Lisa, Garay, and I went to Piemonte for a week following the Trafalgar trip to Rome and Tuscany. On the way to Piemonte from Rome, we stopped for lunch in in the beautiful seaside of Portofino. Garay steered the rented Renault wagon through the darting Vespas, Fiats, Mercedes, BMW and pedestrians to the end of the picturesque peninsula to Portofino overrun by tourists on the long Liberation Day weekend. Since we arrived late in the afternoon, after 3 and the restaurants were closed, so we had pizza while looking at the small harbor with tour boats loading and unloading passengers .
We had a wonderful visit with our relatives in Alpette, Pont Canavese, and Torino, meeting a few relatives for the first time, and visiting others again. In Pont Canavese stayed at the Hotel Bergagna, owned by our relative Mergherita Vidano, who was a gracious hostess and the staff treated us royally.
While in Pont Canavese, we were able to see the outside of the old textile factory where our grandmother worked. It is now a Museum of Plastics but is not opened. Arturo showed us the old Goglio bakery on Via Caviliogne 7, where our grandfather worked as an apprentice prior to migrating to the United States to open his own bakery. The Museum of Antiquities was opened especially for Lisa, Garay and I. An enthusiastic and charismatic docent gave us a very special and very enjoyable tour of the museum, mostly in Italian, however with a little English and hand gestures, and our small knowledge of Italian we understood the presentation.
In Alpette, we visited the cemetery, the copper museum, the church and drove further up the mountain up to Trione. Arturo, and Simone gave us a walking tour of Alpette out to the ancient houses.
I recorded for your viewing pleasure the list of what we ate at our family dinner on Sunday, April 23rd. We invited all the Goglio and Seren Bernadone relatives that were available to dine with us at the Ristorante Bergagna in Pont Canavese at the Hotel Bergagna. Here is the list Piemontese cuisine served as courses in our 3 HOUR dinner.....yes it was very relaxed and leisurely as we dined, sampled wine and conversed about our lives.
We
began with a toast of sparkling wine to salute being together.
On the table were hunks of fresh Italian bread and very long thin
bread sticks you break off to eat in between the courses. We needed
a time out for a
long walk to aid in the digestion but that didn't happen as were
enjoying each other's company too much. Naturally there was water,
white wine and red wine throughout the meal.
1.
Marinated thinly sliced beef with vegetables
2. Fresh tomato with spinach, butter curl, tuna, anchovy and olive
oil
3. Cold veal with seasoned mayonnaise garlic of course
4. Spinach-Potatoes-Polenta Flan 3 layers - it was beautiful!
5. Spinach Pin Wheel
6. Bagna Calda - A paste of anchovies, garlic,olive oil and seasonings
and served on roasted red pepper
7. Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms
8. Sliced Potatoes
9. Roasted Veal with marsala wine sauce
10. Strawberries with ice cream
11. Assorted cookies and cream puffs
12. Expresso to complete the dining experience
It was an incredible meal that we will never forget.
The family members attending the dinner were.
Adriana Seren Bernadone Prospero, her son Franco Prospero, his wife Lalla Chialda and their son Lorenzo Prospero and her daughter Delia Prospero, with her daughters Jada and Erika Adriana’s mother was Domenica Seren Bernadone sister to our grandmother Giovanna Seren Bernadone
Umberto Felletti, Lina Goglio and their son Arturo Felletti, his wife Simone Ostellino and son Ricardo Felletti Lina is a distant cousin with common ancestors 5 generations back
Luiga Seren Gaj with her son? Roberto Seren Gaj (Not sure if she is related via the Goglio or Seren Bernadone family)
Rina Aimone and her daughter Nunzia Maffei, Rina is the granddaughter of our grandfather's sister Clara Goglio
Mergherita "Mariacci" Vidano, the gracious hostess, her daughter Mariella Vidano, and her daughters Antonella Rosa, Elisa Rosa, Alessandra Rosa Mergherita Bergagna mother was a sister of our grandmother Giovanna Seren Bernadone. She is cousin to Adriana (what was the name of her mother?)
We visited with Franco Prospero, Lalla Chaida, and their son Lorenzo and Lalla's grandfather at his farm in the small town of Prascorsano, which is near Alpette and Pont Canavese. This farm has been in Lalla's family for three hundred years, with the farm house dating back to the mid 1700s. We enjoyed their gracious hospitality for an afternoon. Of course this included a wonderful multi course meal. Franco and Lalla are primarily teachers, and like many of their neighbors work the land as a hobby. The farm has a large vineyard, from which they make wine, and various fruit trees. Her grandfather the actual owner of the property is 97 years old, and still works the farm, although he has been limited since he broke his leg last year. from the pictures, you will see the beautiful views from their lovely farm.
On April 25 Liberation Day, we were able to take part in the celebration honoring the veterans on WWI, and WWI and the partisans fighting Mussolini and the Fascists. The Liberation Day ceremonies began with a mass in the church. The priest wares an Alpini hat, so he must be a veteran. After mass, the people gathered at the WWI and WWII memorial in Goglio Piazza. They laid a wreath and several people spoke. following these ceremonies, the people went to the cemetery to honor the Partisans killed by the Germans. On the way they stopped at the Alpini memorial for a brief remembrance.
Pictures of the Liberation Day ceremonies in Alpette
Arturo met Gino and his daughter Anna at the cemetery in Alpette, and told him of our trip to Piemonte. Gino was not able to attend the dinner at Bergagna, however wanted us to visit with he and his family. After the Liberation Day ceremonies in Alpette, we drove to Torino to visit with family of Gino Goglio.
It was a great pleasure to meet cousin Gino,
his wife Vittoria, Daughter Anna, and her son Marco. Maddelana
Lorusso, the Marco's fiancee speaks English and was the translator
for the meeting.
Gino is the son of our grandfather's youngest brother and identified
his parents and his grandmother in the Alpette picture. Gino had
met uncle Columbus and aunt Marie on their trips to Italy years
ago and also met Garay's and Lisa's father Raymon when he visited
Alpette while in the army shortly after the end of WWII.
We were not aware of Gino and his family so it was fate that Gino and Anna met Arturo at the Alpette cemetery and found out that Gino is related to us. Although Gino could not make the family dinner, he wanted to meet us and have us visit him. We spent a pleasant afternoon with Gino and his family talking about our lives.
It is always a pleasure to visit with Adriana,
this trip we spent two lovely days in Torino with Adriana and
her family. Paolo took time from his busy work schedule to show
us some sights of Torino. Torino has more than 10 miles than ten
miles of portico's making walking around the downtown streets
pleasant. Of course there are many shops and Garay's favorite
the sidewalk cafes. With this we were able to finish our purchase
of souvenirs.
Paolo took us to the Mole Antonelliana, in which we rode the elevator
to the cupola to get great views and pictures of the city. He
drove us to Superga the beautiful Basilica in which the kings
of Italy buried. We also toured the Auto Museum founded by the
Agnelli family.
We also visited the Museo Egizio with Adriana to see all the Egyptian antiquities. Since Lisa discovered that Adriana is such a wonderful cook, she wants to return for a week of cooking lessons. Garay and I will just come to eat the food. We had a great dinner at Adriana's with Anna and Alberto, and Paolo. We didn't get pictures Anna and Alberto on this trip, since we were too busy eating.
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