cascina lana
this story has to go down in the history as one of the best examples of hospitality. we arrived in the small town of nizza monferrato. not sure where to go and or what to expect we strolled into the tourist information office. they pointed us in a few directions and this is how we eventually ended up at cascina lana. what started out as a ordinary tasting of taking a stroll through the cellar and asking some questions we got asked to sit down for the tasting. bottles and bottles were carried out for us to taste. soon the lady put down some bread and a massive salami which must have weighed about five kilograms. what followed was a family feast. she started cooking lunch for us while we were tasting the wines. every now and then she would pop her head out of the kitchen to ask if we were still ok and shout something in italian at the grandmother sitting in her chair in the corner of the room. it was astonishing to see the whole thing play out in front of me. i am still dumb struck just thinking about it. there we where. stranger treated like children in our own home. at the end we were all sitting around the table drinking coffee and grappa. it was fantastic. we were told that if we ever visit italy again that we have a home to come and visit. i tell you it was emotional. i have never felt so well treated and so humbled in my entire life. the simplicity, honesty and openness of these people blew me out of the park. i ask myself how some people just manage to do these things so naturally while others cant seem to even give you a smile....
this story has to go down in the history as one of the best examples of hospitality. we arrived in the small town of nizza monferrato. not sure where to go and or what to expect we strolled into the tourist information office. they pointed us in a few directions and this is how we eventually ended up at cascina lana. what started out as a ordinary tasting of taking a stroll through the cellar and asking some questions we got asked to sit down for the tasting. bottles and bottles were carried out for us to taste. soon the lady put down some bread and a massive salami which must have weighed about five kilograms. what followed was a family feast. she started cooking lunch for us while we were tasting the wines. every now and then she would pop her head out of the kitchen to ask if we were still ok and shout something in italian at the grandmother sitting in her chair in the corner of the room. it was astonishing to see the whole thing play out in front of me. i am still dumb struck just thinking about it. there we where. stranger treated like children in our own home. at the end we were all sitting around the table drinking coffee and grappa. it was fantastic. we were told that if we ever visit italy again that we have a home to come and visit. i tell you it was emotional. i have never felt so well treated and so humbled in my entire life. the simplicity, honesty and openness of these people blew me out of the park. i ask myself how some people just manage to do these things so naturally while others cant seem to even give you a smile....
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