Food of North Italy. Luigi Veronelli

egg noodles (they would be called tagliatelle elsewhere in Italy) and agnolotti, half-moon shaped ravioli stuffed with greens and a touch of meat.

      Take milk and cheese away from the Piedmont kitchen, and you would hardly eat at all. Milk is used to make soups, soften roasts, prepare desserts, and balance spicy, strongly flavored dishes such as hare (civet). Cheese is another key ingredient. The various types of cheeses have their own specific and strong personalities, beginning with bra, a semi-fat, raw, hard cow's milk cheese. Tomini are small cheeses with mixed milk types; tome is made with whole milk and has a spreadable texture; castelmagno is semi-fat and hard, with a distinctive marbled appearance; acceglio is a fresh cheese; and extraordinary bross cheese is finished with a soak in milk or grappa and white wine.

      Both Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta preserve old communal dining traditions that require diners to gather together around a single pot. Perhaps these traditions developed as a way to stay warm in the harsh Alpine winters, or perhaps they were simply invented to make dining fun. Bagna caoda, a classic Piedmont dish, is one such collective meal. Anchovies, garlic, oil, and butter are melted together and serve as a hot dip (the name bagna caoda literally means "hot bath") for a variety of winter vegetables. One of the joys of bagna caoda is the ritual of eating it. Diners gather around and dip their vegetables into a communal pot, which is balanced over a small burner, called a s'cionfeta.

      Racks of Spumante bottles are cellared twenty meters below ground at Piedmont wine producer Fontanafreddo.

      When it comes to sweets, Turin rules Redmontese cuisine. As early as 1600, the art of working with cacao was so well-developed in this city that Swiss chocolate makers came to Turin to work as apprentices. The chocolates with hazelnut known as giandujotti (because they resemble the hat that Gianduia, a Turin Carnival figure, wears) are native to Turin. The diablotin, givo, and alpini created by-Turin's confectioners are equally tasty.

      Piedmont may be known for its cosmopolitan pleasures, but Valle d'Aosta is a region of peaceful mountain lanscapes—one of those areas in which cows potentially outnumber people. Much of the milk from those cows goes to the creation of fontina and other milky fresh cheeses. An old Valle d'Aosta proverb says, "II formaggio fresco ha tre fondamentali qualità: toglie la fame, la sete, e lava i denti," which means "Fresh cheese has three fun-damental qualities: it takes away your hunger, it quenches your thirst and it brushes your teeth."

      Cheese in general is crucial to the cooking of the Valle d'Aosta, but it is Fontina that is the region's lifeblood. Fontina has been made in Valle d'Aosta for at least 700 years; 7.7 million pounds are produced yearly. One of the many ways in which it is put to good use in Valle d'Aosta is in fonduta, or fondue. As with the bagna caoda of Piedmont, diners share a communal pot.

      Perhaps because of the cold weather, hearty soups are the most common primi. These include all types of vegetable soups, usually with cheese and bread included. Chestnut soup is a seasonal treat.

      Other first courses include polenta or gnocchi with melted cheese. Potatoes are eaten not just in gnocchi, but boiled or roasted as side dishes.

      Main dishes often feature local game such as venison and chamois: Valle d'Aosta has a long and valiant hunting tradition, not least of all because the House of Savoy, the Italian royal family, had its hunting grounds there.

      The area's most famous entree is carbonada, a salted rump steak slow-cooked with onions, butter, bacon, cinnamon, and wine and served over polenta. Cotoletta alla valdostana is a fried veal cutlet topped with prosciutto and fontina, Boudin, or blood sausage, also appears frequently. Cured products include mocetta, a leg of veal, chamois or goat, and prosciutto di San Marcel, prepared with eighteen different herbs.

      As if its wine tradition could never flourish in the shadow of the wildly successful vineyards of Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta has never developed well-known labels. (It does have this distinction though: its vineyards enjoy the highest elevation of any in Europe.) The one renowned drinking tradition in Valle d'Aosta is not a wine, or even a cocktail, but a drinking vessel, the grolla—a. container with side spouts that is filled with coffee, grappa, and sugar. The grolla—sometimes known as a "friendship cup"—is passed around the table in yet another communal ritual that builds bonds between people in the way that only shared food and drink can

      Fontanafreddo, one the largest and most historic producers of wine in Piedmont, makes Barolo, Spumante, and a range of local Alba DOC wines.

      White Gold

      The celebrated white truffles of Alba