Le Bianchette

When we were making lodging reservations for Italy, I was hoping to find something a little more authentic than hotels for our whole stay. Somewhere, I read about agriturismos, which are working farms that have been converted into inns. I found a place called Le Bianchette Agriturismo which wasn't too far from Lake Garda, so I made a reservation for two nights.

Le Bianchette was a real, authentic, working farm. Set on top of a hill, you could see the grape vines which seemed to stretch for miles in all directions. I had another one of my "pinch me" moments as I watched my kids running between the rows of grapes on an Italian hillside. Just amazing!

On our first night there, we made a reservation to eat at the inn's restaurant. We were going to have a full Italian meal. Up to this point, we had only eaten a slice of pizza here, plate of pasta there. But for Italians, a full meal consists of an antipasto (appetizer), primo piatto (first course; usually pasta or soup), and secondo piatto (second course; meat or fish dish, usually served with vegetables on the side). And of course, there is usually plenty of wine and conversation between courses.

Our antipasto consisted of small toasts of bread, coated with a kind of ricotta cheese spread, and topped either with tomato sauce or a nice slice of salami. The primo piatto was two, yes two, different types of pasta: the first was almost like a beef strogonoff but not as creamy, and the second was an incredible, creamy pasta with ham. Oh, it was so good! The secondo piatto was very thin slices of beef and chicken, and the chicken was coated with a lemon sauce. The second course was served with bowls of vegetables and a platter of melon with slices of prosciutto. As usual, Ethan and I ate tag-team style, with one of us outside watching the kids play on the small playground while the other ate. But when dessert came, everyone was back to the table. We were served slices of ice-milk cake, similar to ice-cream, but not as creamy. And my piece even came with a birthday candle in it! :)

Our room at the agriturismo was just fine for our needs. Tim and Maddie enjoyed sleeping in the bunk bed, but Collin could easily crawl out of his crib onto our bed. Needless to say, it took him a long time to fall asleep. That wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except that we were woken at the crack of dawn by the farm's roosters. Yes, it was a real, working farm.

The farm had chickens, cute baby chicks, turkeys, hares, and ponies (the smaller one was only 2 weeks old when we were there!). The kids really did enjoy seeing all of the different animals.

And as we were leaving, the hostess gave us a bottle of the white wine that is made from their grapes. We were able to bring it home, and I suppose we will save it for a special occasion.

I think it was definitely worth the experience of staying at the agriturismo. The only thing I would change was those stinkin', noisy roosters!