orvieto

Our seventh day in Italy we went to Oriveto, home to not only some tasty wine but a pretty fabulous cathedral too.  Like most of the other ancient towns in Umbria and Tuscany, Orvieto was built on top of a huge hill, and only those who live there are permitted to drive up.  Luckily, some brilliant engineer installed an unending succession of escalators within the massive city walls, and we avoided burning off any unnecessary pasta calories by using that.

Though the town was mostly empty when we arrived (we had developed a bad habit of always showing up during siesta), the cutest array of artsy boutiques opened soon after we'd visited the cathedral, and we spent our afternoon and early evening in Orvieto much like we spent every other, wandering, shopping, eating and drinking.   

Casa San Gabriel is situated near many old castles, and earlier in the day we'd asked one of the caretakers about them.  He told us we could eat in one, so we headed there for dinner.  Although we were a little disappointed when the castle restaurant actually wasn't within the walls of the castle (the whole property belonged to a country club), our disappointment was quickly abated by the arrival of free prosecco and prosciutto.  That was followed by

the.most.amazing.steak.I.have.ever.eaten.in.my.entire.life.and.I'm.from.Iowa.  Oh my God I would fly back to Rome and drive to Umbertide right now for that steak (especially after a week of eating only fruits and vegetables, but I digress).  Add the homemade limoncello and it was another great night in Italy with the people I love.

Click here for all of my pictures from Orvieto

perugia round two

Thursday we got kind of a late start.  Might have had something to do with all the food the night before.

The plan had been to visit the Perugina chocolate factory in Perugia.  We got there at just the right time, but unfortunately we were told the tour guide was sick and so we couldn't go take the tour.  Bummer!  What ever would we eat?

We drove from the ugly, industrial outskirts of Perugia up the hill and into it's lovely historic center.  Then we promptly turned around because we'd accidentally driven into a resident's only zone.  We parked the car halfway down the hill and hiked back up for a late tortellini lunch.

The five of us spent the afternoon wandering, shopping and taking pictures.  A lonely old man in a three-quarter length fur coat, bow-tie, cap and cane tried to strike up a conversation with Dad, and I surprised myself when I told him that my dad doesn't speak Italian and was even able to answer where Dad was from when the man asked.  Two points for Rosetta Stone and two points for me.  Mom took a picture of the interaction but I didn't realize until I saw it how much my ass was hanging out of my sweater dress so I'm not posting it here.

I'm not really sure what was going on that day, but I looked like a 1980's prom queen with that coat and hair.

When dusk settled we all hiked down to the parking garage, and made the most important discovery of our trip-to-date: gelato.  Six days into our trip and we hadn't found gelato until now.  We all promptly made up for that deficit with huge scoops of deep, dark chocolate.

Click for pictures from Perugia

a cooking class

The first few days, my hat, gloves, scarf and coat kept me warm enough from the welcome chill and change from sub-Saharan Africa.  Not Wednesday.  The weather shifted and whatever front rolled in brought frigid temperatures and icy winds with it.  Luckily, we were only outside a few minutes before Dana found us and took us into her friend's cafe for cappuccinos.

A few months earlier, I inquired about a cooking class at Casa San Gabriel.  Dana, an American nurse-turned-pastry chef, and her boyfriend, an Italian chef named Melchiorre, were recommended, and we'd arranged to meet at the local market on Wednesday to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for the meal we'd prepare together.  After brief introductions we ventured back into the cold and Dana guided us through the Umbertide weekly market.  Then Dana gave us her phone number and told us when and where to go next.

Within the tiny square of old Umbertide for the market

After a lazy afternoon and a little difficulty finding Melchiorre's apartment (Joey saved the day again by stopping a random guy in a tracksuit in front of the butcher's shop and asked for help - neither man speaking the other's language), we reuinted in their cozy kitchen with a toast of Prosecco next to a huge fireplace.  Then the fun and feast really began.

Joey watching while Mom grates chocolate over the tiramisu

Do you think they're Italian?  Melchiorre and my two favorite guys, rolling out the ravioli.

Dad, mid sentence.  Clearly making the ravioli and talking are not things he can do simultaneously.  That's okay.  This lefty had it down, driving the ravioli cutter, "like a Ferrari," per Melchiorre's instruction.

With Mallory, Mel and Joey giggling in the background.

While Melchiorre helped and Dana translated, we made two different kinds of ravioli, linguine, fresh asparagus with quail eggs and tiramisu.  Add to that the fresh, fire-roasted pecorino with quince marmalade, grilled pork chops, pork ribs, orange and fennel salad that Melchiorre and Dana cooked and I don't think any of us ever needed to eat again.  We drank bottles of wine while we cooked and bottles of wine while we ate.  Then Dana and Melchiorre served after-dinner drinks and the seven of us sat around their rustic wooden table next to the fire and told stories and laughed together more like family than new-found friends.  By the end of the evening when Melchiorre played his accordion, a shared love for food, wine, Italian culture and their mothers had transcended the language barrier, creating memories that would last far longer than the food in our bellies.

Click here for all of my pictures from our cooking class

gubbio, perugia round 1, montone and umbertide

Tuesday was a packed day.  Everybody woke up early to hit the road for Gubbio's morning market.  Along the drive, we realized the other half of why we got such a good deal on the rental car.  A light in the dashboard kept flashing, "Stop," and we couldn't figure out why (or why stop?).  It had flashed a few times in the two days prior, but only once or twice while we slowly drove down the muddy gravel road from the villa to the highway; upon reaching the highway, the light stopped flashing.  Until the drive to Gubbio, that is.  Then the light flashed pretty much the whole drive.  Everything else seemed normal and we were unable to discern anything from the manual (maybe because it was in Italian?), so we called the rental company en route.  They told us not to operate the car and that they'd exchange it for us in Gubbio.

So we parked the car in Gubbio and headed off to the market.  We wandered the stalls of clementines, artichokes, sardines and Umbrian smoked porchetta, then warmed up with espressos and cappuccinos.  Joey got a call from the rental car company, so we all walked back to where we'd parked the car.

A tow truck arrived, but the replacement vehicle had not.  After many minutes of arguing with the rental company over the phone, Joey was told we'd have to take a cab to the nearest rental car location in Perugia, where we could pick up the new car.  We decided that since we'd have to take a cab anyway, we'd explore the rest of Gubbio before making our way to Perugia.

Gubbio is situated upon a steep hill, and to get from one level of the town to the next, the Italians built elevators within the rock - how convenient!  Their signage could use a little work though, so it took me a few minutes to convince everyone that walking down the long, deserted, flourescent hallway would save us from climbing a million stairs.  But sure enough, after we rode the elevator up and walked down another creepy hallway, we emerged in the town square.  After a photo shoot of the square and City Hall we found a separate elevator, which we used to visit the Cathedral up even higher - and what fabulous views!  We took the elevator back to the second level and walked the rest of the way down from there.

I love this picture.  It's like the skies opened up and God shined down.

While waiting for a cab to Perugia we drank round two of espresso.  Sufficiently buzzed, we then stuffed ourselves into the tiny car that arrived (I sat in a pop-up seat in the trunk) and headed to the rental car station in Perugia.  Of course by the time we arrived all the people working were enjoying their afternoon nap, so we waited in a crappy little restaurant by the train station and watched the Italian version of Jerry Springer on the tv in one corner and the very tan, older man wearing eyeliner and a black wig in the other.  Once the people at the rental car station returned from their naps, Joey went in to haggle and Mallory, Mom, Dad and I waited some more.  Finally, at least an hour later, we got our replacement vehicle, and the five of us drove back to Casa San Gabriel in a giant, royal blue toaster.

We decided we'd have a snack and take a nap before driving to a different town, Montone, for dinner.  The toaster twisted and turned up the mountain road to Montone, and we parked it outside the city walls.  As we walked from one side of the dark maze of stone houses to the other, we realized Montone was closed.  Although it was barely 8:30, with the exception of a bar in the town square, absolutely nothing - nothing - was open.  It felt like we'd stumbled onto an empty movie set.  So back to the toaster we went, and to Umbertide we drove.

Montone's town square

By then it was almost ten and the historic center of Umbertide is even smaller than Montone; after trying the locked doors of three different restaurants it looked like we were out of luck.  We tried one more door down a dark, narrow street and walked into a candle-lit dining room with large photos from all over the world adding a pop of color and character to the white walls and white tablecloths.  Jazz played in the background of the empty restaurant; a young woman greeted us and warmly invited us to sit down despite the late hour.  She spoiled us with fresh ricotta; chocolate, hazelnut, and wine flavored bread before we even ordered our meal.  The menu sounded too good to resit ordering only a primi or secondi, so we splurged and ordered both.  And of course, many bottles of wine and dessert too.

It was after midnight when we finally left one of the best restaurants in which we'd eat the whole trip, but the near-perfect meal made up for a far-from-perfect day.  Here's the rest of my pictures from our Tuesday adventure.

montepulciano

Our intended destination Monday was Montepulciano.  We ended up in The Twilight Zone.

What a contrast to the packed streets of Rome and the Amalfi Coast this summer: Montepulciano was literally empty.  The first half hour we wandered the city and didn't encounter a single soul.  It was surreal.  Here is this incredible, ancient, walled city and we had it all to ourselves.

The people in this picture are my parents.  The only people in the town square.

This became a problem when it came time for lunch.

We eventually found a fantastic osteria and Joey's mood improved considerably.  Once she drank her wine, Mallory's did too.  

After lunch we set off in search of wine tastings.  We followed the signs to a huge door off the main square.  We rang the doorbell and were greeted by a surly middle-aged woman in a tracksuit.  She allowed us to tour the winery and then poured several different vintages of Montepulciano for us to taste.  When we asked her how old the winery was, she nonchalantly replied, "1,000 years."  Oh, is that all?

We found another open shop where the very friendly shopkeeper filled many, many glasses of wine.  Good thing we'd all had pasta for lunch!  

After another breathtaking sunset we got back in the car and headed toward our villa.  We stopped at one more winery along the way, where we bought some incredible Vin Santo.

That night Joey treated us to another yummy home-cooked meal.  We all turned in early, happy tummies full of food and wine.

Click here for all my pictures from Montepulciano.

assisi

The view from Mom, Dad and Mallory's cottage window on Sunday morning.
Our cottage is in the bottom right of the photo.

The next morning was Sunday, so we decided there'd be no better place to attend Mass than the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.  One of the best things about the cottages we rented was its proximity to so many cool small towns in the Umbrian and Tuscan countryside, and we reached Assisi in less than an hour.

After Mass we ate lunch at a little trattoria, then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the maze of Assisi.  We drove down from the beautiful town on the hill to its outskirts in a futile search for gelato, then headed back to our villa for the evening.

Looking up on the Basilica from the outskirts of Assisi

All the cool air and walking wore Mom and Dad out, so Mallory, Joey and I played cards and drank wine.  A little later Joey whipped up the first of many fabulous meals. 

Click here for all of my pictures from our first two days in Italy

reunited and it feels so good

I've been so blessed to share many amazing travel experiences over the last year with my best friend, and in late January I was lucky enough to share a trip to Italy with my family too.  My mom, dad, and sister, Mallory, met Joey and me at the airport in Rome and I'm pretty sure they were almost as excited to see us as they were to return to Italy.  Sadly, my other sister, Elizabeth, wasn't able to join us, although we kept her with us in spirit as we spent the next ten days touring the Italian countryside.

We'd arranged to meet my family at the Advantage rental car desk.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize that half of the reason we got such a good deal on the rental car was because Advantage is located off-site, so the first hour of our trip to Italy was spent running in circles, searching for the rental car desk and each other.  Joey and I decided to get the car - maybe my family had somehow managed to find the shuttle to the rental car station even though we couldn't figure that out without calling the phone number on the confirmation sheet - if they weren't there, we'd drive back to the airport and try to find them.

So we got the car and with no sign of my family headed back to the airport.  We parked the car in short-term parking and started walking toward the terminal in which my family had landed and I heard a familiar whistle - about fifty yards away Mallory and Dad stood waving.  Poor Mom had been placed in a different location to try to find Joey and me, so the four of us went back to the car and drove as close as we could to where she was waiting.  We decided to send Dad to get her, and they returned together about fifteen minutes later.  We exchanged more big hugs and set off for our home for the next eleven days: Umbertide (pronounced Oom-bear-tee-day).

How did people manage without cell phones?

We spent the next three hours in the car catching up, laughing and excitedly discussing our plans for the trip (which was more like Joey'd recruited three other people to make fun of my Excel vacation itineraries and European death marches).  We exited the main highway and as we twisted and turned according to the lovely voice of our friend, Garmin, we all wondered how people managed without GPS (it's interesting how we travel to Italy for the splendor of Roman history only to appreciate the convenience of today's technology).  But with the help of the Garmin and the directions from the caretakers, we managed to find Casa San Gabriel.

We pulled up to the villa in the valley where we'd rented two cottages as the sun set, casting a brilliant red and orange hue over the mountains, cypress trees and ancient stone hamlets that surrounded us.  After dropping off our suitcases, we all piled back in the car and headed back into town to stock up on groceries and eat dinner.

Taking Joey into a grocery store in Italy is like taking a kid to a candy store; I imagine trying to pry a child away from the shiny and colorful sweets is like trying to pry my husband away from the meat and cheese counters.  But one hour and massive cart-full of groceries later, we finally escaped.  We drove back toward our villa, spotting a sign for Pane e Vino, and figured it'd be worth a try.  The restaurant was located in what appeared to be a deserted industrial park, but it looked like it had character and so we went inside.  We found a huge roaring pizza oven, bookshelves full of wine and white tablecloths.  Perfect!  We immediately ordered wine and pizza and pasta too, and spent the rest of the evening eating, drinking, and enjoying each other's company.

What should have been an uneventful drive back to Casa San Gabriel became far more interesting when Joey unknowingly turned the wrong way on a one-way road.  Although we didn't encounter any cars along the way, we did have a hell of a time getting up the hill.  Apparently the route to the villa from the highway is one-way because the incline is so steep; with the sharp drop-off looming precariously only a few feet away from where our wheels were spinning, I was truly afraid enough that I got out of the car.  Mallory and Mom soon followed, then Dad took the wheel and Joey got behind and pushed.  I was fairly certain I was watching my father kill my husband, but Dad got the car up the hill and around the corner, albeit not without a few jokes about the size of our asses or the capability of my husband.

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