The Accidental Festa

I think it was our second to last night in Italy when we got reservations at a place called Il Moderno in the neighboring town of San Martino nel Cimino. We'd been there a few weeks prior, and having liked it, went back. Actually, I'll back up. We had two nights left and seven places we could think of to go for dinner. So I made two lists and we privately numbered them one through seven according to preference. Our number ones and twos were identical! So it was Il Moderno Friday, and Il Labirinto Saturday.

A table for two outside for 9 pm is what we reserved. As we approached the "porta," the entrance to the centro (the center) ,we were stopped because it was blocked by cops. As we drove on by we saw why. A festa. Of all days.... So our nice little dinner for two outside would be potentially surrounded by reveling Italians and a really loud band. We parked a few blocks outside the center and walked tentatively back. The centro was completely mobbed. (We think this festival was celebrating beer.) We love festas, but not surprise festas. We imagined sitting alone in this restaurant while everyone else in town (who knew better) ate much more, for much less, at the festa.

Our first glimpse. 

Rows and rows of tables, plastic chairs and families.

The chefs!

These guys were roasting the meat on grills. We weren't really clear on what that fire was for...

 

Dinner was as tasty this time as last time, AND, lucky us, it was just on the other side of the action, so it was only occasionally loud, and it was also quite full so we didn't feel like losers.

Our table—reserved for "Caren."  I'm getting really good at saying Karen with an Italian accent. They never have to ask twice. 

The resident kitty. 

She must get lucky sometimes, but I've never seen it. Fred did drop something and she came running, but she didn't eat it. I think it was a vegetable. :)

The chef's hand would occasionally reach out and pluck off a few basil leaves.

No pics of the food this time. Not sure why... nor do I remember what we had!  I think we began with bruschetta, then had pizzas and green salad at the end. On the way out we took some more pics and vowed to check the festa schedule next time we book there!

Apparently this says:We don't have wifi but we have great wine and after two glasses you can navigate anything you want.I just liked the "Wi-ne Fi-ne."

A lively bunch. 

Spirits were high. 

And, back in Viterbo, they prepare for the Macchina, right on schedule. See this post for more info on this.
http://luglioinitalia.blogspot.com/2015/07/practicing-transport-of-la-macchina-di.html

I'll be working remotely this month. ;)

I can't afford to take a month off from work. When you're a freelancer, you don't have back up. But that's fine with me because I like to work and don't like the beach! Or long hot dry summer days with no purpose. Things with my two main clients were a little slow this July, but there were enough small things popping up throughout the month that I had enough industry in my life to enjoy my down time. It's a fine balance for me.

Internet service is expensive in Italy, so I set up shop in coffee shops with wi-fi protected passwords. I'm thankful my laptop remembers the passwords—even from one year to the next!—so no time lost asking for it. These are my favorite haunts, each with their own uniqueness and personality. I move around a lot to not overstay my welcome. Sometimes 11 to 3 in one, 3:30 to 6 in another.

I also drink a lot of cappuccino—which is a gauche move after 11 am in Italy. Espresso is fine, but not coffee with milk. Here's what I found out about this. FASCINATING. I've excerpted a bit, but there's much more to learn about the subject on this site, which I credit for this info:

The site: http://italyexplained.com/cappuccino-history-rules/


Now to get to the root of the admonition that you never order a cappuccino after 11am.

The main thing to understand is that this has nothing to do with the cappuccino, and everything to do with milk.

Italians, you see, are obsessed with digestion. They think about it a lot. It’s not a taboo topic, and in fact is the subject of many, many commercials on Italian TV. Browse the yogurt aisle of any Italian grocery store to see how many containers promote themselves as digestive aids. (Remember Activia? It’s still a big deal in Italy.)

Consuming milk after a meal, Italians believe, will totally screw up your digestion. And since that’s not something they are wont to do, they avoid milk when eating. Breakfast doesn’t count, because Italian breakfast typically consists of a coffee drink and a pastry and that’s it. If your coffee drink of choice is a cappuccino, then the milk is sort of part of the meal in that case.

Back to my haunts.

Closest to my apartment is Caffe San Sisto. Mother and son seem to run it.

I love this guy because he pretty much ignores me (in a good way—lets me just hang) and sings along to a top 40 station. He's a content guy. I have six presets on the car radio but none seem as perfect as this station, so I finally asked him and he said it's Subasio. I had that on my presets already!

I tend to start with cappuccino, but if I'm in for the long haul, I later have a Coke Zero (aka Diet Coke).

There's a loft space where I used to go when Owen was with me last summer. It's harder to hang there alone because the bathroom is two flights down and it's a little too far to go since I often leave my laptop on the table.

Another plus about San Sisto is that many of the tables are next to outlets where I can plug in when/if my laptop runs low.

Next up is a new place (used to be a men's clothing store) called Amaris. Really special spot and the folks who run it are very sweet. It's new and super clean. Apparently it's all natural or microbiotic or something, which effects me not at all, but once Fred joined me at the end of an afternoon for a drink and the beers were all totally obscure. Good, but obscure.

Here's Amaris from the outside. Quite grand.

And this is where I often sit. Not totally outside (sun makes it hard to see my screen), but outside enough to catch a breeze and feel like I am.

This is the inside where I sit if I need to charge up.

 Plugging in!

Next up is an old sort of majestic place—structurally, anyway, not so much in decor. It was once a hotel.

Here it is from the outside. It's called Caffe Grandori and is located in a prominent piazza—Piazza della Rocca. It's pretty quiet during the day, but at 6 pm the music cranks and all the little free appetizers come out—along with the people. We've been known to make a dinner out of the free stuff they give you with a drink at the end of the day. Some spreads are incredible.

Here's the inside. But an equal if not larger amount of space is available for seating outdoors in front.

I sit indoors if I need to charge, but if I don't, and there's a table available in the shade, I'll sit outside.
Check out the lamp. I might do a series next year of lighting fixtures in bars. It's fertile territory!

The big piazza outside has a fountain. Viterbo is actually known for its many fountains—"The City of Fountains," in fact. There were once 99 fountains in Viterbo! For more on that subject:  http://www.elegantetruria.com/travel/the-fountains-of-viterbo/

And here's where I plug in! Phone AND laptop on this day!

Next, a small place on another important piazza—Piazza delle Plebiscito, Piazza of the People. This piazza is dominated by a huge clock tower and a palace, which now houses the government offices. For some reason, there are always a ton of students in this particular place. I don't know why because it's not very big. My photos of this one came out pretty bad, but here they are anyway.  It's called Caffe Centrale. The first photo is not mine—credits to someone named Torben Mauch. 

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And finally, the Glitter Cafe! Really lacking in character, in a little strip mall, but a great place to hang if the store or car rental shop that SAY they open back up at 3:30 don't really do so until about 4:05. Good wifi. Big tables. Always room. Pleasant staff.  

Note the lighting fixture. 

And finally, BURBACA!  This place is named for BURgers, BAkery, and CAfe. It's new. Just opened last year. And here's my deal with this place. It's REALLY great but is totally American, so I feel kind of like an idiot hanging out there! The menu is in English and is almost verbatim a Starbucks menu. The interior has blackboard menus with specials... easy chairs.. everything you'd expect in the States. So, I limit my time here because it's a bit too familiar, albeit GREAT.

Case in point: the cappuccino:

And this! this is an iced coffee!!!  Delicious but totally regretted it and wished I had an ice cream instead....

And this is a latte. <3

This was my "cafe" one day :) Lago di Bolsena in Capodimonte.

Those are my go-to cafes in Italy. I am grateful for all they've done for me over the years—free access to the internet, shelter from the heat, great cappucino, Coke Zero, orange juice—even the occasional prosecco—and, of course, top 40 hits.

An Italian Take on an American Classic

Eleven years ago, we shared an apartment building with Mario and Assunta Basile. And every year since we have dined with them and their extended family. What a delight. Henry even wrote his college essay on the  tradition.

This year we had a typical Italian spread: Cheeseburgers and apple pie. Wait, what? Yes, we did, indeed, have cheeseburgers and apple pie, but definitely Italian style. And amazing.

Our host straordinario, Mauro, baking the rolls in his pizza oven!

CHECK out the cheese!  Almost 1/2" thick!

What adds the Italian twist on the very American entree was that the cheese was from heaven, not Stop & Shop. And the toppings—forget ketchup and mustard—were tomatoes (Italian tomatoes, which should not even share the name of the American equivalent), lettuce, cucumbers, red peppers, and... PROSCUITTO, SALAMI and BRESAOLA!  Talk about "The Works." They were cheeseburgers to write home about for sure.

Those little brown things on the left are suppli, Roman rice croquettes. Delicious!

Around the table, clockwise, starting bottom left: Assunta, Roberto, Fred, Emanuela, Mauro, Alessandra, Mario, (missing: Leo's girlfriend Sara's little brother Federico -- or Fedi for short; and Leo), Sara and Sara's mother.

In the photo now are Fedi and Leo.  Missing from the evening was a whole other family (Emilio, Antonella, Georgie and Ilaria) and Alessandra, who has spent a week at Easter with us in the States, and is now working in London. We've know her since she and her cousin Leo were playing ball in their grandparents' garden. Now they're  around 19 and 20.

Somewhere halfway through the night I asked Federico what his name was because I had missed it. Fred and I almost fell off our chairs when he said Federico. They hadn't realized that's the same name as Fred/Frederick. It was HILARIOUS. And when I asked what the nickname for that is, Fedi became our new nickname for Fred. We just have to remember to use it!

Dessert was apple pie--delicious! Different than ours, but delicious nevertheless, and I forgot to get a shot of it... And dessert after dessert was Nutella on the hamburger rolls!  Amazing—and filling.

Of course, all over the table were aperitifs, mostly homemade---prosecco, limoncello, port and brandy, I think. When Fred was offered these, he requested Mirto! Mirto is a  liqueur Mauro makes and gave us last year—from berries of the mirto (myrtle) bush. It's delicious and Fred special orders it from our friend Natalie at Atlas Liquors. It's never on a shelf in a liquor store. Alessandra said this bush on their balcony (see below) produces berries for ONE bottle per summer. I really hope she was mistaken because guess what we were given to take home with us. A bottle of mirto! Hope we didn't wipe them out! We brought it home in three plastic bags (one over the other) and will enjoy it on special occasions.

Note: Credit must be given to another family member—Roberto—who also makes his own liqueurs from lemons and oranges in his yard, which are also incredible.

Safe and sound in Winchester. One bottle of Viterbese mirto—homemade and in a beer bottle!

Vandalism & Theft

Yes, after eleven crime-free summers in Italy, we were both victims and perpetrators this year!
First, the confession of the crime I committed. We were driving to a neighboring town, passing tree after tree with festa posters taped to them. Festas, like weddings, are ubiquitous on summer weekends in Italy. We've gone to a few. Some celebrate meat, others beer (yes, beer), fish, potatoes... you name it. This poster was for a pig festa. While it makes me sad to see this cute drawing of a pig, while the occasion is all about killing it and grilling it, I did picture it framed and hung in my house. The festa, by the way, had come and gone, so these posters were pretty much trash at this point.
So, on the way back, we pulled over and unraveled the tape (which mysteriously didn't pull off any of the poster—nice clean break), all the while, cars whizzing past us on the side of the road.
Here's the tree, and the fruits of my labor:

The pig even looks a little sad :(  I'm not sure I can ever frame and display this :(

Now, for the vandalism story. A real head scratcher. Fred and I had visited the neighboring town of Vetralla, which sadly seemed a little bit down on its luck. We did, however, come upon a mass honoring EMTs, which was cool. At the side of the church there was a door ajar, which Fred naturally decided to take a peek through. He abruptly pulled back and said the door is at the front of the church and the entire congregation was facing him. Oops! They soon began pouring out the front of the church. We watched as the priest said some prayers and blessed a couple of ambulances with holy water and then a photographer took a group shot of them all on the steps of the church. 

Backing up to get them all in the shot, the photographer fell over a planter and everyone cracked up.

But I digress. We left Vetralla via a back road to Tuscania, a lovely picturesque town that we never miss. Fred had read something about some historical site or other on this road. After a few wrong turns, we found an interesting church, and got out of the car to explore. Fred went ahead while I got my camera out of the trunk, leaving my laptop there, and locked the car. I walked to the front of the church, then around to the side, eventually meeting up with Fred and returning to the car. (The church was locked.) The car was out of our line of vision for about seven minutes, tops. When we got back we were standing near the car, and a police car drove through the parking lot and kept going. Then suddenly Fred noticed the passenger fly window had been smashed. We heard nothing, saw nothing, and this church is incredibly isolated. Totally baffling. There was glass all over the dash and even some in the seat. We even wondered if maybe this had happened in Vetralla and we hadn't noticed, but there's no way we would not have noticed this. Nothing was stolen, thank God. We thought maybe there were some reports of vandals along this stretch and the cop was checking things out. Who knows.

We needed a car in the am (this was on a Sunday) to get to Naples, so I was at the car rental place first thing and had this snazzy new RED Ford Fiesta within the hour. The charge was 64 euro. I may or may not do the whole insurance thing because that's about a 40-email/six-month process.

And, what's a post without a cat picture? Discovered this little feline family of four in Vetralla.