Recipe: Tuscany 2006 Journal Entry #11-Castiglione di Lago

Tuscany 2006 Journal Entry #11-Castiglione di Lago

Off to the lake town of Castiglione di Lago, a town overlooking Lake Trasimeno that Steve and Bonnie told us about yesterday. Sounds good to us. Steve says it is past Pienza and that the lake is a very beautiful aquamarine color. He also told us that there is a very good salami/cheese shop where the owner, a young woman, runs out to you in the street with a tray of samples.



We have a nice drive and the lake is, indeed, very beautiful. We park below the walls of town and walk up thru one of the arched entrances. The first place we stop is an antique store run by a very boisterous woman who allows DH to take pictures for antique store loving friends at home. At one point she moves into his view and tells him to take her picture too! There are lots of interesting things in the store, but we find the prices too dear.

As we move down another street, here is the salami/cheese lady running out to give us a sample, just as Steve promised. We purchase some wonderful hard boar sausage and some more pecorino, along with a small jar of boar ragu sauce. She also gives us some samples of wine. She is very friendly and is adept at multitasking, making sandwiches for a couple of young women shopping with their infant children in strollers, weighing and packaging our purchases and making sure no one passes her store on the street without being offered a sample of her wares.

At a bar, out on a terrace overlooking the lake and what looks to be a park, we lunch on pieces of pizza. Spinach and zucchini for me and sausage for DH. The view is spectacular. We hear what we think are shots from some kind of shotgun at different intervals during lunch. Somewhat disconcerting. Lots and lots of dogs barking down below us in response to the shots. So many that we wonder if there is some type of kennel or dog pound there.

Later I enjoy a very wonderful latte at another bar in town with lots of pictures of the many little towns that surround this lake. There is what appears to be a pretty large hospital here, with several ambulances at its entrance.

In a pastry shop while DH is using the restroom, I spy Jill Carroll's picture on the front page of an Italian newspaper. I can't read much of what it says but I see the word "libaro", which I know means "free", more or less. I take the paper to the young woman behind the counter and ask them if this means she has been released. Through broken English on their part and broken Italian on mine, they are able to make me understand that yes, she has indeed, been released! When DH returns from the restroom he is distressed to find me with tears in my eyes, but I am quick to assure him that these are tears of joy. What wonderful news!

On the way back we stumble upon an wonderful overlook just before Monte Oliveto. We park the car next to the pullout where there is a picnic table, a bike rack and a trash bin overflowing with wine bottles. The view here is breathtaking. The ground is covered with blankets of yellow dandelions and other wildflowers. We take lots pictures of it and of each other. As I look at DH thru the viewfinder I expect Maria Von Trapp to come up the hill behind him, children in tow, singing The Sound of Music. We spend quite a bit of time here, roaming along the edge of the hills and taking picture after beautiful picture. What a great spot for a picnic!





The daffodils are up in yards along our way home. We are enjoying the drive so much that just before our turn to the apartment we turn in a different direction and wander some of the roads around Le Chiuse. We come upon a huge flock of sheep and stop to watch them for a while. Such wonderful music they make with their bells. Then we wonder if perhaps they feel like they have constant tinnitus. They are grazing at what seems to us to be a pretty fast clip, almost running as they eat, one sheep in particular appears to be training to be a sprinter! Then, as if on command, they wheel around and start trotting/munching in the other direction. Once it a while they all came to a complete stop and then form into a single line. What is that? Synchronized grazing?



Jan and Stu ask if we want to go to dinner, either Mario's or Da Vestro, where we had the boar sauce with Mo the other night. We decide on Da Vestro, we know where that is .right? Wrong. We get VERY lost, ending up on a tiny dirt road sure we are in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Around the next bend we find a huge tour bus parked in front of a small restaurant. Well, if a tour bus can get here, we can't be too lost. We find a spot with cell service and I call to move our reservation back to 8pm. Up ahead we see the S2, the highway, and I mean UP ahead. Its overpass towers over the small canyon we are in. How to get there? Once again, DH comes thru and in no time we on are the S2 and once again headed the right way.

We arrive at the restaurant and stuff ourselves with their irresistible bruschetta, papparadalle with boar sauce, boar casserole, tagliatelle with mushrooms, ensalata mista, stewed spinach, apple flan and cantuccini. Home late again!

We are invited to lunch on the property tomorrow. Nicolo is hosting a sommelier class's final tasting, followed by lunch and more wine. We're game!