The cellar of the Nativities - December 28th 2009 - January 31st 2010

Villa Mimma has prepared the cellar of the Nativities once more and it will be open to the public from December the 28th 2009 to January the 31st 2010 for visits, from 3pm till 6pm - appointments are advisable (tel: +39 0142 487953 or email: info@villamimma.com).

The cellar has more than 20 nativities, set-up by Andrea Gandini, with statues of different origins!

This year new idea is the nativity set in the old wine-press (see it in the picture while in preparation!).

Also the cellar of the nativities can be voted on http://www.sagep.it/, where it is listed together with many other nativities (presepi) of the Piedmont and Liguria regions. This is an initiative sponsored by the Council of Genoa, The Lions Club (District 108 Ia2) and SAGEP editors.

In order to vote, you need to register first though. The fields required for the registration are:
NOME (NAME)
COGNOME (SURNAME)
LOGIN (choose a login)
PASSWORD (choose a password)
SAGEP CLUB (untick if you do not wish to receive the offers from SAGEP editors).
You can leave the rest blank.

Once you have registered, click on the banner "Vota il presepe" to vote the presepe of your choice. You can vote one nativity in each category. The cellar of the nativities is listed under the traditional nativities (PRESEPI della TRADIZIONE), half way down the list, shown as Presepe di Treville - La Cantina dei Presepi.

The first 600 voters can claim a free book (Musica & Gastronomia) on the Italian tradition of cooking and music - starting from the Romans! It is a really nice hard-back book (in Italian, I'm afraid!), which needs to be collected at SAGEP in GEnoa. If you are unable to collect your book yourself, please post the voucher to Villa Mimma (Via Roma 30, 15030 Treville (AL), Italy) and Paola will collect the book for you. Do not forget to include your name and full address so we can post it to you afterwords.

The most voted nativity will receive a medal as a recognition of its role in the Christian tradition of the Nativities. Andrea would welcome all your votes off course!

Newsletter - June 2009

Spring Events Summary

Open Air Swimming Pool - Casale Monferrato

Special Offers

News from Treville

Spring Events Summary

Spring has been a busy time as usual with many guests staying with us throughout April and May. Some have come back for the second time and have shared in family events like Alberto's 70th birthday party when Paola put together a menue for a king!

The family also saw about 25 couples coming to Villa Mimma to celebrate Claudia's 40th birthday. On Easter Monday Claudia organised a reunion of friends from school, uni, social networks and even work. People came from Switzerland, the UK, as well as from various parts of Italy, such as the Riviera, Milan, Pavia, Rome, Bologna...The day was gorgeous and everybody enjoyed the tranquillity of Villa Mimma's courtyard, the local wine and the buffet of salami, pizzas and pasta that was prepared. The children (approximately 25, aged between 2 and 12) mingled in groups, with the boys kicking the football for most of the day on the road. Even if some people knew only a few of the others, everybody joined in the chatty atmosphere and had a great time. Claudia certainly will never forget this celebration and the many wishes she recived throughout the day, including all the messages she received from those who could not be there: they will always be special.

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In May Treville took part in the Riso & Rose festivities and Villa Mimma hosted book presentations and painting exibitions. One of the events of the day saw the classic guitarrist Marco Panzarino playing with the flute of Manuela Santagata in the Romanic church of San Quirico. Marco and his wife, who is a pianist, were guests of Villa Mimma and left us this memory of their stay: "Il mio soggiorno a Villa Mimma e' stato un momento intenso di serenita' e calma, che mi ha permesso di esprimermi musicalmente in un ambiente simpatico, sereno ed artistico. (My stay at Villa Mimma was an intense moment of tranquillity and serenity that allowed me to express myself through my music in a serene, peaceful and artistic location.)"

Open Air Swimming Pool - Casale Monferrato

Often people ask if there is a pool at Villa Mimma. At the moment no, but this is a big dilemma as we often wonder whether it would be worth it having a private pool. In fact, not far away from Villa Mimma, at the edges of Casale Monferrato, there is a beautiful complex that offers an open air swimming pool with changing facilities, deck chairs, pic-nic areas. There is also a play ground with a football pitch and volleyball court, trampolines and areas shaded by two large gazebos. For the summer 2009 we have decided to offer our guests FREE ENTRY to this pool, so check it out and book soon to take advantage of this great opportunity!

Special offers

Golfers - 10% discount on the accommodation

Schools in the UK - 20% discount on the accommodation

TCI, ANBBA, Surrey Alumni - 10% discount on the accommodation

News from Treville

Congratulations to Piero Coppo who was reconfirmed major of Treville for another 5 years with 84.75% of the votes!

Summer 2009 - New deal: FREE POOL ENTRY

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FREE POOL ENTRY 4 VILLA MIMMA's GUESTS - SUMMER 2009

We spent the day in the open air pool of Casale today and it was a great family day out. We all enjoyed it, managed to swim and have fun in the water as well as relax under the trees.

• The pool is 50mx21m with a big slide. It is 1.2m deep to one side and 2m to the other. There is also a children pool with three smaller slides.
• Sun beds around the pool are free to be used as well as deck chairs scatteres all around the grass area, under the trees.
• Changing rooms with lockers are cleaned and were available for use.
• A sandy football pitch, beach volley area, basketball court, table tennis and trampolines are all available to use, with balls provided - my boys had a go at basketball, football and table tennis!. For the little ones there is also a play area with swings and various climbing frames with slides.
• There is a bar that sells food (e.g., pizzas, sandwitches, hot dogs, fruit salads, water mellons, etc.), drinks and ice-creams. We took our own pic-nic and sat under the trees, but there is the option to eat there too.

We have spoken to the owners of the pool and we have managed to sort out a deal so that we can now offer the pool entry for free to our guests. So if you are coming to Villa Mimma this summer 2009, you can be assured that we will absorb the cost of the entrance to the pool within the rent of your accommodation, for as many days as you wish to go.

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Villa Mimma helps the Cabrini Children's Society

On Sunday 31st of May 2009 the Cabrini Children's Society held a fund raising event at Worth Abbey (UK). In the wonderful landscape surrounding the church, more than 400 people gathered for a meal and entertainment aimed at celebrating the success of the past 25 years of working with children and families in need.

Villa Mimma's owners, Paola and Alberto, are very fond of the work of the Cabrini Children's Society. In fact they have been able to appreciate the Society's work personally over the past 7 years. Paola and Alberto have therefore supported the event by donating a week of free accommodation in the apartment "Le Alpi" at Villa Mimma, as the prize of an auction that was histed during the celebrations. This raised £500 for the Society and the winner of the draw is Lulu Martin-Davies, Senior Social Worker at the Pureley agency of the Cabrini Children's Society.

It has been a pleasure to be able to help fund raising for the Cabrini Children's Society and we wish Lulu and her family a wonderful stay at Villa Mimma.

Swimming pool in Casale Monferrato

Along the bank of the river Po, through Casale Monferrato, you come across a public outdoor swimming pool, called "Centro Nuoto Montecarlo".

This is a lovely area immersed in the woodlands of the park of the river Po where you can find a large swimming pool with a big slide, deck chairs all around, pic-nic areas, football and volleyball pitches, play area, trampolines, changing facilities and off course a bar.

Entry fees: €7 per adult and €5 per child for a whole day.

Opening time: 10am and closes at 7:30pm (summer season only).

New deal for Guests of Villa Mimma - Pool entry included in the accommodation price!

Riso & Rose 2009 - festival of the arts

ARTS MEET TOGETHER

Sunday 3rd May 2009

This year Treville participates to the Riso & Rose festival of the Monferrato villages with a display of different forms of art: paintings, music, literacy, ceramic.

Here is the programme:

10.00am: Official opening in the courtyard of Casa Devasini, where there will be a book market organised by Treville's Library Giuseppe Spina.

10.30am: Villa Mimma: Inauguration of the painting exibition “Colori di Maggio” (May colours) of the memmbers of the Cultural Club Piero Ravasenga of Casale. At the same time, the small church of San Giacomo will be opened to show the “Rose in Ceramica” (ceramic Roses), collection presented by the potters of the Circolo Ravasenga.

3.30pm: At Villa Mimma the Library of Treville will present some books, e.g. "La Principessa di Millefiori” (which is a children's story);"Gli uomini del piccolo fiume” (novel for young adults); "lettura animata” (animation of literature pieces); At the end of the presentation, children will be given a game produced by the Library called "Treviltour", where you can go around a path displaying some of Treville's hot-spots and road signs, which gives penalties or prizes depending on where the counter stops. The winner is whoever gets to the arrival, i.e. the Library itself!

5.30pm: Jazz Concert with Luca Calabrese Quintet (Luca Calabrese – trumpet, Giorgia Barosso – vocal, Franco Russo – keyboard, Giorgio Allara – bass, Chicco Accornero – drum) in the terrace of Casa Devasini. Aperitif offered by the Rata Birata wine-bar of Treville.

7.30pm: Sunset Concert at the Pieve Romanica of San Quirico: tangos of Astor Piazzolla, and musics of Leo Brouwer and Jachques Ibert played by the flute and guitar of Manuela Santagata – Marco Panzarino (in case of rain the concert will be held in the Council Room).

Venaria Reale and the Egyptian sunken treasures

Venaria Reale is hosting a unique exhibition of the sunken treasures of Egypt! This is a unique opportunity to view the artefacts hidden in the sea after cities of majestic splendour such as Alexandria of Egypt were submersed by the water.

Here is a link to the official website of the exhibition, which will be at Venaria until the end of May 2009.

Snow at new year!

The new year started with the snow in Treville!

Happy 2009 to all our friends and guests that have enjoyed this enchanted little corner of the World over the years.

Newsletter - December 08

Villa Mimma: overview of the year
And here we are at the end of another year, under the snow and with the fire on! Too many things to tell, but I will try to catch some of the highlights.

• Back again
  This year we had many guests who came back for the second time, some who were here only a few months before and some (Jean and Ginette) who came back all the way from Canada and enjoyed another holiday with us. This is most rewarding, especially when guests become friends, spends time in the courtyard and in the veranda! I have asked Jean and Ginette: "Why did you come back to Villa Mimma?" and this is their answer: "why did we return at Villa Mimma....we find that we are returning home in Italy. We feel part of the family. Your parents and Andrea make you very comfortable when you arrive. They always give you a warmth welcome. when we got to our house....she had bought 2 kinds of cheese....some cold meat (she remembered thatJean loved it) orange juice and some milk....its little attention like this that you appreciate. In Treville it is a small quiet village with beautiful people. It is a place that you never forget in your heart. At night sometimes your mother came and chatted with us. we were always having supper outside in the gazebo....after playing cards. we had time to relax before heading the other big cities. we also met your Dads mom. she is quite in shape for her age. We had a visit of the basement and the other part of the house....very special. We wish Villa Mimma a long lasting life and God bless you all. .. Jean and ginette "
  
  
• Children writer Anna Vivarelli presents her books.
  On the 12th of April Villa Mimma hosted a workshop organised by the village library aimed at children, where the writer Anna Vivarelli presented some of her books, interpreting her stories for an audience of little readers and their parents. The children were captivated by her fantasy tales and most of them went home with books under their arms.
  
  
• Tapestry exposition
  One of the highlights of the year was the carpetry exposition of Vera Vermeersch's work. From the 3rd to the 11th of May in the ex-church of San Giacomo in Treville, people had the opportunity to come and appreciate the beautiful rugs in wool produced by hand tufting in Vera's atelier in Belgium.
  



• Cooking with Paola
  Sharing an Italian meal with my family is always one of the hights of people's vacation, especially those who stay for a few nights. Although we cannot offer proper cooking classes or proper restaurant meals, it is always possible to prepare a meal together and to sit around the table to eat it in good company. We now have two agas, one is in my Mum's kitchen and one is in the veranda, so it will be possible to cook using a stove with wood birning fire instead of electricity or gas!If you are after a proper cuisine class, instead, we know where it is possible to arrange a cooking lesson for something between €20 and €60 per person, depending on the duration of the teaching session.
  
  
• Wifi at Villa Mimma
  Thanks to Glen hard work we now have a wifi network at Villa Mimma. It is linked to my family's private line but if you really cannot stay away from your emails and need to connect to the Internet, I am sure you can beg a password from my Dad!

Reviews are important
Reviews are proving to be vital for Villa Mimma survival! We now have quite a number especially on TripAdvisor. If you have been and want to leave your comment, even very brief, or if you want to read what people say about Villa Mimma, these are the sites to check:
Trip Advisor Website
Trip Advisor Website
Slow Travel
Italia Dream
Homelidays

I think I have summarised an exciting 2008 year for Villa Mimma. We are now looking forward to the festivities and the year to come.

From Paola, Alberto and Andrea I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009!

Claudia