Pitigliano here we come……..

Today we toured this lovely mountain town in Tuscany. We had to be at Bar Roma for pastry breakfast by 845a and on the shuttle bus by 915a. We all made it, but some were still dragging but there. We had been warned, they would leave us if we were late.

Off we went with Sergio driving and Rocky talking. It was a beautiful sunny day but a bit windy and chilly, but we were ok.

We went through lovely windy roads and country side that reminded Susan of California. At Pitigliano, which is an small mountain village, we went through a museum explaining how the Jews came to live here. It was a Jewish ghetto and many were sent here to live underground...known as The Jewish Underground. So the rooms we saw were all underground, the Kosher Cellar, Butcher...the Ritual bath...just fascinating.
 A lot of Italian dishes have been influenced by the Jewish culture.

                            It was lovely day for strolling....the streets are so pretty  and so unique.

The Italians are serious about their wild boar...it is really very good. 

This shop wanted to be sure you knew they had it for sale.

One group shot before heading back to Soriano

 Then we spent time walking the streets, checking out the shops and the views. Beautiful doors, and yes, Mike, we are noticing them. Nathie had us sampling jerky she bought at one the local stores. It was quite good. We had lunch at a trattoria and have learned that every meal starts with a meat tray, bread and wine. Then the first course was lasagna, then roasted chicken with a red sauce and salad. No dessert!

Back in the bus for the ride to the villa and our first day of cooking. The drive up the village is past groves of hazelnut trees. Villa Eddarella is a 350 year old house that they spent over a million remodeling and returning it to much of it’s original Italian architecture. The kitchen was modernized to be able to run the business. However the modernized kitchen does not take away from the Italian charm. They are adding an outdoor pavilion that will have a brick pizza oven, bar-b-que grill, large sink and lots of seating.

We were welcomed as family and told that we could open any bottle of wine to drink and to move around the Villa as we wanted as we were now home. It’s amazing that 14 people plus 3 of their staff can cook in one kitchen on one meal. We all helped peel, chop, shred, whip, mix and put together the following: panzanella, risotto with shaved parmigiano reggiano cheese, Tuscan roasted chicken, Tuscan roasted potatoes and Tiramisu. Dinner was wonderful. There was much singing, drinking and picture taking. We even had the opportunity to learn how to carve prosciutto.

The huge kitchen island was big enough for all of us to stand around it....wonderful kitchen

Toasting our first dinner together!!

After dinner and many glasses of wine, the Borello and Limoncello and Limoncello Cream came out. Many shots were done, no doubt folks will sleep good tonite.

Coffee was served and we learned that it is against Italian law to serve Cappuccino after 11a!!!! WE broke the law….we didn’t care!!

Michael and Rocky entertained us with their stories of how they came to live in Soriano.

As we were all tired our nite ended around 10p and we were climbing the hill to our little home by 1030p. We were told that tomorrow will be our longest road trip day as we will be visiting Val D’Orcia where we will go to an Abbey, hear the Monks chant and shop. We will also visit 2 wineries and a cheese shop. Dinner will be hosted by Spartico’s sister Maria Grazia at her private villa nestled in the woods.

This has truly been wonderful so far and we still have much to go.

Good night from Nathie and Susan’s villa…..Ponticello.