Another short trip report. Birthday celebrations.
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A three night road trip down the Adriatic coast and then across the Gran Sasso d’Italia mountains of Abruzzo. Abruzzo is one of those provinces that doesn’t get enough good press. But it is increasingly on the radar for tourists and for people looking to move to Italy. Abruzzo is known as “the greenest region in Europe” as almost half of its territory, the largest in Europe, is set aside as national parks and protected nature reserves: there are three national parks, one regional park, and 38 protected nature reserves. And it has a coastal area to the east with beaches on the Adriatic sea. When one travels the coast one will notice the lack of very old buildings. WWII took a heavy toll with many cities along the coast reduced to rubble. Towns were rebuilt in haste and thus have less appeal than, say, the towns on the west coast.
Anyway, our trip was more culinary than anything else…which I’m sure is no surprise to any of my blog readers. Our first stop was in a town called Guardiagrele. To a restaurant called Villa Maiella, named after the large mountain behind the town. We had reserved for lunch but need not have as we were the only people there. We opted for the Menu of the Abbruzzo territory. It was very, very good.
A benvenuto from the chef.
Medley of pork from the famous black pigs of Abruzzo.
Soup. Farro with truffles.
Pallotta cac’e ove. Has cheese and eggs inside. Wonderful rich tomato reduction.
Chittara, a type of pasta that means guitar with ragu.
Main course of pork. Very tender.
First dessert. Peach ice cream with chocolate morsels.
Dessert. Semifreddo.
After that wonderful lunch we waddled to our hotel which was not far away. It was Castello di Semivicoli in Casacanditella. Beautiful old palace. Rooms all different. Ours was enormous. They have no restaurant but we were not hungry anyway and had some wine from their vineyard before turning in.
The next morning we headed to the coast, about 45 minutes away to visit Ortona. A medium sized city which was on a bluff above the ocean. We visited the fortress and walked it’s streets.
The Canadians fought in Ortona in WWII finally seizing the city in December 1943. There is a Canadian war cemetery there. This statue of a solder with his fallen comrade was poignant.
Next we drove down the coast. Just south of Ortona begins what is called the Costa Dei Trabocchi. A trabocco is a massive construction built from wood, which consists of a platform anchored to the rock by large logs of pine, jutting out into the sea, from where two (or more) long arms called antennae stretch out suspended some feet above the water and supporting a huge, narrow-meshed, net (called trabocchetto). Eventually their usefulness waned as more modern methods were adopted. These platforms were all but abandoned until the Slow Food movement encouraged owners to transform them into restaurants.
We chose Pesce Palombo as our Trabocco for lunch. It was an experience. First big issue was finding the place. Nearly impossible. But we did and walked across the narrow bridge to the platform. We were fed til we popped. Of course it was all seafood and super fresh. We saw fishermen traversing the bridge with buckets. I am guessing they bring their catch for the Trabocco owners to buy. The below are just a couple of pictures of the place, menu and food.
The next morning we rose and got on the road to our next destination. Reale and Casadonna in a town called Castel di Sangro. One of nine Michelin 3 star restaurants in Italy. It is very remote but beautiful. Decorated in wood, steel and cement. Austere. White. And the dinner was…how to describe it? The dishes are simple but at the same time they are celebrations of taste. The dishes often were multiple dishes of food or multiple foods on one plate and you are instructed on what order to eat them or whether they should be eaten together. Obviously the chef spends much time experimenting and cares how his creations are eaten. I can’t really describe the experience. We had the small menu and were glad we did as it was quite a lot. I don’t know if I’d go back but it was worth it for once. (I took no pictures…)
We headed back to Umbertide the next morning after an amazing breakfast.
View from our room.
The bar, breakfast area and salon.
Breakfast brioche.
