Taste and Slow Italy - Trasimeno Travel Sas, Via Novella 1/F, 06061 Castiglione del Lago, Perugia. Tel. 075-953969, Fax 075-9652654www.tasteandslowitaly.com - info@tasteandslowitaly.com

7 days in Piedmontdedicated to gourmets

Day 01

Meeting with the tour leader at the airport of Milan. Transfer by private bus to a 3 or 4 star hotel in Turin.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 02

After breakfast at the hotel, meeting with a local guide for a daily visit of Turin. This city has played an im-portant role in the national history, up to the Unification of Italy, having become, in 1861, the first capital city of the newly proclaimed Kingdom and headquarter of the first Italian Parliament.

Enjoy a visit of the Cathedral of Saint John, the Holy Shroud and Castello Square, the Mole Antonelliana (emblem of the city), the very interesting National Cinema Museum and finally the Egyptian Museum with its world’s second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 03

After breakfast, departure with the tour leader and the pri-vate bus for a visit of the Palace of Venaria, which is wide-ly considered a masterpiece of the baroque style.

There you will see the enchanting Palace with the Residen-ce of Diane, designed in the second half of the 17th century, the solemn Galleria Grande and the Chapel of Sant’Uberto with its stables, designed by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century. The Palace was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

In the afternoon, visit of a local cheese farm.

Piedmont, having been dominated by France, kind of inhe-rited the ability to produce high - quality selection of cheese.

In the farm you will have the chance to attend to the mozzarella, yoghurt, and ice cream making process. Enjoy a delicious tasting session of these products!

Overnight stay at the hotel

Day 04

After breakfast, departure with the tour leader and the private bus to reach Alba, famous all over the world for its main delicacy: the white truffle.

The annual fair of white truffle takes place in October and November and it is one of the most important mar-keting event for this delicacy.

Palace of Venaria

Visiting the city in this period of the year is lovely and very interesting. The rest of the year you will visit a local trade and in particular a “tartufa-ia” where you will take part in an amusing truffle hunting simulation.

A tasting session will follow a tasting session.

It is worth to say that every year this trade takes part in gastronomic fairs such as the “Fancy Food Summer” held in New York City.

In the late afternoon, departure to Canelli, the city of the famous sparkling wine.

Enjoy a guided tour of the caves of Casa Gancia, sparkling wine factory since 1850. Take the chance to retrace the history of the Italian sparkling wine through an underground tour.

The Gancia’s wine cellars, the so-called “underground Cathedrals”, are kept beneath the city of Canelli and they have been selected and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List because of their importance and uni-queness after the application for The Vineyard landscape of the South of Piedmont.

After the tour return to Turin.

Overnight stay at the hotel

Day 05

After breakfast, departure with the tour leader to reach Asti by private bus.

Asti is a typical medieval city with wonderful churches, fortresses, monumental towers and palaces. Moreover, in this city a very important Palio, older than the one held in Siena, takes place every September.

Take the opportunity to visit an historical cake wor-kshop and taste the chocolate. The workshop has been run by the same family for 5 generations and it is cur-rently located inside an historical palace right in the centre of the city. It is famous for the “Gianduiotto” chocolate praline, made with prestigious hazelnuts of Piedmont. A visit to the firm’s museum will follow, in order to see the collection of the ancient machineries used for chocolate making.

After this pleasant experience, take the chance to visit an ancient tapestry factory located in a convent that today stands for the shops selling modern tapestries while restoring the old ones.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Asti

Day 06

After breakfast, departure with the tour leader and the private bus to Barolo, a small village famous for its prestigious wine.

Visit of the corkscrew museum and tasting session of the Barolo wine. In this museum there are 500 ancient corkscrews coming from all over the world, some of them dating back to 1650.

Departure to Castle Pollenzo which hosts the “Gourmet Food University” funded and run under the supervi-sion of Slow Food. In Pollenzo, there’s also the “Wine Bank”.

Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 07

After breakfast, departure to Vercelli with the tour leader and the private bus.

Meeting with the local guide and visit of the city.

The first university of Piedmont was funded in Vercelli and during the Renaissancetime the city was one of the most important cultural cen-ters of the region. Today, Vercelli is famous all over the world for the rice production; in fact the Benedictine friars have been making rice in this area since the Middle Ages.

Pollenzo

Vercelli

In the afternoon visit of a local trade which grows rice; take the opportunity to visit its paddy where you will attend to the rice making process in an historical 15th century water mill! Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 08

After breakfast, transfer to the airportEnd of the services.

Tour information:

The tour will be available with a minimum of 16 paying partecipants.• The tour can be changed according to airport and flights’ schedule• Round trip flights’ reservation available• Booking cancellations insurance available•

Services Included:

8 days, 7 nights in a 3 or 4 star hotel in the city centre B&B• Tour leader for the whole duration of the tour• Local guide for 3 half-days and one full-day• Private bus with driver for the whole duration of the tour• Visit and tasting session at a cheese factory• Visit and tasting session of sparkling wine• Visit and tasting session of Barolo wine• Visit and tasting session of white truffle• Visit and tasting session of typical chocolate (Gianduiotto)•

Not included:

Anything which is not expressly mentioned in the list above• Travel health insurance• Baggage insurance• Entrance fees to the museums• Tips and personal expenses•

DAY ITINERARY MEALS1 Arrival and transfer in hotel in Torino2 Tour in Torino B3 Guided tour to Venaria Royal Palace, cheese tasting in a factory B 4 Tour of Alba, Canelli and visit of the caves of Casa Gancia B5 Tour of Asti,visit a cake factory and an ancient tapestry factory B6 Barolo and the Corkscrew Museum, tour of Pollenzo B7 Guided tour of Vercelli, visit of a paddy B8 End of services B

B = breakfast L = lunchD = dinner

Taste and Slow Italy - Trasimeno Travel Sas, Via Novella 1/F, 06061 Castiglione del Lago, Perugia. Tel. 075-953969, Fax 075-9652654www.tasteandslowitaly.com - info@tasteandslowitaly.com