October 29—

Trescorte Balneatico, October 29—

PROBABLY A MINOR TOWN, but convenient to Milan's third airport, Orlo e Serio — which is in fact fifty kilometers from Milan and just outside the fine eating town of Bergamo. We were here because hotels were full in Bergamo; the Hotel al Torre jumped at us out of a 1997 Michelin, and we jumped at its remaining empty rooms, the four of us. A pleasant hotel, in fact, with a nice garden, a pleasant bar, and an okay but unexciting restaurant where I had perfectly good tortellini filled with spinach and cheese, followed by Capriolo. That name promised goat; the waiter said it was venison and he's probably right. Cubes of meat long-braised and served in its brown gravy with mashed potatoes; the best part of the meal was undoubtedly the

Nebbiolo: Prunotto, 2005