Lost in time are the origins of Offida, medieval hilltown of Le Marche, certainly inhabited in the Bronze Age, later by a local Italic tribe, then finally by the Romans. The town’s name might derive from the temple dedicated to the serpent Ophis/Ophite, sacred edifice, where worship took place before a golden snake. Legend relates that the high priest of the temple could miraculously cauterize open wounds and bites by passing his wrist, wrapped with a writhing sacred snake, over the injury. The legend lives on in Offida: il serpente aureo (“golden snake”) recurs again and again in place names of the town: after visiting the nineteen-centruy frescoed theater, Teatro Serpente Aureo, we walked down Corso Serpente Aureo to the Ristorante Ophis (ah, that snake again!)
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“Buono come il pane” (“as good as bread”) is how the Italians describe a good-hearted, generous person. For the Greeks, bread was “the food of the gods”, for the Anglo-Saxons, “the staff of life”. “Il pane e’ una cosa sacra”, Peppa told me the other day as she sliced crosses across the tops of the two loaves she’d just formed, holding them almost tenderly in her hands…
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I finally have my matera – or the traditional Umbrian bread cupboard. Many years ago, our farm neighbors, Peppe and Mandina, had decided to chop up Mandina’s old and well-used matera for firewood. The doors were coming off the hinges and were cracked. They would not have been able to afford restoration, nor were they in any way attached to their matera. They were suprised when I told them I would love to have it and they were happy to give it to me. Mu husband Pino and I took it to a carpenter who also restored wood furniture. When we went back for it, he told us the matera had been beyond restoration and so he had chopped it up to fuel his woodstove…
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Perugia is not just proud of its chocolate, Etruscan artifacts and the Umbria Jazz festival: this provincial capital of Umbria also boasts not just one but three patron saints! Legend tells us that one of them, San Costanzo, first bishop, was buried outside of the city’s Roman walls after his decapitation in the 3rd century. Celebrations start the night before his feast day, January 29, with the luminaria, the candlelit procession to the Church of San Costanzo, built on the site of his martyrdom.
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On the tables, the silverware flanks the menus: laminated plastic cards listing the full array of Ciancino goodness, though not all dishes are served each day. Black magic marker rings the dishes offered. I wanted to try the pasta calabrese (with beef, olives, hot red pepper) but like the picciante, “tutto esaurito.” I opted for the tasty rosticciana in umido (ribs in spicy tomato sauce with local black olives) while Pino and friends made good work of the boiled meats special: beef and tongue served with pickled red onions and a caper/ancovy sauce on the side. Desserts enticed as much as the main courses: zabaione semifreddo, profiteroles, fruit tarts, to name a few.
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Children certainly do need to learn maths, literature, history and geography in school. They also need to learn about an important means of communication, necessary for their health and well-being: cooking – and the making and sharing of foods with others. I so enjoyed teaching Italian cooking, healthy eating and nutrition in a Texas school in 2009. Time to get back into the schools, taking the message of Nadia with me, too.
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What’s my favorite late fall day? The day or two when we pick our olives or the day the olio novello comes back from the mill? In every Umbrian farmhouse, stainless steel cannisters now hold every farm’s cold-pressed, recently-milled olive oil. Lift the lid, put your nose in…and ah…the fruity pungent smell of the olio nuovo carries you away. It’s hard to think of a dish here not enhanced by this italianissimo condiment. Our farm women neighbors even use it in the place of butter in tasty moist cakes. Olive oil stars as king of the Mediterranean diet, now UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Intangible. Over 50,000 acres of Umbrian farmland are given over to cultivation of our “liquid gold” but – mamma mia! – production is down this year.
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In Italy, la buona forchetta is not a favorite eating utensil, not a special serving fork: it’s a person who knows and relishes good food. For any buona forchetta, the cooking of Emilia Romagna is the apex of culinary ecstasy. Bordering Umbria on the northeast, this region is known for its Parmigiano, balsamic vinegars, mortadella, salami, nourishing soups, lasagne, tagliatelle and endless variations of tortellini (not to mention cappelletti, tortelli, tortelloni, ravioli, and ravioloni). Hearty foods offset the bleak and foggy, bone-chilling winter weather typical of the region.
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Acclaimed “la citta’ dell’olio”, Spello celebrates its “liquid gold” with the Festa dell’olivo e Sagra della Bruschetta every year in early December. Its 50th anniversary edition transforms this medieval hilltown gem into a showplace of art and photography exhibits, open markets, traditional Umbrian song and dance performances, oilve-oil tasting events – and more! – the second weekend of December. The president of the local Pro Loco (small tourist board), Umberto Natale, says ” This manifestazione is much-loved by our Spellani and is dedicated to the land, our traditions, and a cultivation which has been the livelihood for centuries for many our families. We have now become a reference point for the production of top extra-virgin olive oils. We owe this to the excellence of our producers.”
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In early November, white truffles star at the 32nd edition of la Mostra-Mercato del Tartufo Bianco in Citta’ di Castello in the Upper Tiber Valley. But not only the prized white truffle, Tuber Magnatum Pico: all the many flavors of Umbrian fall goodness team with traditional culinary wisdom in this weekend dedicated to educating the taste buds and the mind through a kaleidoscope of conferences, cooking competitions, theatrical presentations and food tastings.
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