The Mediterranean smell of a day at the hills: Trip to Casale Monferrato, Italy
A beautiful artistical city, surrounded by green hills, surrounded by vineyards and intersected by a great river: the dream of many would be to live in such a place. We are on the banks of the river Po, the great cities of the industrial triangle of Northern Ireland are at hand, but here instead of chaos reigns an atmosphere of the city from city to human scale. But Casale Monferrato, the destination of our trip, is a capital city: the capital of Monferrato.
The program of our day included a full immersion in the artistic and gastronomic delights in that city, and we soon discovered that the artistic aspect and the wine here really traveling together.
One of the first destination of our tour is the Gipsoteca Bistolfi inside the Museum. The artist was born in Casale Monferrato in 1859 and between his best known works include "The Sphinx", "The peasant" or the imposing female symbolic figures as "Home" and "Towards the light". In the five rooms of the Plaster Cast are exposed over one hundred and seventy of his works. In the Museum we can admire the masterpieces of other great artists of Casale, such as painted by Pier Francesco Guala, eighteenth-century painter, as well as numerous other works from previous centuries. But in Casale Monferrato are also linked to several major figures in literature and journalism during the First World War Cesare Pavese has lived in the College of Somaschi fathers, but it is a native of this city Giampaolo Pansa.
During our stroll in the pedestrian area of ??the historic center, we also visit some beautiful religious buildings: the Cathedral of Sant'Evasio and the Synagogue, built in Baroque style in the sixteenth century Rococo style and restored in 1969. The Cathedral, a striking beauty, is the oldest monument of Casale Monferrato, and is also one of the largest cathedrals in the Lombard Romanesque style of Piedmont. Among other beautiful churches of Casale stand one dedicated to St. Dominic, founded in 1472, and the eighteenth-century Church of Santa Caterina. A "watch" the town thinks the Civic Tower, symbol of the city, 60 meters high, probably higher in the eleventh century.
In addition to being surrounded by green hills and vineyards, this charming city is very livable thanks to its large green areas: the public gardens of about ninety thousand square feet, created since the eighteenth century with a conscious reforestation activities. Was born in 1911 instead of the picnic area riverbanks, which extends over 119 hectares well.
After this ample view of the beauties of Casale Monferrato, we decided to cap off the day with a delicious dinner that will make us even dream a little 'the sea and summer, make ourselves comfortable at the tables of the Mediterranean Restaurant, in Piazzale Air Force. "We are Naples, has been running this place since June 2010, offering mainly fish dishes, paying the utmost attention to quality ingredients," he tells the owner Raffaele Elefante, who works with his uncle Nicholas Napolitano and his wife, Anna Della Porta. "We have many new things in the pipeline, in fact, before long the tour also propose Neapolitan pizza and evenings with live music, with mandolin," tell us as we begin to taste the first delicacies: Complete the Mediterranean appetizer, or a mixture of served in fish and decorated with shells and rocket salad. We continue with the Mediterranean calamari, very rich, with a real seafood salad inside, everything homemade. Also sample the excellent Calamarata Coast in white, with clams resting on a bed of rocket and other leaves decorated with arugula and shavings of fresh tomatoes. We follow these delicious grilled fish from the first, proposed in three versions that correspond to three prices: 15, 23 or 30 euros. The cheaper version we find a great slice of the sword, salmon, shrimp, prawns, shrimp, grilled baby octopus, cuttlefish and squid rings. In the intermediate version to everything you add aragostelle and sea bass or sea bream, while the full version, in addition to the basic version, contains half a lobster. Washed down with fine wines from Campania as the Greek di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino or prosecco Mionetto, almost all from the renowned wineries Mastroberardino. Our dinner ended with a wide selection of Neapolitan cakes, all homemade and better than the other one, while the last pleasant surprise awaiting us are the spirits, also homemade, of many types, even cream strawberry, strawberry, mint, basil and fennel.
Let's go back in the metropolis enriched unique experience, full of beauty and taste, and sure to want to repeat soon.