September 25, 2026

Friday

Torino, Piemonte, Italia > Sondrio, Sondrio, Italia

Sort-of a Travel Day

We slept ok last night, although the dormitory is filling up and there were several other “guests” saying here. My right hip and leg hurt most of the night. I did get up and put some Voltaren Gel on about 02:30. It took about an hour to work, but I did fall asleep and managed to stay there until 06:00.

I got up at 06:00 and took my morning pill, and then went back to bed for the half hour it takes for the pill to take hold. Just after it had gone the half hour I got up and went and took a shower, shaved and got dressed. Alle his was completed by 07:25. Then I went out for a walk. Remembering that The Place near the university usually opened a little earlier than most I headed over there for a cappuccino and brioche.

Indeed, The Place was open when I got there just after 07:30. I ordered a cappuccino and brioche. They hadn’t put out croissants with jam yet, so I just took a vuoto (empty) one. The beauty of going to a university hangout is that the total cost was €2.8; roughly $3.00.

I enjoyed by drink and croissant at the bar, then headed back to the dorm. I woke Mary at 08:00 so she could shower and things before we left for Serra’s. Checkout time is 10:00. The cleaning handy came by at 09:00 to see if we were out. I told her to come back at 10:00. In the mean time we packed up for the ride to Sondrio and our four day side trip.

We each packed just enough for the four days into out carryon roller bags. The rest was left at Serra’s. There were no lunch plans, so about 11:00 we decided to find somewhere to get lunch, even if it was just a sandwich. We walked through part of the slow-food expo, but it was too complicated. We then walk down the Via Po to Piazza Castello.

We looked in several shops along the way but didn’t see anything that hit our fancy. Some of it too expensive, and some to complicated to have for a light lunch. We ended up at the Crai-Go store at the far end of the Piazza Castello. Crai is a supermarket chain, and a Crai-Go is one where everything is pretty much editble now. We each picked a sandwich and something to drink. We then crossed the piazza and found someplace to sit and have our lunch.

Union finishing lunch we walked down via Giuseppi Verdi, which more or less runs parallel to the Via Po and leads back to Serra’s house. We got back to Serra’s house just a little past 12:00. Dario, the driver, and his van, shifted up as scheduled at 12:30. We loaded all of Serra, Pietro, Gloria and the girls’ things into Dario’s van, then loaded ourselves. Ourselves being, Pietro’s friend from Thailand, Nonna Damilia and Mary and myself.  And we were off to Sondrio.

Most of the three plus hour long ride was spent sleeping. The first hour or so were along the A4 freeway. It runs parallel to the train route so we have see most of this. Just before Milano we spit off and head north towards Lecco. At Lecco we connect with the SS36, which takes us all the way to Colico. There we split off onto the SS38 which takes us all the way to Sondrio.

We are staying at the Grand Hotel della Posta. It is one of the WorldHotel brand hotel. Specifically, it falls under the “WorldHotels Distinctive” subcategory. The WorldHotels Distinctive category is reserved for “character-rick independent hotels that offer unique local charm and distinct personalities”. We have stayed here before and written included it in past posts, so I’ll skip the repetitive post.

It is a lovely hotel with a great location in the Valtellina. We checked in at the front desk, went up to our room and got organized. Serra and Pietro showed up a little later. They checked in. Apparently, there is a dinner scheduled for tonight somewhere here in Sondrio.

We rested in our room until about 18:45. We are supposed to go to dinner at 19:00. Everyone was sitting outside of the hotel Piazza Garibaldi having drinks. Just before 19:00 a new round of drinks arrived. Will we ever get to dinner? Pietro points out a white building across its square and tell Luisa that is where we are going for dinner. That is great, except being slightly older and more observant I notice there are two, or three “white” buildings.

Pietro leads us off in the direction of the white building. Down one street, now another, he finally stops and ask someone who indicates it is behind us and down a little alley on the right. We eventually come across a small doorway with the sign Petrus 1935.

One of two aperitivo trays after it has been significantly reduced.

The smaller rare steak

One of the vegetable plates

The medium-rare steak, yes there are slices of meat under that bone.

After looking at the photos of just the steak, you are probably wonder just how many petiole where there. Well, there were 11 adults, 3 of which are over 70, and three children under the age of 5. The children where served spaggetti. They did help a little on the meat. Oh, and just to let you know, there was nothing left of the meat.

If you are following all this on google maps or something similar it is located on Via Meneghini,  No. 4, 23100 Sondrio SO, Italy. This is important should you ever find yourself in Sondrio or even nearby, this is a steakhouse. And, after having had dinner there, a really good steakhouse. There were antipasti, wine, roasted vegetables, and of course steak. One medium rare and one rare. Medium rare is rare enough.

We finally told everyone we were really old and need to head back to the hotel. It had gone 21:00 some time earlier. Unfortunately, I still need a good two hours to digest dinner. The harvest is scheduled to begin at 09:00 in Berbenno. I seriously doubt that, they were still at dinner when we left. Maybe Pietro will be there at 09:00. We’ll get there when we can. They do expect to be done by noon.

Lunch is at Mariagiulia’s. And apparently, they will be a dinner at the pressing on the same night. Dinner is supposed to be polenta taragna. Made with cheese from the latteria in Berbenno. One or the other would be too much food. Both, maybe in my younger, much younger days that might be possible. But it beyond human endurance to pass up Mariagiulia’s lasagna. And passing up polenta taragna? Just not a possibility.

We will see what tomorrow brings.  

Buonanotte & Ciao

Enrico and Maria