Highlights: A tour of the Diogini vineyardl, a fabulous view at from the winery, and dinner prepared by Chef Simone at the villa ...
One of the things we have found so appealing about Italy and the Italians throughout the years is their ability to slow down and enjoy the life that is right before their eyes, noses, ears, tongues and fingers. Often summed up in the phrase la dolce vita, we have built our business and our lives around spreading the gospel of slow. And we even sum it up in Via Umbria’s tagline – Discover | Savor | Share.
Italians don’t just pay lip service to savoring life, they simply cannot ignore this genetic predisposition, ingrained as it is in their DNA. More than once when involved in business negotiations or getting to know a new supplier we would break for lunch and rather than continuing the negotiations over the meal all talk of business would be banished until the last grappa was consumed. Usually three or four hours later
But despite being ambassadors for this way of life, we have always had a difficult time walking the walk. Anyone who has travelled on one of our tours and who has gotten to take a peek behind the curtain knows that in organizing these apparently carefree experiences, the reality is anything but. It’s not just that the candle is burnt on both ends, the leftover wax is literally doused in lighter fluid and until the table itself is set aflame and the house afire.
And so as we returned to Italy last week, the first five days to be shared with both our daughter and one of our sons, we resolved to be truly Italian. To slow down and put aside all thoughts of work or business, anything that would distract from enjoying the here and now of being with our family. And despite not just a mountain, but a whole range of Everests that demanded our attention – more than you, dear reader will ever know – we did a pretty good job of staying focused on the things that matter. Family. Friends. Connections.
And what a memorable and meaningful five days it was.
Five short days with family. But when you slow down and savor each moment as we did this week, it seems like a blessed eternity. The Italians definitely have gotten something dead on right.
Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy
One of the things we have found so appealing about Italy and the Italians throughout the years is their ability to slow ...
Only in Italy can you sit down to a dinner of a dozen pizzas and describe it as “a light dinner.” Welcome to pizza night at la Fattoria del Gelso.
We have enjoyed pizza all over the peninsula, from Puglia to Piemonte, from Udine to Umbria. Several years ago, joined by our friends Pete and Nancy we devoted a full two and a half days to touring every pizzeria Naples could throw our way, eating and judging our way through nearly a dozen of the world’s most highly regarded pizzerias sampling scores of margheritas, marinaras and pizze bianche.
Pizza is an Italian icon but one with many variations and many personalities. Frequently we hear spirited arguments about the virtues of a soft, fluffy crust versus a crisper, cracker-y crust. We tend to side with the former but respect the latter.
One of the favorite activities on our Food and Wine tours (as well as our weekly rentals) is pizza night with Marco. Being Umbrian, perhaps Marco is not a natural born pizza maker. But over the past couple of years he has thrown himself into the pizza making process with such gusto that today you might mistakenly think he had been born in Naples. Of particular pride is his handmade pizza dough, a recipe introduced to us by our Cannarese neighbor Jennifer McIlvaine but worked and reworked by Marco. In our simple outdoor oven Marco is able to coax a fluffy, doughy crust that has volume, substance and flavor.
Pizza night is a hands on affair, with guests participating as much or as little as they wish. Most help stretch out some of the doughs. Most help top pizzas with tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella and assorted other ingredients available in the farmhouse kitchen, including local Cannara onions, fresh sausage from Norcia, truffle sauce, vegetables from the garden and myriad other toppings. Some of the favorites are gorgonzola, pear and nut, sausage and onion and anything with truffle.
As you can see below, pizza time is not just for our adult guests. Earlier this month Marco’s children Carlo Alberto and Viola joined him in the kitchen to make pizzas and then enjoyed them at the table along with their mother Chiara.
Welcome to pizza night at la Fattoria del Gelso. Buon appetito!
Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy
The best "light dinner" Read more
Only in Italy can you sit down to a dinner of a dozen pizzas and describe it as “a light dinner.” Welcome ...
“George Washington slept here.” So proclaim signs ringing in an impossible number of villages and towns along the East coast, each seeking to burnish its reputation by associating with one of our most famous and respected forebears.
“In questo luogo santo Francesco insengno le laudi di Dio…” announces a small shrine, barely noticeable along the road that connects our village of Cannara to nearby Bevagna. It is on that spot that our native son, Saint Francis of Assisi, is reputed to have delivered his Sermon to the Birds.
“George Washington slept here.” So proclaim signs ringing in an impossible number of villages and towns along the East coast, each seeking ...
Just a short post on a lazy Sunday morning in Umbria. Continue reading Spring Forward
Just a short post on a lazy Sunday morning in Umbria. Yes, we’re back in Umbria, back home after a few days at ...
Often – well, pretty much always -we take for granted the little stuff, the daily stuff, the routine stuff. And this is certainly true when talking about our first activity of the day here in Italy – breakfast. Continue reading Good Morning
Often – well, pretty much always -we take for granted the little stuff, the daily stuff, the routine stuff. And this is ...
