Blogflash: Take a bow, Querceto!

Seeing as I won’t be posting tomorrow, and that we actually changed our plans today – I have a quickie for you.

Ever since I came to Volterra and scanned the neighbouring villages, I’ve been wanting to go to Querceto. It’s a beautiful hamlet on the edge of a densely forested area (on a hilltop, naturally!). I thought it looked lovely in Google Maps, but as usual, no justice is done in comparison to actually being there.

We did a quick shop at the CoOp, and made our way there.

The place is 30-35 minutes drive from us, so a full day-trip isn’t required. We parked about 150 meters outside the hamlet, and as the place slowly unveiled itself, it was beyond expectation. It is gorgeous, if extremely quiet.

We stopped here for food, at Locanda del Sole. Niamh had speghetti in a rabbit sauce (light and tasty), and I had a dish that I thought couldn’t possibly work, it was so bonkers – but it was yummy! It was pici (thick spaghetti) in a carbonara sauce, with smoked goose breast, topped with grated bottarga (which is a Sardinian delicacy of solidified, cured mullet (usually) roe – which can be grated over dishes). The bottarga worked really well with the smoked meat. Give the chef a medal, and maybe a few weeks’ therapy! We both had a chocolate tart to finish, which was broken up for some reason, but was still tasty enough. We won’t have much to eat tonight!

Now we’re in the middle of this afternoon’s thunderstorm. In the last 6-7 days, we’ve entered a sub-tropical loop of hot weather in the morning, followed by thunderstorms and rain for 90 minutes in the mid-afternoon, followed by slightly lower temperatures.

Anyhoo – see you Monday!