harvest time in the Prosecco hills

homemade cableway to carry the grapes | Combai | VSCOcam 

even if you don't work in the wine sector, when you live in a wine region, harvest time affects you.
you run late cause you've been stuck behind a tractor while driving to work. everyone at your local bar is talking about sugar levels, acidity, weather. you see people dressed up like scarecrows on their way to the vineyard. and the grape is shimmering, it tries to catch your eye in any way, all puffed up and proud.

Fregona. May, Wednesday 1st

happy may day! do you celebrate the workers' day? may i ask you how?
in italy it is a national holiday, so marco and i took the opportunity to spend some time outdoor. we also had some garden work to do, so we stayed close to home, and took a short scenic road called Strada del Torchiato.

it's a 20 km loop of small rural villages {Fregona, Sarmede, Cappella Maggiore}, the itinerary delimits the production area of the straw wine called Torchiato di Fregòna. 
it's an aromatic sweet wine, a niche product that deserves to be tasted. the legend says that it was discovered by accident: a farmer didn't want to waste his harvest, which had not rippened in the vineyard for bad weather. so, he hung the grapes to the beams of his barn. during winter, grapes dried and became sweet. the following spring he squeezed them with a press, and put the must to ferment in small barrels. 
i don't know if the legend is true, but the wine is good, especially with the yummy local cheese like moesin di Fregona and drunken cheese {formajo imbriago}. 

the Torchiato could be tasted during the annual fair held on the last week of april, in the Piera Dolza winery, where the grapes are dried and the wine is made by some local producers. of course, we went for a visit.   

Fregòna is a small town on the slopes of mountains. its borders reach the top of the Pizzoc mountain and the amazing Cansiglio forest, but the town center lies on a hillside.

near to this town center,  the main attraction is a fascinating complex of caves, called Grotte del Caglieròn. the caves date back to the 16th century, when they were a site for the sandstone's mining, used at that time to build doorposts. in veneto dialect, sandstone is called piera dolza, from which the winery i mentioned before took its name.

the caves are enchanting. the acquamarine water flows loudly, the light and shade are intriguing. 
during winter, ice and stalactites make it even more beautiful.  i took a lot of pictures, but still don't know the right way to shoot in a cave!
we followed the wooden bridge, while fat drops fell into our heads.
at the end of the path, there is a restaurant we love for its charming location but more for its food,  alle Grotte {that means "the caves"}. 

{nikon em + fuji superia 1600}

info and tips

Piera Dolza, Fregona producers winery
via castagnola, 50 - 31010 Fregona (TV) 

Grotte del Caglieron
open everyday - free entry

Alle Grotte Ristorante
via Grotte del Caglieron, 33 - 31010 Fregona (TV)

the prosecco road, film III. from Feletto to Refrontolo

one last glimpse to the pieve, and we are on the road again, heading to Refrontolo. but the monumental church keeps watching us running, from its dominant position on the hill behind our backs.

this is my favorite part of the prosecco road, and spring is the perfect season to appreciate it at its best, with all the wild flowers in bloom.

Refrontolo is locally famous for a straw wine called Marzemino, or Refrontolo passito, and for a charming water mill, hidden in the trees, at the foot of one hill. this is the Molinetto della Croda, a rare example of rural architecture, built on the sixteenth century. 

it was active until 1953, and the millstone is still working.  it's now used for local fairs, like the celebration of harvest in october, aiming to keep the old milling tradition alive.

the music of water, the enchanted, timeless atmosphere.. the place has a fairytale charm, don't you think? 

 {olympus om10 + fujicolor 200}

info and opening hours
molinetto della croda website

the prosecco road, film II. from Conegliano to Feletto

our journey on the prosecco road continued heading to San Pietro di Feletto.
from the quite elegant town center of Conegliano, we moved into a quiet rural area. this itinerary is loved by cyclist and cycling tourists, too. 

the road goes up to the hills, the landscape is a color palette of greens, dotted with farmhouses and agriturismi. the small church steeples stand out against the sky, as landmarks. 

arrived in San Pietro di Feletto, the best stop you can make is the Pieve.  in the Middle Ages, a pieve was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended.

this is a perfect place to admire the scenic lookout, you almost have a 360' view over the hills.
the Feletto's Pieve dates back to the VIII century, and it probably was a pagan roman altar before that.

{nikon em + ilford 125}

info
Pieve di San Pietro di Feletto - opening hours
sat 9.00-10.00/ 15.00-20.00
sun 9.00-11.30/ 14.30-19.00

the prosecco road, film I. Conegliano

"…et però credo che molta felicità sia agli homini che nascono dove si trovano i vini buoni"

 leonardo da vinci

“but I believe that there is a lot of happiness for those who were born where good wines are”, says this leonardo's quote. do you agree?

i don't know if that's true, but i'm glad i was born in a land with a long wine tradition, longer that the recent rise of prosecco as a trend, that brought this sparkling nectar to be drunk all over italy and in the world. 
this was the first official wine road of the country.

 

i put into the map, as landmarks, some places outside the main prosecco road itinerary, that i mentioned here in the blog pages or that i'm going to mention soon.

i'd like to start from Conegliano, a place where art and wine belong.

the reinassance painter Giambattista Cima {1459-1519} was born and died here, and even if he lived and worked in Venice, the landscapes of his birthplace are recurrent in the background of his compositions: the gentle hills, the castle.. that gives us a pretty clear image of how Conegliano looked like ages ago.
both the castle and the hills are still there, though.

an art gem, located in Conegliano's heart via XX settembre, is the frescoed façade of the cathedral and the adjacent Sala dei Battuti. this last one is a stunning, large room, with the frescoes wrapped in mysticism of silence and shadows. the cathedral dates back to 1345. 
while we were taking pictures, there was the mass going on. i think that the sight of the young altar boys brings back memories of whispers, muffled chuckles and scent of incense to most of italian guys of my age and older.

via XX settembre, where the cathedral is located, is an avenue lined with elegant houses and porticoed buildings. this avenue and the square piazza cima are the right places to have a coffee, a glass of wine or a spritz {very popular wine-based aperitif}, in one of the little taverns and bars. 

however, the passion of conegliano for wine is not proved just by its many osterias or by the orderly vineyard rows. conegliano is the home of the first oenological school of italy, founded in 1876. 
marco has spent here his high school years, and he's still very fond of the place. the school also hosts a farm, a winery and an enoteca restaurant, for tasting the finest local products. 

a cottage in a messy garden near one of the classrooms building, is in my opinion the most charming corner of the school campus. it's the bottega del vino {wine shop}, built in 1927 on the occasion of the 50' anniversary of the school foundation, as a model for wine shops and osterias. it's still used by the school alumni and official dinners. 

{nikon em + ilford 125, except for the cathedral collage and next one, which are digital}

info and tips
Sala dei Battuti (at the Cathedral) - open on sundays
via XX Settembre 44, 31015 Conegliano

Oenological School G.B. Cerletti
via XXVIII Aprile 20, 31015 Conegliano

wine, local taste, relaxed atmosphere:
Osteria Cima
via XX Settembre 106, 30105 Conegliano

Osteria Due Spade
via Beato Marco Ongaro 69, 31015 Conegliano

all the venues mentioned on this blog are saved on "i diari della lambretta" foursquare list. 

osteria senza oste. April, Sunday 29th

our dearest friend Angela is doing a project for a famous local winemaker, and asked us to help her doing a photoshooting –with the Lambretta- in Valdobbiadene. that was the occasion for spending a lovely sunday with friends.

 

near the location, in Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene, there is a place called osteria senza oste {osteria without a host}.

it’s a stone cottage on the top of the Cartizze hill, with literally no one serving the customers: you can find Cartizze {a top quality cru of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG}, salami, cheese, bread, take what you want, and pop the money into a small piggy-bank. 
knives and cutting boards are available, tables are outside “on a shady terrace with stunning views of the surrounding vine-clad hills”, says the Guardian. (and it’s right!). but you can also skip tables and have a pic nic like us! 

Bobi {part-time jewelry maker} and Tommi came with their Vespa. 

info
Osteria Senza Oste
via Treziese, 1
Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene 
www.allostechenonce.it

the prosecco road. April, Sunday 1st

the weather was cloudy today but we choose to go out anyway. we have kind of a crush on vineyards and landscapes typical of our region, so we ended up running on the prosecco district, trying to find some back streets we didn’t know yet.

 

prosecco is a white sparkling wine produced in the regions of Veneto and Friuli, but its land par excellence is near Conegliano and Valdobbiadene: the famous prosecco hills, where the Prosecco Superiore is born.

during spring there are a lot of town festivals celebrating the DOCG zone, that's called la primavera del prosecco {the prosecco spring}. our favorite is held in a tiny town called Col San Martino. 

the weather get worse while we were running, and we were freezing out there.

it seemed so dark that i ended up overexposing the pics taken with diana F+.

as always i took way too many photos of M. {guess is what you do when you’re in love,right?}