Featured Tour - June 2009

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Northern Italy's Piedmont Region

Italy’s Piedmont district nestles into the great sweep of the Maritime and French Alps in northwest Italy.  In its history and culinary traditions it is almost as much a part of France as it is of Italy.  Indeed, the original “House of Savoy” which eventually became the Piedmont and gave impetus to the unification of all of Italy, began in Alpine Switzerland and France.   Once extending beyond Nice in France and including the island of Sardinia, the House of Savoy became a melting pot at critical transit routes over the Alps.  The Piedmont absorbed the best of French wine and cheese making traditions and the best of Italian culinary arts. 

Our bicycle tours through the heart of Piedmont capture the essence of this thousand year old culture, including the wine region of Barolo, Asti and Alba.  The extended “plus” tour continues with a bicycle ride across the rice paddies of the Po Valley to end in Italy’s Lake District north and west of Milan.  This is a great place to rest and sightsee for a few days after a great bicycle trip!

For details on the bicycle tours in the Piedmont region, see the bicyle itineraries below.

• Cycling the Piedmont: This shorter Bicycle tour is an ideal trip for those looking for a combination of the best of Italian and French cuisine and wine with scenic bicycling through rolling hills dotted with vineyards and castles.
• Cycling the Piedmont Plus! the Lakes District: This bicycle trip has the same Italian and French cuisine and cycling as above and adds 3 days at the end of the trip into the Lakes District of Italy.  

Featured Article:

Igor Baccini - Bicycle Fleet Manager and Tour Leader for ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours

By Sylva Florence

Many of you are familiar with Igor Baccini, Staff member and tour leader extraordinaire, Igor has been leading ExperiencePlus! bicycle tours for over 10 years. We thought it was high time we shared some of his other work responsibilities and his "secret" passion for skateboarding. This month we're excited bring to you Sylva's interview with Igor - Sylva and Igor are at "The Farm" in Emilia Romagna, our Italian Headquarters preparing for the tour season.

"Physical activity for me is very important,” Igor said, sweeping the kitchen with the sort of ferocious energy typically reserved for soccer players heading towards a goal. I had to catch him for an interview as he was doing his part to keep The Farm clean. “I start shaking if I don’t do any physical activity."  Read more here 

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Customer Interviews:

An Interview with David Forester

Dave is an avid cyclist and traveler and has done more ExperiencePlus! tours than just about anyone.

"We’ve heard a rumor that you collect jerseys  - how many are in your collection? From how many countries? Twenty-four. Two identifiable as Italian. Finding bike jersey with national identification is elusive. Not so for soccer shirts! "

Read more from Dave

Book Review:

Into Thick Air: Biking to the Belly-button of Six Continents  by Jim Malusa

Monica reviews Jim Malusa's book that takes you along on his bicycling "anti-expeditions" to the lowest points on six continents.

In “Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents,” author Jim Maluso sets himself up as an anti-hero who, instead of aspiring to climb to the highest points on this Earth, dreams of bicycling to the lowest depressions of the world...

Read the rest of Monica's review of Into Thick Air here.

Recipes:

From Paola's Kitchen: Peperonata (Pepper Stew)

Peperonata is a good companion to any kind of pasta, meat or fish. There are several versions of peperonata; I enjoy this one as it is tasty and fairly light. 

To see Paola's full recipe of and make it at home click here.

If you would like additional recipes, visit our online recipe archive. You'll find recipes for European and Latin American specialties like Panzanella: a Tuscan Salad, Tapenade, Gallo Pinto, and more