Italy del Giorno

After getting ourselves organized, checking nooks and crannies for items that needed to return to the States, we were ready to leave for Rome.  It seemed as though my guests had just arrived, but now it was already time to go.  August 15 is Ferragosto, Italy’s biggest summer holiday, and as I started calling neighbors for cat feeding duty, I realized that all of them would be away.  I would only be gone one night, so I left out extra food and filled Baci’s cat water fountain, also leaving food out on the terrace for Grigio and any other outdoor kitties who might stop by.   We packed the car and left around midday.  Driving into Rome is always an adventure, but it wasn’t too bad today as it was the day before the big holiday and many Romans were already away, or were still away on their August holiday.  We returned the car to the rental office in the Villa Borghese and the attendant there called a taxi to take us to the hotel.  After checking in, we began our whirlwind visit to a few ancient sites in one afternoon. 

First, we grabbed a taxi to the Catacomb of San Calisto or Callistus.  This is Rome’s oldest official cemetery of the Christian community, accidentally rediscovered in 1849.  I was happy to find that we had chosen the catacomb where St. Cecelia, patron St. of Music, was buried.  Although, not blistering, the heat was pretty intense and I was looking forward to our descent into the cool catacomb.  When our guide appeared, she was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a wool sweater tied around her waist.  Italians have a great fear of anything resembling a cool breeze, draft of any kind, or, heaven forbid, air conditioning.  As the rest of us relaxed in the cool underground air of the catacomb, our guide began wrapping a long scarf around her kneck and donned her wool cardigan, zipping it up to her neck. 

After a brief, but informative walk through a portion of this enormous catacomb, we hopped into another taxi and headed to the Basilica of San Clemente – a must see in Rome as far as I’m concerned.  We then walked to San Giovanni in Laterano, a place that has been on Renee’s must see list for several years.  This is the cathedral of Rome, where the pope sits as Bishop of Rome, and is adjacent to the Lateran Palace were the popes lived before moving to Avignon in 1309.   On our way to the Baptistry, we stopped to accomplish two important tasks:  see the Scala Santa – the stairs that Christ is said to have climbed at his trial (these can only be ascended on one’s knees and dozens of faithful pilgrims where doing so this afternoon), and visit a street vendor to purchase Italia Azzuri t-shirts with the 4 stars of the World Cup Championships.  We accomplished our list!

After freshening up at the hotel, I called Sabatini and reserved a table for us outside.   Tom, Renee and Nelson had eaten here on our recommendation several years ago and having loved it, Tom requested a bis.  We first stopped at the Hotel Minerva and enjoyed an appetizer in their roof top terrace over the Pantheon (my favorite Roman site!)  The Minerva is another old Landers Barrette haunt – they always visit the terrace bar when they are in town.  We were able to enjoy our cocktails and the fabulous view before the pianist started with the lounge “music” that Europeans tend to favor. The thing about Sabatini is that it is so famous and there are a lot of tourists eating there – Brian and I usually steer clear of places like this, but Sabatini is another animal.  Sabatini became famous in Fellini’s day as a hangout for the filmmaker and his cohorts, and the reasons why are still apparent.   First of all, you are sitting outside in Trastevere on the town square, across from one of Rome’s most beautiful 12th century mosaics on the façade of Santa Maria in Trastevere.   The lively square is full of street performers, groups of kids, families, tourists and everything else imaginable.  The waiters are generally older, surly types straight from Rome Waiter central casting.  Take his recommendations – let him bring you the plate of mixed appetizers (we had zucchini flowers, traditionally cooked with a small anchovy inside, bruschetta, prosciutto and funghi), spaghetti and clams, or whatever else he suggests.  The seafood is generally spectacular and so is the saltimbocca.  Nelson and I had the saltimbocca (terrific!) and Renee and Tom had the scampi (spectacular!).  And when the bill arrived, no tourist’s surprise – it was quite reasonable.    If you usually seek out quite corners of candlelit refinement and hushed whispers over dinner, this place is not for you, but if you can go with the spirit of the place, you’ll have a great experience!  

Whew, very tired as it’s difficult to entertain company and keep up with the business of Concierge in Umbria.  I generally spring out of bed as early as possible, which is not that early so I won’t share the time, get the café going and work on my computer for a couple of hours until we all get organized to leave the house.  I’m grooming Nelson for CIU internship, so he’s been helping me look over itineraries in the morning. He has an excellent understanding of travel planning and asks great questions.

On the agenda for today – a bit of shopping in Perugia in the morning.  We took the bus in to town as it is a very easy 10 minute ride and we wouldn’t have to worry about parking.  We were now in the midst of the post-London terrorism arrest and my sister had to rethink some of her gift ideas.  She had originally thought to bring back olive oil and wine in her handy Concierge in Umbria wine bag, but as liquids on board was no longer an option, this was no longer a viable plan.   We did some ceramic shopping on the steps as small ceramics make great gifts and are pretty easy to pack and carry back.  We then headed to the Perugina store for chocolates.  The gentleman who owns the old farm property where Brian and I live also owns a department store in Perugia and as the August sales are in full swing, we had to go in.  My sister found a great beige jacket which she tried on but initially felt was a bit small.  The saleswoman (comessa) and I agreed that for Italians, the jacket fit perfectly, but most Americans tend to wear clothing that is generously cut or just big.  I have grown very accustomed to the Italian cut and I do think it is generally much more flattering for both men and women.  Brian has a few key Italian pieces (Navy jacket, suit and tuxedo, etc.) and they are so flattering.  He receives  criticism when he wears Gap khakis around – Italians find them to be ridiculously baggy and they enjoy, and may even feel it is a responsibility to tell him so. In the end, we convinced Renée that the jacket looked great on her and she is now the owner of a very sharp Italian giacca. 

After rejoining the boys, we headed to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch.  This restaurant is part of a hotel and has lovely outdoor seating, with white jacket formal waiter service.  Rain was threatening, so we sat inside, but near a large open window.  Our absolute favorites, fried zucchini flowers, were not on the menu, but we soon recovered from our disappointment when our order started arriving – the food was superb! We then took the bus back home and got organized for a fantastic adventure to Le Marche. 

Last night at dinner, Stefano had drawn a map on a slip of paper with directions to a castle in Le Marche (The Marches in English, but again, it sounds so much better in Italian!)  He told us that it was about 45 minutes from Foligno.  We set out on this little journey, and happened to speak to Brian in Connecticut from the car.  He looked on our Italian road atlas (which I conveniently had not brought in the car with us) and informed us that it looked like a bit more than 45 minutes, but Stefano’s indications were good and with a little more info from Brian, we felt that we would definitely reach our destination.  Well, about 1 hour and 30 minutes past Foligno, I began to get a bit worried.  It was now around 6:00 and although we were enjoying the beautiful scenery of Le Marche, I became concerned that we would arrive just as the castle crew was reeling in the drawbridge.  The thing is that there were many many small, very windy roads which Tom took at a prudent speed.  We were embarrassingly passed by a Fiat Punto at one point, but we weren’t taking any chances!  Well, we had come so far, so we persevered.  Eventually, we found signs for the Rocca Varanno which was our goal. We drove through a tunnel and as we emerged I advised everyone to look straight up – not ahead, but up.  Looming above us was a craggy barren prominence topped by a castle.  We just laughed. I mean, after this kind of strange winding drive, we naively thought that the most difficult part of our journey was behind us.  We could only imagine the dread that would have sunk the spirits of marauding attackers arriving on foot and horseback in the middle ages!  Of course there was a road up – applying the designation “road” liberally here. 

We parked at the entrance to the castle at about 6:30 and Tom told us to make it snappy – we had to get off of this mountain by sundown!  No argument from us.  So we bought our tickets and then spent a fascinating hour with two truly amazing people.  Massimo and Patrizia are from this region and are passionate about the history of the region’s many castles and towers.  They have made it their life’s work to organize the funding, restoration and the upkeep of this particular tower.  Massimo has published booklets about the forts and castles of Camerino as well as the artisanal crafts of the area.  Patrizia is a weaver and embroiderer, and recreates centuries old patterns on a loom in the office/bookstore of the castle.  The couple organizes art shows, readings of poetry and literature, art classes, concerts and events in the castle ruin and endeavor to make it a vibrant part of the community.  The day we visited, there was an ongoing exhibit of needlepoint and antique embroidery, and at nightfall, there was to be a “Serata Sotto Le Stelle” or Evening Under The Stars to view constellations from the castle with the aid of telescopes.  Massimo and Patrizia tried to convince us to stay, but we were not interested in making our descent from the castle in the blackness of night!  We eventually took our leave, but not after Massimo searched all corners of the bookshop and gave us every book that he could find in English on the area, plus his own books published in Italian.  They wouldn’t let us pay for anything!  Renée and I finally pressed a donation to the castle upon them and Nelson succeeding in buying a beautiful map of the area showing the 50 towers.  

We had originally planned to spend the evening in Montefalco, but given the threatening skies hovering over that part of Umbria, we opted for one of our favorite restaurants.  It is a funny little place in Foligno, seating about 30 people tops.  The skies were a little less foreboding here, and the owner had moved all of the tables and chairs outside on to the piazza.  I had called from the car to reserve a table, and after a few minutes, we were seated.  The great thing about this place after a stressful day is that there is no menu.  You just take your seat and prosecco, wine and several courses arrive at your table over the course of 2 – 3 hours.  The jovial owner is always dressed in a bowtie, not tied traditionally but simply folded over once, making his own kind of fashion statement.  We enjoyed a mixed antipasto, followed by a local “Folignate” pasta specialty – frescarelli, which is a very small pasta almost like couscous, gnocchi with a red sauce (what is a meal without 2 pasta courses?!), then we got to the meat course – fillet of beef.  The dessert is always the same, but I’m not complaining – a perfectly baked chocolate soufflé accompanied by vanilla gelato.  We had just finished when we felt a few drops of rain and moved inside.  We had espresso, some of us had grappa, and then came the best part – paying.  Because Foligno is not a big draw for international tourism, and this is a very local venue, we pay the local price – 25 euro per person!