After staying here in the Italian countryside for a month, it has become obvious that life here revolves around seasonal food. October is the season of the grape harvest, the olive harvest and, most important of all, the season of porcini mushrooms. We see people on the roadsides picking and all the menus in the restaurants feature these delectable fungi.
Last night Alessandro took us to a restaurant featuring porcini, where Harry and I had pasta with porcini and truffles--so delicious. Alessandro had crostini with porcini and for his main course, porcini done three different ways.
Today being our last day for touring around, we drove to Castelli, a lovely town in the mountains that is famous for its hand-painted majolica ceramics. On the way we happened on an out-of-the way 12th C church and ruined monastary. It's not in any guidebook but there it is beside a humble bar...
We didn't see any ceramics that we couldn't live without in Castelli, but we did manage to find a lovely restaurant where I had tagliatelle with porcini and Harry had fabulous ravioli with sage and butter. A fitting meal to end our Italian trip.
Every thing you have eaten sounds so wonderful ! The crostini with porcini sound especially fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThe ruins look great too but I am enjoying the food.
Lovely trip !
cheers, parsnip