After participating in 2 of the picnics, one in our lavenderfield and one at the medieval tower, my friend Cinzia was so enthusiastic that she also wanted to host an event. She had been thinking about opening a home restaurant for a while, but yes… paperwork, lockdown… and so the opening party was repeatedly postponed. […]

This year we all need to think a little bit “out of the box” … and that’s how we’re fantasizing about all kinds of new projects in collaboration with the local artists of Teatro Cantiere. One of the ideas that came up during a brainstorm is a romantic apericena with serenade at our StarsBOX. Yesterday

It had been a while ago, but recently we went out for dinner with friends in a local agriturismo, which is synonimous for tasty & simple food made with local products in a nice and tranquil atmosphere. And Bio Agriturismo Tenuta Antica in Cessole met all these criteria, home-made delicacies and a wide choice of

A few days ago we enjoyed the most beautiful, nicest, tastiest, cosiest … picnic ever. I know, I am not quite objective as it was my idea, it took place in one of our lavender fields, it was organized by a group of artists I adore and even the food came from farmers who are

Yes and No. There is never a simple answer in Italy ? We expected our first guests on saturday, it was for just one night and they wanted to stay in the StarsBOX in our lavenderfield. Our garden was a mess, the swimming pool wasn’t presentable, let alone finished… so by Friday I was a

Every year, during the 2nd and 3rd  weekend of June people come from everywhere to our little village of Merana to taste the famous homemade ravioli during the “Sagra del raviolo casalingo”. Some of our guests even plan their holiday so that they can taste the ravioli and enjoy this event. Unfortunately, due to the

As I have an overactive dog and boyfriend we do a lot of walking in our hills. Over the years we discovered several paths starting from our house, some we have put in the Wikiloc-app (www.wikiloc.com – look for routes starting from Merana in Piemonte) and in some occasions I ended up on hands and

Some cities really have enormous touristic potential … but then there are those who just don’t have it, or do they? Like Cairo Montenotte… It starts with the name, Cairo, which doesn’t sound very Italian as there is another Cairo that is much more known than this small Italian provincial town of no more than

The day started idyllic: a nice long walk with the dog while taking pictures of all the wild flowers on our valley, then a bit of work on our gigantic wisteria tree … That tree would cover our whole house by now if I’d let it grow. A friend of mine came by and asked

Mombaldone (South Piemonte) is one of those villages you can visit over and over again even if it is very small. Every stone, every secret passage way seems to whisper stories of a long lost past when it was filled with shops, bars and people. Now silence reigns … are there still people behind these