Turin, Vicenza and Rome in Oct

[jcsaucey]

My wife and I are finally getting our honeymoon after a year and a half! We are attending the Salone del Gusto and traveling around Italy.(then off to Paris)

Turin, Rome and Vicenza are our destinations, we are traveling by rail.

I am looking for suggestions/advice on restaurants to eat at and hotels to stay in. We are both chefs, have a great budget and are looking for adventure!

Cheers

[tanabutler]

Sleep in Tivoli and commute to Rome. Tivoli allows you a 4-star hotel for less than half the cost of a 3-star, and it's so quiet. I recommend the Hotel Sirene, overlooking the twin waterfalls and the temple of Vesta and Sybil. Three years ago, we paid $90 a night for it. We likewise paid $220 a night a 3-star in Rome that took 20 minutes for the hot water to reach the fifth floor.

Hotel Sirene was built in 1865. You can visit the Villa d'Este, which has (I think) 600 fountains. It was one of my favorite places in all of Italy.

A link to information about Villa d'Este. (I have plenty of photos, but cannot find any online that are anything but dismal.)

[Kevin72]

How easy is it to commute to Rome from Tivoli, how much does it cost, how long is the ride, etc.? We're in the planning stages for a trip to Rome next spring.

[CyN]

I am advised by experts that La Peca, in Lonigo, south of Vicenza, is the restaurant to go to and Villa Michelangelo in Arcugnano, also south of Vicenza, is the place to stay. I am going there myself on my trip next spring.

Also, in Vicenza and scattered around the area are the villas by Palladio, architectural gems.

[vesnuccia]

i live in turin so if you have any questions just pm me

if we talk about exclusive restoraunts i can't help you

my restoraunt buget is not so high

if you want to eat an excelent piedmont meal go to

Sotto la Mole

Torino- 9, v. Montebello

Tel: 0118179398 - fax: 0118179398

they have a menu for 35 € which includes row meat al albese,agnoloti, secondo they change it really offten, 4 types of cheese and a dessert

it could be o good thing to order one menu and the other orders on card

the cheese trey is wonderfull (usully not les than 25/30 types of regional cheese)

good vine list

if you're interested in romantic B&B i have few good ones, in the center

it coud be a good idea though to rent a car and visit Langhe for a day (Barolo, Dogliani, Cherasco are just 40 min drive from Turin)

Edited August 23, 2004 by vesnuccia (log)

[Carlsbad]

We had a very nice dinner at Tre Galline in Torino a couple of years ago.

[tanabutler]

How easy is it to commute to Rome from Tivoli, how much does it cost, how long is the ride, etc.? We're in the planning stages for a trip to Rome next spring.

I drove, so don't know about public transportation. Tivoli is about 20 miles from Rome.

I ate at La Taverna della Rocca, and loved it.

Hotel Sirene link. Be sure to click on the "Internet Specials" link, they have a great bargain which includes a bottle of prosecco, tickets to the Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana, and breakfasts--for €240.

From a Tivoli travel site:

Cotral buses run from Rome to Tivoli. Get the Metro Linea B to Ponte Mammolo, where you can catch the bus - there are machines and a newsagent in the station area where you can buy tickets (€1.60 @ July 2003), which you then stamp in the machine provided onboard.

Note that the Villa Adriana is NOT in Tivoli. The Villa is located on the plain below the town, a bus ride away. The Rome - Tivoli bus stops nearby (be prepared for a walk), and there is also a local bus which takes you there. Check with the driver when you get on the bus, and he/she will tell you when it's your stop.

The Tommy/Italy 101 thread might be helpful. Also the Hook a brotha up! thread.

EDIT: Tivoli: Discover the City web site.

Edited August 23, 2004 by tanabutler (log)

[rshorens]

Here are a few suggestions for moderately priced places

Vincenza restaurant: Antica Casa della Malvasia, Contra delle Morette,5; phone 0444/543704. We had a wonderful lunch here on a Sunday afternoon in October, nary a tourist in sight

As you're traveling from Turin to Vincenza or Rome, you might pass by Valeggio, which is south of Lake Garda and north of Mantova. If so, try Antica Locanda Mincio, Via Michelangelo, 12, Borghetto, 37067 Valeggio sul Mincio, phone 045 7950059. On the edge of the small river Mincio, this restaurant has an outdoor terrace that was on the cover of Gourmet in 1982. It took me 18 years to get there, but it was worth it. A magical place to eat, especially on a sunny day outside.

The owner, Signor Gabriele Bertaiola, is a delight and will show you the small but beautiful kitchen if you ask.

Torino: Venezia Hotel, Via XX Settembre, 70 . Phone 011/56.23.384. Right in the heart of Torino,a great value for the price. We had a huge room with beautiful antique furniture. Near to the Egyption museum, we ate lunch at the historic and beautiful Ristorante del Cambio, Piazza Carignano,2 ; phone 01154.66.90.

The main shopping street in Torino has many decorous bars with some of the best mixed cocktails in the world!

All these phone numbers are preceeded by 011-39-

Have a lovely honeymoon

Best wishes

Roz

Edited August 24, 2004 by rshorens (log)

[lalala]

I quite liked cinzia et valerio in Vicenza.

lalala

[Ore]

If in Vicenza, do look to nearby Bassano Del Grappa as a great place to visit and stay as well. Home to Grappa Nardini, the town also has an ancient bridge and a great hotel. Train very easy from Vicenza...See you at Salon del Gusto!

Ciao,

Ore

[sbcparis]

I am new to this site and have found all sorts of good tips, especially the information about eateries in Vicenza. We are spending the month of November there and having a few resources to start with will be most helpful. I'll add my discoveries as they present themselves.

sbcparis

[albiston]

sbcparis, welcome to eGullet!

we'll all be looking forward to your tips.

Have fun in Italy!

[robert brown]

Do not miss Combal.Zero in Rivoli. on the outer limits of Turin. Everyone said it was Adria-like cooking, but maybe if you order the 120 or so euro menu in advance. We had nothing like that, but rather delicious, personal Piemonte-inspired cuisine. The restaurnt is attached to a very serious modern art museum that we did not have time to visit. Just follow the signs to the Castello di Rivoli, park behind it and walk up the outside stairs. Bill Klapp loved Combal as well. It's probably the best restaurant going in Turin.

Are you going outside of Turin?

[CyN]

Combal.Zero certainly caught my eye when I read Bill Klapp's report. I tried to figure out how to work it into my itinerary, but decided it was too much of a detour south just to sample more Adria-type fun and games.

Now that you have chimed in, Robert, and recommend it for tradional, rather than over-the-edge advanced cuisine, I again have a yen to somehow work it in.

I would need one more SUPER restaurant in that general area, or an area en route back north toward Bergamo

Does such a place exist? Somebody talk me into it.

[Joe H]

Well, actually yes, and it will be one of the highlights of your trip, La Fournace di Barbablu which is a Michelin starred 2,000 year old Roman furnace. In fact some of the stone from the Coliseum in Rome came from this place. Serious. This is the link to a post that I made a couple of years ago about it on Chowhound: http://www.chowhound.com/boards/intl4/messages/17143.html. Cy, it's the most unique, perhaps romantic restaurant that I've ever been to anywhere. Click on the link in the CH post and it will take you to their website. There are a number of photographs yet none can do it justice. It is truly extraordinary. It is also virtually undiscovered. On the other board I was the first to post about Le Calandre three years ago, the first to post about Il Postale two years ago; the La Fournace post has yet to see a single person to go it that I know of. The other two have now seen many visits as a result You will not have a dinner on par with Calandre but it will still be excellent. What you will have is among the most unusual places on earth, with an incredible history, to have it in. You will also be one of the very few English speaking people to ever dine there. Sooner or later Apple or someone else is going to write about this place and it will be discovered and overrun with Americans and English. Until then it is an extraordinary gem, perhap the discovery of all my travelsnot for the food-which is excellent-but the overall experience.

Trust me.

There is a hook, Cy. We found it by accident when we were looking. If not for that we probably would never have found it. It's directly underneath the Autostrada but getting to it from the Autostrada is a true challenge. I actually think this is one of the reasons that so few English speaking tourists have been there. The best clue that I can give you is the proximity of the Autostrade bridge, maybe 30 meters high which is nearby, and the restaurant's appearance which IS the appearance of a 2000 year old furnace on a hillside. My wife and I were driving around, lost and about to give up, when I saw something in the distance and I said, "you know if anything ever looked like what I would imagine this place to look like, wel, this is it. But it's not where it is suppose to be."

It was it.

[CyN]

Yes, I know about La Fournace, Joe.I've read your reports on it several different times in the past. I would go there in a minute if it was anywhere near my route.

But its too far out of the way.Combal.Zero is way out of my way and then going down to near Genoa would just make it worse.

What I would need would be a place somewhere on the way back from Torino to Bergamo- and then only if it is outstanding, not to be missed.

But thanks for the thought.

[robert brown]

Cy, how do you handle all this traveling? I'm jealous. You know, you could stay on the Lago di Garda in the same place for three days and still go to the restaurants on your list.

I like Enoteca in Canale. It's off the Asti-Alba SS in an agreeable old town and on the second floor of the tasting rooms for the Arneis wines. A young, personable chef, Davide Palluda, is turning out inventive, but sober cuisine. If you went there and stayed at Castella di Villa (in one of the two ground floor rooms) in Isola d'Asti. you would have a productive, although brief, stay in Piemonte. Combal is right off the Tangenziale that goes around Turin (don't try to get there through Turin itself) and connects to the Autoroute that goes to Asti. Enoteca is maybe 20 minutes from the hotel. Let me know when you get close to leaving for how precisely to drive there. I like the Swiss guy who owns the hotel, but he is a bit flaky.

Others will no doubt come up with other places like Trattoria della Posta in Monforte or Cesare in Alberetto, but these are much harder to get to and then to get on your way to Bergamo.

[CyN]

Robert --Your suggestion is appreciated and tempting. But I dont know. All that driving. I wanted to keep the driving to a minimum on this trip and here I am contemplating a long detour south and then all the way back north.I'll have to cogitate on it. I'm getting second thoughts.

You say you're jealous of my ability to travel.But the travel is a necessity, I cant avoid it. No way can I stay at Lake Garda for 3 days and take in 3 of my listed restaurants. You can do it because you go for lunch to these joints. But we never eat lunch, only dinner -- which means driving back considerable distances on unfamiliar roads at night(full of wine).That has to be avoided. So we always stay as close as possible to the restaurant, which in turn means daily travel to a new town. Nothing there for you to envy:smile:

Thanks for the suggestion.I'll mull it over.