“For eight long days, to savour the light, I got up early, climbed up and stayed there until sunset. At midday Mamlia, at first concerned because she couldn’t find me, brought me up a plate with bread and salami or cheese, two apples and a bottle of wine.”
Umberto Eco, La misteriosa fiamma della regina Loana
Umberto Eco, the Province’s most famous son makes this elegy to the simple things of life, things that the curious visitor to the plain of Alessandria, the gentle hills of Monferrato and the peaks of the Apennines can still find in the small specialist shops and the wineries whose cellars are dug out of clay, in the local trattorias and the the luxury restaurants.
