It’s well known that Italians, well, love Italy. They love it so much that they can never quite decide which bit they love the most. On the global stage, it’s Tuscany. For the Italians, however, there have always been a few regions kept, shall we say, il Riserva: places kept solely for themselves. At the top of that list is Piedmont. Meaning “foot of the mountain”, this sometimes sprawling northwest region sits at the base of the Alps, with all the attitude of a sleepy dog curled up by a cold back door.
In recent years, this deceptively prosaic region has been quietly pulling focus with its award-winning wine production, culinary prowess (home to a high proportion of Italy’s Michelin-starred restaurants), and enough varied natural beauty to make neighbouring regions turn their head. Here, the gnarled fists of Tuscan olive groves are replaced with the fluffy canons of hazelnut farms; and in the Barolo, Barbaresco, and Langhe areas, miles can be driven with nothing but vines on the horizon. Why, then, haven’t more of us been there? Well, like some Galápagos island left to evolve in isolation, Piedmont has its own set of quirks – such as previously irregular, weird flight routes.
Luckily, new flight routes to Turin from budget airlines (Wizz Air, EasyJet) have opened it up, along with a growing list of top-tier hotels and reinvigorated heritage stays.
Turin, or Torino, might be Italy’s most underrated city. Much like the classic Piedmont ragù misto, made up of whatever leftover meat is to hand, the former Italian capital is an eccentric stew of clashing ideals: home to a little slice of every other region – from Rome’s culturally savvy student edge to Milan’s designer dogs; with some Florentine flair, and some welcome grit thrown in, courtesy of ever-present graffiti, à la Napoli.
Stretch out beyond the capital, and Piedmont comes into sharper view – sharp enough to sum it up in two very Italian words: food and wine. For good reason, Piedmont takes both seriously, sometimes politically, as was the case with the origins of the Slow Food movement, born in the town of Bra in 1986, by activist Carlo Petrini, protesting against a McDonald’s opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome. As for wine, sub-regions are essentially defined by their output, as in Barolo and Barbaresco country, the two most famous expressions of the Nebbiolo grape.
