Culinary Guide Paolo -

My name is Paolo Ferrero.
I was born in Torino --the latest winter Olympics seat in 2006-- 43 years ago.
In Torino, I attended the Lycée and the Faculty of Laws.
When I was 16, I went with a friend of mine to the legendary Enoteca Pinchiorris in Florence during a trip with our school. Our bill was thereabout 800€ at the current rate. We were two teen-agers but since then have become maniacs about food & wine! We needed a cab to reach the other companions at Orsammichele historic site, having enjoyed two beautiful bottles of wine: a local white and a sangiovese from Umbria. I travelled a lot during my twenties, discovering different cultures and always appreciating the local food: Senegal, Mexico, India, and the Philippines above all.

I ran a restaurant in Italy, in my Piemonte, close to Asti, the Monferrato wine district's capital. The 'Canestrello d'Oro' was ranked among the 1000 top restaurants in Italy. After a very hard but very proud job, we were mentioned by several guides, such as 'Espresso,' 'Luigi Veronelli,' 'Paolo Massobrio,' and 'Accademia Italiana della Cucina.' When I closed in 2004, because of family concerns, I worked in another restaurant in Asti. At the same year's end, I decide to change my business. Thanks to Ed Mc Gaugh's suggestion (the 'Swiss chef' for e-Gullet viewers), in 2006 I started the Buongustotours Project, a unique kind of enterprise concentrating on small groups of tourists, usually a couple, passionate about food & wine and willing to discover a different but very interesting corner of our beloved Italy: the Piemonte.

I'm a 'gastronomic guide' who custom designs, with his clients, their itinerary through wineries, restaurants, farms, and natural or artistic beauties. We encounter real local people willing to meet visitors from abroad and share experiences and different points of view about our different civilisations. The result has been surprisingly positive, especially for the nice and interesting people I've met. Consider that the true 'highlight' of the Tours is the farewell dinner at my home, where we cook together, cheering our glasses to a new, unexpected friendship! Also 'Slow Food Magazine' mentioned my tours in June 2008 and they are also reviewed on Slowtravel site.
From this project, that let me tour 15 groups last year, was born my second business: writing cookbooks. Together with two friends --Mrs. Toni Hilton and Mr. Leonardo Tessiore -- we released a bilingual cookbook entitled 'Monferrato mio!' , focused on traditional cookery of our land, the Monferrato which includes more than 50 recipes translated in English with a final glossary that tries to explain the basics of Piemontes cuisine. This year, while waiting for the new clients, the damn Euro permitting, I'm writing a second book , dedicated to the Langhe's cookery and to the work of one of the most important authors of the last century's Italian Letters, the Alba-native Beppe Fenoglio. I'm trying to create a serious parallel between the 'savour' of his tales and the taste of Langhe's cookery, the district where the world-wide known Barolo and Barbaresco ('The kings of wines and the Wines of the Kings...') red wines are grown. Finally, I'm planning to write a monograph about the white truffle's cuisine and its legendary hunt, made with the trained dogs.