Pasta making and other home cooking Italian style

During the holidays Cate and I made pasta. It is amazing how much pasta you can make from one lot of dough. We had it everywhere and had to get the clothes horse out to act as a drying rack.

Then we trimmed the basil plant and made a delicious pesto.

We also made a favourite of mine - real foccaccia with olive oil and salt. Yum!!

Trevi

Watching the 7th stage of Giro d'Italia last night I spotted the Umbrian hilltop town of Trevi in the background. We have a little bit of Trevi in our garden to look at every day!

When we installed a small pool in our garden ten years ago we wanted to continue the Italian theme. As the pool has, by law, to be fenced, I decided that a trompe l'oeil would be a good way to go. I searched for a suitable design with no success and eventually decided to make my own.

The end result is a compilation of at least four photos taken in Italy on past trips. The fence is lined with cement sheeting and I painted the scene direct onto the primed sheeting.

* The arch was inspired by the walled gateway Porta Fiorentina in Monteriggioni, Tuscany.
* The winding strada bianca (white road) from many a view, especially from Montecchiello and also La Foce garden near Montepulciano.
* The hilltop town is based on Trevi in Umbria, with its perfect shape and surrounded by olive trees. A quintessential view.

 Ten years later we still enjoy our trompe l'oeil Tuscan/Umbrian view.

 And it would not be an Italian garden without a Marian shrine. It takes some explaining in Australia but I'm cool with that.

Giro d' Italia

I am a huge follower of the Orica GreenEDGE cycling team, and a fan of Cadel Evans, so it has been a great week of bike riding at the Giro d' Italia.

To have the Australian team win two stages in the first week and to wear the maglia rosa all week has been an amazing experience for the team and also for their multitude of fans. Michael Matthews has been a delight to watch, both humble and genuinely excited.

Cadel Evans (in left of picture) is very well placed going into the second week in his quest for the GC prize, the over-all winner after nearly 3500 kilometres and three weeks of riding.

But all this excitement takes its toll on the devoted followers back at home! The live telecast does not start in Australia until about 11 pm and finishes after 1.30 am every morning. Oh well, I can always sleep in :) 

Villas and watch towers, farm houses and ancient gates

Thinking about our next visit to Italy has made me think of past visits and the gorgeous places that we have stayed in. They have all been special in different ways, mostly very old and all felt like home for the time we were there.

In 1983 we made our first trip to Italy, with two children, aged 12 and 9 years. In those days the flight from Melbourne, Australia to London, U.K. took 26 hours and had two re-fueling stops. 
We took a coach tour and saw the highlights of Europe. From that time we knew we would return to Italy to experience more.

The children enjoying the Piazza del Duomo in Florence

In 1996 we finally returned to Italy. An old watchtower formed the basis of 'our' farmhouse at Poggio alla Croce, San Polo in Chianti in Tuscany, and it had magnificent views over the Val d'Arno. The week here was the highlight of our trip.

This farm grew olives, grapes and especially irises that were sold to France for perfume making.

In 1998 we returned to Poggio alla Croce to celebrate a 'big birthday'

Who are those young looking people?

Then we moved on to a typical farmhouse on the Tuscan / Umbrian border, at Petrignano. Our friends Glenys and Ray joined us for a week of art, food & fun. It was from here that we discovered Panicale when we were following the Il Perugino Trail.

In 2001 we spent 41 days in Italy. We widened our circle and settled in to a converted tobacco drying tower in Urbania in Le Marche. A concert for future opera stars, museums with no English captions, great scenery and the coast are fond memories.

Following that, we returned to Umbria and a restored typical Umbrian farm house outside Orvieto. Surrounded by vineyards, beautiful gardens, a pinoli tree that was giving us endless pine nuts, and a fabulous view of Orvieto, we were sad to leave this treasure.

A winter holiday was on the agenda in 2003 so we chose a town location, and a 1000 year old former guard house in the fortified walls around the village of Cetona, Tuscany. Olive prunings being burnt and frozen fountains were a new experience for us.

2005 and we were back in Tuscany, in the village of Lornano, near Siena. Another change of pace for us, a modern garden apartment.

More birthdays to celebrate in 2008 and another new area to discover.

Along with our U.K. friends Pat, John & Angela, we rented the quintessential Tuscan house, the one you see on all the postcards and calendars - 

I Cipressini, near Pienza. Location, location, location!

We had fun when we heard some people buying postcards and saying 'Let's tell everyone this is where we are staying!' We couldn't miss saying that we really were staying there.

                             

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A tower built on Roman ruins near Monteleone Sabino in Lazio was our 'somewhere different' experience on this trip.

2010 - Cerbaia, near San Casciana in Tuscany and another working farm with olives and vines. It was so good to eat and drink the product made on location. Absolutely zero miles!

             

                           

There is only one other place to mention and that is our favourite hotel in Rome. On almost every trip we have stayed at the Rimini Hotel in via Marghera. We have seen this family hotel change with time, we have sent many friends to stay there and we even ask for a specific room number.

You can see that we do visit the Trevi Fountain and throw in our coins on each occasion that we visit Rome.

Olive Picking

Olive picking time seems to have come early this year. There isn't a lot of fruit  despite there being abundant flowers. No bees unfortunately, and our cherry crop ( one tree ) really suffered too.

Italy ... Visit Number 10

Three months and three days until we depart for almost 10 weeks in Europe. The poor old brain does not take things in like it did once, but we are trying to revise and improve our Italian language skills.

In salotto ( in the lounge room)

In soggiorno ( in the living room)

In cucina ( in the kitchen)

In studio ( in the study)

In camera da letto ( in the bed room)

In macchina ( in the car ) 



Saturation is our only hope - read Italian, listen to Italian, speak Italian, eat Italian. 

Now the last one one we can do!

In Greve 2010

In Rome 2010

                                                           Home cooking!

Six months later and the roses are still blooming. They are enjoying an autumn flush of freshness after the dry summer heat.