June 9, 2014
On to Milano.
We slept in a little, then woke and met for a quick breakfast in one of the La Bollina dining rooms. It was back to our rooms to pack up and load the car then to say goodbye you Gianni and to thank him for his amazing hospitality during our stay. Darrell had originally planned on visiting the wine estates of three friends in Alba and Barbaresco, which just a hair over an hour away to the east. It would have made for a long day and we were to be picked up for dinner around 5 pm from our hotel at the Milan Malpensa airport. Darrell decided to spend our last full day of this trip showing me the Ligurian towns where his family came from.
We headed south after leaving La Bollina, then made our way east after leaving the Autostrada. Our first stop was to be the small town of Lemmi. Our ascent was gradual until we made it up to the 900' elevation. The narrow road became very twisty at that point, and we started to climb fairly quickly in a short distance. We were on the road for nearly an hour before we made the town of Lemmi, which sits on top of the crest of one of the Ligurian mountains at an elevation of 2100'
After looking around Lemmi, we headed towards the town of Roccaforte, which is south west of Lemmi about 14 km away. It took a good 40 minutes because although it sits at about the same 2100' elevation, we had to drive up and down quite a few winding mountains before getting there. I pulled over to have Darrell translate the very frequent posted signs we were seeing along the route. They read "Divieto raccolta funghi castagne e legna" which he translated to "Collection of mushrooms, chestnuts and wood is banned." While we were stopped, I heard a strange, but very familiar sound coming from the trees. Strange because it's a sound that I have always heard inside my home growing up, but never out doors. You can hear for yourself in the following video clip. I was amazed.
Roccaforte was more lively than Lemmi. I imagine that's because Roccaforte is closer to some other lager towns and sits near the confluence of two major Torrentes, Torrente Torbora and Torrente Borbëa. A Torrente is a stream whose flow is marked by a high degree of seasonal variation, which becomes a torrent during high rainy season. The both spill into the Scrivia, which spills into the famous Po river. As we drove out of Roccaforte just past the edge of town, we noticed a large tribe of goats, so we stopped to take a look. It turned out to be a goat cheese dairy, which Darrell was unaware of.
Pressing on, were drove through a few small towns all graced with very Ligurian look and feel.
We crossed a few torrents along the way in search of the town of Colonne, which was where Darrell's paternal grandfather came from. The GPS unit in our car wasn't much help at all. It took a few tries before we discovered a poorly placed road sign on a very narrow road, which was almost out of sight. Success, we finally found Colonne!
It was mid day, so our stomachs took over and led us back to the town of Cabella Ligure, which we passed by on the way to Colonne. Cabella Ligure is located on the east bank of the Torrente Borbëa. We parked on a lot off of the main street and began to walk around to find a place to eat. A few blocks down from our car we came across Bar Italia di Tosi Mario & C. , which had a sign that said "Pizzeria il Patio." That was more than enough for us to step inside.
It was time to get back on the road as we had to be at our hotel at Milano's Malpensa airport just before dinner, and it was a good 2 hour drive. It took about 30 minutes to drive through the Ligurian Hills to get back to the Autostrade. After being on the Autostrade for a good 20 minutes, Darrell reclined his seat and took a nap. We got to a very straight and wide 3 lane stretch of the Autostrade as we crossed from the Piemonte into Lombardia. I was cruising along at 140kph (87mph) with relatively very few other cars around. Three different "super cars", one of which was a Lamborghini Countach flew by me during this stretch all going at least 180-200kph (112-124mph). After the third one flew by and since Darrell was napping, I thought I'd speed up to see how well the suspension was on the Audi A3. I hit 196kph (122mph) and was still not gaining ground on the super car. I maintained the 196kph for a good 4 minutes before the adrenaline rush got to be too much. I slowed back down to the 140kph speed limit and the super car vanished into the distance. I was amazed at how good the suspension and build of the Audi A3 was. That amount of speed is very fast, but the car handled like it was driving on glass and Darrell slept like a baby!
Dinner was being hosted by Darrell's dear friend Osvaldo Longo of Longo un Mondo di SpecialitĂ Srl and Luca Monica, the then general manager of Peck in Milano. Osvaldo picked us up and made the 35 minute drive to the town of Malinate, which sits between Lake Varase and Lake Cuomo at the southern edge of the Swiss Alps. Our restaurant, Crotto Valtellina, is a favorite of Osvaldo's and a very special one. www.crottovaltellina.it/en
The menu is solely focused on the unique cuisine of the mountainous region of the Valtellina. Used since the beginning of the 1900's, Its current history dates back to 1940. The restaurant was originally inside the cave of what was a quarry, then a stable, then a dance hall, then a tavern, and finally a restaurant. It had to be moved directly outside of the cave as an occasional rock would fall and for liability's sake the restaurant was moved to just outside the cave.
The focus of the dinner was on then main dish, a traditional family recipe for 5 generations, Pizzoccheri . Pizzoccheri is a basta made with buckwheat, because that is the grain of the Valtellina region. The dish was absolutely delicious and quite filling. To our surprise, there was a 201 vintage bottle of Amaro Braulio on the menu. Darrell had no idea that a vintage production exisited, so we had some after dinner, and Darrell bought me a bottle to take home.
Dinner was as spectacular as the views of the grotto and the company equally as wonderful. Luca and Darrell commented on how they each like the other's tie as we were saying our goodbyes in the parking lot, so they took them off and exchanged them as a gesture of appreciation and friendship. We got back to our hotel about midnight. Sleep came easy as it was our last night of the trip.