A Day in the Mountains

Our start time today was very early from Cuneo as we had a long drive to the town of Pradlèves which is situated at the base of the Alps. There we were given a tour of a cheese co-operative La Poiana so were taken on a tour of the storage rooms and had extensive explanations of where the cheeses come from. All of it is unpasteurised and most of it is made by small farmers in the hills after which they bring it to the co-op for aging. Only three of these farmers still take their cattle up to the high alpine country in the summer to feed on the pristine pastures found there. The rest remain on the lower slopes and supplement with hay. The cheese is called Castelmagno and comes in various ages up to 4 years and includes some blue cheese. We were also given a demonstration of cheese making. Samples were consumed.

 

 

From there we started the climb to the restaurant at 1850 metres where we were to have lunch at Ristorante Rifurgio, run by a young chef Uri who left his Michelin star restaurant in Cuneo to set up this endeavour dedicated to local mountain food in his home mountains.

He began with a demonstration of traditional ravioli making, but the show was almost stolen first by his kitten and then by one of tour members who insisted on having a go.

On return to Cuneo a chestnut fair was in full swing (literally). We watched the dancers and surveyed the stalls before adjourning for dinner at a nearby hotel, San Michele, where the centrepiece was an intriguing painting of the said angel.

 

Here is the handsome portal of our hotel. Art Deco I think.

 

 

 

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