Pedaling the Piedmont of Italy {Day Two}

Wow, what views, what wine, what rich, slow food! The Piedmont region of Italy is an undiscovered gem. We left "tOrino" {I misspelled Torino in my last post!} yesterday with the rest of the Backroads cycling group {these trips and people are superb!} and took a shuttle to an organic Piedmontese cheese farm. More to come on that...but before I left lovely Torino, I snapped a few more photos of the city on our walk to the train station.

Torino street scene

Torino apartment balcony with shutters and flowers

The serene view from the organic cheese farm in the Piedmont of Italy.

We took a tour of the bread and cheese making areas of their house, and I snapped this photo of their living room on our way to the bread room. The cozy room with the dramatic stone and brick archway had very little light but an eclectic and artistic feel because of the framed art, Turkish rugs and Kilim pillow covers on the sofas.

This scale in the bread making room had the most beautiful patina! The owner said the scale is so precise it can weigh a dollar bill.

The owner hand grinds the wheat grain into flour using this antique mill.

We were lucky enough to see into the refrigerated room where the owner keeps his homemade cheeses. Notice the Slow Food sticker on the door to the room - this farm is local, organic and self-sustaining.

They have many sheep and one cow which are milked daily by hand.

After the tour, the owners served us a seasonal, local and organic lunch in this little cottage where they used to make their bread. 

A lovely lunch spot.

View of the Piedmont region from our lunch spot. 

I adore this little vignette on the hutch - a bowl full of cherries and a teapot. 

The first course of our lunch was a soft cheese made of sheep's milk - it was made by the owner only six hours before our arrival {sorry no pic}.

The second course was three different cheeses, again, made by the owners of the farm from sheep's milk. One cheese was one day old, one was approximately four days old and one was ten days old. We could taste the subtle differences between each of the young and older cheeses. Delicious!

More homemade cheese. Two made from sheep's milk and one made from cow's milk. 

View from my table of the wood stove with a collection of pots and utensils - another lovely and rustic vignette!

After lunch we waved goodbye to the traditional Piedmontese cheese farm for a 26km bike ride through the stunning {and steep} vineyards of the Piedmont.

A couple of hours later we arrived at our hotel, Il Boscareto Resort and Spa, in Serralunga d'Alba. I'm planning an entire post dedicated to this extremely luxurious and contemporary hotel that sits in the middle of a very traditional region- so more to come!

Our wonderful and lovely trip leaders, Bee and Frederica, hosted a welcome aperitivo before dinner. We were served so many delicious and local nibbles  - salami, bruschetta, mozzarella and much, much more.

We all ate dinner together at La Rei in the hotel. Twas a long four hour dinner!

The dinner menu at La Rei

Our local wine selection - Dolcetta

The bread and breadsticks, originally conceived in the Piedmont.

Amuse Bouche

First Course: Truffles, Egg, Asparagus 

Second Course: handmade pasta

Dessert: Homemade Apple Sorbet