We know Michelin star restaurants aren’t the ‘be all and end all’, and there are many great restaurants without Michelin stars in Italy, but we hope this helps anyone who’s travelling in the region.

Let us know what you think of any of the restaurants in the comments!

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# Lombardy Michelin Star Restaurants

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We don’t envy celebrities, but it’s a fact that they get to do some pretty cool stuff. Clooney lives in a fabulous villa on the banks of Lake Como in Northern Italy. Here are some of the reasons why we think he spends all his time there…

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#1 The Italian Lakes

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The lakes of Northern Italy are one of the most beautiful places on earth, no question…

Malcesine Town on Lake Garda

Need proof? Famous wordsmiths like Byron, Dickens and Hemingway have all written about the areas beauty. Hell, Friedrich Nietzsche (the King of German philosophy no less) visited Lake Orta in 1882. He believed the experience changed his life forever. He inscribed “Von Orta an” (from Orta onwards) as a preface to one of his books

Top Link: Guide to the Lakes of Italy by The Independent http://ind.pn/p9Yzkw

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#2 The World Heritage Sites

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Italy has 47 UNESCO world heritage sites. That’s more than any other country in the world. Boom! The North of Italy includes sites like the floating city of Venice, the House of Savoy, ancient cave drawings, churches and the natural beauty of the Dolomites

Top Link: Description and review of all Italy’s WH sites http://bit.ly/q3AeKF

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#3 The Most Beautiful Town In Italy

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Bellagio (where The Bellagio Casino gets its name), is situated on the banks of Lake Como, half an hour’s drive from Clooney’s pad. It is often voted the most beautiful town in Italy. Don’t take my word for it though. The Bellagio is so awesome it was used by the Romans as a holiday destination as far back as the 1st century A.D!

Top Link: History and geography of Bellagio from Wikipedia http://bit.ly/7WUeor

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#4 The Michelin Starred Restaurants

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Lombardy (where Clooney lives) has 52 Michelin star restaurants, more than any other Italian region. Northern Italy is famous for its food and is the founding place of the slow food movement. We all know what Danny De Vito and Clooney get up to when they have “dinner”, so we reckon this is one of the main reasons Clooney loves Italia.

 Table of Michelin Star Restaurants in Lombardy

Click to see full list of Michelin star restaurants Lombardy

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#5 The Canals of Venice

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Venice is awesome. Canals, gondolas, bla bla. The New York Times recently called it “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”. Sweet!

Canal in Venice

Fancy an interesting fact? The city (founded in 421AD) was originally inhabited as a safe haven from the barbarian invaders, who were unable to attack them there.

Top Link: 20 great things to do in Venice http://bit.ly/ay7R5Y

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#6 Shakespeare’s Verona

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The Roman town of Verona, immortalised by Shakespeare in the first lines of Romeo & Juliet

“Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene”

If you can’t get lucky in Verona, you may as well just go ahead and shoot yourself!

Top Link: 10 things to do in Verona http://bit.ly/oEXHLa

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#7 Milan

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Duomo in Milan

Now we reckon this is the main reason Clooney lives in Milan. Okay, not the cathedral so much, more to do with the fact that this place is one of the fashion and design capitals of the world. Uber cool.

If you want culture, check out ‘The Last Supper’ fresco, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 15th century, which captures the moment when Jesus reveals that one of his disciples will betray him. Interesting fact time! Milan’s cathedral is the third largest in Christendom, the Duomo.  It is Italy’s largest Gothic structure and took 500 years to complete.

Top Link: 20 great things to do in Milan http://bit.ly/rv9P1

1. The Egyptian Museum in Turin. The second most important in the world after the one in Cairo  www.museoegizio.it

2.  The Cinema Museum in Turin www.museonazionaledelcinema.it

3.  The Automobile Museum in Turin www.museoauto.it

4.  The castle La Veneria Reale right outside of Turin www.lavenaria.it

5.  The magical monastery Sacra di San Michele in Val Susa www.sacradisanmichele.com

6.  The Annual White Truffle festival in Alba (every weekend in October) www.fieradeltartufo.org

7.  Go wine tasting in Barolo and Barbaresco and visit the Wine Museum in the Castle of Barolo www.wimubarolo.it

8.  Go truffle hunting with a truffle hunter and his dog

9.  Attend the annual Palio (bareback horserace) in the historic centre of Asti www.palio.asti.it

10.  Visit the Slow Food University and the Slow Food Wine Bank in the old roman town of Pollenzo www.bancadelvino.it

1. PIAZZA DUOMO

Piazza Risorgiemento 4, Alba (CN)

Tel. 0173/366167

The best restaurant in Alba. 2 Michelin stars, fantastic food and unique ambiance with mural painted by Francesco Clemente

2. ENOCLUB

Piazza Savona, 4, Alba (CN)

Tel. 0173/33994

Modern cafe upstairs and exposed vaulted brick cellar with restaurant downstairs. Great truffle menu during the season.

3. LA LIBERA

Via Pertinace 24 A, Alba (CN)

Tel. 0173/293155

Great restaurant in the heart of Alba, relaxed style, super wine list!

4. OSTERIA DELL ARCO

Piazza Savona 5, Alba (CN)

Tel. 0173/363974

Modern Slow Food restaurant in the centre of Alba.

5. LOCANDA NEL BORGO ANTICO

Localita Boschetti 4, Barolo (CN)

Tel. 0173/56355

Stylish, modern restaurant in the Barolo vineyards. 1 Michelin star.

6. ALL´ENOTECA

Via Roma 57, Canale (CN)

Tel. 0173/395857

Newly refurbished, a modern and stimulating menu from the young cook Davide Palluda. 1 Michelin star.

7. ANTINÈ

Via Torino, 34/a, Barbaresco (CN)

Tel 0173/635294

The most refined place in Barbaresco. In the centre of the village. 1 Michelin star.

8. GUIDO IN POLLENZO

Via Fossano 19, Pollenzo

Tel. 0172/458422

Excellent food served in ultra modern dining room in old and very special setting. 1 Michelin star

9. LA CIAU DEL TORNAVENTO

Piazza Baracco, 7

12050 Treiso (CN)

Tel 0173/638352. 638333

Wonderful restaurant with fantastic views over the vineyards. 1 Michelin star

10. OSTERIA DELL’UNIONE

Via Alba, 1, 12050 Treiso (CN)

Tel. 0173/638303

Classic osteria where the Slow Food manifesto was created!

Hopefully the blog should give you some great ideas for when you to come to the region

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Robert & Sissel

On Monday we set off for Agliano Terme, having been blessed with balmy, sunny weather since leaving Venice. While we had some idea of what to expect from their website (www.villamucci.com) which is quite impressive, the reality was even better! The apartments were spacious and spotless, the views magnificent: green hillsides of grape vines surround the farmhouse on all sides, intersected by neat dark green plantations of hazelnut trees. Each hill is crowned by either a small village or large farmhouse or winery. Framing it all (on a clear day) is a background of the snow covered French Alps. It almost makes you cry it is so beautiful and breathtaking. Our hosts are Robert Jackson, an expatriate Englishman obviously in love with this region and his charming partner, Sissell, a Norwegian lady full of fun and fluent in (only?) six languages. The apartment has a voluminous directory of local towns, local markets, local events and lots of maps to reduce your chances of getting lost. As well there is a comprehensive list of local restaurants in the region with some useful critiques to help in one’s choice. Obviously both Robert and Sissell enjoy the bounty of this beautiful country and are great guides in unravelling the myriad wines produced by largely small (5 to 12 hectare)vineyards and larger producers with a diverse patchwork of vineyards, varieties and styles made from about ten or twelve indigenous and international varietals that go into the regionally based wines. Barolo and Barbaresco DOCG wines made from Nebbiolo, huge tannic monsters requiring almost a minimum of 10years and demanding fierce prices EUR 50 to 300 and even more while the Barbera wines grown in AT and around which make up the Barbera d’Asti DOC wines are much gentler on the palate and the pocket. We have a tasting (degustazione) at a friend of Robert’s winery: four wines, all good but one outstanding (a 2007, a good year) for the princely sum of EUR 9.50- a real bargain. Pity we cannot get these wines back to Australia.

The people in the other apartment (Villa Mucci has two) turn out to be Aussies from Ocean Grove, fifteen minutes from our place in Queenscliff! Small world! As Robert has never had all Aussies at Villa Mucci AND at his other place in AT before, he feels it’s time to have a BBQ! Sissell has some of her family over from Norway so we all sit out on the terrace watching the sunset and the sky turn indigo while we demolish a small mountain of wine in a feeling of great bonhomie and stagger off to bed around midnight. Welcome to Villa Mucci, which by the way means in local dialect the “little hidden one”. The “neighbours” are a very pleasant couple and we compare notes on the places we visit over dinner at the various restaurants. One evening we are encouraged to visit Restaurant Belbo de Bardon in the small village of San Marzano Oliveto. Well not quite in the village, as we follow Sissell’s hand-drawn map down increasingly narrow and twisting rural lanes feeling utterly lost in the countryside when lo and behold we find it right where her map indicated. In the middle of nowhere is a ”destination” restaurant which soon fills (at 8:30 pm) with mainly groups of men. We get the wine list and then the penny drops: the men are largely wine makers and wine retailers and this restaurant in the middle of nowhere has a wine list with over 3000 (no misprint!) wines. Hallelujah- now pick one! We challenged our very pleasant waiter who had had his honeymoon (“wedding trip”) in Australia to find us an old Barolo (pre-2000) for 50 EUR. This took a bit of consultation and concentration but they found one to fit the bill and turned out to be quite good, if not outstanding.

Robert and Sissell arranged a hands-on Cooking Class with Gino, a local chef who lives just down the road (across the vineyard actually). Gino speaks moderate English except for regularly switching to Italian when things get exciting. We all get kitted out in aprons and “Allora” its ON; we make Grissini from scratch, we make ravioli from scratch (a pile of flour with an egg in the “nest”), we make crespeli (a type of very thin pancake) stuffed with a mix of ricotta and goats cheese, thinly sliced chicken breast arranged on a fan of roasted red and yellow peppers. The little parcels of “Crespelli” had to be tied up with a single chive leaf, a task that defeated everyone except Wendy (and Gino of course). Gino drives us hard and amazingly it all comes together just in time for a lunch for all nine of us. It was great fun and really demonstrated how relatively simple Italian cooking can be while delivering fantastic flavour. Later we received copies of the recipes for what we had produced- all in Italian! Fortunately Sissell translated them into English so we can have a go when we get home.

Joanne and Graeme visited Turin a day before we did and all of us agreed what a beautiful and grand city it turned out to be. Not being up on our Italian history we all knew it as the home of FIAT cars and thus expected a dour grimy town, rather than the majestic capital of the Dukes of Savoy who ruled northern Italy prior to the Italian uprising in the mid nineteenth century. For a short period Turin was the capital of Italy until Rome was wrested from the Popes and the capital transferred there. The first King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel was from the House of Savoy and together with Cavour founded modern Italy. Nuff history, but I would definitely put it on any Italian itinerary! Wendy and I visited Eataly (great pun that) also in suburban Turin, which is a giant “supermarket” of Italian foods and produce. A sort of David Jones Food Hall on steroids! Not only could one buy a bewildering array of foods (you cannot believe the range of pastas alone) it housed eight “restaurant” sections where you could have a range of meals to exemplify the products. A real “Foodies Heaven” barely an hour away!

We have just planted another 400 lavender plants so now have  1500 lavenders. We may have some flowers this year but really it will be next year before any real quantity of lavender flowers.

What a fantastic weekend we just had, super weather and our annual wine festival in the village (Agliano Terme). It was a huge success for the exhibitors and for everyone that came to Agliano we also had music, cabaret, artisan exhibitions and local food stalls. All our guests walked into the village and had a fantastic day. Put it in your diary for next year.

Apart from fresh (even warm) eggs he also brought with him a bottle of his wine as a gift and an invitation to join him and his wife as their guests at a local village ‘Polenta Evening’.

Firstly, the Polenta Evening…We got to the village of Calloso early.The village sits high above the vineyards and has amazing views of the area. Outside the rather impressive old village hall a group of me had a very large cauldron bubbling away on a gas stove. Inside the hall people slowly arrived and found long tables with many carafes of wine (red), a very long serving table and a stage. About 45 minutes later there were 150 people in the hall and the place was getting some very italian atmosphere. Suddenly there was applause as the men entered carrying the cauldron and emptied it on a special wooden board on the serving table. With that there was a mass charge by nearly all of the 150 guests to get their polenta.

The polenta was served with a serving of chunks of delicious pork in a rich tomato and garlic sauce and some local sausages. Not being a huge fan of polenta I must say I was pleasantly surprised just how good it was AND how good the local wine was (all Barbera of course). By this time singers were on the stage and the noise level was just perfect for a joyful evening. Later a dessert was brought round and at about 11pm people started to make their way home. I asked…Can I pay? And the surrounding Italians on the table all laughed. It’s all free they said…The villagers do this once a year, they’ve always done it.

So, if you’re ever in Calloso in late February and you’re hungry and a bit thirsty…. I know a great place to go.

Back to the farmers gift of a bottle of wine. We tried it a few days later. Wine from farmers can be good but it can also be bad. The bottles have no labels and it’s a bit of a gamble as to the the quality. BUT, I have to say this was one of the best Barberas I’ve had, especially when you take into account the biggest surprise….It was a 2009 wine!! Harvested last September…so young. Normally it would still taste like fruit juice but it really did taste pretty good. So, just wait until the 2009 wine matures and is really ready to drink, at the end of this year. It should be wonderful…You must come and have a glass!!!