Hello and welcome to Food Neighbourhoods on Monocall Radio.
I'm Monica Lillis and once again we visit the places locals love for their food and drink.
Today we head to the Italian Alps and the small hamlet of Alanha Valsezia at the foot of the Monterosa mountain range.
Monocle's Lars Bavanger keeps returning there to ski, but equally tempting is the high quality regional food and wine.
Here he takes us on a tour.
On my every return to Alanha Valsesia, I feel like I've been transported back in time.
This village of around four people is still mainly made up of Valse style stone and wood houses.
Using a building technique that has survived harsh Alpine winters since the 14th century, locals have made a lot of effort to preserve as many of the original features of Alanya as possible, and it is to this day an Alpine architectonic jewel.
The food traditions here are as old as some of the houses, and the many small farms in the valley make amazing toma, a semi soft cow's milk, cheese related to the French tom, and a wide variety of salumi or cured meats and sausages.
I start my day by wandering up the Via dei Valse, the cobbled main street, past the St.
Giovanni Battista parish church from 1475 until I get to the Caischieri.
At this cafe and restaurant I can pick up the perfect espresso with a homemade pastry on the side.
They open at half past six in the morning, one and a half hours before the cable car up to the Monterosa Massive starts operating.
Conveniently enough, the Caizchieri is right next to that cable car.
And with an espresso and cornetto under my belt, I head up into the mountains above to get ready for a day's skiing in one of the most spectacular and probably least crowded areas of the Alps.
I do feel I need a bit more sustenance than coffee and a cornetto, though.
Luckily, as soon as you step out of the top gondola, you arrive in the Bar della Funiva, or the cable car bar.
You're now just below 3000 meters altitude and I would highly recommend tucking into a panini with speck cured meat and Toma cheese.
On the big wooden terrace outside, the views are breathtaking.
There's no lack of places to eat and drink on the pistes and you'll be hard pressed to try them all.