Shifting gears, after four energizing days in Roma, we hitched up our Lancia Ypsilon and headed north through the verdant fields of Lazio to five days of retreat in Umbria.
Tuscany gets all the “props,” yet Umbria remains a secret amore, with its countless medieval hill towns towering on Etruscan foundations. The pastel blossoms that quilt the forests, orchards, and rape fields are breathtaking, as we snake though soft mountains and around placid lakes.
Amidst this spring palette Lisa selected two agriturismos, Lapone (http://www.agriturismolapone.it/indexENG.html) near the fortress town of Orvieto, and Preggio (http://www.preggio.it/), remotely nestled above the Niccone Valley and overlooking Lake Trasimeno in the distance.
At the risk of releasing these two gems to the voraciousness of “crowd-sourcing,” we share our great and fortunate satisfactions.
These two “farm house” inns actually span a variety of outstanding rural Italian accommodations:
Agriturismo Lapone is relatively new and beautifully designed and decorated in lean, somewhat modern appointments. Our young host Caterina and her husband were warm, charming and attentive. She was a trained as a chef in Roma, and turned out elegant and beautifully prepared dishes – spaghetti con tartufi, roasted rosemary potatoes and cubed vegetables with meatballs, custard torte with pine nuts.
While at Lapone, we walked the fabulous wooded property and toured Orvieto (notable cathedral) and the relatively obscure mountain village of Pitigliano. Here we learned of a tiny Jewish community that had fled Papal decrees of the Counter-Reformation in the 1500’s and established a complete community for five hundred years under the protection of the noble Orsini family. They were subsequently hidden from the Nazis by their Christian neighbors.
Visting Agriturismo Preggio, was an encore for us. Of all the Agritourismos in which we have stayed, Preggio is perhaps the most rural and intimate.
It is situated in remote country parsed with olive orchards, small flocks of sheep, wooded hills, ancient hill towns, tobacco fields along the Niccone (Nicotine) River and idyllic farm houses, some of which are populated by the occasional rocker, movie star, or other fortunate soul (Sting? Ralph Fiennes?)
Agriturismo Preggio is owned by Bruno and Elena, former Internet entrepreneurs, who have a little slice of organic heaven just south of the Tuscany line. They have hundreds of acres of olives, fruit trees, honey, wine grapes, all manner of vegetables, grains, herbs, flowers, fowl, 3 giant white shepherd dogs, and a huge installation of solar panels that allows them to feed the grid. (One of these cane is a refugee from a neighboring farm, where he tended sheep and escaped to this life of leisure)
Elena’s skills extend to cheese and soap making, as well being an extraordinary cook, baker (freshly bakes cakes and pastries every morning), and all around farm wizard – gathering herbs and vegetables from the surrounding fields.
Again we are the solo guests and have lots of time to chat, learn about life in the Italian hills, and explore by foot and Lancia. Actually, we seem to be the only tourists in the region (not a complaint), and each day brings unexpected delights and an unfolding narrative of regional life.
On this year’s trip we augmented roving the rustic hillsides near Preggio with excursions to Citta di Castello, Sansepolcro, and the magnificent spiritual bastion of Assisi.
At this point, I will let the photos do the talking. Ciao!
Click on Pics – double-click for BIG pics
I like the people in the square, with the guy in the red pants telling a fish story.
I need red pants.
And a fish story….
Umbria has a new tag line — “Land of the down vest”
Love the meatball platter, although I would have ordered it without the centipede.