Orvieto

*Sunday, January 16*

Today we took a trip to the small village of Orvieto, about an hour and a half north of Roma. The bus ride through Italy was beautiful and was the first chance we had at seeing what the true Italian countryside (la campagna) looked like. Cait immediately fell asleep so I followed tradition and snapped a quick photo of her in all her glory (see it in pics below, truly a sight to behold). I have never seen a landscape quite like that of Italy. There are rolling hills, yes, and tons of sheep (my calling) and of course vineyards, but there are also cliffs, castles, and other ancient ruins scattered all over the place. People will build their houses, modern ones, right next to huge 700 year old wells, or barns, I can never imagine living on a plot of land that old, saturated in history dating as far back as the Roman Empire (and in many cases earlier!). And the colors! Let’s talk about the colors. The hills were shades of green that you just can’t find in America. A camera, like the view off the cliff in Orvieto, just can’t capture the true essence of this country. Even the sky seems clearer, bluer, as if you’ve left this earth and suddenly been transported into one where flaws don’t exist. But anyway, enough of the sensitive crap, let’s talk about the food…

When we finally arrived at Orvieto we all climbed up the six long flights of stairs to reach the top of the village (it’s perched right on top of a massive cliff, check out the pics below and on my flickr and just think of how well this place must have been protected!! All you’d really need are a bunch of archers and you’re good to go!). We walked through the small town to reach the restaurant we were scheduled to eat lunch in, called Restaurante dell’ Ancora. We sat down and were instantly brought wine and aqua naturale, as usual. The wine was amazing. We were unfortunately sitting at the end of the table next to a bunch of boozer guys (you know the type), so the one bottle of wine we were all supposed to share didn’t quite make it to me until there was about a fourth of a glass left, however, I am grateful that I was able to taste it and I attempted to savor it throughout my meal. First course (primo corsa), zucchini lasagna. Best pasta dish I have yet to taste in Italy. The noodles were silky and super thin, covered with many thin layers of ricotta cheese and sliced green zucchini, the top covered in mozzarella and baked until brown (mmmmm brown cheese…). Just looking at the picture makes me swoon, those layers…Second course (second corsa), braised beef and mushrooms, this is pretty popular in Italy, boiled potatoes with rosemary and a salad with light lemon/oil dressing, absolutely delicious. The guy sitting across from me was a vegetarian and man did I feel bad for that kid. He got the veggie plate; it looked like a dark green quiche with bits of beige running through it... Italians don’t really believe in being a vegetarian, I don’t think they understand it. Dessert was a raspberry rum cake (a sign from the gods to me); it was soft and rich in flavor but light as a pillow, dusted with cocoa powder. These people know what they’re doing.

During lunch Katie and I went to the bathroom, I didn’t lock the door, having had previous bad experience with getting stuck in bathrooms (recall Amtrak), Katie however did lock the door…and got stuck. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time, thank God I had waited in the bathroom for her. It locked with one of those old-fashioned keys and she couldn’t get it to work, I just remember us looking at each other through the keyhole, me laughing and her freaking out. I told her to give me the key and I would try it on the other side, so she slid it under the door and it unlocked immediately. Now keep in mind that this is in a really nice, authentic Italian restaurant; I’m kneeling on the floor dying of laugher, Katie is hammering away on the door and all the other girls in the bathroom and looking at us like we’re insane. Never laughed so hard in my life. I don’t think Katie will ever lock a door again.

After lunch we took a tour of the little village, saw many old people walking arm and arm, many little Italian children playing in the streets and of course the ever popular strings of laundry hanging out of windows across alleys (like all good tourists I took a picture of this). We stopped at a huge church (reminded me of La Notre Dame), it was very cool and very, very old (built in the 14th century). The façade was spectacular. When we reached the cliff that this city is built on I almost fainted. We were sooo high up. It was fantastic!! I can’t imagine ever getting used to that view…

Da Roma, con amore.