Going Italian

'The area offers loads of possibilities for the gastrono-traveler', is how Elizabeth Field describes Trentino: her report of a recent visit starts here...

We were based in Riva del Garda, on the northern tip of Lake Garda, in the mountainous province of Trentino, which borders Austria. It's about one hour northeast of Milan. The town itself has a very 19th-century feel: you can imagine Thomas Mann drifting among the pink-tableclothed tables in the cafes off the main Piazza III November, by the leafy lakeside promenade. He and other well-known German writers like Goethe and Nietsche summered here.

The Garda Trentino region has a Mediterranean micro-climate, making it Italy's northernmost olive-growing area. We visited a small-scale olive oil producer, Brantoio Ivo Bertamini, in Vignole di Arco, just a few miles from Riva. His oil is mild with low acid and an almond nose - almost buttery. He offered us some wonderful local bread called 'molche', made from olive pressings. It's almost lavender-black in colour. 'Carne salada', a regional preserved beef, is served raw, sliced paper-thin like carpaccio. Superb. A 500-ml bottle of olive oil costs €8. (He's open Monday to Saturday from 7.30 am to 10 pm., and offers free tastings. Check his website: www.frantoiobertamini.it) People can also buy excellent Lake Garda oil and local wines, salami,etc. from a farmer's co-op in Riva del Garda called Assocazione Agraria, Via Luti 2. (tel. 0464-552133)

Another highlight was the annual 'enogastronomic' BITEG exposition (takes place in mid-May), where food producers from all over Italy and France present their wares. Truffles from Alba, 25-year-old balsamic vinegar from Modena, wild boar sausage from Umbria, homemade orecchiette pasta, aged Parmesan Reggiano, and hundreds of wines and liqueurs - you get the picture. I believe the entrance fee is €10 - totally worth it. For info, email: biteg@palacongressi.it

As you know, Trentino is famous for its wines, and there was no shortage of Teroldego, a concentrated, powerful, dry, full-bodied red, which goes well with the region's rustic "mountain" cuisine - polenta with sausages and sauerkraut, roast pork loin, venison, spare ribs, etc. Marzemino, a delicious, lingering, delicate, fruity and flowery red has some of the qualities of red Burgundy. It's absolutely wonderful with the more refined cooking found in good restaurants, i.e. Cantine de Tarczal (tel.0464-409134), a wine estate just west of the town of Rovereto. Our dinner there featured local white asparagus vinaigrette, followed by Marzemino and radicchio risotto, spinach gnocchi, roast chicken, and strudel made from local apples. We had a silky Moscato Giallo (yellow muscatel) with dessert.

I bought some wine at De Tarczal: a vintage Marzemino for €9.60, and a Moscato Giallo for €6.30. Visitors can easily tour the local wineries. During the summer there is a 'wine bus' that starts in Rovereto. Or you can do a proscribed driving route outlined in the brochure, 'Wandering amid wines and castles'. It's available from the Rovereto Tourist Board: www.apt.rovereto.tn.it

Some of the best local restaurants are the Novecento del Hotel Rovereto in Rovereto (tel. 0464-435454) and the Michelin-starred Le Due Spade in Trento (tel. 0461-234343). Don't miss the brand-new Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in Rovereto, where there is a fantastic collection of Italian Futurist art.

When you're eating, drinking and breathing food and wine, the area offers great hiking, mountain biking, windsurfing and swimming.

This is real Slow Food country, and we were lucky enough to be given a talk by a Mr. Bellini (perfect name, eh?) from Slow. We tasted local strawberries and trentegrana cheese; mortandella (not mortadella), ciuga (pork and turnip) and lucanica trentino sausages. He explained that it is best to fold a slice of sausage in half before eating it, as the best flavour and texture is found the middle of the slice. We drank local spumante with the antipasti.

To get to Trentino, RyanAir flies to Verona-Brescia and Verona-Bergamo airports. Trentino InfoService, a one-stop independent advice centre, supplies comprehensive information from maps to brochures on accommodation, food and wine, sports, culture, etc. Check their website: www.trentino.to

Elizabeth Field

Photo: Robert Freson