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!

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."

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

(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.

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. 

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!

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.

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!

After last night's gigantic wine tasting dinner, I thought it best to start off slow this morning :)
Everyone gets a chance to sleep in if they'd like, or to explore their new town, Spello on their own for the morning. There are no committments until noon when it's time to climb back into what has become affectionately known as the "clown car". You know what "noon" means, don't you? Yes, that's right....it's time for lunch!

Our lunch today is at a favorite place just outside of Assisi. The building itself used to be used to house animals way back in the day. It's very rustic and delicious. Just take a peek......

On the left is polenta topped with a sausage ragu along with delicious beans, and sandwiched between the two are some ricotta and spinach dumplings. On the right is the mixed contorni plate filled with veg either done on the grill or in the ashes. What ashes you ask? These ashes...! So many delicious meats are done on the grill here, and potatoes and onions are buried in the ashes to cook as well.

We have a very full day ahead of us tomorrow as we ramp up the schedule a bit. So this evening, everyone gets to relax, have dinner on their own back in Spello and enjoy each other's company. Tomorrow.....wild cage rides! Stay tuned!

Before we start making the pizza dough, we have a little olive oil tasting lesson. We're tasting the olive oil that is produced at Fontanaro. We look at the color, smell the aroma, and have a taste.  It's just like tasting wine!

We start rolling, and building a huge variety of pizzas. The first pizzas are topped with the classic Umbrian ingredients of sweated onions, and fresh sage. And of course ALL the pizzas get a liberal drizzle of Fontanaro's delicious, organic olive oil.

Next up, the classic Margherita pizza:

And, one of my personal favorites; zucchini blossoms both, with and without anchovies. (I prefer with.)

Here's another pizza that was new to all of us. Lucia cooked two blank pizza doughs in the oven. On top of the first one, she spread a delicious creamy cheese. The cheese was topped with lots of fresh arugula, then she pressed the second cooked pizza dough on top; like a sandwich. It was a pizza with fabulous contrasts. In each bite, you got the crispy crust with the creamy cheese and hot dough with cold arugula...very interesting and delicious.

Here are a few more photos in case you're not hungry yet:

And last, but not least.....did you know dessert can be made in the same oven? Lucia whipped up these delicious brioche buns, and after they came out of the oven, we split them open and filled them with ice cream! I know.....over-the-top deliciousness!

We have had a simply fabulous day with Alina, her mom Lucia and Anna in the outdoor kitchen. The group thoroughly enjoyed their relaxing stay at Fontanaro. Though they swear they can never eat again, the group manages to cook themselves their own supper in their villa this evening. Tomorrow, we will be leaving Paciano for more adventures in Umbria.  Click on the link below to see a lovely little video of our group making pizza (made by Alina).  http://t.co/eqad5rKUDn

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!

I’m beginning to think about what to pack, which means a trip is fast approaching. I’ll be in Italy April 14-23 researching new itineraries, meeting lots of new connections, and checking in on old haunts to be sure these places are still as wonderful as I initially found them.

I start with a couple of days in Rome. I have a few new faces I’m scheduled to meet there, transportation routes and logistics to check for an upcoming tour, several new restaurants to try and of course, time set aside to visit with old friends. I will have a cooking day with my old kitchen cohorts which will be incredibly fun. Hopefully, by the end of this trip, I’ll finally get a handle on making gnocchi.

After Rome, I head off to Naples for a couple of nights. There, I’m very excited to experience a wine tour and a scenic tour as well as meet new guides, hoping to find new colleagues for future tour groups. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to sample lots of the wines of Campania, and to be able to report back on the best ones.

I end my trip with a day or two in Umbria, meeting with winery folks, ceramics makers, artisanal food producers, drivers and guides; always trying to add new colleagues to my ever-growing list of great people to work with.

Friends think I’m on a boondoggle vacation; flitting around Italy, eating and drinking my way through ten days of pleasure. It’s not exactly like that actually. My days are filled with appointments, and I spend a lot of time rushing from here to there. Yes, I eat well, and I drink well. Please. I’m in Italy and I will take full advantage of great food and wine opportunities. I am not stupid. But foremost on my agenda are connections, people connections.

My clients work hard for their vacation dollars, and then they trust me with their time and money. I do not want to disappoint. I want to have lined up a string of great places to see, restaurants to eat in, food producers to meet and wineries to taste in. Then there are the bits the clients don’t really “see”. I need to be sure the hotels I choose are the right ones; clean and with great service, the drivers safe and courteous, the guides knowledgeable and entertaining. A lot goes into making someone’s dream vacation a dream come true.

So stay tuned for future blog posts from Italy, where yes, I will be eating and drinking my way through ten days of pleasure. But, more importantly, I’ll be hoping to meet a lot of great people along the way.

Italy, here I come!

I was never a huge fan of lentils before I lived in Italy. Too many times, I was the victim of mushy, chalky lentil soups and stews. Then I was introduced to lenticchie di Castelluccio and everything changed. These small greenish-brown lentils grow on the high plains of Castelluccio in Umbria at an altitude of 4600 ft. I love these lentils because they hold their shape after cooking. They are so tender as to not require pre-soaking and cook up in a mere 30 minutes.  

This recipe for Lentils with Roasted Tomatoes has been adapted from the cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. This cookbook does a fabulous job of sharing recipes for veg and grains with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flair. I served the dish at room temperature as a vegetarian main course, and I could certainly see myself eating something similar in Umbria.

We start by making roasted tomatoes. I was so thrilled with how these came out; I’m sure I’ll be making them many more times in the future to garnish dishes other than this one. They would also be great on an antipasto plate surrounded by salumi and cheeses, or even as a side to a nice grilled steak. Just be sure to give yourself enough time to make them. They need 1 ½ hours to bake. Next time, I’ll make more than I need. For this recipe, you need:

5 plum tomatoes
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Fresh thyme sprigs
Salt
Preheat the oven to 275 and let’s get started:

Simply slice the plum tomatoes lengthwise into quarters.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the tomato quarters on it, skin side down. Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil over the tomatoes and follow that with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle some salt over everything and group the tomatoes so you can lay fresh sprigs of thyme over several slices at a time. Pop the pan into the oven and set your timer for 1 ½ hours. You have time for a glass of wine now. 

When they are done, pick off the thyme and discard. Some of the small thyme leaves will have fallen off onto your tomatoes…that’s a good thing, don’t worry about it. Just leave the pan on the stove top to cool.

While the tomatoes are roasting, you can take your time with the rest of the dish. The salad will need some marinated red onions, so very thinly slice a small red onion and place it in a large bowl with a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar and a sprinkle of good sea salt. Set it aside.

Set a pan of water to boil on the stove. Here are the ingredients we need to finish up:
1 1/3 cups lentils from Castelluccio
3 T. good olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Black pepper
1 T dried dill (or 4T fresh)
Fresh basil, thinly sliced
3 oz. sweet gorgonzola, crumbled

Place the lentils in the pan of boiling water, and simmer for about 30 minutes, until tender.
Drain well in a colander, and while still warm, add to the large bowl with the marinated red onions.

Add the olive oil, minced garlic, and black pepper. Mix gently and set aside to cool a bit. 

Once it has cooled to room termperature, you can add the fresh herbs. The original recipe called for chopped parsley and chives and fresh dill, which I didn’t happen to have on hand, but if you do, toss those in as well. I simply added some dry dill and fresh basil. Mix gently.

Now that all your components are done, you just have to build the salad. I served this in individual pasta bowls. Place a large scoop of the lentil mixture in a bowl. Lay on a couple of tomatoes and a few crumbles of Gorgonzola cheese. I topped that with some more lentils and garnished with more tomatoes and gorgonzola. Composing it this way keeps the Gorgonzola crumbles in nice pieces, and keeps the tomato slices whole and delicious looking. Don’t you dare throw out the parchment paper without drizzling all that luscious olive oil, balsamic vinegar and tomato juice over the whole salad.I was so pleased with this main dish “salad”. Served at room temperature, the lentils were firm yet tender. The red onions having soaked first, were sweet, not bitter. The Gorgonzola and roasted tomatoes really give a great one-two punch of flavor.

Castelluccio lentils can be found at a good Italian grocer or importer of fine foods. Can’t find them in your area? Then come shopping with me in Italy! I’ll show you just where to pick some up. Book a tour now at www.bellagiornatatours.com.

This biscuit may look simple, maybe even a little boring. But believe me, it is not. It was made at a wonderful place called Granarium, located in the countryside in Umbria. Their tag line is “dove il grano diventa pane”, or “where wheat becomes bread”. This amazing place is not just a bakery, it is also a mill. Work further backwards with me…it’s a farm. Yes, they can truly say “from wheat to bread” because they grow the grain, harvest it, mill it into flour, bake it into countless delicious products and sell it….all in the same place.

Granarium is the brainchild of Gian Piero Lucarelli, a man so passionate about his end product, he decided he needed to control every aspect of its production. He explained to me he wanted to sell bakery products that were the best, and the only way to do that was to begin with growing the grain. Gian Piero is no stranger to farming. He hails from an agricultural family, so tending the fields is what he grew up doing. He took me and some friends of mine on a little tour of his facility. I say “little” because physically, it’s a small space; not a giant production factory. But in this small space, every step of the production is carefully tended and watched over; from the grinding of grains, to the cleanliness of the kitchen, to the giant wood-fired oven, to the lovely counter space where the bakery products are sold to the public. It is a dream come true for Gian Piero, and luckily for the rest of us as well.

The harvested grains are stored in these silos which are attached to the Granarium building. Wheat grains enter the building through tubes, and go through various stages of machinery to separate the wheat from the chaff, and remove stones and dust, before beginning the grinding process. 







Below you see the various stages of cleaning the wheat. In the third picture, Gian Piero shows us the clean wheat ready to be ground.

After being ground, the wheat goes through a three part sifting process. The sifter separates the wheat germ from the flour from the bran. Each separate entity has its different uses when baking a wide variety of products.

As we move from the factory area into the kitchen area, Gian Piero snags a scoop of flour and asks me to taste a pinch. Raw flour? I am not excited about this, but not to offend, I take a goodly pinch and pop it in my mouth. I am amazed. I expected it to become gluey in my mouth and have no flavor. Quite the opposite, this flour maintains its texture and is actually full of wheat flavor. It’s flour, and it’s delicious! 

Next, he shows us racks of biscuits that are cooling from the ovens. He offers us each one. This time no one hesitates, and we each happily take a bite. These unadorned, simple biscuits have four ingredients he explains. They contain freshly ground whole wheat flour, sugar, butter and organic eggs. They are so incredibly, simply delicious….not too sweet, not too buttery, filled with the flavor of whole wheat like I’ve never had before.

Moving into the next room, he shows us the wood burning oven. Yes, singular oven. There is only one, but it’s a mighty big one. In the back corner of the interior of the oven is a walled off area, where a wood fire is built. Beech wood is fed into it to maintain its constant heat. And because the wood fire is behind its little brick wall, there are no ashes all over the floor of the oven. The baked goods don’t get blackened by ash, but appear to have been baked in a regular oven. The wood maintains a constant heat, and gives off a nice aroma to the baked products.


I'm sorry my photo of the oven did not turn out. Instead, I offer you a peek at the wooden paddles used to take things in and out of the oven.

Back to the little storefront, we have polished off our delicious biscuits, but our eyes are big for all the other goodies to be found behind the counter. Tiziana is there to offer us more tastes and to wrap up our purchases. We buy all manner of cookies while munching on wedges of jammy tarts she’s insisted we try. We also buy squares of “pizza” crust topped with cherry tomatoes. In addition to all the baked goods on offer, there are bags of flour to buy as well as sacks of lentils and beans that are also grown by the Lucarelli family. Purchases in hand, and so grateful for their time, knowledge and skills, we say goodbye with hopes to see them again soon. Gian Piero, the Lucarelli family and Granarium are the very definition of the farm-to-table movement. This is truly “slow food” at its best. 

One of my purchases was a big bag of the very same biscuits we’d been lucky enough to taste on our tour. They were quite heavy, but I only gave a momentary, fleeting thought to the weight of my luggage as I needed to have these biscuits. Today is a sad day. I have eaten my last biscuit. I am trying not to cry. They have been a morning staple with my first coffee of the day….and now they are all gone. I am trying not to cry.

Dear readers, you should think about stopping my tears. Join me in 2014. Let’s visit Granarium together and munch our way through the Umbrian countryside. PS: And just beyond Granarium is a quite lovely winery I’d like to take you to as well :)
Drop me a line at:
 irene@bellagiornatatours.com

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