Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
passes through the 3km-long
Gola dell'Enna
, a narrow rocky gorge at the bottom of which
surges the Enna river.
Eating
La Collina
( 035 64 25 70;
www.ristorantecollina.it
; Via Ca' Paler 5, Almenno San Bartolomeo; meals €35-40; noon-2pm
& 7-10pm Wed-Sun)
With several dining areas, an outdoor pergola for summer meals, and a
privileged position overlooking the surrounding territory, La Collina (aptly, The Hill), is a
stylish setting for carefully prepared and beautifully presented Lombard cooking with in-
ternational flair. First courses range from fish ravioli to a risotto that changes with the
caprices of the chef. It subscribes to the slow-cooking philosophy, which seems perfectly
suited to the surrounds.
LOMBARDY
€€
BERGAMESE
€€
Ristorante della Salute
( 0345 4 70 06;
www.albergodellasalute.it
;
Costa d'Olda 73, Olda (Taleggio); meals €25-30; 12.30-2.30pm &
6.30-9.30pm Tue-Sun)
This agreeable country hotel about halfway along the wild and woolly
Taleggio valley has a simple restaurant downstairs where a good number of the excellent
home-cooked dishes feature the local speciality, taleggio. It also offers views of the sur-
rounding greenery and dishes like
strozzapreti ai spinaci con crema di Taleggio
(a kind of
spinach gnocchi bathed in a thick, creamy taleggio sauce).
TOP OF CHAPTER
San Pellegrino Terme
They first started bottling lightly sparkling mineral water in San Pellegrino Terme, 25km
north of Bergamo along the
Valle Brembana
, at the beginning of the 19th century.
Thermal baths tourism began late that century and local investors decided to spend big
on new facilities in the early 1900s, creating the massive, seven-storey
Grand Hotel
(1904)
and the exuberant
Casinò Municipale
(1907). They face each other over the Brembo river and
together form a treasure trove of
stile liberty
(Italian art nouveau). The Casinò Municip-
ale, especially, is full of whimsical detail. The facade bears reliefs and sculptures of myth-
ological figures and naturalistic forms (from laurel leaves to beetles), as well as two giant,
wrought-iron lamp holders. Both buildings could only be seen from the outside at the time
