Pres Nowlin's Blog: May 2018

Hills and hollers, Apennine-style

Pettina

We left the house early Tuesday morning and drove east through Spoleto deep into the Apennines for a truffle hunting expedition in isolated Pettino, population about 26. “Truffle hunting” hardly does it justice. It was more like being taken in by an Italian mountain farm family for the day. (“Agritourism" is huge in Italy). This family raises sheep for milk and meat, a few cows, and pigs, most of which are for their own consumption and for the making of cured meats.

We rode up the hill with Mack, cousins Alessandro and Luca and two teams of setters that would do the sniffing and digging. They turned the dogs loose, and we trailed behind, watching the dogs work.

They use setters for hunting. The larger Maremmas protect the sheep from wolves.

Umbria is known for its truffles, especially black truffles, and during the season, these folk spend 4-6 hours in the morning and another 4-6 in the evening hunting. They disabused us of some common misconceptions we held about truffles. In fact they are not rare. They grow everywhere, and though there is a high season, on private property you can hunt them any time. We were probably walking no more than 45 minutes, and the dogs found a dozen...some 300 grams or so.

Watching intently while Luca prepares a cheese board.

Luca, Mac, Dan, and Alessandro figuring something out.

On the way back down to the farm, we stopped in the meadow with Mack’s cousin Dan, now shepherd for the family flock. Along with 80 or so merino sheep, Dan was kept company by a half-dozen large white Maremmas that keep the wolves away, a border collie that does what border collies do, and a young hound, I guess just for the company. The family keeps a total of 30 dogs, all workers except for the single oldest of the wolf dogs who has been granted a reprieve and snoozes around the farm with the Uncle, the family elder. Uncle is also kept company by Martina, a Vietnamese pot bellied pig of uncertain provenance.

Picnic.

Luca cut up a wheel of pecorino cheese that Francesca had made. and scrambled a pan of eggs, dressed them with olive oil, and topped them with grated black truffle from the morning’s take. Not a bad morning snack.

Uncle and pig. Zio e porco.

From there we returned to the farm area for lunch, which started in the 900-year old underground curing room where their own salami, hams, and all manner of cured meats were hanging.

Umbrian prosciutto has a hint of garlic flavor. 7 days in salt - no more.

Goodness.

Salume.

Francesca makes pecorino cheese in a 900 year old room.

Simplicity.

Francesca made tortellini, cut by hand, which we had for lunch with truffle pesto, followed by sausage, wild boar ragout, and roasted potatoes.

Rolled out.

Rolled thin.

The finished product.

We said our goodbyes and drove back to Lugnano for a dinner of antipasti, and then home for a sound sleep.

Pigeon's not so bad. It tastes like liver.

The massive Orvieto duomo, begun 1290

On Monday we all piled into the cars and headed to Orvieto for the day. Orvieto features a massive cathdral built in alternating courses of travertine limestone and basalt. The west facade is covered in very detailed carvings.

West facade carvings

Facade carving detail

Like several other Umbrian towns, Orvieto has an extensive underground; in fact, every house has a cave beneath it that residents typically use for a wine cellar or cool storage --there are some 1200 in total. Etruscan slaves dug out the caves originally as defense against siege - a common pastime in the Middle Ages in this part of the world. The Etruscans kept pigeons for food and used the guano for fertilizer. The pigeons could fly out of the hillside caves during the day, and come back to sleep in the carved pigeon holes at night.

Pigeon holes

Of course they had also hand dug wells, some 60 meters deep, with footholds on either side where the diggers climbed up and down.

Well shaft.

We ate lunch at Il Pozzo Etrusco. My antipasto alone was a three course appetizer of bruschetta, meat and cheese, and little lasagnes. For pasta I had tortellini carbonara, and enjoyed grilled hare skewers for the main course. One of our group did order the pigeon stuffed with plums and pine nuts, and it was delicious. I may have gained 5 pounds in 5 days in Italy.

Monastery below Orvieto

Monday evening, we drove to the nearby hill town of Amelia. We parked in the new town and entered through pre-Roman walls, walking up cobblestone streets to il Baronetto for nourishment.

We never made it to dinner: with our drinks, they brought cold cuts…brachiola, mortadella, umbrian prosciutto. There were plates of cheeses with blackcurrant jam. Borage dipped in tempura batter and quick-fried. Cold cornbread with cheese and meat bits. Of course there were olives, and the saltless bread typical of Umbria (in the 1500s, the Pope levied a tax on salt, and Umbrians continue their defiance to this day).

Dinner in Amelia

Everyone we met in Italy was highly aware of food allergies, and Judy became quite an expert at advising her waiters “io sono allergico alle noce ed all uove.” Though there was plenty she could eat on the table, the owner made her a special plate of anchovies in oil with capers and onion. I was plenty willing to help her out with that. Our waiter Fabio and the owner Carlos turned out to be very hospitable, and we enjoyed their company. Fabio took us to the medieval kitchen and showed us the various fire places, ovens, and the ancient cistern.

La Domenica

Narni, Estd. 299 BC

A typical day in Italy involves coffee in the morning, an activity, a huge lunch, an afternoon rest, (most shops close for a couple of hours; in fact, Italians have a word, abbiocco, for the somnolent state one enters after a large, rich meal), more activity, and a late dinner. For natives and tourists alike, it’s a pleasant pattern. However, If you don’t like to read about other people’s meals, you can stop now, and generally just avoid reading travel notes about anybody’s trip to Italy!

The food is, of course, spectacular. Certainly in Umbria, close to 100% of the ingredients are local. Throughout Italy, the dishes are very simple, uncluttered, clean, with each region having its specialties and regional favorites.

An Umbrian salumeria

Sunday, we slept until noon (!), showered and dressed, and drove to Narni for lunch. Many of the ancient towns do not accommodate visitor automobile traffic, so in Narni we parked in the new town and rode a short funicular up to the old city for lunch. I hadn’t eaten a square meal in a couple of days, so it was much needed. There were crostini, mozzarella ravioli in pomodoro, and a local specialty, braised wild boar with polenta.

Faciendo la passeggiata

After lunch, we did our own version of the passeggiata, the traditional Italian walk through town, seeing and being seen. Naturally we stopped for espresso and gelato. Like everywhere we visited, there were Roman buildings and ruins scattered about.

In the grand Roman tradition of re-purposing every stone and every building when it is no longer needed for its original purpose, even Narni’s town hall was situated in an old Roman-era building on the medieval piazza.

Window plantings in Narni

So back to house for a nap, an Umbrian thunderstorm, and the promise of pizza from the house's wood oven that evening. Our host Michael, owner of the villa, started a fire in the oven around 3 in the afternoon and at about 8:30 in the evening, he and his wife Catherine showed up with 28 pizza crusts, herbs, tomatoes, sauce, and sausage. The first couple out of the oven were topped with just olive oil and rosemary. Fantastic. As he rolled each crust paper thin on a slab of white marble, Michael would add a couple of ingredients, slide the pizzas onto the floor of the oven and bake them for at most a minute or two. They came out crispy and delicious. We cut them into pieces and ate until we were stuffed.

Michael and his pizza station.

Notice the peels on the wall over his right shoulder.

Ravenous travelers

To Umbria!

The view from Lugnano

It wasn't easy to get there, but it was worth the effort!

Judy and I flew from Dulles to Heathrow on Friday night, arriving for our layover in time to eat a light breakfast and catch some of the royal wedding as it happened just a few miles away at Windsor Castle. Our afternoon flight arrived at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport, where, after a lengthy passport line, we arrived at baggage claim to find that someone had mistakenly taken my suitcase and left hers on the carousel. Several miracles happened, and at around midnight, I found the woman who had my luggage in a back hall at the airport. Judy and I jumped in our rented Fiat Panda and raced to our destination, arriving at 2AM on Sunday, 36 hours after leaving Charlottesville.

Lugnano from our house

We awoke at noon in Umbria, a region of ancient history, great natural beauty, vibrant culture, fantastic culinary traditions, and warm, open people. Our friends Willie and Joan had rented a home outside Lugnano in Teverina for two weeks and invited friends to join them for the second week. The house is a converted stone barn in the Apennine foothills surrounded by olive groves between the ancient towns of Lugnano and Amelia. The Tiber River flows nearby on its path to Rome.