Sorry it’s been a while since I posted. We have been doing a few things. Mostly mundane. We had a Calagrana lunch last week with two couples. Then we had a lovely invitation from Vera and family to their mountain house. It is three kilometers up a winding mostly gravel and dirt road. They are at the very end. So beautiful up there. It was just us and the family. A simple barbecue but so nice. Le regazze!
Some of the food.
The week was full of chores. We have to replace some of our zanzariere. Zanzara is the word for mosquito. Say it out loud. Doesn’t it make you think of the zzzzzzz noise a mosquito makes beside your ear? Two of the screens are ripped and several no longer hook down as they should. They said they’d come next week. And yet again we are trying to get our Tessere Sanitaria renewed. But we needed an appointment so we go next week.
Finally today we had a little fun. We met up with a friend who is buying a house here. He has been stuck in the US because of the travel restrictions but he finally got here this week to see his house. And we had lunch at Nonna Gelsa, a nearby restaurant. Ravioli with pistachio pesto.
Tomorrow I start packing for our little getaway. Leaving on Sunday. First trip since our lockdown from last fall. We are going to Sestri Levante on the Mediterranean. North of the Cinque Terre and south of Genoa. It is to celebrate our anniversary. I will do a trip report, of course!
Eurocup. Italy versus Turkey. Back in the olden days. Before Covid. We had exciting gatherings in front of Bar Mary to watch sporting events. Mostly soccer, or football as they call it here. Since Covid things have been different, but tonight! Tonight! There’s a huge crowd outside. Bar Mary, as of old, has set up a big TV and the chairs are all pulled up to watch the game. Cheering erupts at intervals. I can hear it well up here. See the fun…
Today my friend Elizabeth Wholey arranged a wine tasting and lunch for us. It was a pretty day and we took off north — way north. To the very top of Umbria. It meets up with Tuscany and to the east Le Marche. Three regions. This winery is not in a wine region. It is in an unlikely location. And they are focusing on the Pinot Noir — Pinot Nero — wine grape. Also an unlikely choice. The winery is called La Palerna. It is at an altitude of 650 meters. High above the upper Tiber valley. Owned by Luigi Merendelli and his wife Paola. They own a large packaging company called Vimer. Here is the view from the winery.
We were greeted by Rosanna. She has worked for the Vimer industries and the family in different capacities for a long time. She is Swedish born but was raised in Luxembourg. She married and moved to the Upper Tiber Valley with her husband who is from here. Now she is in charge of sales and marketing of the Palerna winery.
We toured the property with the permission of Paola to include their beautiful grounds.
Rosanna took us around the property. We saw some of the vines and also the orto, or vegetable garden.
Orto, well fenced in to protect from the animalsSangiovese leaf. Pinot Noir leafVine, Pinot Noir, has red stemsSangiovese has green stems. See the baby grapes?
Next we toured inside the winery. These are the methode champenoise bottles. They are turned a quarter turn every week and slightly tipped higher. It encourages the sediment to slide into the neck where it can be popped out before corking.
Rosanna provided us with a lovely antipasti to complement the wines we tasted. They are very proud of their Methode Champenoise sparkling wine. Nudo di Palerna. 100% Pinot Noir.
She sources her food locally. We had a big platter of toasted bread drizzled with their oil.
We had the Mozzarella di Bufala from la Fattoria Montelupo. I buy mozarella often. I am a huge fan of the cheese made from the milk of the water buffalo. It is famed from down south in Campania. I’ve had it a number of times and am always blown away by the rich creaminess. It is NOTHING like common mozzarella. Well, I am here to tell you this is the real deal. Made from the milk of water buffaloes just north of us. The fat in both the olive oil and the cheese is cut by the sparkling wine which is why it’s paired. A marriage not to be beat!
Next we tried their Rosatto. Or Rose to us. Made from Pinot Noir and Sangiovese grapes.
She paired this one with meats. Salami and cured ham or proscuitto. Also from a local producer – Azienda Agricola Pigolotti. Along with a plate of bruschetta with pomodori…tomatoes.
Next we had. This was an everyday quaffing wine. Only €8.00. This is a normal price for decent but not fancy wine. We had this one with two local cheeses. Both pecorino.
Then, the prized Pinot Nero. This is not a normal grape here. We have only seen it at one other place near Orvieto. Sr. Merendelli fell in love with the French Pinot Noir and decided to dedicate much of his vineyard to this grape.
And finally Cospaia1441. It is made from Merlot, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It is nice with a lot of fruit and boldness. But the best part is where it got it’s name. It seems the border between Tuscany and the Papal State of Umbria was not fixed. There was constant fighting. So, finally, in 1441 the two agreed the small river running from the Marche down to the Tiber river would be the border. The north would be owned by Tuscany and the south would remain a Papal state. Due to a technical error, they seemed to not mention an island in the river. So it was neither Tuscany, nor Umbria, but a free and independent republic for almost 400 years! The label has a floating island on it held up by balloons. The motto of the land was “perpetua et firma libertas” — “firm and perpetual liberty”.
Here are Rosanna and my friend Elizabeth.
An excellent excursion. Other than a bit of haze it was a beautiful day. Let it be the first of many more!
I say “information of little import..” but actually, if anyone comes to Italy to live, or even to rent an apartment and stay awhile, it could be useful. Just another quirk of Italian packaging.
As in most places, you can buy already made hamburger patties in the store here. I don’t usually because I prefer to make my own. But our favorite butcher, Etrusco, has the best beef and the burgers are juicy not dry, so I do buy some when I’m there. Luther is a real burger hound! They come individually wrapped in a packaged like this…
Looks good right? (Sorry to my vegetarian friends!) comes out of the package ready to slap on the grill. Not so fast. When we first moved here I learned this lesson. Watch and learn.
As you can see, there’s an invisible plastic sheet. Now, I can understand when you buy four patties in a stack you don’t want them to stick together so you’d do this. But this one is in an INDIVIDUAL plastic pack. There is NO NEED for plastic, and on BOTH sides! I learned my lesson by melting the plastic into the patty the first time. Live and learn! 😅😅 ~~~~~~~ Enjoy your week, and be sure to — “rimuovere la plastica prima della cottura!“ 😁
Of course, outside is our only choice right now but that set to change next week I think. We had originally been going with another couple but turns out they got their vaccination appointments right at the time of our lunch so they had to cancel. It had been so long since we had been to l’Alchemista we decided to just change our reservation to two and still go.
A gorgeous day today too. Sunny and highs of 28C or 82F. Montefalco is a hill town about fifty minutes from us set in the famous Sagrantino wine region. It is also known for it’s high quality olive oil. Here are some pictures along the drive taken from the car so not the best. I have always thought this is the prettiest part of Umbria.
We reached the hill town and I took a picture from just outside the walls. The big, round mountain is Monte Subasio. The pilgrimage town of Assisi is on the left of the picture on the mountain side. The plain has the town of Cannara, famous for its onions. Back in Roman times it was a lake.
We were greeted like long lost friends and seated on the outside dining terrace. It is in the main square and has spread out to about double its previous size. It was so nice to see all the happy faces, not just of the diners but even the wait staff seemed happy. It has been a long dry spell of them so I’m sure they are pleased to be back.
We had their delicious olive oil, brilliant green, and their homemade bread while we chose our food. They brought us a gift from the chef which was delicious. A small scoop of cheese and cream whipped almost to a custard with a drop of blood red pepper jelly and a crispy fried piece of faro. Sorry, I got carried away and took a taste before I thought to photo it.
My meal started with La Stracciata, scrambled eggs with truffles. Light and tasty. Then I chose the hamburgher, as they spelled it. It was nothing like a regular hamburger. They described it as “gourmet, knife cut, beef hamburger on guacamole, carmelized red onions, crunchy bacon, and ‘Brancaleone’ cheese from Norcia”. It was very good. Pictures…
And to see the inside…
Excellent Montefalco Sagrantino.
It was a lovely lunch on a lovely day. And it was a real pleasure to do a little road trip out of our area. ~~~~~~ Enjoy your holiday everyone. Let’s hope the summer stays safe and we can all have some fun.
Today we finally made our trip to the Asian market in Perugia. There are a couple of markets there. One we had known of, but the one we went to today was new to us.
It is near the train station which tends to have a lot of immigrants and ethnic places to serve them. As you can see…it has a very catchy name — “ASIA MARKET”. I have to say, I hate the traffic in Perugia… a maniac designed their roads.
So, anyway, we found it fairly easily. It is, as advertised, cleaner than the other market, and the people are friendlier. I was disappointed in the selection, however. In the fresh produce there was no okra or sugar snap peas, nor was there any cilantro. I did get bok choy. I guess that’s something. I found most of the other stuff I wanted, even though the selection was smaller. I got fish sauce, oyster sauce, wide rice noodles, Korean BBQ sauce (trying for the first time), sesame oil, rice vinegar, sweet piquante sauce for sticky chicken. Lots of coconut milk and evaporated milk. Even some kimchi, which I love! Here is a picture!
I see Thai and Korean in my future. ~~~~~~~~ Its funny. I read the Facebook groups for people who live in Italy (from other countries). There also tend to be a lot of wannabes as well who still live in their native country. Someone posted a question about where to find Jalapeños in Italy. Fresh in the store, canned, or even plants. There were plenty of helpful answers as usual. But also there were the idiots who insist they know best and if you come to Italy to live you should “embrace the culture 🎶“ and only eat Italian food. Well, that’s fine and all, I love Italian food and I generally let the Italians cook it for me when I go out. But there is the inevitable pull of “Home”. The foods you grew up with. Comfort foods. If that happens to be spaghetti and meatballs, so be it. It’s not an Italian dish, it’s an Italian-American dish but if you miss it, you miss it. Same for ethnic foods, plentiful and embraced in the US, but seldom seen here. So – we cook the spicy stuff…and the different flavors. It surely doesn’t mean we don’t love Italian food! ~~~~~~~~ Along our drive to the store we passed a Vaccination center…it was teeming with people waiting for shots. What a great thing to see! Italy is finally making real progress. ~~~~~~~~ Italiano phrase for today, “loro erano molto amici” — in English “they were very close friends”. Pronounced, lore-oh err-ah-noh mole-toe am-ee-chi. ~~~~~~ Ciao, i miei amici! 🌈
Not a lot happening here but it is pretty now. We went out for an aperitivo this evening. It was a little cool but still nice to be out in the piazza. After, I took this picture.
Tomorrow, maybe a trip to the Asian market….stay tuned…
I just re-read my last post. Nothing worked as planned…no surprise!
First, the day we planned to go to the new Asian market happened to be the day the Giro d’Italia was in Perugia. Streets closed. Public transport closed. Traffic nightmares. So we decided against that trip for now!
Lunch Saturday also called off. The restaurant is fully booked both Saturday and Sunday. All the restaurants are very busy since they’ve been allowed to reopen. The main issue is the limited number of outside tables. Now we have to regroup. It looks like we will need to plan a little farther ahead.
Due to some great tips and recommendations from one of my blog readers (thanks Matt!), our trip for our anniversary has moved from our original destination up the coast to a town called Sestri Levante. It sits between Genoa and the Cinque Terre along the coast. We have been a couple of times to the Cinque Terre but never have we explored the coast north of there. The town of Portofino is just near Sestri and I’ve always wanted to see it. We also want to visit Rapallo and S. Margherta Ligure. I am told they are nice villages. And then, possibly we will take the train into Genoa. I want to have some downtime too. So we will see.
After the last couple days of confusion, I’ve decided to leave all the travel news alone for awhile. I’m sure everyone is capable of doing their own investigating. ~~~~~~~~ You all may recall, about a month ago we went to submit all the myriad documents we had gathered to apply for the Permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo (ex carta di soggiorno) – elective residence. Link to the post.
Today was our appointment at the Questura. I was prepared to be turned down. I even had rehearsed what I would say if they did. I have been through so many hoops here that I wasn’t nervous or worried at all. I actually like our Questura. I’ve only ever used the one in Citta di Castello. It’s a medium sized city north of us. I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories of the Questure in the larger cities. They sound like Dante’s third ring of hell. Our police officers all are friendly and, after seven years they know us well. And there is seldom a crowd.
We were each called in to a window. We had all our receipts, documents, passports, old Permessi, and our photos. They said, you’re applying for the permesso lungo periodo? We said yes. Two of our documents had expired since we’d gotten them last year before Covid. So we weren’t getting the permit. They said they would give us another year of our Permesso and while waiting we can re-apply for the long term one. Even though we failed this time, the good news is, we CAN get this permit. We will not be turned down if we get the new documents. I’m pretty pumped about this. If we get it, then we won’t have to worry about having an expired Permesso and not being able to travel. And we will be able get our health coverage for the ENTIRE year instead of having to go back again and again to extend. It will be amazing…I shouldn’t get too sure though, it is, after all, Italy. Anything can happen. 😳 ~~~~~~~ The weather has turned nice. It’s finally warming up. We’ve had a very cold spring. I bought my pepper plants yesterday for this year. I am still missing some flowers but I will find them eventually.
This week we have a few excursions planned. We plan to visit a new (to us) Asian market tomorrow. We are very low on our Asian ingredients. As most of you know, we love ethnic foods which are a rare thing in Italy. So I cook meals myself. Since being locked down we couldn’t leave our Comune so we couldn’t shop in Perugia where there are a couple of stores.
Then on Saturday or Sunday we plan to meet friends for lunch in Montefalco at one of our all time favorite restaurants, L’Alchemista. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been.
We are also just starting the beginnings of plans for a few short trips here and there. A day trip to Rome to see the Torlonia Marbles. They are amazing. Here is a great link from BBC about the Marbles. And probably in June a trip for our anniversary to Via Reggio on the Mediterranean. Got our eye on a nice hotel and restaurant.
Stay tuned! ~~~~~~~ Italian phrase for today…”La speranza non muore mai” literally “hope never dies” but equivalent to our saying “hope springs eternal”. Pronounced — Lah spare-an-zah non moo-or-ee my.
We took a drive Monday up to Arezzo in Tuscany. We visited a big grocery there that we like. We drove the Porsche which hasn’t been driven since January. The trip takes around 40 minutes. It was nice to see new scenery for a change. And to stock the larder with food.
Over the weekend we were awakened at 5am by our resident Hoopoe. Our bedroom window was wide open and he perched on the clothes line just outside where he proceeded to sing his (loud) two note song which is the origin his name, they say. Oddly, just last week I opened a bottle of wine which had a glass stopper rather than a cork. I noticed something painted on it. It was a Hoopoe! It seems every time I turn around I’m reminded of this cool bird.
Saturday local market was cheerful. We still have mostly winter vegetables. But I saw asparagus today. Also, everyone has piles of fresh eggs. The chickens lay more eggs in the spring apparently.
Plant booth had some pretty plants but I was going to take a trip up the hill outside of town to the big greenhouse so I just admired his flowers.
I’m happy to see both of the bars are welcoming folks.
San Giorgio, the restaurant across the piazza from us. They are happily serving lunch and dinner again.
I went out to the nursery just outside of town. I bought petunias and a bunch of herbs. I still need the sweet alyssum I normally plant and couldn’t find. I guess it will become a quest! This is the view up to Civitella Ranieri, the castle that hosts fellows in the art world. They were empty last year so I hope all goes well this year. Isn’t the sky pretty and the winter wheat so green!!
Spur of the moment we decided to have lunch at Patrick’s Enoteca. I’ve missed it. The “clown” train passing on the tracks across from Patrick’s.
Lunch.
So that was my week. Oh, except I locked the key to the door of our garage inside the garage. So now we can’t get to the car! And we were going for a ride today. Oh well. We are trying to figure out how to get in! This was the very thing I reminded myself never, ever to do…and I did it 🙄 ~~~~~~ Italiano phrase…”era un bellissimo sabato”. In English “it was a beautiful Saturday”. Pronounced — era une bell-ees-see-mo sah-bah-toe. ~~~~~~ Stay safe everyone! 🌈
