[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 6 - Milan > Brisighella
For once we decided to take the low road. On past trips, we have flown all day and night,arrived in Milan and then driven another three hours to our first destination on the trip. Do-able but dangerous. Italian traffic is not a place that you want to be even the slightest bit sleepy. So this time we just went to a hotel by the airport, got a good night's sleep and rolled out bright-eyed and rested in the morning. Very civilized.
Also, as it turned out, very fortunate. While our flights all connected on time, Margene's bag was apparently so enchanted by Amsterdam that it decided to spend some time there after we left. It finally joined us sometime in the middle of the night and we were all able to leave together in the morning. Had we been three hours down the road, I don't know what would have happened. I have images of this bag chasing us around the country for days, always arriving just hours after we have left! Not a pretty picture.
Now that I think about it, staying close to the airport on the first night was sort of like the "insurance" provided by avoiding tight connections. If something screws up -- as it invariably will -- it doesn't screw up the trip. It also has the effect of slowing down the American urge to "get going" ... also not a bad idea. Maybe this needs to become standard practice on our future European adventures.
After a pleasant lunch in a local hotel, our first stop on the trip is an agriturismo (farm stay) in the area around Bologna, about a three- hour drive from Milan. This is the "breadbasket of Italy" in many ways. Parma is home to Parmesan cheese and the best proscuitto on the planet, Modena is where the finest balsamic vinegar is born, Bologna has some of the top-rated restaurants in the country and everywhere you look is agriculture. We passed miles of fruit trees, vineyards (of course) and other crops we could only guess at.
Our agriturismo Il Palazzo is just outside the small town of Brisighella in north-central Italy. In addition to six rooms or so, this is also a working organic farm with a vineyard that produces some very pleasant Sangiovese wines. Adriana and Hector Bianco are our genial hosts. They know a little English, we know a little Italian -- it all works.
Adriana is also a well-regarded cook ... and proved it with dinner, all of which (or at least most of which) came from her garden. For those who are interested, the details can be found on the next page.
Another pleasant surprise of the trip was meeting Don and Georgeann Sader from Portland, Oregon. They are traveling Italy for about three weeks celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and proved to be excellent dinner companions ... and first-rate wine lovers!
© 2005 Restaurant Doctor