Wine and food, Italian style!

On Saturday morning, June 18th, with our 2011 wine tour officially over, Don and I, along with Joe and Frank, headed off to explore several wine regions in Italia!  Our first stop of the day was the Tunnel de Mont Blanc.  While driving through the French Alps with gray skies and low clouds, Frank, our group Italiophile, commented that he would love it if, as we exited the tunnel into Italy, we saw the sun.  As if on command, when we first saw the sky in Italy, it was blue and the sun was shining!  So, our cool rainy days spent in the vineyards of Champagne and Burgundy ended just like that – well after the 7.2 mile  Mont Blanc tunnel.

A happy Frank in front of the Italian Alps with blue skies!

 We arrived in Milano and checked into our hotel just in time to head out for a late afternoon stroll and dinner.  Some say that Milano is the fashion capital of the world and it certainly appeared that way.   Near the Duomo and La Scala, is the fashion district.  On one street alone, we saw at least 3 Dolce & Gabbano stores, each with a different theme and displays in the windows.  In one of the windows we caught a glimpse of a reception and T-shirt signing for the D&G model, David Gandy.  Then we turned a corner to a red carpet spread across the sidewalk in front of another D&G store, with muscular Italian men in chic D&G suits, sporting earphones like the CIA behind heavy cordons and lots of tall women wearing very short skirts milling around.  It was quite the scene.  Since we were hungry and not really dressed appropriately, we decided not to venture into the mixture.  Instead, we headed across town to the Naviglio district for dinner.  For my Atlanta readers, we went from Buckhead to East Atlanta, to give you a comparison.  Naviglio consists of several streets along either side of a canal that are lined with restaurants, cafés, bars and the ever present gelateria.  We chose a small family-run osteria for dinner.  I couldn’t resist the Osso Bucco with saffron risotto, a Milanese specialty and then after strolling back along the canal, we ended the evening with gelato – mine was ciocolatta  and panne (dark chocolate and cream – two different flavors in one cone!).

Jennifer with Milano Duomo in the background.