Storia del il Circolo

Anna and Dario's farm is called il Circolo, meaning "the circle". The name came from their house, which has been refered to as il circolo in Montefiascone since the second world war. When they bought the house, it had been long abandoned. The roof and interior needed to be completely redone. But in the 1940's and 50's, this was a cultural center for the town. No one lived there permanently, but many in need of a temporary home passed through. The living room was used as a town meeting place for various community circles (hence the name). The downstairs bathroom had been a community sewing center, and my room was used for boxing. Yes, like Mohamed Ali, boxing. This was also the home of the very first televison in Montefiascone, which the whole community came to watch.

Dario and Anna bought the house 6 years ago, and restored it themselves. Now, it is beautiful! Below is a photo of the downstairs living space. "ROT" means red in German.

 And just for kicks, here are a few photos of some il Circolo farm inhabitants: the sheep, Tesoro (our constant feline companion in the olive orchard), and Emma the Italian sheep dog.

Setimana Di Pasqua

Jesilyn came to Montefiascone to spend a long Easter weekend with me. We spent wednesday and thursday on holiday at an Agroturismo called Pulicaro. Thursday we explored Aquapendente and went for an afternoon hike in Monte Rufeno, a nearby natural reserve. It was a beautiful hike, through oak and chestnut forest. The forests here are very dense, lush and green. This particular hike had a few creek crossings, some great views of a medieval clifftop town, and several casale ruins. We saw some deer, a viper, and were screamed at by a banshee/wild boar/we have no idea what it was.

After Pulicaro we returned to the farm, worked a few days and spent some time in Montefiascone. Highlights of these days included accidentally stumbling upon an easter parade in the centro historico, and dinner and aperetivo at Dante. The more authentic restaurants here serve your meal in courses; antipasti (appetizer), primi piati (pasta plate), secondi piati (meat), and contorni (vegetables), and dolce (desert) if you still have room. We're working hard over here, so we allowed ourselves to indulge a bit! The photos above are of Jes preparing to dig into aperetivo on Dante's rooftop terrace, and of a crowded street in Mf after the parade.

Jesilyn's blog has a more detailed account of these adventures.

Un pomeriggio a Montefiascone

This weekend I finally got the chance to check out the city center of the town where I am staying, Montefiascone. It is a small town, but it has a very rich history.

As I mentioned earlier, this area was a center of the Etrucian society. There are many caves here that date back well before the Roman Empire. The city itself is thought to have been built on the ruins of an ancient Etrucian temple. The first record of the name "Montefiascone" is from 853. It was a very wealthy medieval city, and a strategically important fortress. The castle hosted many popes on their way to cities north of Rome.

There is a popular local story about a catholic bishop who was traveling to Rome many centuries ago. As the story goes, this bishop sent a servant ahead with instructions to scrawl "Est" (latin for "it is") across the door of inns that had good wine. When the servant came to the inn at Montefiascone, he loved the wine so much that he wrote "Est, Est, Est!" The bishop drank so much of the wine that he died, and is now buried in the crypt of a local church. Today, Est Est Est is a large commercial wine bottler.  Dario concluded "it might have been good once, but now it is crap!"

The city center is built on a hill with a beautiful park at its peak. I spent some time reading in the park, checked out the cathedrals and castle ruins, and got some food a a local cafe.

Photos from top to bottom: 1) The view from the park. 2) Cathedral Santa Margherita. 3) Could this be it!?

Facciamo Formaggio

Every three days Anna makes a wheel of pecorino. It is surprisingly easy to make. The difficult part is aging it. I would try it at home, but I'd need a cave. 

The milk is heated to room temperature and the lactose eating, cheese rendering culture is added. The milk is then brought up to about 98º, since the culture works fastest at body temp. After about 30 minutes, the rennet is added. In another 40 minutes the milk has formed a solidified layer in the pot. The second photo shows Anna, breaking up the solids from the liquid whey.  The solids are then drop into a form and left for a few minutes to drain. The remaining liquid is then boiled, and ricotta "gratis" comes to the top. 

The cheese can be eaten at this point. Anna calls it "fresh cheese". It is very mild and creamy, and delicious with a little salt and olive oil poured over it. We often have it as a topping on salads. Usually she will fill a small form for fresh cheese, along with the large form for the pecorino.

The solids in the large form are then packed, flipped, packed again, and again, and again. It's then left in a dry room for a few days, and finally moved to the cave to age.

I don't know the nuances of aging yet, but I do know the cheese needs to be in a cool, humid place. The cave is perfect for this! Cheese is aged anywhere from a month to 2 years. The longer it ages the firmer, and stronger tasting it is. At first, they have to scrub the wheels to prevent the buildup of mold. After a month or two, the skin is hardened, and mold can no longer permeate it. The mold that forms on pecorino is commonly eaten, but too much of it will ruin the cheese. Dario says its tasty. I'll take his word for it. 

Photos from top to bottom: 1) A salad with fresh cheese topped with oil, slices of pecorino, and ricotta spread on panè. 2) Anna separating the solids from the whey. 3) Cheese solids in the form. 4) After several packings. 5) Wheels of pecorino, aging in the cave.

Viterbo

This morning Dario and I drove to Viterbo, the largest nearby town. He dropped me of at Porta Fiorintine to explore the old city center for a few hours, while he ran some errands. It was a welcome change of scenery and finally a chance to practice my Italian in a sink or swim situation.

The old center of Viterbo is a crooked maze of the narrow cobble-stoned roads. It is exactly how you'd picture Italy, only grungier. But I can't complain. The people where friendly, and every twist and turn revealed unexpected sites, hidden gardens, statues, fountains, and many tempting cafes and restaraunts. With the justifiaction "I should practice my Italian", I let myself be a pig. In two and a half hours I ate gelato, 2 panini, una cafe, and una pasta (pasta = pastry in l`italiano).

In the afternoon I finished double digging the garden. We're setting up the irrigation system tomorrow, and will start to transplant what Anna and Dario have already sprouted in the greenhouse.

Photosw are of Palazzo di Papale, and a street in Viterbo.

È Bello Qui

Photos are of an olive tree that is well over 100 years old, one of the pastures with the sheep on the right, and morning fog in the valley.

Frutti di Lavoriamo

Earlier today Anna and I were joking that we wake up and spend all morning making lunch, and all afternoon making dinner. But it is true! At least, lunch and dinner in a few months. This is a meal Dario and I ate while pruning a few days ago, in the shade of their olivi. The pecorino cheese, olive oil, cured olives, beans and onions are all their own, and the bread is homemade.

Dario explained the process of curing olives to me. It is actually pretty simple. Olives are picked for oil in november, but they leave a few branches full of fruit. By february, the olives are much less bitter, and anything that has been eaten by pests has already dropped. They pick what remains, jar them and add lots of salt. Once salted the olives sweat out their moisture. Every few days they pour out the water, occasionally adding more salt or herbs. After about a month, the olives are very tasty. "Make dirty" with some olive oil and MAMMA MIA e buono!

Photos are of lunch and the orchard.

Cacca di Pecora

I spent the morning shoveling sheep manure with Dario to spread in the garden. It was much more pleasant than it sounds. We made light of the necessary task with many potty jokes and stories from our experiences in college. Manure, in l`italiano is "letame". It is derived from the word "lieto" which means something in between happy and eased. Dario thinks it is because it makes the garden happy. Haha! Lingua e affascinante!

Photo is of Tessa, the friendliest sheep. As soon as they see us in the pasture they "Baahhhhh" and run straight for us.

Montefiascone

Today is my fourth day in Montefiascone and I already have so much to share, but lets start with and introduction to the farm. 

In Montefiascone I am living with two young farmers named Dario and Anna, their 2 year old son Teseo, and Emma the Italian sheep dog. The house is at the edge of town, on the crest of a hill. From the front porch there is a panoramic view molto bello of Lago di Bolsena (a volcanic lake, the largest natural lake in Europe) and the Italian campaniga. The town center of Montefiascone sits on the hilltop to the left. The opposite hillside is a chestnut and oak forest, where I am told there is great hiking. 

The house itself is over 200 years old, built of stone, paster, and enormous oak beams. Next to the house is a cheese cellar, which Dario estimates was built around around 1600. The cellar is connected to a cave, which may date back to the pre-Roman, Etruscan civilization. 

Dario and Anna farm only a few hectares of land, but are able to eat largely from their own produce. Near the house, on the terraced hillside is a large garden, and several young fruit trees. At the bottom of the hill are two pastures where they graze their sheep. This year they have 8 milking sheep, 1 male, and 5 lambs. A short walk towards the lake brings you to Dario's orchard of about 200 trees. The majority of this orchard are olivi (olive trees), but a few apple and pear trees are mixed in. The sheep are rotated between pastures and the orchard, and are milked twice a day. With the milk, Anna makes pecorino cheese, yogurt, and ricotta (she calls it "ricotta gratis", since it is a free by-product of the pecorino). The farm sells olive oil and pecorino, the rest is for the family's consumption. All of it e molto buono!

My work so far has been mostly pruning the olivi, and weeding out an invasive blackberry to prepare for the summer garden. Today we also harvested two male lambs, which is a bittersweet job. It is very hard to do, but Dario and Anna cannot continue to graze sheep that will not produce milk. Also, it means spring lamb is on the way!

Photos are of the house, and the view from the porch.

Buon Viaggo

So far the most useful Italian phrase I know has been "capisce l'inglese?". If the reply is "no", I am not much good! Learning phrases from a book is one thing, but understanding the chef at a trattoria in Roma is much different. Fortunately, after 15 hours in the air I was able to communicate that I wanted "della pizza margarita, per favore." It was a little after 9 am here, 12 am in California. Either way a strange time for pizza, ma è stato buona!

The trip was long. Very, very long. I slept as much as possible, but I kept being woken up by flight attendants asking if I wanted a pepsi. I sat next to an old Italian lady on the plane from D.C. to Roma. She spoke very little english (less than my Italian), but I was able to understand that she was born in Argentina and now lives in Sicily. She really warmed up to me when I was able to explain to the flight attended that "succo d'arancia" was orange juice, and not coffee. She gave me half her chicken (very insistently) and invited me for a stay on Sicily. Typical Italian I suppose... ma Sicily è molto lontano. 

I took the train from the airport to termini, the main train hub in Rome. By the time I got to termini and locked up my luggage I had two hours before I had to leave for Montefiascone. The area immediately around termini is not so nice, but a few blocks to the north I began to see some restaurants and parks. I got some pizza and ate near a ruin in a park. I have no idea what it was. Also I stumbled across the church shown in the photo. Only in Rome...

More to come!