I left Chamonix via Switzerland and cruised the Great St. Bernard Pass into Northern Italy. As a side, Napoleon and his army followed the pass into Italy, of course, without the benefit of the modern highway. Things went better for me.
A stop in Aosta, a city founded by the Romans in 25 BC, which served as an important trading post. Aosta is chock full of medieval and Roman historic sites; it is a great place to rest your wheels for a couple of hours or even longer.
From Aosta, on to Biella, formally the seat of a nation state, and now a northern city in the Piedmont region of Italy.
Once a wool capital of the world, Biella is not touristy, has interesting architecture, and some historical sites worthy of a peek. Biella is divided into the Piazza (upper town) and the Piano (lower town). The Piazza can be taxing by foot, but there is a funicolare (a kind of tram) linking upper and lower Biella. Ironically, once powered by water weights, the funicular was know for reliability, but now by electricity, and less so.
A top notch historical site in the Piazza is Palazzo La Marmora. The palace has been the home of Marquises of Ferrero della Marmora, now the Mori Ubaldini degli Alberti La Marmora family, for 17 generations over eight hundred years. The palace is opened to the public at specified times. N.B. Some palace splendor:
If you catch the right time, the present Marquises leads a palace tour replete with intimate family history.
The Piazza also includes a historic synagogue, which unfortunately was not open. The synagogue is said to house the oldest known Torah scroll still in use, dating to the 13th century.
The Piano (lower) includes historic churches and shopping. Sadly, many small businesses have disappeared, leaving a spate of vacant storefronts. Perhaps the reason for this is that Biella is in one of the regions of Italy first ravaged by Covid, but other factors may also be at play.
While the Piedmont region is home to some of the finest vineyards in Italy, the Piano (lower) is also the home of Menabrea, the oldest brewery in Italy, a beer with worldwide notoriety.
Finally, I had a G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) cheesy experience at CA D’Andrea, an agriturism gig in the Biella countryside. After meeting our hosts Andrea and Valeria, I walked up a steep hill to the goat pasture to meet the heard.
After spending some time with the goats in the pasture i went back to barn and toured cheese making laboratory.
And then made some goat cheese and ate it for lunch.
This was a great place to visit.
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