Tende to Cuneo: Theres a mountain between us!

Getting to Tende, a small village at the base of the Alpes Maritimes was both a blessing and a curse. Whilst I have nothing against Tende. Its beautiful, alpine and has an amazing museum… however it sits at the base of Col de Tende a 1871m mountain pass. It’s high enough that trees don’t grow up there. The people of Tende have a long tradition of being muleteers. Taking merchants and travelers up the mountain from the French side to the Italian side since Roman times. Nowadays in winter you can get up it on a ski lift. I thought to myself that a ski lift in summer was going to be a great way to take in the sights and perhaps a little easier that “a pied”. Fortunately there IS a ski lift operating in summer! Yay! But only on the weekends…Poo!

So, after some debate with my Partner in everything salty and life, Erin. We looked for an alternative to the 12 hour hike/forced march to the Italian side. Erin as usual came up with the solution. There is a funky little train that passes through the mountain and takes you through to a very quaint little Ski resort called Limone Piedmonte on the Italian side.

Frankly I didnt need much persuading…none in fact. After a lovely day in Tende spent at the market, cafes and the museum we booked tickets for the train. I have to say that I’m glad we took the alternative transport option as the museum was a blast! Carvings and artefacts have been found all across this region dating back to the bronze age. That’s 5000 years ago. It’s called the Vallee des Merveilles. Cave petroglyphs, tools and bronzeware have been found creating incredible insight to one of mankind’s first civilizations.

The top of the Col de Tende is as interesting as the valleys that surround it, There’s a line of 5 forts that form an unnatural barrier in this awe inspiring landscape. Built in the late 1880s they are a stark reminder that the region has been fort over for hundreds of years. Even Napoleon passed by, on his way to subjugate the Italians.

Once the arduous train crossing was complete we journeyed on to Limone Piermont on the Italian side where we spend a afternoon talking with an author of a soon to be published book on the Via di Sale. It was such a treat to talk with Francesca Quaranta who had a real passion for the history of the route, the trails and the flora and fauna of the area. She was also pretty amazed to find two Kiwi salt farmers following it!

Erin and Francesca author of book in Via di Sale

It was all downhill now - literally. Limone is about 31km from Cuneo and the end of our quest. It’s pretty much a straight shot, so we mixed up the walking with a short train ride. This would give us a little more time on our first evening exploring Cuneo.

Cuneo is quite something. A smallish city, its said to have the most perfect piazza in all of Italy. The different architectural styles betray its 11th Century founding. You’ll find medieval streets and clock tower, baroque churches and neo classical building at each turn. When we arrived the Piazza (Galimberti) was a hosting a number of summer concerts - as eclectic as traditional chamber music through to 90’s eurotrash songsters Eiffel 65 (Blue Da Ba Dee…I call it the smurf song?).

The town dominates the confluence of two major rivers and overlooks the surrounding countryside with the majestic Cattedral di Santa Maria del Bosco e Sam Michele rising just above the city.

Cuneo is known for its food and wine. The famous Castelmgno cheese comes from here. Its usually a cow milk cheese, aged in caves. It has a streak of blue running through it and flavour develops over time from mild to spicy and piquant. Its used widely - think potato and castelmagno ravioli with butter cream sauce.

I could go on the many of the foods we tried here, arancini, ravioli, carne cruda di vitello…( chopped raw veal served with parmigiana cheese) but suffice to say it pretty much all extraordinary. We snacked on the local pissaladiere which came with salted anchovies …obviously!

The traditional farmers market, called to us like an Imam to the faithful. There we meet a few real artisans including Claudio. He has 20Ha planted in ancient grains and he sells is stone milled flour and pasta at the market. The different colour and texture of the flour was obvious but also the flavour. His pasta was a deep brown colour, nutty in flavour. He used sea salt in his pasta…what else.

The Route du Sel/Via di Sale has been an interesting journey, through history, through food traditions and mostly through the mountains. Over 6 days we barely scratched the surface. Like any camino its the people you meet, the food you eat and shared experiences that make the trip. I’m glad we made time for them.

The next stage of our journey is to head to France to meet with Salt Farmers in the South West. Arrivederci Cuneo!