As far as the ancient Romans were concerned, Piedmont was little more than a bumpy stretch on the road to the rest of their European empire. Power-hungry noble families squabbled for land in the middle ages until the aristocratic House of Savoy climbed to the top. The Savoys transformed Turin into a glamorous capital city, bringing in artists and architects whose work is still admired today. The city's Egyptian Museum houses a world-class collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.There's also the mystical Shroud of Turin, a cloth imprinted with a faint image of a crucified man, kept in Turin's cathedral. Faithful believers maintain it was used to cover the face of Christ and his image magically stuck, but historians have carbon-dated the cloth to the 13th century. Despite its unique, independent history, the region turned into a hotbed of Italian nationalism during the unification of the country in the 1800s. Piedmont's ruling Savoys became Italy's first and only royal family, and proclaimed Turin Italy's capital from 1861 to 1864. (After World War II, Italy's monarchy was abolished, and Parliament banned the Savoys from holding public office). Another leader of Italian unification was born in the Piedmont: Camillo Benso di Cavour (a popular namesake of streets and piazzas all over Italy). These days, Piedmont takes pride in its unique culture and history. There's a cultural movement to revive the Piedmontese dialect (la lenga piemontčisa, a French-tinged variation of Italian) and a push to promote Piedmont's traditional food products and wines. Although Piedmont's rich foods strongly resemble French cuisine, Piedmont shares with the rest of Italy a fundamental love of great food. "L bůn cusiné a tasta set volte," says a local proverb-"A good cook tastes everything seven times." Like the French just across the mountains, Piedmontese chefs and home cooks use much more butter than olive oil, especially in traditional regional recipes. Rich, flavorful sauces and gravies are common. The most famous of these is la bagna caoda-literally, "a hot bath"-a rich mix of olive oil, garlic, anchovies, and occasionally milk or cream, served hot. These sauces are used to flavor another regional favorite, boiled meats. I bolliti, as they're called, arrive at the table on a rolling cart, as many as 20 different cuts in total. You choose the meat and the sauce to pour over it. Stews, roasts, meat-stuffed pastas and cheese fondue add to the region's hearty cold-weather fare.

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