Day 7 - Umbria
Day 6 - Umbria
Today was a great day! We started with a trip to Perugia where both shopping and sight-seeing excelled. We lunched in a local trattoria (more pork products), then drove on to the Perugia chocolate factory, where we had a 3-hour lesson on how to make fondant-filled chocolates at the factory chocolate school. We learned the art of tempering chocolate so that it doesn't turn granular or harden inappropriately. Particularly useful knowledge for making fondues; 31 degrees C. is the critical temperature at which to work with the chocolate.
This is how the classroom looked at the start of the class. It looked somewhat different by the end. Luckily, we didn’t have to do the clean-up.
Day 5 - Umbria
Today we travelled to the village of Montefalco, where we visited the 400-year old “Scacciadiavoli” winery for a wine tasting. Scacciadiavoli means ‘chase the devil’ and that’s exactly what we did, eating and drinking at 10 o’clock in the morning as if we had never before seen wine, cheese and prosciutto.
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| Glasses ready and waiting. |
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| External view of the winery. |
This was followed by a visit to the “Frantoio Brizi” olive oil mill. This is one of the few remaining mills in Italy that stays true to the traditional cold press method of olive oil production. We toured the mill, had an olive oil tasting, and ate more bread, cheese and pork products.
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| Oil taken straight from the vat. |
Later that afternoon we headed to the woodsy lushly green hills above Norcia in the early evening truffle hunt with some prize-winning truffle-hunting dogs. Dogs are taking the place of pigs in truffle hunting since the pigs tend to want to eat what they find.
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| A man and his truffle hunter. |
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| Prize-winning truffle dogs at work. |
Day 4 - Umbria
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| Need a bit of pork anyone? |
We met with Chef Flavio and headed to the local shops in town to do some shopping. Today we made Farro (a.k.a. spelt) Salad with Prawns & Salted Ricotta Cheese, Tagliatelle with Truffles & Mushrooms, Fruit-Crusted Turkey Spiedini, and Farro & Pear Cake with Sagrantino Wine Sauce.
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Spelt salad
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After lunch, we traveled to Spoleto, another charming walled medieval town with magnificent vistas.
Day 3 - Umbria
After breakfast, we drove to the outskirts of Assisi and to the famous "Boccione" pizzeria where Chef Luigi showed us the art of pizza making and how to wield a pizza on a peel into a brick oven.
After lunch, we drove to Assisi, a medieval town still surrounded by its ancient walls, but more importantly known as the home of St. Francis. The town was noteworthy for its rose-coloured stone buildings, winding narrow streets, and gracious basilica.
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| The rosy-coloured stone of Assisi architecture. |
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| A sweets shop in Assisi. Note the nougat, marzipan and meringues. |
Day 2 - Umbria
At our first cooking class with Chef Flavio, we prepared a four-course meal for lunch. Our appetizer was a Chianina Beef & Vinaigrette Vegetable Salad. Our first course was Ricotta Ravioli with butter & sage sauce, which was followed by the main dish of Local Sausage & Romano Cheese Country Tart. Finally, for dessert, we made a molten Hot Chocolate Mini Cru.
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| Ricotta Ravioli |
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| Country Tart |
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| Molten Chocolate Cake |
This afternoon we went to Castelluccio, a town made famous by lentils! It is located high in the Apennines (at 1452 m. making it the highest settlement in these mountains) and the lentils are grown on a large plain (the Sibillini Plain) between mountains. In a year with normal (warmer) spring temperatures, the fields of lentils and poppies would be in blossom by mid-May creating a rainbow of colours covering the plain. There were two trucks in town selling lentils…not my idea of an invigorating shopping experience.
A unique and interesting sight in this town is the decades-old (salacious) graffiti that is written on the walls of many buildings. The messages are now considered to be of historic importance and the graffiti is preserved.
Be careful…the walls of this town talk.
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| A map of Italy in conifers on the side of a mountain. Commissioned by Mussolini. |
This excursion was followed by a visit to a local pig farm. The farmer, Giuseppe, is renowned for his prize-winning prosciutto. He has 300 pigs that supposedly come to him when he whistles. With the first demonstration whistle, the pigs turned and ran away from us. They finally changed their minds and made a “U” turn, coming back in time to provide some photo opportunities.
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| Prosciutto on the hoof. |
Our dinner (and many subsequent dinners) took place at the “Granaro del Monte” restaurant, Umbria’s oldest restaurant. (Having been in continuous operation since 1850, it recognized as a national historic monument). The menu (as with many subsequent menus) was based on traditional Norcian recipes, featuring lentils and innumerable variations on a pork-theme…..salami, prosciutto, sausages, porchetta, salami, prosciutto, sausages, porchetta, salami, prosciutto, sausages, porchetta,
Day 1- Umbria
We arrived in the walled town of Norcia, the home of Saint Benedict, nestled in the mountains of Umbria. Our hotel, the Palazzo Seneca, is lovely.
We walked the town which is basically several streets entering a central square. There are 15 churches in this very small town with about as many butcher shops. Many of the stores are adorned with boars’ heads since this is the land of wild boar, truffles, spelt and lentils.
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| What a boar. |
Bruschetta, if ordered in this town, is not topped with tomatoes but rather, with various cuts of pork - including just plain old pork fat. It sounds unappetizing but tastes great!
We met with our fellow travelers in the late afternoon and toasted the first day of our culinary adventure with some Prosceco, Italian sparkling wine. Our guide for the week is the famous and charming Spartaco.
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| Spartaco at work. |
FYI: The link to information about our Norcia cooking vacation can be found at http://www.culturediscovery.com/
Here's the link to the hotel website: http://www.palazzoseneca.com/IT/default.aspx
A Stopover in Rome
My sister-in-law arrived safely in Rome this morning. After a cup of tea I whisked her off for some intensive sightseeing and shopping. Actually we were quite calm and focused mainly on staying awake. We had a great pizza for lunch at a take-out pizzeria where the chef hacks off slices of pizza with a huge knife then folds them in half and places them in a piece of waxed paper to hand the pizza over to the customer. The place is called Forno Roscioli and I’d highly recommend it.
We walked through a shopping district with lots of fresh food and flowers in the square called Campo d´ Fiori, meaning field of flowers- then to the Piazza Navona, a huge and very busy square encircled by restaurants.
At 5 p.m. we started a tour of the famous ancient monuments of Rome – the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, the Pantheon and more. We saw at least 5 of the 13 obelisks located in Rome and stopped at a gelateria for some gelato, of course.
Unfortunately we finished the day with a meal that proved that not all Italians can cook.
Day 7- Sicily
Today was a low key day. It was supposed to be our pool day but the sky was grey, so we adventured down the coast for a while instead. Our meal last night was again very good. Local lemons- including the skin- are used in many dishes.They're not at all acidic. I'm taking one with me to Rome tomorrow for my sister-in-law to try.
Day 6- Sicily
This morning we drove north along the
coast and passed many seaside villages. They all look abandoned and are just slowly coming to life. I guess the 'season' doesn't start until June at which point, apparently, it's hard to find a parking spot. But right now, every town seems like a ghost town. Seems
crazy given how sunny and warm it is. My husband Bob was disappointed by the beaches, which look inviting from afar but are actually very rocky.
I am
amazed at how much I like driving a small car! It's fun and everyone zips along. I love it - though I seem like a very
conservative driver compared to most. Bob is happy because we encountered only one dead end road
today.
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| Believe or not, this was a two-way road. |
We're back at the hotel pool this afternoon, which is lovely and relaxing. I can't
believe that Bob will be leaving in one day and I'll be off to cook in Umbria.
Day 5- Taormina and Castelmola
Taormina is a popular
tourist destination ...a lovely cliff side town set between two arched
entrances. There are lots of back alleys to explore but be prepared to climb as
no two places are on the same level.
Today we drove to Castelmola, a small town situated on the mountain overlooking Taormina. The drive was wild! 'Off the beaten track' is an understatement. We got stuck a few times and ended up at a dead end - which was hugely disappointing as I was sure we could get to the other side of the mountain. We met some sheep and spied a fox, but there was no human traffic for about 90 minutes.
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| One of our only friends on today's adventure. |
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| Not sure if you can see the road we traveled in this photo. It was almost invisible to us as well. |
Luckily, we made it back to civilization to relax by the hot tub where the mountain air is cool.
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| Our hot tub |
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| The view from our room |
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| A man and his mountain |
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| My husband Bob versus Mt. Etna |
We had a fantastic dinner at the Michelin starred restaurant in our hotel last night. They had a great idea for serving bread....basically we were given a trolley full of delicious artisanal breads to choose from before the server carved it for us. I'm going to try this at home.
Day 4- Mount Etna
We left Ortigia after breakfasting with a couple from Washington who had spent the last week in Taormina, which is where we
were headed. We got some good dining and travel tips. As we left Ortigia the
sky was full of kites that sent us on our way in a great mood.
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| Kites in the air as we leave Ortigia |
As we drove the skies were perfect and Etna was clearly visible in the distance. We arrived after lots of turns and crazy traffic to meet the aerial gondola
which took us one level up the mountain. The next level was reached by bus. From there we walked, or at least one of us did. Lava dust definitely filled the air but nothing was red, hot, and flowing.
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| Snapdragons galore on the way to Mt. Etna |
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| Getting to the top of Mount Etna |
We reached our lovely hotel by early evening. The San Domenico Palace in Taormina is located on a very high cliff by the sea and has magnificent vistas.
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| The doorway to our room is at the end of this hallway. |
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| The view from our room |
Day 3, Sicily
We had a low key day in Siracusa and
Ortigia today. First we toured Roman ruins, then walked
the island. It's a much larger island than we thought, with lots of narrow streets, heading off in all directions.
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| The amphitheater. |
We spent the evening at the amphitheater where we watched Oedipus Rex. The fact that it was the show's opening night, coupled with our inability to speak Italian, meant that our greatest excitement came from viewing the dresses of the female patrons. Some famous political types
and actors arrived. The theater seats were as uncomfortable as expected but the show was very dramatic. As usual it took everyone a LONG time to die.
Day 2- Noto, Sicily
Today we visited Noto, a small and beautiful town with Romanesque style buildings. It took us a while to find
the lower town where the "old city" is. We started with a visit to the upper town, the countryside, and a few hostile dogs before arriving at the 'right' place, and a perfect
parking spot! We found the nicest view from the top of an old nunnery.
After discovering a great nature reserve called Vendrica, we traveled miles along the coast visiting small villages,
beaches and an incredible agricultural centre. The large
fishing port of Rada di Portoplato was amazing, as was the town of
Marzamemi and its fabulous restaurant Cortile Arabo. Here's the link: http://cortilearabo.it/
We didn't arrive back at our hotel until 8 pm, but fortunately Italians are late diners so we didn't miss having another wonderful meal in Siricusa at Le Vin de L'assassin Bistrot, where we enjoyed some of the murderer's wine.
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| The majestic Noto Cathedral |
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| Looks like the end of the road.....STOP! |
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| Fresh artichokes anyone? |
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| Greenhouse tomatoes |
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| For sale. Sure would be nice to have a room with a view. |
Day 1- Ortigia, Sicily
Our first stop in Italy is a small
island called Ortigia, located across from the town of Siracusa on the
south east corner of Sicily. The entire east coast of Sicily was destroyed by a
massive earthquake in 1693 so the buildings that were rebuilt were done in the baroque style.
Our hotel is the Algila. Great food. Cute small rooms. Here's the link to the hotel website: http://www.algila.it/en/index_eng.html.
The streets of the town are windy
and small....but the yachts in the harbour are big.
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| Soccer aficionados |
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| Touring the island. |
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| Limestone Cliffs |
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