It’s a small world after all

10 September 2010


For a long time, if you asked me what the first thing that would spring to mind would be when I think of Italy, I would say Portofino. I’m not even sure where I heard about Portofino, but for some reason, I was absolutely sure that this had to be Italy’s very best.

We left Corniglia, driving along the nailbitingly narrow roads, dodging some Italian hell drivers in the process. You certainly don’t see a great deal of Italy from its highways, but I was definitely much happier for us to be on a dual carriageway for a while. Because the coastline is so mountainous, the main highway seems to mainly consist of a series of tunnels, connected by some bridges, with traffic being heavier than we have experienced in Italy thus far, including a huge truck transporting two rather large boats.

Of course the road leading down to Portofino was another narrow, winding road. And then, suddenly, you find yourself looking at a harbour filled with yachts ranging from normal small ones to overwhelmingly large ones. So this must be Portofino then. We were both rather sceptical, though. It was just so very busy and big. It was only once we managed to find parking, and started walking through the town, that we realised that we were actually still in Santa Marguaritha, and that Portofino was actually still about 5km further along the coast, at the very end of the small peninsula. So we fetched the car and continued to drive past some more small resorts where prospective sungods were packed onto rows of deckchairs on some really uninvitingly looking beaches. Someone should tell these people about the Clifton beaches!

Portofino ended up looking just like the photographs. It has a very small harbour which seemed to fit bigger yachts than one would have wanted to see. It’s Hollywood in Italy though. The buildings are all painted with 3D effect, which looks really pretty, but artificial and pretentious. Because Niel knew that I always dreamed of Portofino, he promised to treat me to some good Italian coffee at a street cafe. Walking through the town, I was happy to settle for a gelato. The final compromise? Getting out of there. After seeing the towns of Cinque Terre, being able to sit on a bench with the old town folk, or watching the kids play ball on the square, Portofino was just not Italy at all.

Very pleased to be back on the highway, we headed North to Piemonte, and after numerous tunnels, the countryside eventually gave way to a flatter plateau. And once you take the turnoff towards Barolo, the exquisite beauty of Piemonte’s abundance of vineyards reminds you why Italy is such a dream destination.

Our very first tip on accommodation for Italy was given to us by a couple we met at a wine tasting in Cape Town. We probably would not even have considered Barolo, but because this is Italy’s best wine region, we figured that it would be worth a try. What we certainly did not expect was to find the very same couple to just happen to be visiting Barolo at the same time. So, after bumping into someone that Niel knew from university in Portofino, for the second time today, we were able to chat away with people who understood everything we chattered about. It’s just such a small world.

Barolo is a typical little farm village. The various wine farms all have their tasting rooms in the village, and as luck would have it, this weekend happens to be their annual festival. Walking through the town was agonising for someone that had not eaten all day. The restaurants and bakery must have been getting ready for the potential clientele that the festival would bring, which meant an array of exquisite aroma. The town is not quite as historic as the hilltop towns we had been to, and the architectures differ, leaning towards some German influences, but it’s just beautiful, with its large castle at the one end, and its friendly inhabitants.

Supper was culinary heaven. The restaurant has a tasting menu, which basically means that you get a little bit of most of the items on the menu. We decided to share one. WOW. It would be impossible for me to describe just how stunning the food was. We were given a little bit of each starter. This consisted of:

• A liver Pate with caramelised unions and some black truffle shavings. This you had to eat with some sweet bread, and was just phenomenal.

• A vegetable salad, which was basically some vegetables (peas, carrots, etc) with some tuna and home-made mayonnaise.

• Cured beef with a tuna and mayonnaise sauce

• A zucchini pate with quail’s egg

• A ravioli filled with spinach and an egg. This was an absolute treat for me, as I had seen this being made on one of the travel channel’s programs, and found it so very fascinating

We could then choose one Primi and one Secondi piatti, so we tried the Porcini mushroom risotto, and were recommended the wild boar. I have absolutely no idea how anyone could handle this entire feast alone. We were really struggling to keep up, but with food that good, who could possibly stop? The final course was a Panna Cotta dessert, which just topped it all perfectly. This was by far the best we had eaten in Italy. It was probably by far the best we had eaten ever. And with a really friendly and helpful character as our waiter, and a beautiful view of the Piemonte countryside, it truly was an experience to remember.

Walking back to the guesthouse, we stopped to listen to a concert on the small town square, and even though we did not understand much of what was being said and sung, we thoroughly enjoyed the music. It’s not every day that you see a modern band that consists of a cello, two violins, a flute, and a guitar/singer.

Just when you think Italy cannot possibly get any better, it does.