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.