Lombardy: towards North, towards the snow and the good wine ... Morbegno

During the first week-ends of October, Morbegno hosts a very well organized event: the old wineries of the town open their doors to public. It's called "Morbegno in Cantina" and it's a very good way to taste good wine that is produced with the grapes cultivated here near and the good plates!!!

 

Since you are going to drink a lot, be aware and reach the town by train directly from Monza or Milan: in two hours you can easily reach the city centre. Soon afterwards buy the ticket of one of the tours you prefer and then start tasting.....

Morbegno is a town in Lower Valtellina and it is found at the mouth of the Valgerola, at the point where the Bitto streams merges with the Adda. Its location has allowed a notable expansion thanks to commercial exchanges with Lake Como, Po Valley and Bergamo area.

I have been there for 3 times in the past years and tried always different routes: the first one, the one I preferred thanks to my friends Fabio and Cristina, was in Traona on a saturday afternoon... we were enjoying the atmosphere so much that we lost the last available bus to get back to the centre of Morbegno and, at night, we have had to walk about 3 hours!!! Please don't forget to coordinate your time... The second one was in the centre of Morbegno on a Friday night but it was not so funny and the latest and the most different was Gustosando: we ventured in the wineries of Dazio and Civo.

From the main square of Morbegno, every half an hour a bus leaves to take you to the first village where you can reach the oratory from where the tour is gonna starting.

Don't forget to take out your glass to be filled in by the host and the dish on which you will be served different typical plates.

The first one we tasted was the so called

LOW-FAT SOUP

Sincerely I don't know why it is so called, have a look at the ingredients with me:

1 stale loaf;

1 liter meat broth;

100g casera cheese;

50g Parmesan cheese;

1/2 onion;

butter.

Break the loaf into pieces and put them into a tureen, pour over it the boiling broth and add diced casera. Sprinkle over Parmesan cheese and finally add the onion that you have previuosly sliced and cooked in the butter.

Enjoy it!!

  

But if it is cold and you eat it with a good wine glass...it's delicious.

Then the tour goes on and following the directions you can find the other refreshment points and taste the different wines they propose and the different plates.

Another one I liked really very much was the Lasagnette with bresaola and casera cheese even if, at first sight, you cannot think they are very light! In this version of the lasagne you substitute the ragout with bechamel and diced bresaola and cheese.

I think that Morbegno in cantina is a very nice event that allows you to deeper know Valtellina and amaze your taste.

Lombardy: Do you know where to pick up capers in Milan?

It's 6.30pm - sunset: our tour is starting from the main courtyard of the Castle.

We meet our guide who will take us to discover the underground of the castle even if they are not under the ground but it sounds so interesting. I am not going to show you most of the pictures you can find on the web but I think that these can be quite more beautiful because taken from some spots where no everybody can enter!!!!

The visit starts from the upper part of the castle, from the Rivellino, a terrace from where you can have a view on the surroundings and the nearby Park. It has a square plant and was built in the middle of the moat; it was linked to the defence system of the city and to the undergraounds we are going to discover right now...
There are still a lot of inhabitants in this part: it's full of cats everywhere and this terrace is characterized by different types of plants that grow spontaneously here and there. One of the oddest plant are the capers, from Pantelleria...so strange but so true!
From here the tour is goona starting and we will go out to discover the covered route of the Garland, a route through protected tunnels that allowed soldiers to reach, even riding a horse, the outer defensive outspots or the nearby countryside.

It is possible to walk along the outer perimeter of the castle under the ground level of Sempione Park and to discover its architecture. Our route is enlighted by several windows that overlook the moat itself and that allow us to observe the outer walls of the castle.
We pass through several parts of the castle where there were dedicated rooms that during the II World War were transformed into hiding places for citizens and some of them have been destroyed because of the building of the underground.....it's something ashaming and that's the reason why you should not loose the opportunity of visiting these parts of the castle, at least before they may disappear!!!


If you are interested in such a tour, get in touch with http://www.adartem.it and you will discover how to organize the visit.

If you want to taste something very typical of Milan, just try:

RISOTTO ALLA MILANESE or YELLOW RICE
350g Arborio rice
1 sachet safran
150g Parmesan Cheese
1 onion
1lt broth
1 glass white wine
125g butter

Finely chop the onion, then melt 80g of butter paying attention not to make it fry.
Add the onion and let it fry, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the rice and toast it, pour the glass of wine and let it evaporate. Start adding some spoons of broth and let the rice adsorb it; as soon as it gets dry, add more broth. Repeat this operation until the rice is cooked, it should take 15-16 minutes, not longer.
During the last 5 minutes of cooking, melt the saffron in the broth and add it to the rice as previously, mixing carefully.
When rice has reached the right cooking, melt the remaining butter and the parmesan, mix everything together and enjoy it!