I was asked by @the_hindu newspaper to choose a place from my travels and write on it so that readers can armchair travel to these places, in these lockdown days. So here it is. "Mountain lines - Valdagno, Italy" by Carlo Pizzati* More important than where and what you should visit is why you should visit it. Go only where you need to. Where is a place I’ve needed to go to? Occasionally, I feel I must go home, to the town where I grew up, Valdagno, about an hour’s drive North of Venice. It is five minutes from my mother’s hometown of Recoaro Terme and near my favourite mountains, the Little Dolomites. Valdagno has some of the most interesting residential architecture of the 1930s, in the Social City built by the industrial family Marzotto, and enchanting hikes in the hills that surround it. Also, quite a vibrant aperitivo life at sunset. You must try the famous biancorosso of the Carlotto distillery or its milder rosolio. Recoaro Terme is a famous thermal waters town, where even Friedrich Nietzsche went to seek inspiration. There you can hike, ski, rock-climb, trek up to 2,200 metres, cross a Tibetan bridge and discover delicious local foods like polenta with finferli mushroom or the very famous gnocchi with fioretta cheese, which you can find only there, as it is an original dish from that valley. You will see faces that look slightly Germanic, rather than your stereotypical Italian. It’s because the ancient Cimbri people, from whom I also descend, moved there from Germany centuries ago. The Cimbri (a word that comes from ‘timber’) came South to cut the woods that built the navy fleet of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, leaving traces in our DNA, language, work ethics and customs. Yes, go home, go to my home." Read: The Travel Diary of a Philosopher by Herman Keyserling A Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton *The author and journalist’s latest memoirs are Bending Over Backwards and Mappillai. His collection of short stories will be published later this year. #valdagno #recoaro #recoaroterme #carlottoliquori #piccoledolomiti #cimbri #cimbria #piccoledolomitisport #marzotto #bendingoverbackwards #mappillaithebook (at Saadiyat Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_CF5tPpCLS/?igshid=18e0h52y59t75