Our Italian Adventure - Pt. 2

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

 

 

 

 

 

 

After la famiglia Clark left Rome and drove through the beautiful, rolling hills of the Umbrian countryside, we arrived at our home for the next week – a 400-year-old recently restored farm house, the villa Fondo Le Teglie.

 

It’s a lovely, simple, spacious home surrounded by blooming lavender, rose bushes and jasmine vines. The landscape is dotted with the tall thin pine trees that seem only to grow in Italy and the views were 360-degrees – tan fields, deep green vineyards, grazing animals, peppered with other villas and picturesque walled towns, each with a castle towering above.

Our accommodations included a swimming pool, a vegetable garden, several outdoor dining areas, a chef’s kitchen and an outdoor cooking area complete with a stone wood-fire pizza oven. The air in every room was sweet from vases of white lilies or roses and we even had intermittent WiFi. Heaven, in my mind’s eye, now looks a lot like Fondo Le Teglie…

On our first night, we ate dinner in a castle – outside, at the top of our new world, in a small courtyard . It was a short walk down the road, in the tiny walled town of Sismano. Since it was Sunday evening, we half expected the restaurant to be closed, but no! Even though we were the only diners, we were treated like honored guests. Imagine! Dinner in a castle, prepared just for us, on a perfect summer evening…!    

Each morning we woke to the sound of birds singing and the quiet, low hum of a tractor (a red Lamborghini tractor) working down the hill. The only other noise that floating up to us was the occasional moo of a cow or the clang of her bell, the baa of sheep and the nasal whine of a scooter making its way through the hills. One evening, late, we were outside enjoying the fireflies (“lucciola” in Italian, also a slang term for a “lady of the night”...) and we heard the slow, strains of the Pink Panther theme song, being painstaking practiced by what was clearly a beginner on the saxophone. Oh, Italy, such sights and sounds!  

 We settled quickly into a routine of coffee and breakfast at the villa, sightseeing during the day, then returning “home” for a swim and dinner. With some experimentation, Mr. Clark and our son mastered the outdoor pizza oven. One evening a lovely woman named Senora Dina cooked a five course meal for us almost exclusively using the brick oven outside. She spoke no English and our Italian was sorely lacking, but we communicated just fine over the universal language of good food.  

Early in the week we took a tour of three small local cantinas (wineries.) Our guide, Mark, was a witty, British ex-Pat whose knowledge of Umbria, wine, and Italy made for a fascinating trip. Umbrian wine is from a small, bold, dark skinned grape – the Sagrantino. It was brought from Turkey 900 years ago, is genetically unique and has a rich interesting flavor.    

 Our hostess at the first winery was Mayla, a petite woman who spoke flawless English and greeted us in the pressed slacks, low heels and the crisp white blouse which are an Italian countrywoman’s informal wear. Her husband, Francesco Botti’s family worked the vines for generations as peasants before they were able to buy the land, so even though they seemed quite humble, their knowledge was extensive.

The next stop, Cantina Alessandrini Andrea, is a large working farm owned by a large loud family. They don’t speak English and they were busy digging a trench for some type of plumbing project when we arrived. We were late and their work was hard, so they had eaten the bread they’d made to accompany our wine. When they found out we were “Americans from America” the whole family, including a fat little dog named Picachoo, dropped what they were doing and crowded into the tasting room to watch us sample and sip.

We ate a delicious lunch at a formally set table under the trees on the grounds of an “agriturismo” – a working farm that hosts tourists, offers locally grown food and/or  accommodations in the family villa or guest houses. The owner of Agriturismo Camiano Piccolo greeted us enthusiastically in a starched white chef’s coat and served our lunch. His family has owned and worked that farm and lived in that villa for 500 years. His son, our chef, spoke no English, but took great joy in our obvious enjoyment of each dish.    

The third winery, Cantina Peppucci, was on the site of a long working monastery that the owners bought somewhat recently to make their dream of producing superb Sagrantino wine come true. Our host was a young man named Paulo who spoke excellent English. He and his mother are the vintners and even though they are relatively new to the business, their attention to process and detail were evident in their wines.   

So, why so many words about Umbria and our wonderful wine day? Because I was profoundly affected by the place, the people and the experiences and I wish to share the magic.   

The Umbrian Italians work hard and take great pride in what they produce, yet they are humble, eager to make us comfortable and happy when we are pleased. Their lives are lived on a smaller scale; their land has long been finite and they understand how to honor and protect it. There, families live and work together, communities are close knit, and, unlike some of us wandering Americans, they stay put for generations. There is continuity to their pride and effort that our short history cannot offer.

Our wine guide told us that until five years ago there was no word for “realtor” in Umbrian Italian because no one EVER moves. They do what their family has always done, on the land their family has always occupied because they gladly can’t imagine doing anything else - experiencing that, even for a week, captured my heart.

There was a comfortable simplicity and easy pace about our time in Umbria that none of the bigger cities or more spectacular sights offered…La bella vita…Truly, questo e il paradiso…A beautiful life in paradise.