A fat, bewhiskered dog snoozes happily on the floor of my room as church bells ring and roosters crow.
It’s morning at Casa Scaparone outside Alba, Italy.
I’m in Italy with my dear friends Margo and Kathy, exploring the Piedmont area and learning all sorts of things about the history and culture of this amazing part of the world.
My first moments here I could do nothing but happily wander the grounds, inwardly oohing and aahing at the rustic vignettes of life at an Italian agriturismo.
By night the wonderful old farmhouse serves as bed and breakfast for several guests from around the world, but by day it is a working farm. Four families labor side by side tilling the earth, gathering in the harvest, and preserving glistening jars of fruits, vegetables and preserves.
I love every bit of this rambling place, from the amazing bricked ceilings and floors worn smooth and polished to the old wooden crates full of apples and wrought iron lanterns covered with wisteria vines.
But my favorite spot is the dining room, the hub of activity here. It is the center of jolly weekends when it is filled with guests and locals devouring hearty meals and singing along with a piano and kazoo.
It’s also the scene of quiet mornings when I find a sunny spot to eat my breakfast of homemade cake, home-canned peaches, and delicious fresh cheeses, and watch little blond Swiss boys chase each other on the wooden dance floor set up outside.
Where is your ideal place to stay when you travel? Are you a hotel girl, a bed and breakfast man, or do you prefer pitching a tent in the back country?
(For more information on Casa Scaparone, visit their website here.)
Pitching a tent it is! Lovely clicks.
Thanks, dear A! 🙂 I love tenting too. 🙂
Great photos Krista. Sounds like a fun trip. The more you see of Piedmont, the more you’ll love it. Small hotels and B&Bs for me
Thank you, Jenny! 🙂 You are so right. I’m in absolute awe of this place. 🙂
A beautiful place! I love that old kitchen/dining room.
Cheers,
Rosa
I’m so glad you like it too, Rosa! That kitchen area makes me so happy. 🙂
What a lovely & colourful place this surely is! georgous pictures ! Thanks for the link!
Thanks so much, Sophie! I’m so happy you like them. 🙂
This might be my new ideal place! Wait for me – I’m packing my bags! How sweet!
Oh man, I’d LOVE you to join us, Paradis!! 🙂
Beautiful! Can’t believe this place… I keep walking around and pinching myself because it feels like a dream 🙂
Thank you, Margo!! I know exactly how you feel. 🙂 You get HUGE kudos for finding this place. 🙂
I love the interior colours of that kitchen – so warm and inviting!
Me too, Andrea! 🙂 Made me want to stay and cook there along with them. 🙂
Love the dining room shot! Such a cosy and welcoming spot to share with someone!
I agree, Corinne! I was SO charmed by it and absolutely loved eating my meals there. 🙂
That looks so incredibly charming. I am usually a hotel girl, but could be swayed if I got to stay there!
I hear ya, Annette! To top it off the food was fantastic AND there was free Wi-Fi. Who would know?!
Wow that is so beautiful! I’m more of a hotel girl, but with all of these vibrant colors and beautiful scenery it wouldn’t even matter where I was staying.
The colors absolutely sold me too, Joanne. 🙂 Who could resist such a welcoming place, eh? 🙂
Oh look at the colours!! I am in love with the blue door and its ivy… Mostly I prefer small hotels and B&B – not a tenting kinda gal ;o)
I love that one too, Jeanne!! 🙂 I grew up tenting and LOVED it, but nowadays, I’m a happy girl in a cozy B&B. 🙂
I love the vaulted brick ceiling
Me too, Linda! I’m still bamboozled about how they get them to stay put without falling on our heads. 🙂
I’m oohing and aahingright along with you as I’m gazing at these photos. I love all the vibrant colours in Italian houses – blue doors and red walls.
I’m so glad, Hila! 🙂 Aren’t the colors SO cheering and inspiring? I love them. 🙂
your pictures are making my eyes water. you have earned every beautiful, inspiring, still moment of your time there.
Those doors…
Excellent blog post and great .. so beautiful pictures
Krista!
I was in Italy this past October – and near you! I wish I had known!
This next October I want to take a tour through Alba during truffle season – and you were clearly here, then. I will look up this inn, but wonder if it is as good as it looks!
It appears DIVINE!
🙂
V