Barbaresco

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.

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

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 !

February

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!

Enjoying the views, the sun and my dog

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

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.

Bomba di riso

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.

Our Lavender Farm

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 !

Mushrooms

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.

50 acres

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

First visit

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), ...