Cakes that speak of love: Journey to Mele, and between Acquasanta and Castagnina. Liguria, Italy

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In addition to the splendor of its rivers and the infinite blue of the sea, Liguria has another face, less known but perhaps even better reveals the soul. The winding roads that pass through the breathtaking landscapes of his Apennines along the streams that flow to the sea, the endless dark green of the woods, the awareness of the traveler that the sea is nearby, but to achieve this we must override any other mountain, marvel depth of some other viaduct, to rethink centuries of history during which there was here and pass the highway from the coast all'Oltregiogo, historic region that today is essentially the same as the Alto Monferrato, was an arduous task. If the sea is a love to conquer, the road that leads us is full of emotions, without which perhaps the sea would not even have the same charm.
A way as any to say to everyone: from Piedmont or Lombardy if you want to go in Western Liguria, take your time and enjoy the journey, for once forgetting the highway: Take the State of Turchino, which leads to Ovada Voltri and you will discover an extraordinary world, just as we did during our trip to Apple.
The name of Apples, common a few miles from Genoa, in the green slopes of the Ligurian Val Leira, comes from honey: witness even its coat of arms, which depicts a hive of bees surrounded by seven gold and topped with a list of silver with the words "Ex melle mihi nomen," or "honey from my name." The association organizes every year in the month of May, the Festival of street artists, called his former Melle.
Apples are rich in history and places to see, so we procure a brochure and we discover the land of honey. Accompanied by the deafening chant of the cicadas make a pleasant stroll downtown, visiting for the first Parish Church St. Anthony Abbot, Saint Anthony and the eighteenth-century oratory. After the ride in the center, we move to Acquasanta Spa, which also belongs to Apple, where there is a very important place of worship: the Sanctuary of Our Lady dell'Acquasanta. Mystical destination of pilgrims since the seventeenth century, but perhaps even before the shrine, according to the legends may have arisen as a result of a miraculous event tied to the Virgin. According to medieval folklore, this would become a place of pilgrimage after a night some shepherds were surprised by a great light source from the waters of the River Leira. I went down to the shore, the shepherds found a statue of the Madonna, which would have started the construction of a chapel where the first guard the statue. The statue went miraculously untouched even by a flood of the river that destroyed the chapel. The exact spot where the shepherds found the statue, and where flows a source of sulfur water, stands the chapel, which houses the ancient wooden statue of the Virgin. At the Sanctuary were married in 1832, the King of Naples, Ferdinand II of Bourbon and Princess Maria Cristina of Savoy, daughter of Vittorio Emanuele I and Maria Theresa of Austria, loved by the people and all called "holy" because of its generosity to the poor.
After this long walk, there remains nothing but relax at the table: we take the car back on the road and the Turchino few corners after the center of apples, we go into the pizza and focaccia Matteo Castagnino, whose inviting outdoor area 's we spotted as we were coming to Apple. We settle there, in the gazebo surrounded by flowers, and as we accompany the breathtaking view of the woods across the street, he takes us to choose from in front of the menu. Two of us decide to take Recco-style cakes, prepared with imagination: Farmer, with a double sheet of cheese and grilled vegetables, and Castagnino, grit and raw. A friend of ours takes a full pizza dough with no yeast, while the two boys decide to go to the point: ravioli with meat sauce and sliced cut in Scotland. Finally, we let loose with the sweet: zuccotto filled with ice cream, and Bavarian strawberry parfait kiss. All washed down with white Ligurian wines, Vermentino in particular, in addition to the red of the nearby Monferrato, Barbera and Dolcetto d'Ovada.
We'll be back here soon, also to visit other attractions of interest: the neviere, or the old "cold" wells that were used to collect the snow in winter, which was then sold to middle-class families during the summer, the Center for Evidence of ' Art Paper and Stone Issel, or the engraved rocks, dating back perhaps to the second millennium BC and is still being studied by researchers.

Frances Bertha

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
www.comune.Mele.ge.it
The Matteo Castagnino
Via Fado, 25
010/6319301
010/6317060