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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
 Posted - 05/18/2003 : 06:01:39 AM
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We've left the farm in Calabria and are heading north, so I've insisted that we cover new ground. Instead of following one of the may roads that lead to Rome, we've cut across the peninsula through some of the most beautiful mountain country I've ever seen, passing through Potenza, then Foggia, then following Autostrada A14 along the Adriatic Sea. Wine grapes and vegetables grow down the steep hillsides and almost to the beaches, with breathtaking views, ancient castles, and charming villages all around.
Lynn got the guide book out at just the right moment to find that a little five room place with a fine restaurant, the Villa Pignola, was coming up in Vasto. Vasto is a resort town and commercial wine making center, but the Villa Pignola (after we searched for two hours to find it) was down a private road through vineyards and suspended over the beach. It really is a villa, someone's vacation home 50 years ago, but now a quiet and charming inn.
The restaurant - aaaaah - I have a new standard for grilled squid, and the gamberi a speidini was beyond words. The small shrimp was meltingly tender, and had the Platonic essence of delicate shrimp flavor. Everything kissed with the gorgeous olive oil, of course. The primi was a seafood pasta with more shrimp-of-the-gods, and thin squares of pasta cooked to the definitive point of al dente. The secondi was more fish, the Adriatico is home of some of the most spectacular in the world. Grilled monkfish, on the bone, looking like a tiny sea monster but tasting like essence of the sea, and a mixed grill with langusto (now I know what sweet means in seafood) and a small snapper that sang in the mouth. All washed down with a medium bodied Trebbiano from nearby, flinty as the mountainsides and perfect with the delicate fish.
Not much guitar in this story, eh? I played for a few minutes overlooking the sea, but the long day's drive had worn me down.
Today we're writing from Rimini, I expected a jewel by the sea but it's a bustling tourist town full of English pubs and a beach divided into "clubs" rather than being covered in bathing beauties. Ah well ...
Ciao,
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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marzullo
`Olu`olu
USA
923 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2003 : 1:27:38 PM
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fran,
ma fa impazzire, ho la nostalgia per il sud dell'italia, la gente, e sopratutto il cibo.
but, it should be "costa adriatica", 'cause adjectives gotta agree with the gender of nouns.
eg, the famous phrase "il problema e` maschile, ma la soluzione e` femminile".
buon divertimento, |
Keith |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 05/19/2003 : 11:03:09 PM
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Mi piace Italia. Per favore Fran(co), mangi achora il pasta della "shrimp-of-the-gods" per me.
Ciao e buon viaggio! |
Andy |
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Fran Guidry
Ha`aha`a
USA
1579 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 10:43:21 AM
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You guys are past me in Italian, for sure. And my guide has just enough fluency to get us into trouble!!!! Plus her accent is Calabrian, so in fancy stores they chase her out and won't take her money <grin>.
We've since eaten in Rimini in a dockside seafood spot, Brisighella in a 14th century stone grotto, an Osteria in the walled city of Prado, and today alongside the Arno in Firenze where we had sweet ripe tomatoes, risotto con funghi, and stew of wild boar. Can I really make myself get back on a plane and go home? Will I ever be happy with California cuisine again??
Our room here in the Tuscan region is an old stone villa where the family works in the city but raises grapes and olives and rents out a few rooms besides. A little slack key on the patio overlooking the formal garden really hits the spot.
Fran
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E ho`okani pila kakou ma Kaleponi
Slack Key Guitar in California - www.kaleponi.com
Slack Key on YouTube
Homebrewed Music Blog |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2003 : 4:46:48 PM
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Hey Fran,
Didn't realize you were making your way up to Tuscany. I have family (il mio Padrino, my Godfather) in Cortona if you need another guide/place to visit. Just email me. |
Andy |
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