ANOTHER EXCELLENT ADVENTURE - IL BACCO FELICE

The only remaining Bill and Suzy adventure that I haven’t yet written about is our lunch at IL BACCO FELICE. Located in FOLIGNO, not far from Assisi and Bevagna, this tiny restaurant is well known and it’s fame well-deserved. Owner/chef Salvatore Denaro is Sicilian by birth, passionate about food and a charming if eccentric host.

Bill and Suzy had a copy of a LONELY PLANET guidebook, which listed IL BACCO FELICE as one of the top five restaurants in Tuscany and Umbria. (This sort of surprised me since I thought the Lonely Planet books were aimed at the backpacker/hostel group and featured budget suggestions!) The restaurant had first been mentioned in a 2003 issue of "Town and Country" magazine, which I was pretty sure I still had at home. (I did.)

After driving through the historic center of Foligno searching for a parking spot, we eventually parked in a large lot and walked the short distance to the restaurant, located on via Garibaldi, #73. As is so often the case, the exterior of the building gave no clue as to what we might find inside. What we walked into looked like a bar, every nook and cranny filled with something, photos of Salvatore on every wall, and the odd spaces in between were filled with messages from satisfied customers, written in a rainbow of colors. Most of the messages were enthusiastic to say the least; one said “Thank God you’re here, Salvatore!”, or something to that effect. The bar itself was covered with the morning’s produce delivery of huge fresh broccoli from Calabria as well as other garden delights.

Salvatore greeted our group of eight and led us throught the doorway, past the kitchen, through the tiny dining room and out into the entryway for the building next door. We took the stairs up to Salvatore’s apartment and entered the library, where one wall was full of books, the other full of wine. The loooong table was set of us, and we began with bruschetta, simple but always a treat, and the delicious olives that Salvatore had cured himself. He told us about the process as we ate, and even though I don’t generally like cured olives, these were fantastic!

We then feasted on the end-of-the-season tomatoes, a selection of heirloom varieties and once again Salvatore’s passion for food – growing it, cooking it, eating it, was evident. Oh, and did I mention the huge chunk of pecorino cheese that was our centerpiece? Between the bruschetta, olives, tomatoes and cheese there was more than enough to make a fantastic lunch, but of course this was just the beginning.




We walked back downstairs where our table was waiting for us, and started the ‘real’ meal, almost as if what we’d eaten upstairs didn’t matter. Another antipasto, not one but TWO pasta dishes, then roasted chicken. If there was more I can’t remember it! Of course the wine flowed, and I’ll warn you now: don’t be surprised when (not if!) Salvatore helps himself to a glass of wine from your bottle…this is quality control to the Nth degree!!!



At the end of the meal Salvatore will tell you how much your meal costs - there were no menus, no prices, just the advice of the chef who knows what’s cooking and what’s fresh. Take his advice, don’t be upset if he sits and shares a glass of wine, or even your plate, and in the end I’m betting that you’ll be more than satisfied!










More pictures on OUR FLICKR PAGE in the folder entitled IL BACCO FELICE.

CELEBRATING AUTUMN IN SAN VENANZO

Italians don't celebrate Thanksgiving per se, but you'll find festas in every little town featuring the new olive oil, the new wine and roasted chestnuts. We had just such a festa one Saturday night this November, with music provided by hometown girl Erika Mastrini! In a small town like this, everyone is out for a night of food, fun, and of course dancing!






There are more videos on OUR YouTube PAGE.

AGRITURISMO AIOLE

We recently joined friends at their favorite place to stay in Tuscany, the AGRITURISMO AIOLE, located just outside of Montalcino, and in the gorgeous Val d'Orcia. The setting is incredible, the rooms large and comfortable, but what makes this place really special is the people!

Our friends return to AGRITURISMO AIOLE year after year, and have developed a strong friendship with the owners, Paolo and Noella and their family. Not only is this the third time our friends have traveled to Italy to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with Noella and Paolo, they've also hosted Noella and Paolo when they visited the United States. Obviously this family is special, and now we understand!

Our double room was a large corner room with great views. We had a great night's sleep in the wrought iron bed, and our own ensuite bathroom. There are six double bedrooms, some large enough to accommodate a child or two, and if you have a large group you can rent out the entire facility which will also give you your own kitchen and living/dining room!

Although our friends Paul and Mer took care of most the the cooking for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner, Noella and her sister-in-law Cecilia are excellent cooks. Noella even gives cooking lessons if you're interested! If eating out is more your idea of a great vacation, Noella's sister owns one of the best restaurants in nearby Montalcino, Il GRAPPOLO BLU.

The pictures below are postcards of the agriturismo, and in the lower right hand corner you can see the room we stayed in. You know how much we love Umbria, but honestly, Tuscany's pretty special too, and the AGRITURISMO AIOLE would be at the top of our recommended list!

SEE HOW OLIVE OIL IS MADE!

On Wednesday I posted the first video in this series, and now you'll see the rest of the process in more detail. The crushed olives are stirred then extruded onto fiber mats which are stacked one on top of the other until...




.....the stack of mats covered with olive paste is rolled over to the press




and the mats are compressed to release the oil.




AFter the wheels crush the olives and the mats are squeezed together, the oil and water are separated and the finished product is ready!

PRESSING OLIVES 2009

From our favorite frantoio just outside of Trevi. Here you can actually see every step in the process, beginning with the giant stone wheels crushing the olives. Next the olive paste is spread onto mats which are stacked up then squeezed together, forcing out the oil. A centrifuge then separates the water from the oil, it's that simple!

A NICE SOUVENIER IDEA!

Trevi calls itself "The City of Oil", as in olive oil. The city iself is surrounded on every side by thousands of olive trees, and we love the spicy oil that comes from this area.



On a recent visit to Trevi we saw this cute doorknob, complete with a tiny Italian flag. I want one of these for my front door!



You can see more pictures from our visit to Trevi on our FLICKR PAGE
in the folder entitled "Trevi For Lunch".

WE'RE PICKING OLIVES, AND LATER.....

Right now we're out picking olives with our friends, but here's a quick video of the process from our favorite little frantoio in Pigge....

LOOKING GOOD!

To be honest I think I'm a pretty good cook, with 'cook' being the operative word. I'm not a chef, have never taken any sort of cooking lessons, and learned most of what I know from my mom. Now in the age of technology I also learn from the computer and television. I can Google a recipe, or even specific ingredients to find a recipe. I can watch cooking shows on television and get new ideas, see how other people come up with new twists for old favorites. Honestly, I love to cook, but again, it's just cooking to me, and presentation has never been something I've bothered with. Yes, a beautifully presented plate certainly adds to the experience, but if the food doesn't taste good who cares how good it looks, right?

When we attended GABRIELLA'S COOKING CLASS after our morning of TRUFFLE HUNTING, I was snapping away while she was cooking. It wasn't until later when I looked at ll the photos in sequence that I saw how beautifully she had created the antipasto plate, layer upon layer.


When she began there was only one piece of bruschetta with tomatoes and a bit of lettuce on the plate. This looked quite beautiful to me, and I might have finished it off with a nice drizzle of new oil and served it proudly. But not Gabriella! She had more food to add to the plate, so she continued......



More slices of bruschetta were added, and again, I thought the plate looked beautiful - simple, inviting, pleasing to the eye and surely very pleasing to the palette as well.



But of course Garbiella still wasn't finished....she added this small polenta flan she'd baked earlier (and I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember much about it's origins, other than it involved, eggs, truffled polenta and maybe some parmesan cheese!)





And just when I thought it couldn't get any more beautifuk, she added a drizzle of honey over the polenta for the finishing touch!




What do you think..was it worth the additional work? I certainly think so! I can also tell you that it tasted as good as it looks!


The rest of the pictures from that lunch are HERE on our Flickr page.

OUR NEW OLIVE OIL CONTAINER!

Sometimes I can agonize for days, weeks, even months over a potential purchase. I've always been a cautious spender, but sometimes, especially when traveling, I've made mistakes. Sometimes I've bought things I later regretted, or realized were foolish. Other times I'd get back home and wish I'd bought a particular thing and wondered why oh why I'd hesitated!

When we first started looking at olive oil containers for our friend Damon I honestly had no wish to have one for myself. The first one we saw was waayyy too large, but later in Trevi, during the frantoi aperti celebration we saw a simple large glass bottle that would hold about 2 liters of oil. It had a spigot on the front and I thought "hmmmm, maybe I could use something like that." But the moment passed.

Later at one the the olive mills we saw a nice ceramic urn complete with iron stand and a small pitcher on a matching place to catch any drips. I took a picture of it for Damon and sent it to him. I liked this urn better than the first, not only because it was a little smaller, but also because the design was a little simpler. I'm not one for fussy designs, so this simple white urn with olives seemed perfect.

One of the reasons we'd dismissed the idea of buying even the smaller olive oil dispensers was because we didn't have any place to keep it. Yes, we have loads of counter space, but because of it's design, anything with a spigot would have to sit at the edge of the counter so you could easily fill a container for the table. Yes, I know, you could push it to the back of the counter, but I just don't believe in tempting fate with all the back and forth movement....sooner or later something bad was bound to happen!

And then one day as I walked into the pantry I realized that we might be able to sit the container on top of the wine rack. It's still easily accessible but has little chance of getting bumped. Although it wouldn't be in the main part of the kitchen, it would still be very much on display, especially when I'm cooking, so I'd get to enjoy looking at it as well as using it.

I found out the olive mill had simply had this piece on display for the maker, SPIGARELLI. Their website was in both Italian and English, so I wrote to them asking for information about ordering the set. I received a reply from their American distributor, ABBIAMO TUTTO. I exchanged several emails with the president of the company, Donna Marie Territo, who was very helpful. We put our Canadian friends in touch with her since this is the best way for them to order the container, but for us in Umbria, we could just go right to the source!

Because the small pitcher was cracked, I wondered if the GAUDENZI
frantoio might sell me just the urn and the stand. The problem with buying the urn directly from SPIGARELLI was that we'd have to have the stand made separately. Lo and behold, yes! Gaudenzi would sell us the complete set, cracked pitcher and all, for the same price as the urn alone. Sold!

And so the other day when we revisited Trevi and Pigge with our Canadian friends we bought the olive oil container and brought it home! I'm still a little scared to wash it, and think I might put it in the bathtub where I can use the handheld sprayer to rinse it thoroughly. I had hoped to be able to salvage the pitcher but it has a hairline crack down the side. Maybe I'll just buy a plain white pitcher, but for now I don't have the room for the pitcher and plate underneath the spigot anyway, so I'll worry about that later.

And here it is......what do you think??? I'm so glad we bought it, and I'm sure this is one purchase I'll never regret!

LINENS FROM UMBRIA

When I wrote about our lunch in Montefalco, I mentioned PARDI LINENS. They’re based in Montefalco and according to their website are “the only weaving mill in Umbria.” I was confused by this since I knew our friend Giacomo had taken tourists to a mill in Perugia. And then my friend Mary, who’s lived near Montefalco for over 40 years wrote THIS POST (Be sure to click on the link to see the beautiful photos!) about BROZZETTI LINENS. Hmmmm.....

Well, I knew Mary would be able to answer my questions, so I asked her, “What’s the difference between Pardi and Brozzetti?”, and this was her answer:

“There really is NO comparison: Brozzetti is a 100% by hand production with no computer or electric intervention. The technique, the threads, the generation to generation passed on skills and dedication, the exclusive all by hand procedure makes for UNIQUE, one of a kind, exquisite textiles of the highest possible quality. The difference is clear when you have a Pardi in one hand and a Brozzetti in another and compare using all five senses.”

So there you have it, and for those of you visiting Umbria, you can tour the BROZZETTI facility in Perugia…..think what a great souvenir or gift a tablecloth or runner would be! Additionally they don’t weigh much and there’s no breakage to worry about! For those of you who stay at Mary’s beautiful country inn, GENIUS LOCI, located just outside Bevagna, she has a selection of the Brozetti linens available for purchase there, just in case you run out of time!

CITERNA

Before our day of truffle hunting we visited the charming walled city of Citerna, located on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. It was beautiful when we first arrived but the cloulds rolled in and the rain soon came pouring down. A return visit is definitely in our future, not only to explore the town, but also to take in the gorgeous views.







I'd also like to explore nearby Monterchi....

FUN AT LA FATTORIA DEL GELSO - LUNCH IN MONTEFALCO

During our day of wine tasting with friends Bill and Suzy we stopped for lunch in Montefalco, the epicenter of all things SAGRANTINO. As we pulled into Montefalco, a charming medieval walled city, we could see that the weekly market was just ending. We walked past a porchetta truck, and for me, a porchetta sandwich would have been more than fine for lunch...but of course Bill and Suzy had made other arrangements.

We made our way up the hill into Montefalco, passing the beautiful PARDI LINENS along the way.

Montefalco also has a store selling objects made from olive wood....salad bowls and serving pieices, decorative accessories, even jewlery, and I love every one of them! I recommend both of these as options to everyone who's visiting Italy and looking for a unique souvenier. Both the linens and the olive wood are uniquely Umbrian, weigh very little, and are unbreakable...what a winning combination! Click HERE to see some photos of olive wood I took on a previous visit to Montefalco.

Once we were up in the main square of Montefalco we crossed to the tiny little enoteca/restaurant L'ALCHIMISTA. Because we'd hadn't been able to coordinate schedules with the TABARRINI winery, we would enjoy their wines with our lunch - really a much better way to taste any wine in my opinion.

Bill and Suzy selected our menu, meaning that we didn't have to grapple with that tough decision. Antipasti was simple - bruschetta with various toppings, followed by several pasta dishes, and I have to pat myself on the back here. One of the pasta dishes, made with regular and spinach taglietelle also had pigeon, which is something I've never eaten before. It's fairly common here in Umbria, so I gave it a taste, and honestly, if you had asked me what was in it, I would never have guessed pigeon - and yes, it was delicious!

As you might imagine, the wine flowed, the food kept coming and the conversation was interesting. We all agreed that the TABARRINI wine was delicious. Had we been at the winery I'm certain we would have come away loaded down with cases of wine...maybe next time!

After lunch we visited the Paolo Bea winery where our outgoing host showed us through his work-in-progress, a brand new cantina for making his wine. Although still very much a construction site, we did learn about the passion each winemaker brings to his craft, and the very specific ideas each one has about what makes the perfect wine.

Our tasting at Paolo Bea came with plenty of food, which was a nice touch. Everything was made by mama, and the chicken liver pate was fabulous...and I'm not even a big fan of chicken liver pate! If we had it to do over, I'd recommend that the Paolo Bea winery would have been better in the morning when we weren't all quite so full. Everyone else in our group seemed to somehow manage to eat one more meal, taste one more wine, so maybe I'm just not the trooper I thought I was! All in all, our day in and around Montefalco was one to be remembered. We never did make it to the ANTONELLI winery, but there's always next time!

A TRUFFLE BY ANY OTHER NAME

One of the most interesting things we did when we stayed at Bill and Suzy's villa a few weeks ago was hunt for truffles - called tartufi here in Italy. Click on the link to read about truffles, but basically they're fungi. Unlike mushrooms, truffles grow underground, on the roots of trees, so they're not easy to find.

Because of their sensitive noses (and their love of truffles) pigs were originally used to find truffles, but the problem was keeping the pigs from eating them! Now dogs are used, so we met up with our truffle dog, Asha and her owner one morning in this private, fenced and locked area loaded (theoretically) with truffles.

The dry weather this fall has greatly reduced the mushrooms and truffles in our area, but luckily Asha was able to sniff out ten or so truffles to impress us. The truffles we found, the black ones, are called summer truffles and aren't nearly as expensive as the white truffles...."the precious ones" as our guide Claudia called them.

After the hunt we headed to TARTUFI BIANCONI, a truffle shop/distributor located just outside of Citta di Castello. Gariella and her husband Saverio process and package both types of truffles in more ways than I ever dreamed possible...truffle polenta, truffle mashed potatoes, jarred truffles, frozen truffles, truffle oil....and more. Saverio loves everything truffle so he also has a small truffle museum inside his house.

If you're interested hunting for truffles, or if you'd just prefer to let someone else do the hunting so you can buy some of these yummy delicacies for yourself, check out TARTUFI BIANCONI for yourself!

VIRTUAL FRIENDS BECOME REAL!

One of the nicest, and most fun things we do here in Italy is meet with people we've come to 'know' through the internet. Sometimes these are people we've chatted with for months, even years, on various message boards. Quite a few people have contacted us after reading our blog, or after reading about our house for sale. Sometimes we've been able to help someone who wants to move it Italy, or sometimes we just represent the dream of living in Italy. Whatever the case, we always share a love for Italy and 9 times out of ten the people we've met for pizza or a glass of wine while they're here in Italy have truly become friends.

One such 'virtual' friend was Kathy McCabe who publishes the wonderfully informative and entertaining DREAM OF ITALY magazine, available by mail or online. I don't even remember how we first came in contact, but Kathy was so enthusiastic about our house for sale and generously wrote a special post on her BLOG just about our house! (you can read that post HERE.)

When we spent time with our friends Bill and Suzy at their villa, La Fattoria del Gelso, not far from Assisi (and available for rent!), they had a special surprise in store for us: Kathy would be there too!

Kathy, along with her mom Kathleen, had begun her visit to Italy in Turin for the annual SlowFood celebration, then had traveled to Umbria for more good food and wine. Kathy knows Bill and Suzy because they're all in the Washington DC area. I'm sure Bill and Suzy's Italian import store, Bella Italia helps Kathy feel as if she's back in Italy.

Kathy and her mom Kathleen were loads of fun. Kathleen's nickname changed daily depending on the food we were eating....she loved it all and changed from the cookie monster to the truffle monster to the pizza monster!

Kathy also documented her trip on her BLOG, and I'm sure there will be more articles to come in DREAM OF ITALY during the next few months. Not only we did we have a great time at La Fattoria del Gelso, we also got to spend time...real time...with people we considered friends but had never met in person. Once again the internet has made such a dramatic change in our lives! We could never had made the move to Italy without the internet and the advice and support of so many online friends, and now that we're here the internet keeps expanding our circle of friends. It's hard for me to remember the time when I couldn't see any reason why we needed a computer!

(The photo of Kathy and her mom Kathleen was taken by Bill Menard and is used with permission. Thanks Bill!)

FRANTOI APERTI 2008

Last Sunday was the frantoi aperti, the day when many olive mills invite the public to sample the new oil with bruschetta and other goodies. We started off in Trevi where the piazza was filled with vendors of oil, cheese, fruit, vegetables and other food things to eat. I took the opportunity to buy more celery, and the man told me to use the inner, white stalks of celery as an antipato with the new oil and a little salt. As usual, the simplest things are the most delicious!






As we tasted one of the oils in the piazza a woman walked up and I realized I knew her, or at least knew who she was. I couldn't remember her name, but I asked her "Are you from Philly, and do you have a restaurant in Foligno?" When she answered "Yes", I introduced myself and told her that I read her personal BLOG as well as the one she writes for her restaurant in FOLIGNO. The restaurant is called BASILIKO, and I'm hoping to check it out soon.

I also have Jennifer marked as a contact on my FLICKR PAGE. Whenever one of my contacts posts new pictures the thumbnails are posted on my Flickr homepage. Imagine my surprise I saw Halloween pictures of Salvatore, the chef who's restaurant we'd visited the night before! (Salvatore's restaurant is also in Foligno, and believe me when I say that experience will take a post all it's own!)
Jennifer told me she used to work for Salvatore, so the world just gets smaller and smaller!

At one of the frantoi, GAUDENZI, we found this ceramic olive oil container, complete with matching saucer and pitcher for catching all the spills. I'm still considering going back to buy this, but I have to figure out where I could put it. It's so beautiful it needs to be on display, but it also needs to be in a place where it won't be bumped. What do you think....should I buy it? The complete set is €120....quite a splurge for me, but I just keep thinking about it......

We ended up driving to three frantoi rather than waiting for the bus, and in addition to new oil we also bought some of the olive liqueur that Wendy and Art like so much. Loaded with fresh veggies, some cheese, new oil and some spirits we headed home via the scenic route, enjoying the beautiful fall day.

AND THAT'S NO BOLOGNA!

If you're a foodie, the Emilia-Romagna area of Italy is mecca. From this area come such foods as Paremsan cheese, Parma ham, balsamic vinegar and mortadella, just to name a few. For those of you who don't know, mortadella is how we spell bologna here in Italy. Well, maybe that's not quite fair; mortadella is what the perfect bologna should taste like. Italians like to slice it paper thin and fold it over itself for the perfect pannini. Recently the IperCoop near us had this Guinness record holder on display. Next time you visit Italy be sure to try mortadella - you'll be spelling bologna m-o-r-t-a-d-e-l-l-a too!

FUN AT LA FATTORIA DEL GELSO

Wow! We've spent several days with our friends Bill and Suzy, at their villa, La Fattoria del Gelso. The villa is just outside of Cannara, surrounded by farmland and views of Assisi...not too shabby! Over the next few weeks I hope to share most, if not all, of our amazing experiences...we tasted wine....and more wine, and olive oil and went truffle hunting and ate some amazing food.

I'll start this series with a story about something funny that happened as we were leaving the villa this morning. Bill and Suzy had gotten up early to take another guest to the train station in Foligno. The train left the station around 7:15, so we expected them to be back before eight o'clock....but eight o'clock came, then 8:15, then 8:30, and still no Bill and Suzy. We all just assumed that they'd gone straight to Wendy's office for a series of meetings she'd scheduled for them, but we were disappointed that we wouldn't be able to say goodbye.

Bill and Suzy had suggested that we just hang around the villa and wait until the meetings were over, but this being Italy, there was really no guarantee when the meetings might be over. We weren't sure if the technician was going to come this afternoon to service the caldaio, so we knew we'd have to leave sometime in the morning. Just as we were hemming and hawing about whether or not we should go, who should walk in the door but - Bill and Suzy! Needless to say we were all a bit surprised, and when they told us where they'd been (and why), we all practically fell on the floor laughing.

The train from Foligno to Rome had been running late, and when it did finally arrive Bill helped Dick onto the train, carrying one of his suitcases until they found his reserved seat. Bill had checked the train schedule and knew that the stop in Foligno was scheduled for three minutes. What he didn't know was that apparently in an effort to make up for lost time the train wouldn't wait the full three minutes. Just as Bill was putting Dick's suitcase in the overbid bin, he noticed the train was moving!! I'm not sure if he even got to wave arrividerci to Suzy, but he was headed to Rome with Dick!

Luckily the next stop was Spoleto, not too far away, but unfortunately he just missed the train that was pulling out of the station headed back to Foligno. Amazingly there was another train due in about 30 minutes, so he knew he wouldn't have long to wait. Since both Bill and Suzy had their cell phones with them, they'd been in contact and no one was in a panic. Of course they did have to call and cancel that first appointment with Wendy! And since Bill had the only key to the rental car, Suzy just waited at the station until Bill returned a little over an hour later. What a way to start the day!

For us, it was just further proof that when you're with Bill and Suzy you just never know what's going to happen, but you can be sure that in the end everyone will be laughing and having a great time! I can't wait to write about Bill and Suzy, about the villa itself, and about all the amazing things we did!

FUN WITH BILL AND SUZY - WINE TASTING AT COLSANTO

Although it was a hazy, cloudy day, the vineyards at COLSANTO still looked beautiful



After a tour of the winery and the huge casks where the wine is stored



We sampled some of the wines in this beautiful new facility



After all this exhausting work we then drove to Montefalco for a wonderful lunch at L'ALCHIMISTA, where we drank wines from the TABARRINI winery, another winner in the area! Is it any wonder we love Umbria?

ITALIAN CEMETERIES

Although I'm familiar with mausoleums, when you say the word "cemetery" to me, I think of large expanses of open land dotted with a variety of headstones. The headstones range from the simplest of bronze plaques and white crosses to elaborate monuments that make the cemetary seem like a sculpture garden. Although I am NOT a cemetery person, when I have visited them in the states I've found them to be peaceful quiet places, perfect for a walk or drive even if you're not visiting a gravesite.

I know there are American-style cemeteries in Italy where soldiers from WWll are buried, but these are the exception rather than the rule. Here in Umbria we see small cemeteries everywhere...small walled areas, usually surrounded by cypress trees. The caskets are interred into family mausoleums that look like little churches.....





Inside are family pictures, fresh flowers and religious objects......



If the family hasn't built their own mausoleum they're interred in a large wall...



and I'd dare to say that 99% of the sites have pictures and fresh flowers.....



I recognized many family names while visiting the San Venanzo cemetery. Not surprisingly I also found it to be a very peaceful place....



As always, more photos on OUR FLICKR PAGE in the folder named "An Italian Cemetery".

Sagrantino grapes_7155

Sagrantino grapes_7155, originally uploaded by artnbarb.

Beautiful now, delicious later!

Sagrantino grapes_7154

Sagrantino grapes_7154, originally uploaded by artnbarb.

Gorgeous Sagrantino grapes! I just love that 'frosted' look!

CHOCOLATE IN PERUGIA - GO NOW!

Just a reminder....EUROCHOCOLATE starts today in Perugia! The weekends are always crowded, so if you can, visit during the week. If you're only here this weekend or next and love chocolate, then be brave and go anyway! The festival runs through next sunday, October 26th.

COWS HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY!

The Chianina breed of cattle, which originated in the central part of Italy, is thought to be the oldest breed still in existence. The other day we ran into...not literally, mind you...this herd of cattle moving from one location to another. Here in Umbria we're used to tractors or other farm machinery on the roads, but we usually don't see livestock.



Along the way the cows munched on the few remaining blackberries they found and on the olive trees loaded with fruit! Have you ever tasted an olive right off the tree? If you haven't, just trust me and DON'T! Obviously these cows don't have the same taste buds as humans! The cows moved slowly but surely down the road, giving us plenty of time to admire them.


Here's a short video from our YouTube PAGE and more photos on OUR FLICKR PAGE.

ANTINORI ON "60 MINUTES"

Did you see this piece on "60 Minutes"? Although Umbria is mentioned at the beginning, most of the emphasis seems to be on the Tuscan locations....not a surprise! If you plan to spend some time in Umbria and would like to sample some of thw wine, a drive along the STRADA del SAGRANTINO, can be a wonderful way to pass the time! The views are stunning and each winery along the way will tempt you with more than one delicious wine!

In case you missed it, here's the clip from "60 Minutes"...



Watch CBS Videos Online

A DAY IN DERUTA

Friends of friends would like to buy a ceramic container for olive oil, complete with spigot so it can sit on their kitchen counter. (Oh, to have that much available counter space!) Since our friend Nedra had never been to Deruta and really wanted to see it, and their famous ceramics, we combined the two ventures. Not only did we find this beautiful urn for oil, Nedra found a gift for a friend and a beautiful bowl for herself. I managed to find a few gifts too, so it was a very successful day.




More pictures from Deruta are on our FLICKR PAGE

MOTORCYCLE SUNDAY

Because we live in a hilltown. on a winding, curvy road that goes up and over Monte Peglia, we often hear motorcycles, expecially on the weekends. This past Sunday a local ride was organized, starting and finishing in San Venanzo, and promising 90 kilmeters of scenic roads along the way. There was a stop scheduled for breakfast, then a grand lunch once everyone was back in San Venanzo. Here are a few pics I snapped at the beginning of the ride, and 2 videos of the departure.