48 Hours in Piedmont, Italy

My husband has been talking about the Piedmont region maybe as far back as our first date in 2010. Although he’d never visited, he fell in love with Piedmont wines while living in an apartment over an Italian wine shop in Boston. Which was long before meeting me. So, it’s surprising it took us 10 months to plan a trip there…but, last week the dream became a reality.

And the reality is this place is a dreamland.

The family-run bed & breakfast where we stayed was something straight out of Travel + Leisure. The kind of place where only honeymooners should be allowed. We arrived directly from our campsite in Aosta–Alpine mud still clinging to our hiking boots–and they welcomed us in. We shined ourselves up, hopped on bicycles and headed into town. “Town” is the village of Neive.

With just a handful of restaurants, one gelateria and a church, Neive was the perfect antidote for the two hours we’d spent navigating Italy’s highways (and um, animated drivers). We ate a peaceful lunch of linguine with sautéed zucchini flowers and returned later for a drink to find that the restaurant had been transformed into the hottest place in town.

On our last night we ate one of those incredible, memorable dinners on a restaurant terrace overlooking the whole of Barbaresco. The waiter was able to point to the vineyard where our wine was produced while we watched the sunset dip below the pink, sun-streaked clouds.