Why I Want to Bring You to Piedmont: Five Years in Pinerolo and Turin

I Went to Piedmont for Music

I moved to Piedmont in 2017 because of two musicians. I had the opportunity to begin a two-year postgraduate course with pianist Enrico Pace and violinist Lukas Hagen of the Hagen Quartet. It was such an extraordinary opportunity that I gave up everything and moved within two months.

I expected to stay for two years. I stayed for five.

Piedmont was also an ideal base for the concerts I was playing throughout Europe. Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland and Switzerland were all within reach, so my professional life continued to take me in many directions. But Pinerolo became much more than a convenient place to live between concerts. I lived in the centre of the town, close to the main square. I would have coffee in the morning, sometimes with a pastry, and twice a week the square became a huge market with hundreds of local vendors. I hardly went to a supermarket. Apart from flour for homemade pasta and sourdough bread, I bought almost everything locally. Then I would practice. I had the key to the school, which meant I could practice there 24 hours a day. That trust was something I loved about living in Italy. If you needed something, people often simply found a way to make it possible, and that is something that for me resembles Italy.

When Pinerolo Became Home

It took about a year and a half for Pinerolo to really feel like home. It happened through small things. People at the market began recognising me. They would smile when they saw me and sometimes give me something extra because they knew me. I was coming back twice a week for groceries and gradually making connections and friendships.You become comfortable with your routines. You adjust to the country's rhythms and climate. At some point, you are no longer simply living somewhere. I felt at home.

I still remember the main square because I crossed it every day for five years. The Duomo was only about 200 metres from where I lived. There were the porticos, the little cafés, bars and restaurants. These became part of ordinary life rather than things I was visiting. There was also a pizzeria outside town called Della Vigne. The hill to reach it was absolutely horrific to walk up, but the pizza was worth it. Afterwards, the journey back down was much easier, carrying a pizza, a bottle of wine and a wonderful dessert. The famous Giro d'Italia, has used this iconic hill multiple times with percentages of over 20% climbing, I saw them going over the small cobble-stones conquering a hill that seemed impossible to climb by bike. Those are the memories that remain.

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What I Learned at the Market

Living there also changed the way I understood Italian food. The importance people place on ingredients is constant. I have seen several generations sitting together discussing recipes. Grandmothers teach grandchildren. Young people talk about food with each other. Recipes are shared as naturally as conversations.

My butcher was a perfect example. He knew every cow in his shop by name. Sometimes he would joke that one was the cousin of the cow he had sold the previous week. He had his own farm and very specific ideas about how his meat should taste. He also worked with people in the mountains who supplied exactly the food he wanted because the quality mattered so much to him.

When I bought my first truffle, I was incredibly excited and told him about it.

“Black or white?” he asked.

“Black.”

He laughed and dismissed it. Those were for the pigs, he told me, because when the pigs eat them, they would lead you to the white ones.

To him, this was completely normal.

That attitude toward food was everywhere. In the shops, if people heard that I was not from Pinerolo, they would immediately start talking about their ingredients and their cooking. There was a pride in it that I had not encountered in quite the same way elsewhere.

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The Piedmont I Want to Share

My five years of studying with Enrico Pace and Lukas Hagen changed my musical life. I learned an enormous amount from both of them, and I still find myself applying their teachings and their ideas about music every day. But my connection to Piedmont became much broader than music. I would eat, drink, visit museums and special sites, or go into the mountains around places such as Ponte del Diavolo and Sestriere and think, what a special region.

The frescoed villas and palazzi were another reason I eventually thought about creating this journey with Marisa. Stupinigi was probably the first place that made that impression on me, but the concerts I later played in other historic buildings made it even stronger. I don't think of Piedmont only as a musician. I am interested in architecture, culture, art and history, as well as food and the way people live. That combination is what I want to share.

There are famous places in Piedmont, but there are also the smaller things that appear through people, food and everyday life. That is the Piedmont I remember. It is also the Piedmont I want to bring our clients to.

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Go deeper into the Piedmont I know

• Pinerolo: The city that me fall in love with Piedmont
• A Different Way to Experience Piedmont: Music, Food, Culture and Time to Enjoy It
• Why Travel Through Piedmont Slowly? Art, Music and the Pleasure of Staying Longer

Discover what we experience there

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

See the complete journey

• Piedmont, Italy: A DeSalvio Private Journey Through Music, Art, Wine and Savoy History
• Private DeSalvio Travel Piedmont Italy Journey with Music, Wine and Cultural Experiences

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Come to Piedmont With us

Join us for four days in the Piedmont I came to know while living and working in Pinerolo. We will explore the region through its food, wine, historic places and music, with time to experience it without rushing from one sight to the next. For me, this journey is a chance to return to a place that became home and introduce it to people seeing Piedmont for the first time.‍

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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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