One of the points of interest of Gardone Riviera, a summer haunt of ours, is that it is adjacent to the headquarters of the Salo republic. Gardone is full of villas and buildings that were occupied by German official, and old folks still have stories of driving for generals, etc D Annunzio’s remarkable mansion stands on the hillside as well. The small old vacation towns on the side of the lake are all interesting and characterful and there is some good eating, tho we havent gone far afield from our viilage on the hillside in recent years. (at this point Osteria Antico Brolo is probably very best best up there) tho the Angeli is still offering very good pizza and fine views at Ai Pini. Good brescian cheeses, local wine and oil, fish from the lakes, the things one normally enjoys in italy! We have never made it down to dinner at the two Michelin starred places on the lakeside
Thanks for the detailed into to Lake Garda. We’ll see if we have time to stop in Garda on the way to Emilia-Romagna (there is a lot of recent discussion for this region so I excluded it from the topic of this thread). It sounds like a great place to explore further and I’ll keep Osteria Antico on our list.
If you are heading south to Emilia Romagna its probably faster to go down the Autostrada Brennero, A22 rather than meandering down the western shore of Garda. The West side is better if you are heading west toward Brescia, Milan. and the other lakes.
There are so many excellent choices in The Langhe! My personal favorite has been Osteria Veglio (near La Morra) for traditional Piemontese food.
For a more adventurous meal we had a fabulous experience at ANT in Novello where they also rent an apartment next door to the restaurant.
Here is a link to my blog about ANT:
You pretty much cannot go wrong in that area!
ANT looks great! It’s also in Novello, with Langhotto which we are considering.
It sounds like my Italian home city of Cuneo (at the edge of Langhe) could be included so … Locanda La Volpe Con La Pancia Piena in the old town section of Cuneo would be worth a visit. It’s got classic Piemontese dishes with a touch of the Alpine. Find it at Via Chiusa Pesio, 6, Cuneo.
A bit south and deeper in the Alps, Locanda Balma Maris in Sant’ Anna di Valdieri has a solid Alpine menu and very nice B&B rooms. https://www.balmameris.com/
And if you’re sick of Italian food, the Ni Hau Snack Bar, a few steps from the Cuneo train station, serves pretty good and authentic Sichuan dishes. Note that the Italian menu calls “dan dan” noodles “spaghetti.”
Thanks Brian. I’m not sure we’ll make it down to Cuneo but La Volpe looks great!
You’re welcome. If you do make it, send me a PM and I’ll see if I can come into town and say hello.
Thanks to everyone’s for their great inputs. We incorporated a lot of your suggestions and are looking forward to the trip. So far we’ve booked:
Dolomites:
Lechner’s
Schoeneck
Alpinn (for the views)
Garda:
Antica Brolo
Locanda 53 (in Arco where we are staying)
Piemonte:
Osteria imperfetta (also highly recommended also by our b&b in guarene)
Il Centro
Trattoria La Cocinella
A wine bar our friend from Milan recommended 15 min walk away from Verduno frequented by the winemakers
Guido (in Serravanga d’ Alba)
21.9 - primarily for the creative truffle dishes (both of these last two recommended by the Milan friend)
And in ER (not asked here but good coverage recently on HO):
Al Cambio in Bologna
Osteria Bottega in Bologna
Hosteria Giusti in Modena
Antica Corte Pallaviccina
Locanda Mariella
I’ll try and report on all of these plus 3 days in Prague at the start and 7 days in Alsace and Burgundy at the end as we go along.
What a great trip you will have! Looking forward to hearing about it!
From our recent trip, I can highly recommend Osteria Bottega in Bologna (the best of our meals there; second best–Vicola Colombina).
We weren’t able to enjoy the tiny 4-table Hosteria Giusti in Modena because that day they were closed, celebrating their anniversary, plus one must book far, far in advance as you know (we were on the waiting list, but do to the closure there was no hope), but they do have a branch of their Salumeria boutique in Bologna on the Via degli Orefigi for those who wish to shop their wares.
BTW. we adored Modena. Were it a better transportation hub, we would have loved to have spent more nights there rather than in Bologna.
If you go to Antico Brolo, I suggest you go a la carte rather than their tasting menu. The latter is a really good deal but having had that menu twice (several years apart) I was not super fond of the marinated lake fish (similar to the marinated fish served in venice) over polenta combo.
