly unique.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5001/

L'Ancora

2009-03-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

When you come to South-Piemonte and you can read a little Italian, then you must read L'Ancora. In this local newspaper you can find everything about festivities in this region and a lot of useful information.
And lucky us, you can find this newspaper on line: http://www.lancora.com

Piedmont, wine region

2009-03-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

A lot of peolple think Tuscany when they think of Italian wine, but Piedmont is also famous for his quality wines. The Piedmont Wine Region, particularly in the Langhe sub region, is a land of castles, vineyards and romantic hills .

In fact, the region attracts gourmet travellers from all over the world who go there to simply eat and enjoy fine wine and it's no wonder that the Slow Foor Movement is very strong in Piedmont, a region where people celebrate their wine and gastronomy every time they can.

Pictures of enoteca's (wine stores / restaurants) where you can taste a variety of Italian wines :

Carnevale Italiana

2009-02-25T09:46:00.001-08:00

It has been a while, but between the restoration project and other work, I've had the time to participate at a real Italian Carnevale with all the kids of our little village, Merana.

And ... we won the contest of most beautiful car in Cairo Montenotte !!!

Winter pictures

2009-01-15T05:49:00.001-08:00

Snow fun in Piemonte

2008-12-01T05:02:00.001-08:00

November pictures

2008-11-24T06:38:00.001-08:00

... finding mushrooms in the woods
... a blue sky even if it's a bit chilly in the morning

... lots of working in the future agriturismo

... truffle season

Our first autumn in Merana

2008-11-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

Waking up, walking through the garden with the dog and then looking up en admiring this view.
It feels like a dream but this is now my reality.

At the other hand we don't have a real bathroom, no central heating and only two rooms to live in at this moment. But that's all forgotten when I'm standing there realizing the beauty of it all.

Camminata di San Carlo - Dalla torre ai "murion"

2008-11-02T01:17:00.001-07:00

Last week there was a big walk organised by our village.

17 km in a beautiful landscape and afterwarts we received a very nice lunch (for 10 euros).

The organisation was superb, even if there where almost 200 people walking (in a village with less than 200 persons)

Enjoying nature

2008-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made a great walk with the dog through the regional parc that starts just around the corner.
That's one of the things we love here: you don't need a car to see nature, you're living in the middle of it and it really is part of you life.

A few pictures we took (notice the blue sky, it's october !)

Stormy weather

2008-08-17T04:25:00.000-07:00

Stormy weather on ferragosto (Assumption Day) in Piemonte, ... a tragedy for many Italians because they all want to do an outside activity that day.
For us just another beautiful moment, see it for yourself:

Cairo Medievale

2008-08-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

Cairo Montenotte is a municipality in the province of Savona in the Italian region of Liguria, located about 50 km west of Genoa and about 20 km northwest of Savona.

Every year there are Medieval festivities in the historic centre of Cairo Montenotte.
We went to the last evening where they held very beautiful fire works.

Festa patronale di San Fermo

2008-08-09T09:33:00.001-07:00

Once a year, on the 8th of August, my little village in Italy hosts the annual 'Festa patronale di San Fermo'.

people waiting to get a table

dancing starts at 9
me enjoying a very nice evening as new inhabitant of Merana
fire works

Tradizionale fiera bovina di San Desiderio

2008-08-03T01:43:00.000-07:00

Every last sunday of july there's a cow market at the little village San Desiderio (Monastero Bormida). I believe there where more cows than people.

Afterwards we took the car to drive through the hills and saw beautiful landscapes and little villages.

Friends visiting us

2008-07-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

A few days ago we went hiking with some friends from Belgium and a goat we found.
The goat and friends are now gone ... friends travelled further but goat broke loose and disappeared.
Some pictures:

A walk to the Santuario del Todocco

2008-07-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today I went hiking with some people of my village.

It was a big, but very nice walk and I met some interesting people.

Moved to Italy

2008-07-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Since june 20 we're Italian residents and till now it's just great.
In a few weeks we turned into an animal farm :-)

The cat was a gift from a very friendly neighboor.

... but they came uninvited.

... and today we found a goat on our land. But hopefully we will find her owner soon...

Indy

2008-05-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of our dalmatian, Indy

Spring

2008-05-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Springtime is when nature reawakens with an array of colours blossoming on the hillsides, the singing of the birds in the trees, the fragrance of grass, en the gentle warmth of the sun.

Spanish broom

2008-04-24T03:36:00.000-07:00

The Spanish broom is a plant that you can find near our house.
The name is a bit tricky, as our house is still in Italy, not Spain, of course.
In Italian it is called : ginestra.

Medicinal Action and Uses

(see: http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/brospa73.html)

The Spanish Broom in its medicinal properties closely resembles the common Broom, but is from five to six times more active. The symptoms produced by overdoses are vomiting and purging, with renal irritation. The seeds have been used to a considerable extent in dropsy, in the form of a tincture. The flowers yield a yellow dye.
The dried flowers of Spanish Broom are readily differentiated, those of the true Broom having a small bell-shaped calyx with two unequal lobes, the upper of which is bi-dentate and the lower minutely tridentate, while in Spartium junceum, the calyx is deeply cleft to the base on one side only.
By macerating the twigs a good fibre is obtained, which is made into thread in Languedoc, and its cord and a coarse sort of cloth in Dalmatia.
The name Spartium is from the Greek word denoting 'cardage,' in allusion to the use of the plant.

Winter is over

2008-04-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Although summer is in the air now, I want to share some nice winter-pictures (januari 2008)

50 acres

2008-04-06T01:43:00.000-07:00

50 acres of pure nature, that is all ours now.
Fields, trees and even a little vineyard.

First visit

2008-04-04T00:26:00.000-07:00

We saw our house for the first time in july 2007 and fell immediately in love with it. Especially the views are spectacular: Mount Beigua, the Bormida valley, a little medieval tower, a church, 'calanche' (a protected nature phenomen, these are grey and naked hills that look like slate), ...

Intro

2008-04-03T01:41:00.000-07:00

Far away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, standing on a hill with a magnificent view of the surroundig nature, a medieval tower and little church ...

A corner of paradise in an unspoilt part of Italy between Langhe and Monferrato, Piemonte and Liguria, see and mountain ...

That's where we will live and open our agriturismo where we hope to receive guests from all over the world ...

"WE" means:

Natascha : an Italo-Belgian psychologist with even a little bit of Dutch blood ... a real European citizen

Nicolas: in a former life he was a lawyer, now he will be responsible of the herbs (lavender, thyme and rosmarin)

Indy: dalmatian dog who will be our P.R.-manager as she is unbelievable charming