Fashion, Food And Soccer In Piemonte, Italy

Piemonte has never been more popular among Americans, with a reported visitor count of 270,000 in 2015.

Bordering Switzerland and France, the Piemonte region of northern Italy sits at the foot of the Alps and is well regarded for its cultural offerings including historical Royal residences and fifteen UNESCO sites. The region is also famed for its alpine skiing and outdoor adventures around the surrounding lake areas. For foodies, Piemonte is home to unrivalled white truffles and fine wines such as Barolo, Barbaresco and Asti Spumante.

Tourism manager Maria Elena Rossi took her message to travel agents and the U.S. travel media last week, highlighting Piemonte’s exclusive experiences in the worlds of fashion, food and high-end tours.

Attending were Marco Albano, museum curator for the Juventus Stadium and Museum, now ranked among the Top 50 most visited museums in Italy; Mauro Carbone, supervisor of the National Centre for the Study of Truffles, who announced two exclusive dining experiences that will feature Michelin-starred chefs Ugo Alciati and Flavio Costa, who will pair the White Truffle of Alba with wine and local cuisine; and Stefano Mosca, director of the Biella Tourist Board, a city and province that is the undsiputed leader in the manufacturing of fine textiles that supply top fashion labels such as Cerruti and Zegna with new shopping opportunities.

Active vacation packages are already on the market from Country Walkers and VBT. For a limited time, Country Walkers is offering 5% off their Piemonte adventures when travelers mention code PRPIEDMONT at booking. With departures in May and September, Country Walkers will walk with a small group of food and wine lovers across the region, where guests will lunch and learn from master cheese makers and sip on one-of-a-kind wines with the vintners themselves.

New for 2017, VBT is offering electric bikes for guests who would like an extra push up some of Piemonte’s famed hilly wine regions. Highlights of VBT’s Piemonte cycling trip include touring the medieval streets of Barolo, visiting the UNESCO-listed Spumante wine cellars, learning to make wood-fired pizza and taking part in a lively truffle hunt with a local trifolao and his dog. For more about VBT’s $200 off Cycling Trips in Piemonte, go here.

Next year, Piemonte will host the 2018 Bocuse d’Or Europe, the world-famous culinary competiiton often referred to as the “Mount Everest of Cooking” for its grandeur. From June 10th to 12th, the 2018 Bocuse d’Or Europe will welcome twenty young European chefs who have qualified to compete by winning their respective national rounds in their home countries. These up and coming chefs will attempt to succeed the reigning champ, Tamas Szell from Hungary, to win the European Trophy. The winner will also receive a ticket to participate in the 17th Bocuse d’Or World event held January 2019 and compete against recent world champion and American chef, Matthew Peters.