Buongiorno famiglia e gli amici
Now we finish in the heart of Italian wine country, Umbria and Tuscany, plus days in Rome. Picking up our new car, now a Ford SUV, smaller and better suited to the one lane roads and tight spaces for parking, we charted our course for a town that lies on the east coast of Italy, Ravenna, south of Venice, and on the Adriatic Sea and known for its mosaics. It was a 2.5 hour drive with a short stop to visit the Basilica di San Vitale to witness the wonderful tiles. After a languid lunch in a courtyard café next to their fountain, we moved on to our destination of Orvieto, in Umbria, on the Tuscan border. The landscape changes between Ravenna and Orvieto were severe, moving from dry, barren and sandy-like soils along with industry to lush green vegetation, farmlands and rich loamy soils. Three hours later we arrived at our Orvieto villa, Monteporzano, hosted by the owner, Isabella, who regaled us with a tour of the main residence, sharing the family history, replete with pictures on the walls following the stairs to the second story of this 19th century edifice. We also met the other 9 folks we were sharing this villa with, 4 couples staying in the main house. Pam, Maggie, Stan & Julie (the singlet) were relegated to the adjacent carriage house. Our 1st night dinner had already been set up at a nearby former abbey, La Badia, which was an al fresco feast to behold, lasting 3.5 hours.
Maggie and I headed out to drive to Assisi. We veered off the path to see close-up the hill commune of Todi, in the province of Perugia, driving around this walled city, viewed the Duomo, the ingresses through the city stone walls and took pictures of the valley from this spectacular viewpoint, looking out over the Tiber River. From there, we drove the 1.5 hours to Assisi, which sat high on the hills, driving winding narrow one lane roads to get close to the top, coming across an olive tree grove with cars parked willy-nilly, so we parked likewise and walked up a few streets to the main thoroughfare through town, with shops on both sides and our first spotting of a friar who was draped in a gunny sack with a simple rope around his waist and barefoot. Others of the faithful were better attired, with robes and sandals, different orders of monk-dom. Walking uphill wandering around we came across a square, the Palazzo dei Priori, circa 1320 A.D., home to the Temple of Minerva, a Roman-columned façade squeezed in between more modern edifices, built 2000 years ago, now housing the Santa Maria sopra Minerva church, built in 1539, renovated in Baroque style in the 17th century, all this information costing us 1 Euro, sharing one ear bud each on the audio machine inside this small church.
We dined outside at Pozzo Della Mensa on a small cobblestoned street, consuming spaghetti carbonara, pecorino cheese and truffles. It was a nice segue to our imminent dinner at the villa, prepared by Ted and others, with a main course of porchetta, warmed in the kitchen fireplace, served with a caprese salad, boar meat, salami, grilled radicchios plus a variety of wines topped off with a lovely olive-based liquor (liquore di foglie di ulivi) which we had purchased from the monks in Assisi. As you may have guessed, food was a highlight for us in Europe. Surprisingly enough, we gained not a pound, due to all the constant hiking and meandering! One of the headaches in Italy was the stress of driving, be it in a downpour, or merely navigating the roundabouts (rotaries according to our Hertz Never Lost system, probably not the best name given some very bad directions). For instance, the next day we typed in Hertz and Orvieto, knowing it was located near the train station. We religiously followed her (“Nellie”, the Navigator) every clue, ending up at the very top of Orvieto, driving through crowds of people on the pedestrian streets, “you have now arrived at your destination”…no Hertz office in sight! To recover, we programmed in the train station, arriving back at the bottom and, where logic would dictate, there was the train station. And just 2 blocks away was Hertz! As long as we were there, we purchased train tickets to Rome, via a machine that would bark out, “Beware of pickpockets…” a very reassuring message. Later that afternoon the 12 of us headed out to the Decugnano dei Barbi vineyards and winery. This included a cooking class, a tour of the vineyards and the caves, as well as a dinner that we prepared through our class, with samplings of the various Barbi liquid products.
Getting to this winery was another Nellie misadventure, at one point going down a dirt road for a couple of miles before we could find a place to turn around. We found out later that the other folks’ GPS guided them similarly and we all had a good laugh. We gathered with the cook after the tour of the 3 wine caves, donning souvenir black aprons, showing the flour smudges from our kneading of the pizza and pasta doughs. We also cut up spring onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, zucchini, topping it all off making simple ‘ring’ cookies, rolling small pieces of dough into wreath-shaped affairs. Mine was way too large, so it became the joke at dessert time. I did confess to everyone that this was an example of why Maggie creates our meals and my role is to eat them. The dinner was topped off by an outrageous sunset with cloud formations and lighting reminiscent of medieval Italian paintings, all viewed through the main arced windowed door accentuating this beatific scene. Leaving around 8:30 p.m., we thanked our hostess and our wonderful cook, a lovely, motherly type, round-shouldered (from all the dough kneading I’m sure!) woman who helped the most helpless of us get through the food preparation phase.
We were fortunate enough to have one more visit to a vineyard and winery, this time of a more personal nature, with just Pam, Maggie and me. Outside of Tuscany’s town of Siena, in a commune named Quercegrossa, is Fattoria di Petroio Lenzi, owned by a high school classmate of mine, whose 30-something year old daughter started operating the business 7 years ago. Diana spent 2 hours with us, providing the history of the estate, its role in this town, with a 200 year old main stone house, and an adjacent chapel which had been the church for the whole village in days gone by. She showed us the workings of the business, 1/3 less than the output of Barbi, by design, and more folksy. Our afternoon ended with a delicious country lunch prepared by former-chef Diana! We had made this the centerpiece of the day, visiting Montepulciano, another major hill town, in late morning, climbing the Terrazza Del Palazzo Comunale, up the 2’ wide, 6” riser steps to the bell tower for a panoramic view. Late afternoon we spent in Siena, first climbing up into the Fortezza Medicea, a 16th century structure, now housing a large public oval-shaped arena for theatrical performances. Walking into Old Town from there, we ended up sitting and people watching in the Piazza del Campo, site of the annual Palio horse race, a 90 second bareback dash around the square with horses and riders representing 10 of the 17 contrades (city wards)…a very fulfilling day in all.
Our last day in Orvieto we spent checking out more sites…walking along the Via del Duomo, discovering il Mago de Oz, a cute, whimsically decorated alley with many small shops, one where Maggie purchased an array of olive wood bowls for her book club gals and a “no-double-dipping” wood spoon with a channel cut into the handle for tasting when cooking. More uniquely, we visited the Pozzo Di San Patrizio (St. Patrick’s Well), a vast cylinder over 170 feet deep and 43 feet in diameter, built in the mid-1500’s, having 2 spiral staircases (248 steps each), one for walking up, the other down, wide enough for the donkeys that carried water to the surface. Another attraction was Pozzo Della Cava, a series of caves underneath a local restaurant, discovered in the last 20 years and presenting Etruscan artifacts, e.g., pottery, burial niches. Our final meal was just the 3 of us at Le Grotte del Funaro, a candle-lit restaurant carved out of the natural karst formations, dining on suckling pig and pasta, a perfect end to our stay in this hill town and surrounding environs!
After taking the train from Orvieto to the Rome Termini station, we were on our own for our final 3 days. We cabbed it to our hotel in the Quartiere Solario, arriving about 3 p.m., quickly setting up shop as we had tickets for a 5 p.m. entrance to the Villa Borghese, as we were walking there. The 90 minute audio tour included an amazing display of paintings and marbled sculptures, depicting aspects of both mythology and religion, trumping (sorry for using this word) everything we had seen to date! One of our favorites was the Ratto di Proserpina. Afterwards, we wandered, doing what we do best, ‘rome-ing’ around and discovering things not on the beaten path. One such entity was the Quartiere Coppede’, a complex of mixed architecture fantasy with an arch supporting a chandelier-like hanging . This happened to be next door to Mercato in Cortile Coppede’ which was fortunately (for the pocketbook) closing down for the night. We proceeded onward, got lost, then found, discovering gated communities with great architecture, lit up and on display.
The pocketbook was brought out the next day as we returned to the Mercato and all its cashmere products, making a good deal sweater purchase after all! Most of the consumers here were locals, pouring and pawing over the goods in this open air setting with 40+ stalls. Continuing our wandering with a goal of walking the Spanish Steps, we 'romed' down side streets in that general direction, coming across a 60 year old Moto Guzzi on display, the motorcycle of choice for our neighbor Kevin, sending him photos for his archives. On this digressive stroll, we found random sculptures and paintings almost anywhere, as well as small fountains, off the beaten path, a sign of this culture’s love of art and ornate architecture. Turning one corner, we came across a 3 story abandoned church with flora sprouting from various crevices, something that would be torn down in our city, being replaced by a massive condominium. The highlight of this 1st of 2 full days was at Piazza Navona, with artists displaying their wares in the large oval square, musicians playing guitars, accordions, and the piece-de-resistance, a clown, donned with a black top hat, grey baggy pants hanging on large suspenders, surrounded by a huge crowd, blowing up balloons, twisting them into simulated motorcycle handlebars, using his kazoo to emulate engine revving sounds, grabbing a female onlooker and ‘driving’ her away.
The most ominous structure for us in Rome was the Santa Maria Ad Martyres (Pantheon), with its huge marbled pillars in front, swallowing up the throng of tourists. Inside we witnessed the ‘ginormity’ of it all, the aperture of the dome opening, the girth of the 2 entrance doors (20’ tall, 15” thick). Returning to the Palm Gallery Hotel, after many miles of walking, we climbed our 2 steps from the bedroom to our small private terrace, ate chocolate and cooled off in the night breeze, under the stars, resting up for our final day for the ‘Caesar Shuffle’ (Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Hill, namesake of our home address).
Our last day in Europe found us walking toward the Policlinico underground M station, coming across a violinist on Nomentana Via’s grassy median, dressed in a suit, serenading the parade of commuters in their cars. Taking the underground to the Colosseo station we embarked on our shuffle, accidentally stumbling on the Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli where Michaelangelo’s Moses presided in all its strength and solemnity! There was too much to describe here so the photos above will have to do!
After leaving we crossed the Tiber River, into the Trastavere neighborhood, a bohemian community, back across the Tiber to Campo De Fiori, where the daily market was completely torn down by this time, pigeons consuming the left-behind vegetables when they were not sitting atop the statuary. Bused it back to the Palm Gallery for our final packing. A wonderful celebration of our 40 years as Team Moffett! Thanks for sharing this with us and, until the next adventure,
Ciao, Stan & Maggie