Pinerolo: The Piedmont Most Visitors Never See

Five Years in One Small Town

Pinerolo is small, cute and not particularly well known. It is also where I spent five years of my life. I moved there because my postgraduate studies were based at the Accademia di Musica Pinerolo. What I did not expect was how quickly the town would become home. I felt like a fish in the water. My days were not particularly glamorous. I practised for eight to ten hours, worked on the computer, communicated with concert organisers and did my research. I cooked a lot. Sometimes I went to a wine bar or opened a good bottle at home.

That repetition was important. I was not visiting Piedmont anymore. I was living there. I had a key to the school and could practise whenever I wanted, twenty-four hours a day. The work was serious. Sometimes a master would ask for a sonata without warning because, in their view, if you really knew it, you should be able to play it immediately.

Learning Italy at the Market

Pinerolo also changed the way I understood Italian food. The town sits at the foothills of the Alps, and you see that connection in the food. Chestnuts, butter, mountain cheeses, dairy products, meat and sausages all belong to the region. I would shop at the market and cook with the ingredients I bought there. At one point I went chestnut picking myself and made a chestnut cream soup with caramelised onion, thyme and butter, finished with puff pastry croutons. Chestnuts were once considered a poor man's potato. I think they are delicious.

I also made my own bread because I was never particularly fond of Italian bread. But the ingredients from the market made such a difference that, whenever I travelled somewhere else, food at home simply seemed to taste better. I even learned Italian from my butcher. He did not speak English, so our conversations happened while I was shopping. I would often spend half an hour talking with him. He taught me about meat and ingredients, but he also taught me the language. Then there were the elderly ladies walking to the market with their shopping trolleys. I used to joke that they carried several Michelin stars on their backs. After coming home from the market, I would sometimes smell their sauces cooking while walking in the streets. I can still remember how hungry that made me.

A Small Town Full of Musicians

For such a small place, Pinerolo had an extraordinary musical life. The director of the Accademia had contacts that brought some remarkable musicians to the school. Pavel Gililov, Richard Goode, Maria João Pires and Lilya Zilberstein were among the musicians involved in masterclasses. I had the opportunity to study with Gililov and, even more importantly for me, to have monthly lessons with Enrico Pace and Lukas Hagen.

Those years changed my musicianship. There was also a social side to it. After concerts, Enrico Pace would sometimes take the students for pizza because we had worked hard. On one occasion there were more than twenty of us. At the end of the evening, he simply stood up and said, “My treat.” Lukas Hagen became a close friend. He would come to Pinerolo several times a month and often come over for dinner. I would cook several courses while he brought different wines and explained the vintages, producers and grapes. Those dinners were how I really began to understand wine and great gastronomical pairings.

Into the Mountains

The mountains were always there. Pinerolo is built against their foothills, and one day I literally walked into the Alps. It was almost a 24 mile round trip, with incredible views from the mountains and the monastery and church that you can see from far away when approaching Pinerolo. There is a difficult hill in town, too. If I were showing close friends around, I would drive to the top first and then slowly make our way down towards the medieval centre. It avoids the worst of the climb. The hill is quite the challenge. Then I would take them for the best pizza I have ever had, stop at my favourite chocolatier for gelato and have a coffee strong enough to keep us awake until three in the morning. We are not taking guests to Pinerolo on this journey. We are going to the Langhe, Savigliano and Turin. But when I think about the Piedmont we are sharing, so much of what I know began in that small town.

Five years there gave me a deep love for Italy. More importantly, it gave me time to understand the people, the food, the music and the daily life behind the places we now visit.

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Discover the Piedmont that became personal to us

• Why I Want to Bring You to Piedmont
• Piedmont, Italy: A DeSalvio Private Journey Through Music, Art, Wine and Savoy History

Explore the history and culture around Pinerolo

• Crossing the Alps: The Roads, Travellers and Musicians of Piedmont
• Turin and the House of Savoy: Experiencing the Royal Side of Piedmont
• The Art of Piedmont: Museums, Palaces and Hidden Collections

Experience Piedmont through music and food

• Piedmont Through Music: Experiencing Private Piano Concerts in Historic Italy
• The Langhe: Wine, Truffles and the Landscape of Piedmont

Discover the philosophy behind the journey

• Why Travel Through Piedmont Slowly? Art, Music and the Pleasure of Staying Longer

See the complete journey

• Private DeSalvio Travel Piedmont Italy Journey with Music, Wine and Cultural Experiences

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The Piedmont Behind the Journey

Piedmont is not simply a collection of famous destinations for me. It is a region I came to know through five years of living there. On this journey, I want to bring that perspective with me. We will visit the places that make Piedmont remarkable, but the way we experience them comes from knowing something of the life behind them. That is the connection Pinerolo gave me.

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Book your call here.

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Robert Poortinga  
Travel Booking Assistant  
River cruise & Europe destination expert  
Culinary and art travel specialist

Concert Pianist

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