And so the story continues

As you might expect my trips wouldn’t be perfect without Gastronomy :-), especially when I’m with my family. And Valtellina (this is the region Bormio and Livigno are in) has a lot to offer.

When you have a little walk through the ‘city’ center of Bormio, it is not big, but reaaaaaally nice and you might wanna stop at the original shop of Braulio, this is THE local Amaro or bitter beverage based on aromatic mountain herbs (my brother’s preferred amaro).

Some local dishes/products you should REALLY try are

–          Pizzoccheri (my favorite)

• a type of short tagliatelle, a flat ribbon pasta, made with  buckwheat flour and  wheat flour. They are cooked along with green  Savoy cabbage, potatoes and layered with pieces of Valtellina Casera cheese and ground Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano, and dressed with butter and sage. The ones my grandmother makes are really the best!! Mmm, just thinking of them makes me want them NOW

–          Sciatt: these are small balls (like cheese crockets) made with buckwheat and stuffed with Casera cheese (or another local cheese like bito or Scimudin)

–          Bresaola is dried salted beef meat aged for two years. I used to be from horse meat, but nowadays it is just beef

–          There are still lots of other dishes to explore in this region (fyi if you are on a diet, you’re screwed 🙂 )

Ofcourse all this heavy food needs can’t stand on its own, it needs to wine to go with it 🙂

The 2 biggest vineyards are Nino Negri & Nera. Both of superb quality. Something that you must know about the wines from this region, is that they are also made of Nebiollo grapes (like in Piemonte for Barolo) in combination with the local Chiavernasca grape. White wines are rather exceptional in this region as most of the vineyards make red wine. A White wine from this region that I like a lot is the Ca’brione from Nino Negri. The red wines you’ll have to try are Inferno, Grumello, Sassella and Sforzato. Sforzato is the top of the bill!! Really!! Very Yummy. You should also try Fruit grappa with Mertilli for example from Schenatti. (FYI, you also visit this vineyards if you want)

Some suggestions of restaurants and hotels:

Hotel Posta Bormio

Via Roma, 66

Bormio (SO)

Tel +39 0342 904753

Hotel Cedrone

Bormio 2000 (SO)

23030 Italia

Tel +39 0342 902510

Hotel Sassella (very good food)

Via Roma 2

23033 Grosio (SO)

Tel: +39 0342 84 72 72

Challet Ristorante Mattias (1 Michelin star)

Via Canton 124

23030 Livigno

Tel: +39 0342 997 794

This are just a few, there are many more nice places to discover

Get inspired by this wonderful region! Also in Summertime it is beautiful to make walkingtrips in the mountains, to Valle di Rezzalo.