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All Good Wine Tours Must Come to an End, Unfortunately.

11/17/2014

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Well, what can I say? Today is the last day of the tour. How did this happen so fast?! We have seen, done, and tasted an amazing number of things. But....today is the last day of the tour!
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We pack up the van for the last time, and make our way back to Rome. But as per usual, I want them to see and experience just a little bit more before they go home. It would be a shame to leave Umbria without a stop in Spoleto, and to top it off, it is simply a gorgeous day!
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As usual, my goal in having my clients trek around these charming hill towns is to make them hungry for lunch, and today is no exception. The historic center of Spoleto can be very vertical. Combine that with the fresh air, sightseeing and shopping....and yes, we are ready for lunch! Good thing too, because we're in for a real treat. Today is our Farewell Lunch (sob, sob), so I've organized an elegant and fancy affair at Ristorante Apollinare. We will be in the hands of Chef Michele, who never fails to make me swoon with his delicious menus. Here's our starter. It is beyond amazing.
In Italian, Michele calls this, Tortino di zucchine con salsa di zucca gialla e fiore di zucca farcito di formaggio e tartufo, or in other words:  Zucchini pie with pumpkin sauce and squash blossom stuffed with cheese and truffle. Yes. I know. You can't believe it either! The zucchini pie was so tender, the pumpkin sauce so flavorful, the zucchini blossom so fresh, and then you get hit with the cheese and truffles.....swoon. All I can think is, "This is only the beginning; please don't let it end."
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I apologize for the poor pictures, but from left to right, we had, Frascarelli della nonna con crema di pomodoro e pesto di basilico, Filetto di vitello al timo con millefoglie di verdure and Crescionda spoletina agli amaretti e cioccolato con gelato alla vaniglia fatto in casa. So what does all that mean?
The first dish on the left is pasta with grandmother's cream of tomato and basil pesto. Then comes the most delicious and tender veal fillet with thyme and layers of vegetables. It was Amazing with a capital "A". For dessert, we had a local specialty of amaretti and chocolate with homemade vanilla ice cream. That one made my eyes roll back in my head. Seriously. Delicious. I think I simply will never be able to go to Spoleto without paying Chef Michele a visit. 
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And now that our Farewell Lunch is over, and we make our way back to Rome....it really is time to say goodbye. They take final pictures with our driver Christopher who has been by our side for the last ten days. 
This group has been SO amazing. They have been funny and fun. They have appreciated everything they see, do and taste. It has been my honor to escort them about Italy. I will miss them; they were such a joy!
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Sausage and Black Celery Festival…..a great evening in Trevi

11/10/2014

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My clients have long come to realize that when they travel with me…..they eat well.  Sometimes, I admit we eat too much, but we do eat well. Today, is no exception. We have a couple of great treats in store; a lovely lunch, a riotous wine tasting, and finally the unique treat of a Sausage and Black Celery Festival. Whew! But first, we need to build up an appetite. And what better way to do that, than with a few hours of shopping for ceramics!

We are in luck today because Marco, a member of the Gialletti Pimpinelli family is in the shop today and very willing to give us a tour. Though the artisans are not working (as it is a Sunday), he explains all the phases of ceramics making to us and shows us about the factory. He and his sister are the 3rd generation to be involved in the factory. His grandfather, (Gialletti) founded the company and his father, Graziano is the master ceramist. 
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True to form, shopping has made us hungry. We have an appointment for lunch at a lovely restaurant on the main piazza of the charming town of Bevagna. So many times, I have come here to find a fun event happening in the piazza, and today is no exception. There is a little craft and antiques fair going on, and I purchase a fun necklace. I love this town! It’s so small, but I always find something good to eat here, and best of all, it has one of my favorite wine shops. Today we’re dining at Ristorante delle Mura, recommended to me by Fabrizio Antano….of my favorite wine shop.
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Lunch is delicious! Each person gets their own appetizer plate…..tooooo much! But so good. Then comes gnocchi. But this is no ordinary gnocchi. The sauce is made from Sagrantino wine, my fave! Again; too much, but so good. And lastly, three big silver tureens arrive to the table. Each is filled with the house recipe for wild boar stew. Oh. My. Goodness. I was wondering what that little special something was in there, and upon close inspection, I find a few tiny grapes in the stew. Unique and wonderful.
After lunch, we only have a short distance to stroll to reach my favorite wine shop. I’ve blogged about Fabrizio Antano’s shop before. It’s a great combination of truly wonderful wine, Fabrizio’s generous pours, and his wonderful personality. Today, we’re in for a special treat as Fabrizio’s friend Pino has decided to pay a visit as well. Pino is a great photographer whose most recent subject matter are the flowering fields of the plains of Castellucio. These fields of lentil plants in Umbria erupt into riotous color at certain times of the year. You can see Pino’s photos on canvas in the background of one of the photos.
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After a little more time to explore the booths in the piazza in Bevagna, we load into the van and head to Trevi for a really unique and special treat. We happen to be in the area during the time of the annual Sagra di Salsicce e Sedano Nero, or the Sausage and Black Celery Festival. Everyone knows sausages are incredibly delicious in Italy, but Black Celery? In fact, the celery itself is not black; but the seeds that it grows from are. This particular celery, indigenous to this area, is quite hearty. It has a stronger flavor than the celery we are used to, and is denser, with less water content. The celery farmer below is the first place winner for this year's celery!
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But there is more to this festival than sausages and celery. Though the festival goes on for the whole weekend, we have come on a special night. It is the night of the Scene Medievale or Medieval Scenes. The townspeople have cordoned off certain cobblestoned streets, and local actors dressed in period costumes, re-enact the history of Trevi in the streets. Though we have a hard time understanding the Italian actors (our translator is working madly in whispers), we are nonetheless entranced by the emotions displayed on the candlelit cobblestoned streets. 
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And when we have finished the nightwalk, we are just in time for our reservation at a pop-up taverna. These little restaurants aren’t open for the bulk of the year, but at special times, open up and serve delicious local food. Tonight, we have reservations at one that has received awards for its food. It’s a boisterous atmosphere. People are flush from watching live enacted battle scenes, and from drinking local wine. 

We order toast covered in fresh ricotta drizzled with the famous local olive oil. Another toast arrives which is slathered in a sausage spread (This is the sausage fest, remember?) And best of all, we order stuffed black celery. It’s a little hard to describe, but the local celery is packed with a sausage, vegetable mixture, then baked and lastly slathered in a delicious, yet simple tomato sauce. 

It is just so good, and the local wine served in terra cotta cups flows. The crowd is loud and casual. We are loud and casual. It is: So.Much.Fun. These are the experiences that simply can’t be replicated in the U.S. Everyone around us is speaking Italian; we are the only tourists in the building. 

I’m dying for one of the adorable terra cotta cups and ask if I can buy one. “Just take it”, says the owner with a smile. 
I don’t know about my clients, but I am so happy. (Actually, I know my clients were pretty happy too.)


It's been a long day, we've done so many fun things, and had lots of wonderful food. But.....this is a sausage festival after all.


So on our way out of town, a couple of my clients decide they really must taste a grilled sausage sandwich from Trevi's piazza.


Good for them. My kind of people!
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A Farm to Table Day

11/8/2014

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(Still trying to catch up on blogging my most recent tour....)
Today was simply all about food. That’s not bad, is it? Seeing as this is billed as a “food and wine tour”, that’s actually pretty, darn good in my book.
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We start the day at Granarium. This is a place I have blogged about before. It’s a place I love, and will continue to return to. Granarium is a farm, flour mill, bakery and storefront all rolled into one. It’s amazing isn’t it? In order to create delicious bakery products, the folks at Granarium start with growing the wheat. It’s kind of like the story of the Little Red Hen….they grow the wheat, turn the wheat into flour, use the flour to make fantastic doughs for pizza, cookies and cakes, and then sell it all in their tiny little shop.  Notice our shopping bags :)

Tiziana is our tour guide today, and she explains to us how the process works. 
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After she shows us how the flour is made, she opens their amazing oven so we can have a look. This is the biggest wood-fired oven I have ever seen. Yes, it is wood-fired! Can you believe it?! Every day, they churn out a huge array of delicious products from this oven; the only oven they have in the place. 
At the end of our tour, we find that Tiziana has set out a huge variety of samples for us to try. And then we all cram into the tiny shop and make so many purchases because it’s all simply so good. Their whole wheat biscuits are my morning go-to staple with a cappuccino. When I eat one, it holds me until lunch, it’s so filling, and just so darned tasty. (That's them in the upper, right hand corner of the photo.)

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After good-byes at the mill, we are off to our next food destination; cooking class! Yes, this is our second cooking lesson after our earlier wood-fired pizza making lesson. Today, we’ll be cooking an entire classic Umbrian meal under the tutelage of Wendy Aulsebrook and her local helpers at Antonelli winery. 

We have so many dishes to prepare, it’s nearly mind-boggling, but the group is so excited for today, and everyone is ready for our hands-on lesson. Here's our menu:
We start with appetizers: We make focaccia bread with fresh rosemary from scratch. On the right, you see the finished focaccia bread. It's served with local cheese and the winery's own jam made from Sagrantino grapes. In addition, we've made our own liver pate which you see served on some crusty local bread. This first course is served with Antonelli's white wine. 
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Next comes the classic first course. Our "primo" is homemade pasta with a basic tomato sauce. The table is set for pasta making.....and everyone works hard for their lunch!
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Of course, our pasta has to have a sauce, so we are taught how to make a basic, fresh tomato sauce:
For our main course, our "secondo", we're taught how to make a classic, Umbrian roasted chicken.
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This chicken is amazingly flavorful and tender. It has been rubbed with a garlic and fresh herb mixture. Fresh lemon juice and liberal amounts of olive oil are poured over the top. Then it is baked in a convection oven. We can't get enough! 

Our side dish, or "contorno" is a roasted combination of potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes. So delicious...especially the little bites of tomato!
And what meal would be complete without dessert? We get to have two! First we make panna cotta with a chocolate ganache topping and also some delicious red wine cookies. We are so lucky. And it is all paired with the fantastic wines from Antonelli vineyards.
As usual, it has been a full and productive day. We are so grateful to Wendy and her helpers for showing us how to cook classic Umbrian cuisine. Everyone declares it.....truly delicious!
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