Sunrise from the one window of the suite. Be sure to stop in the bar (the armory) and have a glass of wine and some outstanding appetizers. There are no elevators here and wondered how they received deliveries in the winter and during the rainy season because there is the old original river rock stone drive and I suppose their suppliers have a very difficult time during inclement weather (horribly slippery). The suite had one window and three portholes, yes a dark room with the dark wood ceiling but so typical of these old structures it just makes the whole experience more of an adventure. Having dinned there months prior, we knew dinner was a must the ambience is fabulous.

We were welcomed to our Royal Suite Pavone with a glass of Prosecco and promptly reserved our table in the dinning room for dinner. The staff is wonderful, helpful and happy. :-) Getting to your room could add in quite a few more and every step is worth it in my opinion. They provide help when asked, to bring your bags up to the castle and then to your room and if you are not young and strong, take the offer because the stairs do not end here. As it opens the view beyond comes alive and you descend into a short tunnel of brick terraces until you arrive to the front of the castle. :-) You must ring the bell to enter and the door will then slowly open automatically. The owner is the only one who has a vehicle in the upper portion of the grounds all us lowlifers must park below the dwelling and climb a nice steep set of flagstone stairs to the outer wall where there is a door built into the rock (remember this when you pack your bags.). You will find yourself immersed in an environment with most of the modern comforts you might desire and a nice dash of hardship to remind you how difficult it is to live in a castle, even today. The historic site has been lovingly restored and is dutifully maintained. Luky to have come in on the tail of two groups who vacated that very day and the weekend before Valentines, we had the place all to ourselves. Repeated inspections along the way using the hammer method.Ī very brief visit to Castello di Pavone in the town of Ivrea on the outskirts between the Val D'Aosta, and Piedmonte, Italy was worth every Euro. They are marked with the cheesemaker's marks and stamps, salted, dried and aged, with (giving the cheese its classic flattened barrel shape) and this is then warmed to drive out some of Once the milk batches are combined they are heated to 33 C (aboutĨ8 F), the rennet is added and the curds are broken up to the size of a grain Turn means that Grana Padano matures at a slightly faster rate than Parmigiano. This makes Grana Padano a little less fatty than Parmigiano Reggiano, which in Padano, both batches of milk are skimmed, whereas with the Parmigiano only one is skimmed. Made by combining the evening and morning milking in brass vats yet for the Grana Techniques are similar, there are a couple of important differences. Romagna split off from the main body of Grana production, calling Texture, though at some point most of the people in the provinces of Emilia In that era the cheese was all called Grana, after the cheese's fine grainy Transformed the remainder into a hard cheese that aged very well and in times of These herds produced an abundance of milk so they used what they needed, and Marshlands of the Pianura Padana maintaining herds of cattle that grazed the fertile Parmigiano Reggiano emerged thanks to the monks who reclaimed the

)wow, it makes life difficult here in the land of Paramesans! If you have ever had the chance to eat 12 month Parmigiano Reggiano, fresh, tangy and just slightly grainy (amazing for a risotto al Parmigiano. This means, Parmigiano should not be used because that is a protected name and the fake stuff needs to fall under the all inclusive name of Parmeasan (does Kraft ring a bell, or is that Crap)? It is impossible to re-create that cheese here in the States for numerous reasons and, it is not cheap in Italy but at least in Italy there is a choice of types (there also exists Grana Trentino) and aging. I have truly ruined pasta dishes with grated 'parmigiano' (what I thought was real) and come to find out when i got home that it was just imitation Italian hard cheese created here.

I saw Whole Foods selling what looked like fake Parmigiano with a ton of the heal so you pay mostly for that instead of the heart of the cheese. I only trust it if I can see the rind with the stamps embedded.

Aldente alba