A Postcard from Italy -
Sunday
It was finally here our autumn trip to Italy, Tarracina to
be exact ,truffle hunting, virgin olive oil pressing, tomato canning to name
but a few of the activities. The trip was organised after a papparadelle and
quick olive oil tasting at a fabulous local Italian restaurant in Gisburn,
owned by Maurizio and Cinzia Bocchi We were accompanied by Paul Heathcote and his
wife Gabbie.
We met at Manchester airport for a very early morning
flight, having risen from my bed at 2.15am for a 6.15am flight. We were met at
Leonardo da Vinci airport by Gino and Simone and their two sons Danielle and
Simone, a great welcome from the owners of the hotel where we would be staying
for the next four nights.
We arrived at Hotel Centrosenica just after noon and after a
warm welcome from everybody we were thrown into our first tasting of the food
from the region of Lazio. Now this introduction was supposed to be a light
lunch! Course after course flowed from the kitchen starting with rosemary and
garlic bread (which was sensational) and then ending with a stiff coffee and
some wonderful homemade shortbread. The courses you missed in-between were some
wonderful smoked local ham, sheep’s milk cheese, local squid, pasta with clams,
then when we all thought our light lunch had finally ended, in came the Rib of
Beef followed by a larger than life Rum Baba…wow what an introduction.
Monday
We left the olive oil farm and went on to a Buffalo
Mozzarella Farm in Terracina. I have to say, there were some mighty impressive
Buffalos, we were tempted to get closer, but there was an unfortunate incident
with Paul when one of the buffalos whipped his tail and splashed quite a
considerable amount of Buffalo dung on his white shirt, unfortunately not his
Bolton shirt. Anyway revenge was had as Gabby and I were bitten all over our
legs by the local Mosquitos! A quick cheese tasting and back to the hotel.
Dinner began with the rosemary bread; a stunning special
ovulo mushroom (small egg like mushroom very rare and very
sought after in this part of Italy) salad with rocket and parmesan; tomato
torpedino and buffalo mozzarella salad with Orsini olive oil, clams and
oysters; then more oysters! Tuna with white aubergines, olives and tomatoes;
pasta and prawns; the courses just kept coming with true Italian passion.
Finally…fresh fruit, prickly pear, coffee and almond wafers. Of course, I
should not have been surprised this is the Italian way, great food, great
company, beautiful wines, and before you know it at least five hours have
passed! Then bed.
Tuesday
An early start was scheduled, we had to be on the beach for
6.30am to do our run have a quick swim and ready to leave at 8.00am. Another
highlight of the trip - truffle hunting and for white ones. Can you imagine
finding a little dusky white ball that could be worth £4000 per kg. We were
going to the borderlands on the edge of Lazio, an area called Alvito where we
were to rendezvous with a truffle hunter (who turned out to be a solicitor) in
a motorway service station an hour away from our location. All sounded a bit
cloak and dagger. We rendezvoused with our hunter then followed him for about
half an hour in cars to a cement factory and by this time Paul, was looking a
little
agitated and his imagination was going into overdrive as he
pictured Gabby burying him in a load of cement and
truffles, never to be seen again…if only !!
And the journey continued, a further drive of twenty minutes
until we parked up in the hilly region of Alvito, it was absolutely teeming
down, which we knew was not a good thing for the dogs or the truffles. We
donned raincoats, boots and hats, and the rain just poured and poured. Our
truffle hunter took us into a large insignificant looking field and the hunt
began. His dogs Bobby and Nero set about their work and within minutes Truffles
were in abundance, alas black ones and not the white, we were told this was
because of the rain and perhaps we were a little too early in the season.
So what should we do now? Let’s head off for lunch! We dined
at Osteria Del Tempo Perso where the Chef Mattea Patso looked after us royally.
To start, sheep’s cheese curd; pecorino cheese, salami and lots of fantastic
Italian bread; truffle and potato soup with white beans; ravioli with beef;
home made sausage meat with thick spaghetti like pasta and black Italian
truffles; sirloin served very rare from locally reared Italian beasts;
chocolate and hazelnut tart, and all washed down with plenty of Cabernet
Sauvignon and Sangiovese wine. Then there was just enough time for a quick
visit to the local butchers where Matteagets all his meat hung and cured.
Again, It was fantastic to see regionality so strong, the passion is just
outstanding. Back home was a two hour journey and then dinner was a light
affair with plenty of chilled local beer and pizzas which were nearly as good
as the ones I remember in Belagio on Lake Como. Oh, they were so good!
Wednesday
Another run and swim, necessary to keep up with the eating
and drinking! The weather had turned again and with Terracina being in such a
vast open area of sea it was deemed too rough to venture out fishing. Plans
were made to visit The Temple of Jove Anxur, perhaps Terracina’s most famous
historical site, built by the Romans in the 1st century. Here we found the most
incredible romantic view, apparently it’s the site of countless passionate
encounters over the past two thousand years... and if only if those temple
walls could talk! Then finally the fishing trip could happen but in a much
smaller vessel than anticipated. Nevertheless, we had three rods, one for Paul,
Maurizio and I and we managed a few hours fishing but it wasn’t what you might
call big sea fishing. I caught nothing! Paul caught a Whitebait and Maurizio
caught a Sardine - all in all, not the killer whales we were expecting! Then it
was back to the hotel for a well deserved chill and get our bags packed for
departure the following morning. Our genial host Gino seemed a little tired,
understandable really, as we hadn’t stopped for the whole 5 days. So dinner was
a casual affair as we reminisced over the last four days. It was the end of a
beautiful trip to Italy, where the hospitality had been second to none. The
simplicity of the Italian food is wonderful, its all about the ingredients and
the passion for regionality. Thank you Italy, thanks also to Maurizio for
organising the trip and to Gino, Cinzia and his family for looking after us so
well. Caio…till the next time.
To read more about news and on-goings from the hotel, head over to http://www.northcote.com/blog
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