Deruta, Todi, Assisi, and Monte Falco

September 27

Another nice morning. A little overcast and quite cool. Today we plan to go to Collepepe to buy sausages, and go to Deruta to the market, and shop for ceramics. Then we'll go to Todi for lunch. For breakfast there are apples from the market, cheese, the good ham we bought and some left over apple cake.

We headed out with the Tom Tom to find Andreas the butcher in Collepepe. Success. We met a cute dog named betty and a pretty black and white cat name Lusa (? I think). Then we headed to Deruta to go to the market there. It was a nice one. Lots of clothes stores, shoes, cooking stuff, produce, pork products, etc. We bought spinach, onions and roma tomatoes. Then we walked up into the town (very steep road and steps). Millions of pottery shops. Such pretty stuff. We girls bought either a pair of earrings or a pendant.

It was 11:30 so we decided since we had time to drive to Todi to the restaurant with the view. We drove up and parked just outside the walls. Then we walked up into the town. Very steep and lots of traffic coming down the hill. I took a tumble on a street with tiny, hard to see stairs on the sides but not in the middle. I was OK except for a few bruises.

It really is a lovely town. Brad thought it the most picturesque town so far. Up at the top there's a really big square with a church on one side and the town hall etc., We walked to the Ristorante Umbria and BOOOOO it was closed. I forgot to look to see what day it was closed. So now we had to punt. We were directed to 4 small restaurants by a hotel lady. We chose Pane e Vino because Luther remembered it was in one of our books. We were seated in a back room (sad because it was beautiful out) at a big table. It was very cluttered with wine on all surfaces. We got a nice Orvietto white and a Sagrantino de Monte Falco. The most fun thing was we ordered the typico platter which had about 15 things on it. We got two to split. Brad got his own. The first part was a plate of meats. Game, venison, duck, boar, pork cured meats. The second platter was small cheeses with a wine jelly to pair with it. The third one was melted Roquefort cheese and a half tomato on top. A bread with lardo on it. Chewy bacon like meat with balsamic glaze and a cabbage leaf stuffed with very pungent melted cheese. Whew! My main course was beef filet with balsamic glaze on arugula. It was of varying thicknesses so parts were rare and parts were well done. It tasted great. See the food!


Pretty entry
Rose window
Sun on stained glass
Todi - pretty flowers
Todi - pretty flowers
Todi - arch
Todi - steps

We walked back to the car and drove back "home". Bill, Cindy, Sophie and I went out to the pool where most of us swam in the bracing water, then sat under the "sail" for a while.

We all gathered to watch L'Eredita again. Everyone is really into it. Dinner was the sausage we bought from the butcher, the red and white beans we got, garlic and spinach. It was good. At the table several of us crumbled hot peppers into our pasta and made the mistake of touching our faces. We were on FIRE! We had to get the ice tray out and rub our faces with it.


Dinnertime
Cindy Icing face
Bill Icing face
After dinner cigar

We sat outside and had some grappa and wine then went to bed.

September 28

Today is the day we go to Assisi and meet the Audets for lunch. The day is again fine but very cool as it always is in the morning. Everyone got up before us and got breakfast going.

We headed for Assisi at about 9:45AM - it was very hazy. We arrived with no problem and parked in the underground lot and rode the elevator up to the town. We hiked on up through the streets heading for San Francesco church where St. Francis' remains are.

We looked at the beautiful frescoes and went into the lower church and descended yet again into the crypt. It was surprisingly un crowded. It's a beautiful place and I think of all the saints, St. Francis I like the most.

We headed back toward the main piazza and did quite a lot of shopping on the way, well Sophie did! We stopped for beverages in that piazza and watched all the tourists. They were from all over the world.

Next we walked up the street where our lunch restaurant was situated. There was construction going on in front of it but it was up a set of steps with a small terrace. The name of it was Piazzetta del'Erba. This day we were meeting a couple who live in Florence for lunch. We had met them only once before when they lived in Virginia before moving to Italy.

We did some more shopping and it was time for lunch. Ron and Linda were in front of the restaurant and I recognized them. Our table was set on the terrace which was nice except for the construction noise. We figured they'd quit for lunch but they packed up all their cranes etc. and actually drove off. Then it was quiet. We had a really nice lunch and everyone enjoyed meeting Ron and Linda. There was lively conversation. I had what they called a tower of vegetables which I liked a lot. It had eggplant, mozzarella, tomato, and pesto. Very interesting. Then I had paparadelle with funghi. It was excellent. Others got the braised beef. Sophie got her whole grain fix with quinoa. Luther got caprese salad. We had two bottles of white and two of red. It was a very fun time. See the food!

We took our leave of Ron and Linda and headed back to the car. Driving back we stopped at Lungarotti for some wine and got home by 4PM. This evening we were to go to a wine tasting and appetizers at our host's house. We read and rested and I showered. We headed over to their house precisely at 6PM.

Their house looks the same on the outside but it's quite different on the inside. It has only 2 bedrooms and that room was an extension of the already large living room. The kitchen was different too. Her stovetop was over in the corner rather than on the island.

We tasted a very local white with some bubbles in it. Quite tasty. With it we had focaccia with tomatoes and olives on top and stuffed mushrooms. Then we had a Monte Falco lightish red with cheese chunks and 2 kinds of salami, one was wild boar. Bread with fig jam, gorgonzola and caramelized onions and a melted cheese dish with pesto that you spooned over bread with a second Monte Falco red that was much more tannic but very good too. A lot of food.

We had a nice conversation. I had tons of questions about the house and the logistics of living half time in Europe. We found out Louie was president of MacDonalds Canada and was also president of MacDonalds Italy. He didn't seem to want to tell us or was shy about it anyway. He started out when he was 17 years old at the French fryer. Can you believe that story? They also have a cute little yorkie named Lucca.

Back to the house for more conversation and more wine, as if we needed that!

September 29

Up to another beautiful day. Still hazy though. Today is a slow day. All we have planned is to drive to Monte Falco for lunch. I want to buy some wine and olive oil and maybe some farro. We are having a nice breakfast on the terrace. Deborah had brought us a beautiful plum tart which made a perfect breakfast treat.

At about 11:00AM we left for Montefalco and lunch. We took the TomTom and it worked very well. The route was really scenic. It was the Olive Oil road as well as the Sagrentino road. All along the way were a patchwork of olive groves and grape vines. Quintessentially Italian.

Montefalco was still a tiny little place as I remembered. It has a town gate that you walk through and then straight up the hill. This is the only street in town with any shops on it. There were linen shops (they have beautiful linen in Italy), specialty food and wine shops, a shop selling olive wood items, one jewelry shop, a real estate place, and a barber shop. When you reach the top there is a big empty piazza. There's a row of parking there and on one side two restaurants with outside tables. Across from the road that enters is an Enotecca with wine, olive oil and specialty grains etc. Next to it is a food specialty shop.

Our lunch spot today was L'Alchemista - highly recommended by Louie and Deborah. We had called for reservations and they had a table outside ready for us. We sat down at about 12:30. As usual we were the first patrons.

I had carpacchio - marinated on a salad which was exquisite. My other course was strangiolli with fresh truffles. Also very good. Luther got a farro salad and pasta with sausage, Sophie got a melted cheese dish with ham that she put on bread and the farro salad. Bill got the carpacchio too and a gnocci dish in Sagrentino sauce. Cindy got the caprese salad and the truffle pasta like I got. Everyone loved everything and got very full as usual. We had a bottle of Fongoli white and two of Tenuta CastelBuono Sagrantino. All were perfect. A great meal. See the food!


L'Alchemista for lunch
Flowers in Monte Falco
Monte Falco street
Monte Falco street
Monte Falco Piazza

Back we went with the Tom Tom leading the way and now I'm sitting on the terrace catching up on the journal. It's pretty breezy but not as bad as yesterday. Temperature is very nice.

We watched L'Eredita and the woman actually WON! First time I'd ever seen that. I made risotto with bacon, leeks and a poached egg on top. Everyone seemed to like it.