Tonight we dine and taste with Roberto and Irene Angelini, the father/daughter team of Enoteca Properzio. Our group has a private room to ourselves. Food begins to arrive, wine begins to flow…. As each course arrives, Roberto and Irene pop back in to pour a new wine and tell us a little about it. Then we are left alone to enjoy our meal until the next item arrives. The food is wonderful and the wines are fantastic. The evening continues on with lots of laughter, conversation, jokes…..no one is looking at a clock. This is how a meal should be enjoyed.

And so ends another day of the tour! Tomorrow we’ll be spending the day in nearby Assisi. Stay tuned…

We can spend a lot of time talking about all the variables that go into the making of a good glass of wine. Does it have more to do with a good vintage year or with the person making the wine? Does it have more to do with which side of the hill the grapes grew on, or how much water they received….or didn’t receive? What if the barrels were made from different kinds of oak? What if the wine had aged longer?

There are so many things that can affect the flavor of the wine. But to me, there is something else that is important to the taste as well. It’s much more subjective and much more emotional. It is the memory of where I had it for the first time. I love thinking back……. “Remember when we had that Sagrantino in Todi? We were eating those crostini with melted gorgonzola and honey and that wine was perfection, wasn’t it?” Or, “Remember when we were in that restaurant in Montefalco, and that guy kept bringing us all this great stuff we hadn’t ordered and telling us it was ‘on the house’? And then he poured us that huge glass of passito? It was so delicious, we bought a bottle to take home, remember?”

I have been lucky enough to have had some incredible winery experiences in Italy. I’ve seen the amazing diversity of Italy’s wineries; from small, rustic operations to architectural beauties to technological wonders. They have all been family-run, with most still having multi-generations living on or near the winery. I’ve tasted some truly beautiful wines, poured by people who are passionate about their product. 

On many occasions, my “first time” with a wine has been at the winery. After a deep whiff, I take a sip, let it roll around in my mouth, swallow, savor the after taste, and break into a smile. My eye meets that of the winemaker, and he breaks into a smile as well. He doesn’t have to tell me all about how he grew the grapes, where he grew the grapes, when he harvested the grapes, he just has to know that I loved his wine. In the end, it makes us both happy. 

Join me, won’t you…..on an Italian wine trail? Let’s meander the rolling hills of Tuscany or the hearty Umbrian countryside. Let me take you through lesser known areas like Lazio and Campania so you can discover something new and wonderful. Every, and I do mean every region of Italy has great wines, and most of them are not sampled outside of the country. You will find wines to fall in love with, and you won’t care how they were made, when you meet the eye of the winemaker.


Drop me a line at:

mailto:irene@bellagiornatatours.com

Let's start planning your next wine experience!

People often ask me why I am so enamored with taking people to Umbria when most tourists want to go to Tuscany. Maybe it is because I am so comfortable there. While living in Rome, Umbria was the closest place to get away to for the weekend. Its hill towns are so incredibly charming. Its food is so delicious. Its lesser known wines are incredible. Every area of Italy believes (and rightly so) that their specialty foods and their local wines are the best, but I fell in love with Umbria’s first and they will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Umbria is chock-full of great places to visit, but on this particular trip most of my time was spent on the eastern side with the bulk of my time in Spello, the area around Bevagna and Trevi. 

Spello is a little gem of a hill town. For some reason, it seems to have more than its fair share of great restaurants. Poor me. It’s so hard to make a decision on where to eat; they are all so good. And for such a small town, it seems to have an incredible number of great shops as well. Start at the top at the store that sells all things made from olive wood, and work your way down the hill, through ceramics, linens, and fabulous food products. Below, you will see some of the many great dishes I have been lucky enough to partake of in Spello. On the left is a delicious plate of mixed bruschette. In the middle is a fabulous molded appetizer filled with potatoes and porcini mushrooms and topped with a sauce made with cheese and truffles. And on the right is a wonderful mixed grill plate, cooked right in front of me in the open fireplace. Fabulous! PS: These three dishes are from three different restaurants.

Bevagna and its surrounding countryside is filled with wine opportunities. I was able to fit in two wonderful wine tastings on this trip; one at a place I’ve been to sooooo many times before (and love going back to), and another at a winery that was new to me though I’ve drunk their fabulous wine sooooo many times before. Ahh….Sagrantino and Montefalco Rosso; two of my favorite wines on earth, along with passito, the sweet dessert wine made from sagrantino grapes. Sigh. The third photo below, is a serving of homemade cookies with a glass of passito at a restaurant in Spello.

On this trip, I also stumbled across a couple of new and wonderful places to return to. One is a beyond-fabulous mill/bakery which I will be writing more about in a future blog post. Another is a factory outlet for cashmere clothing. I now own a green cashmere cape. Yes. It’s green. And it’s a cape!

My last bit of time in Umbria was spent in wonderful Trevi. I’ve found a “new” (newly refurbished) hotel for my future clients to stay in that is simply so charming; I can’t wait to bring people there. The people who run the hotel are incredibly nice; I know my travelers will be so happy there. Trevi is fast becoming a great food destination and hosts an abundance of food related festivals. The countryside is filled to the brim with olive oil trees, making it one of the “olive oil capitals” of Italy. I am so excited to return.

My research trip has come to a close. Where did the time go? With a final night in Rome, my trip will be over. As usual, I either start, or in this case end my trip to Italy at my favorite pizzeria in Rome.  I share a fiori di zucca (zucchini flower) pizza with an old friend and top it off with an incredible gelato at a nearby gelateria. The pizza from this place never fails to make me swoon. I have told the owner in the past, "When I eat pizza here.....I know I am truly in Rome." Do you see the little green flecks in the gelato? They are pieces of real, fresh mint leaves, making this THE best mint chocolate chip gelato I have ever had!

Italy. It has stolen my heart.....yet again. And each return trip only further strengthens my desire to share my favorite spots with first-time travelers. Return with me, won’t you? Let’s eat, drink and sightsee our way through Rome and the countryside together. Don’t be surprised if Italy steals your heart as well. Drop me a line at:mailto:irene@bellagiornatatours.com

Dear Diary,
We start our Saturday with a dose of culture, but as usual seem to end in a haze of food and wine.  (I don’t hear anyone complaining.)  Our driver, Federico, takes us to the beautiful church, Santa Maria degli Angeli where we learn a little about St. Francis and admire the unbelievably unique and beautiful interior.  I have visited a lot of different churches in my life, and this ranks as one of my favorites.  (Unfortunately, no picture-taking is allowed inside.)

Next up, we head to Torgiano where we stroll through a wine museum.  There we see a giant old hand press which takes up the entire lower floor of the museum and used to be used to press wine back in the day when slaves were used to turn the cranks.  We also view all kinds of ancient ceramic, glass, terra cotta and wooden vessels which were used to hold wine over the centuries.  In addition, there is a large amount of beautiful artwork depicting ancient scenes of wine debauchery and viniculture.  This is followed by a short walk over to the nearby olive oil museum where among other things, we view photographs of how olives were harvested in the past and see a beautiful collection of old oil lamps and artwork.  We have worked hard all morning and deserve a glass of wine for our efforts, and so we raise a glass at the osteria which belongs to the museum.

And now that we’ve had just a taste of wine on our lips, we crave a little more.  So we head to nearby Bevagna for a visit with Fabrizio Antano, the owner of a delicious little winery.  He has agreed to meet us in his shop in town for a wine tasting, and we find his many generous pours oh, so delicious.  His “samples” seriously rival some of the actual pours I have paid for in New York City!  Who knows whether it’s the flavor of the wine, the generosity of the pours, or the friendliness of Fabrizio (or maybe all three?); we purchase a fair amount between us.  As we gather our bags and boxes and head out the door, Fabrizio holds me back and hands me a giant magnum of my favorite Sagrantino.  “It’s a gift”, he says (in Italian).  “I want everyone to share it together at their next meal.”  We are overwhelmed by his generosity and when I tell everyone what he has done, they all go back for hugs and kisses.

We end our day together with a lovely lunch back in Spello at La Cantina.  We call the restaurant ahead to make sure it’s okay for us to roll in our giant bottle of wine, and they readily assent.  We have a delicious lunch featuring rabbit served in a lemon caper sauce, and beautiful, fresh vegetables that have been baked with a breadcrumb topping.  And….a wonderfully lush bottle of Sagrantino!  Thank you Frabrizio!

It’s been a good day.  We’ve seen a lot, done a lot, eaten a lot (okay, we drank a lot too), and we still have the bulk of the afternoon ahead of us.  Everyone has time to be on their own, choosing to either stroll, relax, explore, or shop.  Spello……ahhhhh!
A domani,
Irene