Umbria in English

zaterdag 25 januari 2014

What I do miss sometimes

Note : I wrote this three years ago. Today, everything I missed then has now been realized.

Just saying.. because it seems like Í only see the good things here. I am not going to write who I miss, first, because it makes no sense, second, when I'm in Holland I sure miss my friends over here. What I miss are a few little, not very important things one could easily do without.
But since I have to leave on sunday, it seems like a good idea to jot down some things to look forward to.. so let's give it a try.
1. Pio. The only one I am not going to leave without. I wonder how long it takes before he has changed into a hunting, wild outside thing.
2. My kitchen and the things in it. However, I am not sure the electricity here can handle my cutter. But when one spends a lot of time making capocollo, ham and salami it would serve.I don't like to spill my energy over a dull knife.., so,
3. My knives. Though, in this land, butchers are still butchers, so you can ask for everything the way you'd want it. When I go to the butchers' here, I need two hours. Fifteen minutes to get there, one hour and a half in the store, for everyone has an opinion on what I buy, they all have better recipes and after that there's also the wounded foot of the neighbor of the aunt of Antonios' first cousins mother to discuss. And yet I am still the outsider... o, and fifteen minutes to head home.
4. My paintings - posters and things like that. But since I bought them all in Umbria, it won't be too hard to get me some new ones. So let me just mention the reproduction of a fifteenth century map.
5. The heating. Or at least hot water. It seems very nice to open the tap and have hot water running from it.
6. Matching plates and glasses and so on. To have six matching forks instead of four, matching bowls, six wineglasses that look fine instead of only three (that I bought) and three others that happen to look a little like wineglasses. But anyway, one time tourists and only half of it lasts.
7. Compost. Instead of dry, rocky ground. But hey, once planted, everything grows better in this land. And there's always Tudergreen.......

So, it means that the only thing I really have to transport is my lovely adorable Pio il mio Dio.What I

EVOO 2013

I wrote about the frantoi aperti before but being here in Umbria in fall means being immersed in olives, oil, catching nets, trees, rastrelli (rakes), coffins and more often than not you´ll see people in stained working clothes. There´s simply no way to avoid it.

Almost every village has its frantoio, the mill, where the local famers have their olives pressed and while waiting, have a bruschetta from the fire to taste the olio novello.

Once a year, to show the less fortunate how the process from growing olives to picking them and turn them into this liquid gold proceeds, the frantoi aperti (open mills) are organized. You can visit olive groves, see the inside of the mills, taste and buy the new oil and related products.

The easiest way is to subscribe to an organized guided tour by bus and get a completely organized tour, but you can also make your own choice and pick one or two frantoi. For the last three years, I went to Trevi and visited the Frantoio Olio di Trevi, for they really know how to throw a party.

Inside you can visit the factory, see and hear how the machines run and how the oil is canned or bottled.

There´s also a video running to show you the whole aforementioned process and some impressive, ancient used tools can be admired.

There´s a small trattoria to have a wine or a small dish at really acceptable prizes and think about the purchases you´ll make because the new oil is sold in the small shop in the front. You can buy different types of oil, olio famiglia, filtered or not, seasoned oil, olio delicato, several products made with olive oil, you name it. I wrote about that before.

Outside it´s always fun. I had a bruschetta again and admired the cheese and sausages that were sold.

I talked to some people who also enjoyed the atmosphere and the music played by Alter Ego and had a lot to say about olives, but we agreed on one thing: this is EVOO* and it deserves all four capitals.

When you have the opportunity: you can still go there today, or at least grab the chance next year.

Like I said, there's simply no way to avoid it...... because this is what we do in Umbria.

* Extra Vergine Olio di Oliva

Excellent Eggi

In the past two days I visited three spots in Umbria. Spoleto, that has been my hometown for ten years and that I was more or less forced to give up. When I was there, I used to have a fixed routine, starting with the Arco di Druso followed by a coffee at the Piazza del Mercato to chat with the owner, whom I still called `signore` and the formal `lei` even after ten years, while he, undisturbedly, called me `tu.` The Italians have their own opinion about how things should be and it only seemed right this way. After my coffee I used t head for the Duomo with a pause for visitiing the SS paolo e Pietro to admire the splendid fresco´s. I am not going to write anything about the Duomo for each book and every blogger has been going on and on about every detail of it. But don´t leave it for that would be a crime against culture.

After the Duomo I mostly walked the Ponte delle Torri and visited the Rocca Albornoz, or I went straight to the downhill street to visit the nice shops and think what a difference a lot of money could make. Then I used to walk back up to end (all wheezy) at the Angolo Anticho where the owner, Paolo, prepares a wild boar dish that gives the word `divino` a complete different sound.

I hadn´t been in Spoleto for three years and the first disappointment struck me immediately: my coffeebar was gone and the windows were covered with old newspapers. The SS Paolo e Pietro was closed and on my way to the Duomo, the newspapers became familiar. Thank God the Duomo was just the Duomo and beautiful as ever. Unfortunately, the road downhill had only more paperwork than shops to offer. I can only hope they´ve found a better location.

A little frustrated I had lunch at Ristorante Canasta near the Amphiteatre. The lunch was great, by the way.

I have to add that I was feeling a bit poorly, so maybe that affected my impression.

The next day I went to Spello – Splendidissima Colonia Julia and luckily, it still is. It was the Festa dell´ Infiorata on the occasion of Sacrament Sunday and the Procession of Corpus Domini. Also the houses were decorated with flowers, for there was a contest about the nicest balcony, window or `angolo.` From my point of view: there were a lot of competitors.

A good counterpart for the previous day.

My next stop was Eggi. I always considered it a hamlet situated at the beginning of the road to the Valnerina and I passed by a million times without a second thought, because, well, who ever visites Eggi? I did.

I am not a city girl but after Eggi, there´s no hope left I will ever become one. Eggi is a picturesque little village with small, steep alleys, a beautiful church with frescos inside and the remains of an old wall. Against that wall, the – each one off them very nice – inhabitants made lovely spots with fruit trees, vegetables and herbs.

Even the cats in Eggi were all friendly which is always a sign that life is good.

So again.... I am forever lost in the Umbrian countryside...

Trevi - terrific oil

It´s about time to pay the debt I collected in March. The perfect time to write part I about a place that I have visited for the first time in Novembre 2012 for the Frantoi Aperti:

Olio Trevi il Frantoio.

Even though I pick my own olives and therefor have my own EVOO – Extra Vergine Olive Oil – and have written about it more than once, it strikes me everytime I realize that this heartwarming experience is so unknown to people outside of Italy.

They know about olive oil, of course, but there´s a difference between knowing something and living something. The Umbrian people live their olives.

As I told you before I have stayed at Trevi for ten years and had a wonderful time. Even after having moved to the Todi area and fallen in love with it desperately, I visit Trevi every time I am in Umbria. The very view of the village, glued against the Monte Serano, will make you want to climb its alleys and discover what´s inside.

Just outside Trevi you can find the Frantoio, but it´s more than just a factory selling olive oil. Visiting it during the Frantoi Aperti was an event I am planning to repeat, for it was really big fun. Click here to read about it and see what you too can find too.

After this I kept thinking about a way to get people acquainted to the fluid gold I love so much and let them taste a great oil over a merely good one. That brought me to Olio Trevi Il Frantoio again.

The smell when you step inside will make you hungry and greedy on the spot.

You will get a view of the way they turn the small blue and green marbles into the oil that makes every meal a party and that will change an ordinary slice of bread into a dream you don´t want to wake up from.

And there´s more. Besides various types of plain olive oil, Olio Trevi il Frantoio sells several sorts of seasoned oil. I mention peperoncino (peppers), basil, lemon, anice, oregano and rosemary.

To continue, try an olive paste or the one with porcini, name it and it´s there. Their oil is even used for delicate cosmetics.

It´s all sold in the little shop at the factory and the only warning that I have to give you, is that it all looks so lovely that it will be hard to choose.

To learn more, there´s an excellent website you can check. Or...

wait for my part II.. because I have a few things you can actually taste. To be continued!

Splendid Scheggino and Fabulous Ferentillo

Today I decided to see some more of Umbria and I still wanted to see Monteleone di Spoleto, but right after the tunnel there was a sign to the Truffle museum in Scheggino with a punta vendita, which seemed very attractive so I ended up in Scheggino instead.

Wrong decision, because it only opens on saturdays and sundays. But as Scheggino was very lovely and I certainly will come back, it didn´t matter too much. Scheggino, situated on the Nera banks – if you like rafting, go there – offered the usual steep alleys, very well kept, a nice church (closed) and a medieval wall. In the centre of the village was a small canal and in it was a man with a scythe, cutting the weeds. I took a picture but it seemed a little impertinent to approach him while he was working so hard in this wretched heat, so the picture is not very good.

After Scheggino the road went to Ferentillo, and since I have always wanted to see the Abbazzia San Pietro in Valle, I decided to skip Monteleone definitely (this time). It takes some patience to get there, for the road up is steep, narrow and you can make sure there will be a farmer driving 30 kmph in front of you, and it ends in an unpaved road, but when you have endured all that, you sure know why you did it.

The Abbazzia is wonderful, it has fresco´s on both sides, on the right all scenes from the New Testament, an altar on the left with two very small, low and narrow entrances, a Lo Spagna fresco and several tombs that are well kept and beautifully decorated.

The entranceticket was also valid for `The Mummies` at Ferentillo. It sounds like a movietitle, but in fact the museum was very nice. It is situated in a former church that also contained the graveyard, but after a law prescribed that all graveyards ha to be moved outside the citywalls, they dug up the bodies and they appeared to be mummified, because of a micro-organism that withdraws the liquids from a body and keeps the rest intact. This mummifying process only takes about a year.

Each mummy had its own story or legend, mighty interesting...though I hope I can still sleep at night...

And no pics allowed, so go there and have a bad dream too..

After that I had a great lunch at Trattoria di Marilu in Piediluco, with a view of the lake. Fish, of course, so I got company. Too bad for him I had just finished it all.

Overwhelming Orvieto

If you ever make it to Umbria, you may not forget to visit Orvieto in the provincia of Terni. More famous than my beloved Todi, it attracts more tourists too, but they know how to appreciate its beauty so you can enjoy the lovely spots together.

Of course you have at least heard of the famous Duomo. Its facade can only be desribed as impressive and you can sit down and watch it for hours. I am not going to give you more details, because every writer in the world already did so. The interiour has a serene atmosphere and is absolutely overwhelming for its height an brightness. Don´t forget to visit the Capella San Brizio and admire Signorelli´s masterpieces.

The Piazza del Duomo is a great place to have a coffee and watch other people that, like you, are impatient to see more of the town.

For there is a lot more. Nice souvenir shops where you will certainly find something you like and good restaurants and trattoria´s to have a lunch with one of Orvieto´s specialties, like pollo orvietana or pigeon and, of course, drink an Orvieto Classico. I have my favourite, but I won´t influence you for they all have a good hand on food.

Orvieto has an few interesting museums, for example the Museo dell´opera del Duomo or the Etruscan museum. The good thing is that the tourist office, located at the end of the Piazza del Duomo, sells the so called Carta Unica that will permit you to visit several museums and attractions all by one card.

I went to Orvieto Underground. It was very interesting. The two caves that are open to public provide an impression of the more than thousand caves in the town. All of them are still private property and used as wine or food cellars. The two I visited were used for those purposes too. The second one showed an amount of holes in the walls, used to breed pigeons, and a deep well to provide water. The first showed a complete olive mill.

That way, the town was assured of having enough supplies in case of a siege from the valley. Later, in World War II, the second cave had been served as a shelter for the hospital in case of bombing (which, fortunately, never happened).

The last thing I have to tell you is, that the entrance ticket will give you a shortage for Narni Sotteranea, about which I wrote before. Click here to read about it.

If you still have time left, there´s the Torrel del Moro from which you have an amazing view of the Umbrian landscape, or

roam around Orvieto´ small streets and alleys......

…...and on´t forget to look up now and then.

My career as a writer: Why I love Umbria so much, my first guestpost

For everyone that wants to read my guestpost for Discovering Umbria:

http://networkedblogs.com/zYv36

It was a great experience to write this guestpost and I thank my friend Alessandra Malozzi for giving me the opportunity. Yet, it made me think about the reason why I love Umbria so much and it keeps me busy since then. Umbria is home to me. Its food comforts me, for it´s not too hard to prepare and yet, when you have finished your lunch or dinner, you feel completely satisfied. Its environments are so amazing, that it is impossible not to feel good.

Its people are special. As I wrote in my blog, I love their pride to be Umbrian, but it is more than that. Umbrians don´t pretend. They are what they are and they never try to hide the truth. I really love my `contadini` friends over there.
My neighbor in Viepri, Marcello, owns sixty hunting dogs. I don´t think I have to tell you how that sounds at 5.00 am. Let alone, how my two German Shepherds react to them. We never talk about it, I don´t complain, he doesn´t apologize... but he lets me collect the figgs from his tree. Our way of telling each other it´s allright.

There´s another neighbor, Bruna. She thinks I don´t understand her (which is true, because she speaks Umbrian only) so she always greets me very cheerfully, but hardly talks to me. But every time I am in Umbria, she leaves me a basket filled with eggs and after that, I can never thank her because she doesn´t show up anymore. So I tell my neighbor to tell her that I am very grateful and it seems to work out, for the eggs are always there.

Another experience worth mentioning is the day I went out to buy shoes. After ten minutes, we had to pull over because there was a dog on the road, exhausted, it seemed ill and we just had to get it into our car and drive back to the village of Viepri. A few men standing outside started phoning around, telling everyone that `there were some American tourists that found a dog.` To be short: after half an hour, someone arrived and was too happy to have his dog back... and asked me if I had seen the other one he lost, and, of course, he offered me a coffee at his place.
We left and guess what.. we found the other dog. So we drove back in a hurry and fortunately, the men were still there so we could hand over the other dog too.
And then, the special, heartwarming Umbrian spirit came clear.. the owner told us he owned a restaurant in Viepri and he would be honoured to serve us a dinner, and then, the whole village came to see what was going on and they thought it was only correct to reward me for bringing back the dogs.

For all these things, the Umbrian people make me feel welcome and appreciated. How can I possibly not love them? I just hope I may enjoy their hospitality forever and I hope it won´t take too long to be one of them.

Marcellos horses that I feed secretly