Montefiascone

The farm where Andy is working is on the outskirts of a town called Montefiascone. I found it to be a little hidden treasure. The historic center is extremely small, but quainter and cleaner than I've come to expect. And there is a well-kept park on top of a big hill, where you feel totally removed from the commotion of the city traffic and you get great views of the surrounding area. See Andy's blog for a panorama view from the park: http://ao-agicolaitaliana.blogspot.com/.

Andy and I had dinner in Montefiascone on Friday night, because Anna and Dario had lots of family visiting that night. At Dante, where they serve very traditional dishes, we ate salami with bread, fresh egg pasta with porcini and tomato sauce, lamb cooked over a fire, sausages, artichokes alla Romana, and green salad. So we indulged again.

On Easter Sunday, Andy and I got the majority of the day off after we stacked some firewood. We walked into town, wandering aimlessly, taking our time, breaking for gelato and cafe. We also had a little aperitivo on the rooftop terrace of Dante, the restaurant where we ate a couple of nights before. After gelato, cafe, and vino, I was in quite a state, and had to climb the hill to the park again to work it off. We also found a little lookout point with my favorite view of all looking into the lake valley. So beautiful!

Nourishing and Being Nourished by the Land

On Friday, I worked all day with Andy on the farm. It was great to finally meet the family he has been living with: Anna, who is German, emanates a quality of calm command, while also seeming easy-going with her always-ready smile and laugh; Dario, who is from Napoli (southern Italy), is always ready to make a joke at the expense of Italians of various "categories," or often at the expense of himself; and Teseo, who is only a year and a half, is at the moment entirely obsessed with Andy. They are in their mid-thirties, but seem like they could be even younger. They met on a farm in Italy in an olive orchard, where they were doing something like WWOOF-ing, working for food and lodging.

Their place is full of good vibes, and it felt quite therapeutic to live there for a few days. Their house is so charming and cozy. About two-hundred years old, It was called 'il circolo' (the circle) during the WWII era, and it was used as a community gathering space. The first television in Montefiascone was housed in this building, and the whole town came to there to watch. They remodeled it, and it is absolutely perfect, if you ask me.

Andy's room is adjacent to the kitchen, and it has sliding glass doors. So there isn't much privacy, and Teseo comes in and out of the room as he pleases, but mostly we enjoy his visits. His favorite activities at the moment are playing guitar with Andy (he calls it lala), racing all around the flagstone floor on his plastic car, and saying Andy's name (An-da) approximately every two seconds, apparently even when Andy is gone all day. When I first got there, he was very shy towards me- every time I looked at him, he would look away, giggling shyly. Then he warmed up to me... Andy may have some competition- the second night he gave me his apple when he wouldn't give it to Andy, and he let me beep the horn on his car, which he never lets Andy do. His favorite words are scarpa (shoe) and gamba (leg). In the first two days of my stay, he learned to take off his shoes before coming onto our mattress- he did it on his own without being told beforehand.

The work, gathering and burning the trimmings from olive tree pruning, was surprisingly enjoyable. The orchard is beautiful, and although there are glimpses of the lake valley through the border vegetation, it feels like a little micro-universe, a protected little pocket of serenity. It felt great to work with my body, instead of sitting all jammed up in a classroom, for a change. They are a little late in pruning their trees, and it is a lot of work, because this orchard was left wild for some years before they recently acquired it and began farming it. So, there is extra pruning to do. Andy and I worked on gathering and burning wood all day, from 9am to 6pm, with a short lunch break. We got lucky two other days, because it was raining- we worked one long afternoon and one long morning. Andy has gotten really good at building "carts", using the larger pieces to cradle the smaller trimming, so that he can drag a large load over to the burning spot.

Three teenage cats kept us company- one was especially sweet and eager for attention. We named her Tesoro (treasure) and contemplated plans to take her home with us. But she seems quite happy to live in the orchard, playing and climbing oilve trees with her brothers. They probably don't get much to eat, and they were boldly going after our lunch as we ate. Dario, who clearly has a soft spot for kitties, fed them some ricotta.

Our lunch was ricotta, which we spread over homemade brown sourdough bread, upon which we drizzled oilve oil. We also had a large omelet with chives, which we split amongst ourselves. I couldn't imagine a more satisfying meal. Another day, the homemade brown sourdough bread was accompanied by a wedge of pecorino and greens braised in olive oil and served with their own cured black olives.

For more insight about life on the farm, check out Andy's blog:

http://ao-agicolaitaliana.blogspot.com/

Driving in Italy

For all of you picturing me driving a little manual Fiat Punto around Italy and biting your nails, be afraid, be very afraid. No, actually, I was quite proud of myself- I did rather well, if I do say so myself. Once I got used to the facts that "Italians take their half out of the middle," as Jonathan always says, and tailgating is universal practice, it was actually kind of fun. I sure had to be on my toes though- twisty, windy, narrow roads; steep inclines; the most chaotic, misleading signage I could ever imagine; and crazy speeding Italians made for quite the adventure.

Riserva Naturale di Monte Rufeno

The next day we drove the car to Aquapendente, where I gave Andy a tour, since I had mastered the historic center the day before. We picked up some bread, salame, and cheese for a picnic lunch (photo). Then we drove to one of the trail heads for the Nature Reserve of Mount Rufeno. I have been dying for a nature-fix, and I chose this place after doing some research, since it was so close to Andy's farm. I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was- a lush oak forest littered with abandoned casali (houses). Italians aren't much for hiking, so while the trail was well-marked, it appeared seldom traveled, and we saw no other people the entire day.

But it wasn't all blue sky and roses- the next day I discovered three small ticks attached to my body. I got them off, and am keeping an eye on the bite sites for any signs of irritation, as the worry with ticks is lyme disease. We also saw a viper on the trail, which Andy's hosts have been worried about lately, because one of their sheep was recently bitten in the field and died. So we felt very lucky on that one. And if that wasn't enough, we narrowly missed a run-in with a banshee. Actually, we think it was a wild pig, but it sounded kind of like a dying crow, except it was too throaty sounding to be a bird. We heard it about a third of the way through our 10 kilometer hike, and then again about two-thirds of the way through. After the first time, we were ready and alert for an encounter with a wild pig/banshee- the plan was Andy would pick up a big branch and attack/defend, and I would be ready with the camera. About 10 minutes later we heard something racing down the hill, and it leaped onto and across the trail, no more than 10 feet in front of us. With his ever ready and sharp reflexes, Andy dropped into a karate-like stance, letting out a war cry (to me it sounded like a frightened yelp). It was a deer. The second time, the source of the cry was definitely getting closer to us as we walked. Andy picked up a big branch, ready to defend... luckily we stopped hearing the sound after the trail went into a coniferous wood.

That night we had dinner in Aquapendente at a restaurant called Quintaluna (fifth moon), which was recommended by our agriturismo host. It was simple/traditional, yet elegant. For antipasti, we had fried stuffed cannoli with tomato sauce and oven-melted pecorino cheese with truffle sauce. For primi, we had pici pasta with a ragu sauce. For secondi, we chose lamb (slow cooked and falling off the bone), and baccala (fish, served in a pesto sauce). For contorni (vegetables), we ate roasted veggies (peppers, zucchini, eggplant), and green salad. And of course, red wine and bread. Turned out a bit pricy, but it was the first restaurant meal for both of us, so we felt ok about spoiling ourselves a bit.

Agriturismo Pulicaro

I kicked off my spring break, which started on Wednesday, by staying at an agriturismo in northern Lazio, about 45 minutes away from the farm where Andy is working. I chose it for its proximity to both Andy and a small nature reserve. Sandy, Jonathan, Axel, and I drove together to Orvieto, where I dropped them off at the train station. They headed for Firenze (Fllorence), and I drove to the agriturismo. I was a little nervous to drive the car for the first time (driving in Italy is crazy, more on that later), but I must say, I was quite proud of how I did. I arrived to Pulicaro, the agriturismo, in less than an hour. They grow olive and fruit trees, vegetables, and raise chickens and geese, plus some honey and other things. It was fun to follow the chickens around the property, studying their velociraptor mannerisms as they pecked at the grass and tried to decide whether or not our photography efforts were threatening.

I spent the afternoon in Aquapendente, the nearest town, until it was time to pick up Andy from his farm. I did what has become to feel like the standard routine: check out the cheese, bread, meat, and gelato shops, find the best ones, and then buy some. I always have my food radar on, I usually forget to pay any attention to the churches and other architecture.

After a stressful but adventuresome drive with beautiful glimpses of Lago di Bolsena through the trees (the largest natural lake in Europe, pooled in a volcanic crater), I arrived at Andy's farm, said hello to the family, and we headed back to Pulicaro.