Micah and Anna visit us in Saluzzo!

Our good friends Micah & Anna are living in Rome for two years, working at the American Embassy there.  That means lots of visiting back and forth.  You may recall we met them in Luca this fall and now it was their turn to come all the way up to Saluzzo. 

Ponte Bernardo from the trail

They arrived Thursday evening for Epiphany dinner, another holiday dinner at Ruffia.  We had a huge appetizer buffet and then two types of pasta.  Micah & Anna are all about food and wine so we opened up our weekend with a lot of fun and a lot of different things to taste!

Friday morning we woke up early to head to the mountains for Micah & Anna's first snowshoeing adventure!  We took them to the Stura Valley to this little town called Pontebernardo.  I think they have something like 30 year-round residents there.  They also have a ton of great trails!  Unfortunately we didn't have the greatest weather and it rained the entire time.  We're tough though!

Taking a photo break while the fog rolls in.

In accordance with Micah & Anna's love of the gourmet, we made a reservation for lunch at the Osteria La Pecora Nera.  I've written about it before as we've eaten there before.  They are famous for their lamb (and I do love lamb).  The boys enjoyed the tasting menu while Anna & I ordered a la carte.  Micah generously ordered us a bottle of Barolo to warm us up after being in the freezing rain and snow.  Very nice!

After lunch we headed back to Saluzzo to shower and relax before hitting one of our favorite pizzerias for dinner.  We shared a really delicious bottle of Barbera and I introduced bagna caoda to Anna in its pizza form.  After dinner we walked around downtown Saluzzo looking for a good spot for dessert.  And boy did we find it!  There's a fairly new pastry/chocolate shop in town.  We loved it!  And it wasn't expensive at all!  We were soooo happy to find this little gem and will be back for more.

We love Prosecco and chocolate pastries!

So do we!

We slept in on Saturday morning and then took Micah & Anna to the Saluzzo market.  We bought a few goodies for lunch: fresh pasta, olives and cheese.  I made a sage and oil sauce to go with the fresh pasta and we had a lovely lunch before heading to the La Morra, our favorite town in the heart of Piemonte wine country.  After quickly enjoying the view (it was chilly), we went to the Community Cantina and tasted some Barolo wine.  Then we all bought a bunch of bottles of wine!  We were not content with just that, so we went to Barolo (city) to continue our tastings at the Enoteca in the castle of Barolo.  Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, but Barolo is full of cafes and restaurants and wine bars ready to poor us a glass.  We drank a fancy bottle of Nebbiolo (my favorite wine) to round out our afternoon. 

The Castle in Barolo

For dinner we took Micah & Anna to one of our favorite restaurants in Saluzzo, La Terra Gemella.  They had a delicious tasting menu which Micah & I ordered while it was Anna & Fabri's turn to order a la carte.  We all shared everything including 2 yummy bottles of wine.  La Terra Gemella isn't just a Piedmont restaurant, it's a whole Piedmont experience.  It's tucked into the Piazzetta San Nicola in historic Saluzzo.  The little piazza is interesting because there are 2 church facades there while usually there is only one church per piazza.  When you climb the steps into the restaurant you are struck by the 1950s modernism design including an awesome M.C. Escher-esque floor.  You can eat upstairs (we usually opt for that) or downstairs in the old wine cellar surrounded by stones and bricks.  The best part of the place is the waiter who has a thick Piedmont accent and is incredibly elegant.  He knows a lot about the wine and the food and you can ask him anything.  He is a big reason we keep going back there!

Then Sunday we had a final pizza in Savigliano before dropping Micah & Anna off at the train station for their return trip to Rome.  It was a lovely long weekend full of food and adventure.  We loved having Micah & Anna, but I have to say my favorite part was that Fabri was off of work 4 days in a row and we got to spend some much fun time together.  Also, we were reminded how much we love snowshoeing and we went again last weekend and will probably go again this weekend coming up.  I love snow and that overcomes my dislike of exercise.  Also the puppy really loves snow too and is so cute when he's playing in it.