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Amelie Robertos
Villa Sentieri is our home. It sits in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains on the very south end of Palm Springs, California. The original Villa Sentieri was perched in the mountains on the edge of Santa Fe, New Mexico at almost 8,000 feet in elevation. We sold the original in 2021. The new owners decided not to keep the name of the Villa, so we were able to create a new Villa Sentieri in the Southern California desert. The name of both houses relates to the proximity of hiking trails, sentieri in Italian.
We designed and built the first Villa Sentieri from the ground up. It was designed around our lifestyle, a lifestyle that involves multi-generational living, growing much of our own food, preparing traditional foods, and spending time with family and friends. We were lucky to find a property in Palm Springs that met our needs and gave us the extra benefits of much more land for cultivation of fruits and vegetables in a climate that allows two growing cycles per year. We have ten citrus trees of different types, an apricot tree, three fig trees, a row of table grapes, and four large raised beds for vegetables and herbs.
Since Palm Springs is less than 500 feet in elevation, unlike the nearly 8,000 of the original Villa Sentieri, cooking and baking here are much more routine. Cake recipes work without adjustment for elevation and pretty much everything cooks faster.
Sentieri Hiking Trails in the Langhe
The Langhe is the sub-region within the Piemonte which contains the vineyards which produce the grapes that become Barolo and Barbaresco, as well as many other highly regarded wines. On my first trip to the Langhe region, I had the opportunity to take a guided walk through famous Barolo vineyards between La Morra and the town of Barolo. Our guides, Robert and Leslie told us there are hiking trails (sentieri) all through the Piemonte region. On our trip this year, we decided to try our luck on our own!