Italy (Lakes-Emilia Romagna-Umbria-Le Marche) 2011

 

More than on any other trip to Italy we found the locals to be especially chatty on this trip.  Perhaps because this is an area that doesn’t see a lot of Americans, and then they are so surprised by our command of Italian that they just start talking.

This was only our second time renting a car in Italy, and we lost a lot of Euros spinning around in circles due to poor signage.  We had decided against a GPS because we’d already been warned that they are unreliable in the small towns, but next time we’ll get one.

Warning:  If you are relying on a credit card, you might want to ask first if their machine is working.  On this (and prior) trips their credit card machines mysteriously stop working thereby forcing you to pay cash.  I think in my whole life in the USA this has happened maybe twice, yet in Italy it seems to happen twice per 2-week trip.

We tried to list prices whenever possible and realize that our spending on meals is slightly out of line with with our budget philosophy.  However, this is Italy and food is the single most enjoyable aspect of travel there.  We don’t eat in any fancy Michelin star restaurants (and this is neither necessary nor desirable in this country), but it does still cost to eat a variety of foods and courses.  The money is well spent, and here is not where you want to skimp.

31 March

Iberia flight canceled, and like a dream we get rebooked on the original British Airways flight we wanted through LHR (but that was too expensive)!

1 April

Thanks to our flight change we now have enough time to drive up to Lake Maggiore in our brand new Fiat Panda, with just 6 km on it.  Balmy and sunny.  We stop near Baveno in the village of Lesa for Pim Pum Pam Pizza with3 cheeses and arugula plus risotto with radicchio at Toio e Lella (dining al fresco along the lake). A pizza, risotto, bottled water and the cover charge come to 23 Euros.  Vito enjoys his 1^st gelato of the trip at Gelateria Capriccio in Bevano, where the scooper is an unfriendly youth in Clark Kent glasses (1.5 Euros for a small cone).

Dinner tonight with our Facebook “cousins,” Andrea and Antonella.  A bit lost (more than a bit?) trying to find their apartment.  Delicious dinner of veal Milanese, good conversation and our friend Willy the round-faced cat.

2 April

Stop at a mini-Auto Grill to purchase a ViaCard, like a debit card to use on the Autostrada.  Ultimately it serves no purpose since we had to pay cash for it, and the Autostrada toll booths take credit cards anyway.

For lunch we stopped in the small town Spilamberto and had a very good smoked salmon with tagliatelle and spaghetti with clams (white sauce) at Da Charly.  The owner, Carlo Nigris, was very friendly and chatty.  They recommended the gelato shop a few blocks away on Corso Umberto, simply called Gelato, which is organic.  We sampled the following flavors:  balsamic vinegar with figs, Amalfi Coast lemon and nut, ricotta and honey (2.20 per cone).  The Tesoro di Spilamberto exhibit celebrated the town’s 800^th anniversary and had a display of items found in ancient tombs that were excavated in the area.

It was a sunny, warm Saturday and the start of the cherry festival in Vignola.  Many vendors were gathered in the marketplace, and we sampled excellent cheese, prosciutto, vinegar and other items.  We had them make us sandwiches for dinner and cork a bottle of 2.50 Euro wine, which was very good.  We also toured the medieval fortress, La Rocca di Vignola, which is well-preserved with some frescoes and good views plus free admission. Stopped en route to Bologna at a “mercato usato,” essentially a flea market.    Bologna Sheraton near the airport is comfortable.

3 April

Drove through back roads to the town of Longiano.  Visited the Tito Balestra Museum, which houses the artist’s personal collection and offers outstanding views of the town below.  Our main purpose in visiting the town was to eat lunch at Il Ristorante dei Cantoni (or I Cantoni,) as recommended in the Slow Food guide (on via Santa Maria, 19, marked with some signs and known to everyone in town).  Ate a soup with the local pasta – passarelli, which are made with egg, breadcrumbs, nutmeg? – cappellaci with greens, roast pork with balsamic, crème brulee filled with figs (ciotala di crema brucciata con fichi caramellati),

pecorino cheese (formaggio di fossa di sogliano) with jams (“con composte tipiche”), and a wonderful dessert wine, Albana Passita di Romagna. Words cannot describe the deliciousness of it all, plus with its semi al fresco dining area it was a marvelous experience all around!  The entire feast cost 55 Euro.  We have managed to find this wine stateside in a few places, where it goes for roughly $60-70 a bottle.

Back to our Agriturismo Montespino, which turned out to be quite disappointing.  The room had a dank smell, could really use a coat of paint and new linens, the TV didn’t work, and all night long we smelled the cigarettes of the Romanian caretaker and heard him hacking up a lung.  We had no view, even though we were in the countryside.  The stairs around the back are all uneven, and the walk is a bit dangerous, especially with luggage. The meal, however, was delicious and included tagliatelle with stridoli (wild greens), stinco (a roast pork dish) and a good cheese plate.

We would recommend eating there (if you can find the place), but definitely not staying there.  When we arrived the owners had friends over, and they sat in all the outdoor chairs and smoked and left no place for the paying guests to sit.  Breakfast was fine, with homemade cakes. When we decided to leave early we were offered a different room, but the rooms in the main building seemed very dark and uninviting (and despite being very unsatisfied we were not granted the original 10% discount we had been offered for a stay of 3 nights since we were now staying only 2).  We spent 168 Euros for 2 nights plus one dinner for two, complete with wine.  Certainly not a bad value, but about the norm for this area and this quality.

4 April

Morning in the Republic of San Marino, walking along its medieval walls.  Lots of duty free shopping with cheap liquor, but we didn’t buy anything.  The museums are mostly tourist traps, so we didn’t go into any.

Using the Slow Food guide we headed to Montebello/Torriana for lunch at Ristorante Pacini, on the via Castello directly across from the castle. The town is known for its castle, haunted by the ghost of L’Azzurini, a little blue girl lost in its walls.  The town is picturesque and quiet. The owner highly recommended that we have the coniglio in porchetta – rabbit cooked with wild fennel – and it was the best dish we had all trip.  It was really outsanding, as was the gelato with caramelized figs (homemade) and the porcospino (porcupine) cake.  Lunch total 40 Euro.

A stop in Santarcangelo di Romagna yielded a church with a body of an uncorrupted minor saint, and the visit was complete with a gelato break at Sweet Line on Via Marini 1, across from the parking lot (1.80 per cone). At the supermarket we forgot to weigh the tomatoes before checking out, so that was an ordeal.  In Montegridolfo the town was all shut down, but we spied the door ajar at the WWII Museum (the Goth’s Line Museum) and let ourselves in.  The caretaker came out but welcomed us to look around, and we bought a lavender sachet from the gift shop. We discovered  information about some brothers from the area who fought on opposite sides of the war, one on the Italian side and the other for the Americans  because he had emigrated to my hometown of Waterbury, CT!

Stopped at a dairy farm near our agriturismo and had a long chat with the owner, Mauro Pintus. He told us how he sells different cheeses to different towns because tastes are so regionalized that one cheese that sells well in one town is considered “fit for the pigs” just a few miles away.

5 April

We took a quick stop in the town of Mondaino, which has its own palio in a tiny piazza. We had the only rain of our trip en route to Urbino.  The city reminded us a bit of Siena, but without all the tourists (which is what we said to a reporter from Italian TV who stopped us for an interview on the street).  It has a lively buzz because of all of the college students.

The Ducal Palace has an impressive art collection but is small enough to be manageable. The clerk at a shop where we bought some wine recommended Taverna degli Artisti for lunch (which was also in Lonely Planet) on via Bramante 52, and we dined on great strozzapreti pasta with a cream sauce with mushroom and sausage (30 Euros).

Spotting signs for an Azienda we stopped at Morello Austera, which makes cherry products. We toured the facility and were given samples. We bought the Viscioli (cherry desert wine), cherries in syrup and a tart cherry jam.  We also sampled their eau de vie, but we had already met our duty limit. They export to Dean & DeLuca.

In Gubbio we had free parking near the Roman Theater and then had a short walk to our hotel, the Residenza di Via Piccardi.  The Lonely Planet map was a bit confusing, but we found it.  Unbelievably friendly innkeeper, and the hotel is sparkling clean, central and a bargain at 50 Euros (the owners also have an agriturismo — Colle del Sole — in the surrounding area, which I’m sure is also excellent!

At the tourist office we purchased the Turisticard, which comes with an audioguide that you can keep overnight (they keep documenti, but they happily accepted a color photocopy of our passport). We walked around with our audioguides and tried to take a photo in front of the statue of St. Francis with the wolf (Gubbio is known for the legend of Francis taming the wild wolf).

We had an expensive (60 Euro, no dessert but cost regrettably driven up by octopus salad appetizer at 13 E), but delicious, dinner that included a pasta frutta di mare.  La Locanda de Avalon on Via della Repubblica 45 appears at first to merely be a pizzeria, but seafood awaits those who ask!

6 April

Gubbio is a beautiful city, and most of the tourists are just school kids who were in town for a dinosaur exhibit. Breakfast was a delicious home-made strawberry tart.  The ceramics museum is in an old tower and has a magnificent display of ceramics across the centuries.

One highlight of the trip was the permanent crèche on display behind the church.  Water flows, and music plays as different lights go on and off and simulate sunrise and sunset.  Luckily we had the place all to ourselves to enjoy the magic!

We took the scary funivia (gondola, ride included in the Turisticard) to the top of the hill to see the church and uncorrupted body of St. Ubaldo (dead since the 14^th century). The view from the top is terrific. 

We decided to walk back down, and our quads felt it for days. There was a touching memorial stone along the way to a young man from the city killed during WWII.

After a short nap we visited the Palazzo dei Consuli, famous for the Eugebine Tablets (an Etruscan Rosetta Stone).  Alessio Bartolini at the Buca del Tartufo (Via XX Settembre 33) helped us select items and explained how his family hunts for truffles. He recommended Picchio Verde restaurant, which was fine (and we had a small discount with the tourist card) but not memorable.  After dinner we had delicious gelato San Martino, including a peanut butter-type flavor (and paired with berry it was like PB&J gelato).

7 April

Early morning departure to Assisi to miss the tourist crowds (which was very smart because the Basilica was already filling up).  Parking was easy at the Piazza Giovanni Paolo II parking structure (which was 8 Euros for 6 hours).  We had a couple of breakfast pastries and a coffee (4.5 Euros total) along with nice chat with the owner (who kindly gave us a city map) of F & M Café on the walk into the center, on via Piaggia S. Pietro, 3.  In the café we stood next to a monk who we later saw begging for alms on the street.  My wife had been to Assisi in  1998, but then it was mostly covered in scaffolding from the ’97 earthquake.  Now it was completely restored and really charming.

We did a lot of walking and then ended up at another slow food restaurant. We ordered the tasting menu which included grilled lamb, the ravioli of the day, and a nice bean appetizer.  Trattoria Pallotta is probably one of the best choices for good food in what is an otherwise very touristic city (on Vicolo della Volta Pinta, it is tucked back a bit, and you’re unlikely to stumble upon it unless you’re looking.  50 Euros.   It was also listed in our Slow Food guide book. 

St. Clare’s church was completely crowded, and it was hard to see her relics and her uncorrupted body (which is, in fact, covered in wax). We drove onwards afterwards to Spello, which is very nice and worth a visit along its cobblestone streets. We tried to stop in Nocera Umbra but somehow missed the entrance so just decided to skip it.

We ordered a pizza in Gubbio at the same place we’d had dinner (8  Euros), and the manager gave us 2 cups of ice for our bear. The pizza was good, and we enjoyed eating in our hotel’s garden.  We went back for more PB&J gelato. Don’t name your son Pietro, because on our way back from gelato we saw a kid graffiti his name onto a stone bench with a black marker, and we were reminded that a couple of days before a teacher was scolding a kid named Pietro in the Urbino museum. We also saw a teacher slap a kid on the shoulder because he was goofing off – never in America!

8 April

We walked around the seaside resort Fano. Workers were busy painting and getting everything ready to open up for Easter. The restaurant near Pesaro where we wanted to eat wasn’t open for lunch (as the book said, but we were hoping…).  The owner recommended another place to eat, Osteria Focara, a few miles away in Fiorenzuola di Focara.  Our piadina with squaquerone cheese and arugula was fantastic, but the pasta lacked flavor (30 Euros including dessert and wine).  We got a 15 minute lecture after requesting cheese (since it had clams, this is not allowed!) The lecture ended with, “I can see I have not convinced you!”  And yes, the pasta was 200% improved with cheese.

The upside of the meal was that it was across the street from a pathway down the cliff to the waterfront, where we didn’t linger since there were some sketchy campers hanging out there.  About ½ way along the walk there is a refuge where the villagers would sleep during WWII bombing raids. Nearby Rimini was almost completely destroyed, and just a month before our visit some demolition work had unearthed a large bomb shell.

Dowtown Rimini if bustling with activity. The Malatesta Temple, which somehow was sparing during WWII bombing, is unique and beautiful. We walked through a shell of a bombed-out building that is now a city park.  We got gelato at La Scintilla (Corso d’Augusto 148, 2.50 a cone), and the banana flavor was excellent.

We stopped at a Commonwealth WWII cemetery along the road.  Each headstone has a unique epitaph, many of them very moving.

9 April

Nearly 10 years after our honeymoon we returned to Bologna.  Then it was cold and we got hot chocolate.  Now it was hot and we  had fantastic gelato at the amazing Gelatauro (thank you, Slow Food, and well worth the walk a little away from the center on via s. Vitale 98 and 2.20 a cone).  Enthusiastic praise for owner Giovanni Figliomeni for not only the gelato but for the baked goods and other food stuffs sold in his shop!  He mentioned his brother-in-law is from Boston, and we’d gladly welcome him home with open arms.

There is no traffic allowed in the historic center, so we have to park the car to the tune of almost 30 Euros for the day! There is a tacky flea market with bad quality Chinese goods near the large garage. We walked through San Petronio Church, where we had attended mass as newlyweds.

The Piazza Maggiore was crowded, and a line formed for its lone water fountain.  We grabbed a snack at Mangi’nGiro (roughly translated to eat and run), which serves tigalle (like piadina but smaller, so this place is technically a tigelleria).  The menu consists of every combination of different fillings in every combination they could conceive, both sweet and savory (with a takeout menu translated into British-English) and using regional ingredients like balsamic and fig jam.

Later we had a full lunch of pumpkin tortelli with balsamic at Clive on via Clavature 17/C (25 Euros for the two pasta entrees with cover).  It turned out to be a free museum day, so we went into the Museo Civico and the medieval museum and sat through a bit of mass to kill time before dinner.

The famous Trattoria del Rosso is cheap but nothing great (30 euros for a simple dinner).  Grilled polenta with a bacala mousse seemed strange but was good. The highlight of getting lost going back to the hotel was spotting hookers on the road near the convention center.

10 April

The drive to Milan took about 3 hours. We stopped at a massive Autogrill that was crawling with German tourists.  Imagine stopping at a rest stop along the MassPike and being able to buy a selection  of gourmet foods!

We met up with our “Facebook cousins” Andrea and Antonella for a trip up to Lake Orta. There was a mini antique car show in town, and we checked it out while waiting for the boat to the little island.  The boats are 4 Euros round trip and run regularly.  The island is tiny but has a pleasant monastery and little church with the body of St. Giglio.

The gas station didn’t make change for our 50 Euro note, and we had to go back for the money in the morning (which the receipt said to do).  Lesson learned – only pay in smaller bills!

11 April

Relaxed breakfast before heading home via Heathrow.