Category Archives: Piemonte

Harvest Moon.

Posted on October 31, 2018 by awtytravels

I once met an elderly lady who lived in a minuscule Alpine village of which she was the only permanent inhabitant. Well into her seventies when we crossed paths, she was busy chopping down a young spruce tree, manoeuvring an … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Baud, Bonarda, Ca d' baud, Grape, Grape Harvesting, Harvest, Massazza, Novara, Piedmont, Piemonte, Sizzano, Vendemmia, Vino, Wine | 26 Comments

In memory of Mr Voghera.

Posted on March 15, 2018 by awtytravels

We’d parked our car in corso Matteotti. Under a fastidious rain we walked, rather aimlessly, towards via Roma. My feeling of despondency, due to the realisation that I’d started forgetting the streets of a city I’d lived in for five … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte, Random memories | Tagged Armistice, Auschwitz, Benito Mussolini, Bolzano, corso Matteotti, Day of Memory, Deportation, Fascism, Ferruccio Voghera, Final solution, Fossoli, Gino Voghera, Gunter Demnig, Holocaust, Italian Jews, Italy, Jews, Memory, Nazism, Piedmont, Piemont, Piemonte, Racial Laws in Italy, Racism, San Sabba, Shoah, Stolperstein, Torino, Trieste, Turin, WWII | 25 Comments

Fireworks, mountains and sleeping elephants. Wrapping up 2017, in pictures.

Posted on December 27, 2017 by awtytravels

The last trip of the year has just ended; the rucksack’s been duly unpacked and its contents unceremoniously thrown into the washing-up pile, hoping for some merciful hands to put them into the washing machine without the whites turning pink … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Europe, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, London, Overlooked locations, Piemonte, Random memories, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, UK | Tagged 2017, 2017 Fireworks, 2017 in photos, 2017 London Fireworks Photos, Alps, Aqespe, Aral, Aral Sea, Aralsk, Asia, Asian elephant, Bactrian camels, Camel, Central Asia, Colombo Fort, Disappearance of Aral sea, Elephant, Fireworks Pictures, Italia, Italy, Jin Mao Tower, Jing Mao tower, Kyrgyzstan, Land Cruiser, London, London Mayor, Mountains, Murghab, National park, New Year's Eve Fireworks, North Aral Sea, NYE, NYE Fireworks, Pamir, Pamir Gap, Pamir Highway, Shanghai, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Sleeping elephant, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan railways, Tajikistan, Train, Train travel, Udawalawe | 20 Comments

The land beneath the mountains.

Posted on December 18, 2017 by awtytravels

That’s the name of my region. The land at the feet of the mountains. Click on the photo to open the panorama In my region, topography is binary. Clear cut. It’s either flat, or mountainous. No middle ground, no rolling … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Alpi, Alps, Biella, Bird, Bird spotting, Duck, Emigration, Expat, Fara Novarese, Fields, Fourteener, Geese, Glacier, Immigrant, Italia, Italy, Lake, London, Malpensa, Massazza, Masserano, Massif, Monte Rosa, Musings, nature, North West Italy, Novara, Piedicavallo, Piemonte, Reservoir, Snow, Switzerland, Travel, Vercelli, Vineyard, Water, Winter, Woods | 13 Comments

Licensed to Ill: driving your teenage roads, twelve years on.

Posted on November 27, 2016 by awtytravels

Unlike many of my peers, I wasn’t given a car as a birthday present when I turned 18. Publicly I was saying I didn’t want it but I knew it was a case of fox and grapes with a numberplate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Ad-Rock, Alps, Autumn, Beastie Boys, Clio, Driving, Fall, Golf, Italy, Licenced to Ill, MCA, Memories, Mike D, Mucrone, Northern Italy, Piedmont, Piemont, Piemonte, Renault, Volkswagen | 8 Comments

Modern art

Posted on July 14, 2016 by awtytravels

I don’t often go to modern art fairs, mainly because I don’t get it at all, and I have a tendency to express scorn and not-so-educated scathing comments out loud when everyone else is silent (it’s a family gift, Dad … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Art, Arte, Italia, Italy, Paratissima, Piedmont, Piemonte, Torino, Turin | 8 Comments

Where the woods are returning.

Posted on May 16, 2016 by awtytravels

On paper, it was an easy ride. About 9 klicks, roughly 600 meters in elevation, and a smooth return to the waiting car, through the woods, up the ridge and then back again into the woods. The signs at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Abandonmnent, Alps, Biella, Biellese, Bursch, Europe, Federico Rosazza Pistolet, Italy, Piedicavallo, Rosazza | 8 Comments

“It’s all they’re asking these days”.

Posted on April 24, 2016 by awtytravels

“Is it organic?” The scorn, on Alberto’s face, was evident. “These days they don’t even check if the wine’s good or not, if it isn’t organic no one wants to give a euro for it”. We scanned the view from … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Arneis, Barolo, Italia, Italy, Langhe, Monferrato, Organic wine, Piedmont, Piemonte, Roero, Spring, Vineyard, Wineyard | 6 Comments

A rowing regatta

Posted on November 10, 2015 by awtytravels

The stretch of the Po river that flows past the city of Turin, in Northwest Italy, is normally quiet: a few rowers, two boats doing a sort of public shuttle service, countless ducks and swans. This weekend, though, things were … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Autumn, Europe, Fall, Italia, Italy, Piedmont, Piemonte, Po river, Rowing, Torino, Turin, Valentino | 2 Comments

The alpine tunnel for the afterlife.

Posted on April 21, 2015 by awtytravels

It wasn’t supposed to be dug this high. The idea, originally, was for the tunnel to be at least 400 meters lower, at an easier 1000 meters of altitude, where it could’ve been used almost all year round, but that … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Piemonte | Tagged Afterlife, Alpi, Alps, Biella, Federico Rosazza Pistolet, Freemason, Italia, Italy, Jesus, Massoneria, Mountains, Occult, Oropa, Piedmont, Piemonte, Rosacroce, Rosazza, Rosicrucianism, Valle Cervo, Virgin Mary, Winter | 7 Comments