La Morra, Ti Amo (I Love You): Part 1.

La Morra is a quaint hilltop town overlooking the Piemonte region of Italy. If you're not familiar with Piemonte, this is where Barolo comes from. So, as you can imagine, it's quite a view. The food is to die for and the wine is so amazing I practically drowned myself in it (Fun fact, you can drown in as little as three inches of water, but you can safely drink liters and liters of wine). And one of the best parts about Piemonte, and Italy in general, minus Venice, is that if you can bring yourself to forgo the Barolo and imbibe some Nebbiolo, Barbaresco, or (Rich's personal favorite) Barbera, you can drink some amazing wine at unbelievably cheap prices. So, with all that in mind, this will be Part I of a II (possibly III) part series, because I don't even know where to start! I didn't even know it was possible to love a town so much. But it is. And I do. And now La Morra and I are married (Sorry Rich, I've taken on a mister.)

For starters, we stayed at the most beautiful hilltop Bed & Breakfast I've ever been to... In point of fact it's not just a bed & breakfast, but an aggroturismo (a working farm) called Bricco dei Cogni (bricco means hilltop in Italian.) And I'm not exaggerating when I say that this place seriously made me weak in the knees from the second we stepped through the front door. Our meals were perfect. The wine was to die for and in every direction you looked you could see rolling, picturesque, grape laden hills for kilometers and kilometers (That's what they call miles here). Upon our arrival we were greeted with wine and cheese (much like I imagine I will be greeted upon my arrival in heaven) and upon our departure we were given a bottle of the owner's private, family reserva, Barbera (more on that in part two).

I'm not being hyperbolic (thanks for that word, hubby) when I say that every restaurant, winery, and town that we visited deserves a song written about it (Rich tried. But I informed him "When the wine hits your lips, that's La Morra" is not so good). And if not a song, each town should have novel dedicated to it at the very least... But since I can't sing and I don't have the attention span to write a novel, I shall, instead, dedicate a whole blog post to each one. But since we just finished running around (and drinking our way through) Venice and now Parma & Modena are calling our names, I just can't bring myself to hole up in my hotel and write the in-depth posts that the restaurants and wineries of La Morra, Alba, Barolo, Barbaresco and Serralunga deserve. But I will. Soon. So, in the meantime, hopefully a few photos of our travels will do it justice!

Piemonte.

our official welcome to La Morra, courtesy of Bricco dei Cogni. 

barbaresco tasting.

truffle season. amen. 

white truffle pasta at BOVIO. To die for. 

breakfast at Bricco dei Cogni.

meat market.

truffle festival on Alba... much more to come about that.

I am in love with our little car.

grapes. grapes. grapes. 

serralunga. 

handwritten menu. absolutely wonderful food. 

a modest lunch.