Category Archives: Travel

Costa Vescovato, agritourism in Piemonte

Costa Vescovato - Landscape
Costa Vescovato – Church and countryside

There are many places in Italy that are not so famous, but they have outsanding landscapes and lifestyles. One of them is Costa Vescovato, a little town of less than 400 inhabitants close to Tortona, a nice city in the region of Piemonte – Northern Italy.

As you can see in the picture, nature is everywhere in this region, and one of the main occupations of people is wine production. Barbera, the typical wine of Piemonte, is producted in many of the farms and agritourisms situated in Alessandria’s district. Valli Unite for example, is a Cooperative founded upon the principles of sustainable farming and hosts every year a lot foreign tourists in its camping and bed&breakfast. There are also many young people joining Valli Unite in Costa Vescovato to experience WWOOF, the program that allows anyone who is willing to be a volunteer in an organic farm to work in return for accomodation and meals.

I spent in Costa Vescovato only a week-end, but I would have liked to stay there more and probably I will go back there soon, because even if it was already March, sun didn’t come out at all! Anyway, I had a lot of fun, expecially because I joined… young life in Tortona’s countryside 🙂

As you can imagine, there are not so many young people living there, but still there is youth life. Many boys and girls decided to come to live in the countryside, escaping the stressful city-life and staying close to nature, following the ethical and economical principles of degrowth and sustainability. These people are the proof that another kind of life is possible, far from traditional wellness standards as well as from naive ideas of living with nature.

Spring blossoms in Italy these days

Italian Spring Flowers
Credits: Athina Lapidaki

Italy is known in the world for  mainly three reasons: food, culture and good weather. Actually, I have to say that it is quite true, here in Italy weather is really good if compared to Northen Countries’. I’ve been in different places in the world, not so many but at very different latitudes. I’ve felt the freezing, deadly Nordic winter under Northern Lights, enjoying the silence of Lapland. I have also been in Africa, in subequatorial countries and I have to say that even if it was winter, I barely suffered the hot there.But nowhere I’ve seen such a beautiful spring as in Italy. I couldn’t really say what you can find in it that makes everything so special. But when it starts, you can really feel in the atmosphere something has changed, and it will last for a long period. There are flowers in the streets, and flowers’ scent. For many people it’s a big problem, especially if they’re allergic to pollen. But for the majority of Italian people, spring means going finally out in the streets, playing football in the park with friends, riding a bike in the woods or on the mountains, walking by the sea embraced by the sun.

For me, spring has always meant travelling by train. There is something in Italy I haven’t found anywhere else in the world: it’s the possibility to just take a train and visit such many places so close to each other and so beautiful you could never imagine. I’m not talking only about Tuscany, with its gorgeous Medieval cities and Renaissance beauties. I am talking about taking a train from Milan to Como’s Lake, from Florence to Genova, from Pescara to Bologna. And to stop in between, to find such as many secret places you can’t even imagine. That’s my favourite hobby… Welcome to Italy!