Our imaginary journey begins in Piedmont. Here we are in Turin, the historic capital of the Kingdom of Italy. It’s an elegant and aristocratic city, with a retro-flavored café on every corner. You’ll find a myriad of pastry shops, better know here as cioccolaterie as the specialty of Turin is in fact chocolate and chocolates. The most famous, gianduiotto, is made with Piedmont hazelnuts. It has a strange shape, inspired by Gianduia, a famous Carnival character. Delicious!
Few people know that Turin is also the capital of the aperitif. Milan may have made it famous around the world, but it was born here. In 1876, in his small liquor store, Antonio Carpano invented Vermouth, a wine flavored with cinchona that soon became everyone’s favorite pre-dinner drink. The bitter flavor of cinchona in fact stimulates the appetite: and the aperitif was born!
Today many Italians prefer a glass of wine, perhaps a sparkling Prosecco, accompanied by an astonishing selection of appetizers!
Now let’s put the shoes away and we’ll be in touch again soon for the next walk around Italy!