The Umbrian countryside is beautiful, and is unique in that it is the only landlocked region in Italy. My sister-in-law, Diane, loves this area. After driving into the area, I began to understand what she meant.
As some of you know, Sonya and I were in Spain last year and we both fell in love with Seville and thought that we could winter there in the future. Diane said, yes, it is beautiful, but make no decisions until you see Italy. I now understand why she said that!
This is a taste of the Umbrian countryside. Having rained the day before, you can see some haze in the far distance from the humidity, which actually adds to the allure!
Our first stop was in the town of Orvieto, the "City of Wine". I expect that many of you will have heard of the white wine called Orvieto Classico. It is produced in volume here and is exported worldwide. Check it out in your next trip to the wine store. Just remember Italian's say it needs to be drank very cold!
It was the Etruscans (remember them from our Roman History Chapter?) who brought the vines to this region originally. Over time, Orvieto became a papal stronghold and one of the richest cities in Italy. As Orvieto wine became famous, the wine was renamed 'the Pope's wine'. It is said that when the Orvieto cathedral was built wine was used to pay the workers. Luca Signorelli, the Italian Renaissance painter who painted the frescoes of the 'Last Judgment' in the Cathedral of Orvieto, asked to be paid with 1000 litres of Orvieto wine every year.
We spent a night at the top of the town, that sits on a volcanic cliff 1,000 feet above the area. Here is one of the views from the top.
As you see it is very much like the first picture, but from a much higher vantage point. Gloria told us that at the start of some rows in a vineyard flowers are planted. In this way, if there is blight in the area, the flowers are the first to be attacked. The growers pay attention to these flowers and, if they see them under attack, they know just what to do to save the vines. Very smart!
That evening we were treated to a fantastic dinner in Orvieto called the Zepplin (named for the shape of the inside of the restaurant, apparently). The owner, Lorenzo, showed us the proper way to make pasta. The recipe is as follows:
1 KG (2.2 lbs) 00 flour (very fine).
11 eggs (clearly not Vegan, so Sonya won't be making this one!)
Olive Oil (no measure given, but several tablespoons for sure)
Makes enough pasta for 16 people!
Mix until all ingredients are well blended. Then knead, and knead and knead ... well you get the idea. Let the dough sit for at least one hour. Two would be better. Then you have to roll out the dough.
Now that is some rolling pin! The kneading and the rolling took at least the length of time for me to have one and one-half glasses of wine (with appetizers of course!). Next you hand cut the dough into the appropriate type of pasta (adjusting the width accordingly). No machine used here!
Here our travel colleague George is showing off his culinary skills. George makes pasta at home and was quite proficient! Well done, George! All of the pasta was then served to us that evening, and it was wonderful!
Next to Assisi, the home town of St. Francis. A few sentences of background on Francis seems appropriate here. Francis was baptized as Giovanni, the son of a well to do cloth merchant in Assisi. His mother had an affinity for the French, so his father renamed him Francesco ("little Frenchy"). He had a privileged upbringing and took part in the war between Assisi and Perugia in 1202. He was wounded in that war and took some time to recover. He wanted to join the Papal forces in another war, when he had a vision where God told him "to repair his church, as it was in disrepair". He took a bolt of fabric from his father, sold it and offered the proceeds to the church for repair. The priest told him that God expected much more from him. His father was angry and took him to court, where Francis gave away all of his worldly possessions and went away to pray as to the exact nature of his mission, ultimately forming the Franciscan order, despite the fact that he was never ordained as a priest.
I was a bit surprised to learn that not all Franciscans are ordained as priests, many remain friars. Only those who wish to celebrate holy mass are ordained. Above you can see several friars walking. When they enter the order, they take a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. They wear a reminder daily, as the three knots on the rope around their robe represents these vows. Who knew? Now you do!
Not to be outdone, there are also Franciscan sisters as well. These two are from the USA and, in Daniella's (our guide) words, it shows in their Italian! OK, well I was careful not to speak too much Italian to her after that!
While we were walking about the monastery area, Daniella smelled the aroma of lunch cooking for the friars and nuns. She told the story of how the nuns could always tell (and bemoaned the fact) that the Canadian nun was cooking. Apparently her culinary skills were somewhat wanting by Italian standards!
As you see above, the Franciscans wear robes of several colours, but they predominantly wear brown. Now, the Capuchin monks, an off shoot of the Franciscans, wear the same or very similar colours, and it is from the Capuchin Monks that we get the word cappuccino for the colour of the coffee with milk. Next time you have a cappuccino, think of the Capuchin monks! Also Italians only drink cappuccino before 11 a.m. After that it is espresso time.
Our guide, Gloria, explained the reason why window box flowers are traditionally geraniums. As you can see there are no window screens here, and most of the bugs dislike the aroma of geraniums. Perfect solution.
This area was rebuilt after the earthquake that shook Assisi to its roots in 1997. It was done in similar style to the surrounding structures. It does not make it any less steep, as you can see here!
Remember I told you about great cardiovascular and steel buns in Amalfi. The same applies here it would seem.
After a quick lunch of strangled priest pasta (apparently that is the meaning of strangozzi!), we were off to Perugia to see a factory that still makes woven fabrics on 18th and 19th century wooden looms. Its operations are in an antique church called the Church of San Francisco della Donne (Benedictine Nuns).
This workshop, "Giuditta Brozzetti" continues in the footsteps producing precious handmade cloths, using ancient, hand-operated looms that recapture medieval patterns and designs, continuing the path started centuries ago by Benedictine Nuns.
However, it has a very interesting history. Perugia refused to pay a salt tax levied by the Pope and so the Pope retaliated by making it illegal to continue their weaving. In fact you could be jailed or executed if caught weaving. But, Marta's great grandmother, then the head mistress of the school district found families weaving in secret for their personal purposes. So in 1921, with only female staff, she re-initiated the commercial production! Successive daughters took up the cause but it was difficult to compete with the growing trend toward Chinese production. Then Marta (the great granddaughter in the photo below), after studying interior design in Milan, took up the tradition.
Marta referred to these ancient Jacquard looms as the first computer, as they use a cardboard pattern punched with holes (think zeros and ones) to make the beautifully detailed woven pattern.
Needless to say, Sonya found a table runner that she wanted (big surprise, right?).
As Marta packed up the runner, she said to Sonya, "Take good care of my baby!"
Then it was time for an evening tour of Perugia.
(From Wikipedia) The Salt War of 1540 was a result of an insurrection by the citizens of Perugia against the Papal States during the pontificate of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese). Perugia had been a free commune until 1370 when it was incorporated into the Papal States. The Perugian elite continued to enjoy a sort of semi-autonomy, including several privileges like trial by a local (not papal-appointed) judge and freedom from paying any taxes on salt, then an important product for preserving food. However, beginning in the late 15th century, successive popes attempted to impose their rule. After a bad harvest and being in an economically difficult situation, Pope Paul III decided to levy a new tax on salt for all his subjects, including the people of Perugia. The Perugians decided to rebel but on 4 June 1540 papal troops forced a surrender.
As a final stand the people of Perugia decided not use salt in their bread - even to this day - and you can tell!
Off to see Cortona! It is actually in Tuscany, just across the boundary from Perugia.
An interesting little tidbit about Cortona. Many of you will be aware of Rick Steves, a well known US travel guru whose company covers much of Europe. Well apparently Rick's team met a local guide to get information about Cortona. One of the specifics that they asked was about availability of public toilets. The local guide said that there were adequate facilities available, so his tour book made such reference. Well, they didn't have public facilities. So the city of Cortona built them because they were mentioned in the book. Hmm, such is the power of the written word!
Our guide is a very animated fellow named Giovanni. His English was described as an Italian - Texan blend, as he married a woman from Dallas Texas 20 years ago. Based on our tour with him, I expect that she has trouble getting a word in edge wise!
In any case, he gave us a tour of the area around Cortona prior to seeing the city itself. He explained about the lovely old houses you can buy for a song, but watch out for the reno bill!
This being September, many fruits and vegetables are ripe for the picking. Vine ripened tomatoes here are totally scrumptious. At this point Giovanni declared, "Nothing in Italy Works - so don't buy a can opener, you will never get to the tomatoes".
This black kale is almost ready to make ribolitta soup, a traditional Tuscan soup with seasonal vegetables (especially kale) that literally means reboiled - hence "ribolitta". I can't wait to try some!
He also told us that last year more than 1,000 wild boars were hunted in the area. They apparently run rampant here... This one didn't get away!
You can of course get wild boar on the menu. Italy is all about food ... in fact, they have festivals that celebrate everything from artichokes to zucchini.
As a side note, Italy is home to a special prosciutto known as Parma Ham. It comes from a special hybrid pig that is slaughtered at 18 months, hung for one year with the hind end (rear haunches) massaged every day. Now that is just weird! Think about that massaged rump next time you have prosciutto.
Many of you will remember the book (and the movie) Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. Well, part of our walk was up to her house.
This is very near to her house. Giovanni also explained the use of the term "Villa" which is suppose to include the main house, barns, and farmhand homes. However, realtors use the word rather loosely to include any free standing home up for sale.
And this is Frances' home, named Bramasole.
Now, this is their actual house, but the house for the movie was a house nearby in serious need of repair. Giovanni, our guide is a also a wood worker and cabinet maker. He regaled us with stories about wood, wood working and cabinet making. as he said, 'Aren't you glad that I am not a plumber!'
Anyway, the point is that he did some of the woodwork in the house used in the movie, and he got to attend the premier showing of the film in Hollywood.
After that we walked through the town of Cortona. The views of the Tuscan country side from here are magnificent to behold.
From Cortona, you can look to the west to see the hillside town of Montepulciano, the home of some of the most noble wines of Italy, and some of my personal favourites.
This is the old downtown Cortona. As with most of these towns, they are built on the ruins of prior empires. In this case, the Etruscan empire was here first, prior to the Romans taking over.
For you music lovers Cortona is where Franco Migliacci wrote that famous Dean Martin song - Volare!
In the evening, just outside Perugia we went Ristoro Termi San Galigano (restaurant) housed inside an old church. Flavia, the chef, greeted us warmly with a short history of the church. The church sits atop an aquifer that runs continually through the foundation of the building.
Flavia, not only the chef but also the owner, is showing us where one of the water streams runs just behind the wall. This centuries old bush grows spontaneously through the cracks in the wall because the water runs rich in minerals - iron, magnesium and zinc.
Flavia provided an exquisite Italian dinner - with specially made vegan gnocchi - what a a treat. Oh, and the wine and grappa were mighty fine too.
The evening closed with a bus load of us all singing Volare and That's Amore as the bus bopped along the cobblestone streets. I'm sure you can all image the fine harmony...after wine and grappa we thought we sounded pretty good!
See you next in Chianti country - more wine!
Ciao ciao,
S&P
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