cacio e pepe – Our Man In Volterra

I walked! Despite what I said in a recent blog, O Miracle of Miracles: I walked! I must have had to drop down some trash for the usual morning collection. I walked around some of the walls clockwise, and found an interesting surprise on the way.

I know I’ve said it before, but we got really lucky with the weather that week

We chose to stay in Volterra that day, as we (well, Niamh mostly) had to take time out to research how we wanted to remodel our bathroom, and we had to meet a builder with our translator. There is a smidge of guilt we have for wanting to do so, as our neighbours (the couple from whom we bought the apartment are now our neighbours), only remodelled it a few years previously, but it wasn’t to our taste. This remodelling should be completed soon, and when it is, I will create a mini before-and-after blog. I joined in the research a little, so it could be said I was consulted!

Then I went out, as I wanted to buy a Vespa for a friend. What can I say? I’m a generous guy!

And there it is. She was dead happy to get it! 🙂

When we were both done, we decided to go for lunch. I’d noticed earlier that, for a change, the wind was less severe than usual, and coming from the east/south-east. With the sun shining high, we went to Osteria Fornelli – the restaurant with possibly the best view in Volterra. There are usually residents’ cars parked most of the way along the wall there. Fortunately, the piazzetta was devoid of vehicles that day!

There was also little wind, as I had foreseen, so it must have been a good 23 celsius out there. I almost regretted not having a hat. Not too shabby for October, when you’re 570 meters above sea-level!

Cars? What cars? One of the balancing/diving kids on the left! (See below). I think you can also just about make out the sea in the far distance.

What there were, were a few kids running screaming around the square. That doesn’t alone bother me so much – it’s great to see kids play together – but a lot of the time they were balancing precariously on the alabaster rocks and jumping off. The anxiety rose in me a little as I catastrophised the worst: one of them slipping an opening their heads on the slabs. Their parents didn’t seem to mind, so after a while I ceased caring too, and was able to relax a little better. Although the half bottle of wine each helped buoy my mood somewhat!

We just had the one course, plus a selection of their delicious breads. The food was yum, as it always is. We really like Osteria Fornelli, but every time we go there it feels like the first time, in that the staff never seem to recognise us. They’re always friendly, mind you!

We had a short walk afterwards. We stopped off at Bottega del Pecorino to pick up some pecorino, as Niamh wanted to have a go at making cacio e pepe later that evening. Niamh had had a beautiful one in La Vecchia Lira a few days previously and wanted to give it a go. Unfortunately, I led her astray, as I thought we needed a full stagionato (fully matured), hard percorino. We should have picked out a semi-stagionato. Oopsie. Niamh went back to the apartment, and I did too, but only after having a gelato at L’isola del Gusto!

Pistacchio and the award-winning Creme di Ersilia (Ersilia being the name of the gelato chef and owner!)

We went back to the apartment to meet the builder who would be working on our bathroom. Unfortunately, there was a mixup in the time for the appointment, and our translator from our property manager, and she didn’t show up. I tried using my Italian, but it wasn’t up to scratch. He checked out the bathroom… and got a rough idea of what we wanted, but then left and we had to re-arrange for the next day. Actually a couple of days later, I saw him working on the restoration of the Etruscan museum (Guarnacci), so he had been chosen well for us!

Here are some janky stills of the bathroom from a video we took back in December 2018.

We waited further while until (a) the booze from lunch wore off, and (b) until shops had re-opened from riposo before heading to a fab little bathroom, fireplace and kitchen place in La Sterza called Bitozzi. We strolled in (parking was easy), and found ourselves relying more on the nice lady’s English, rather than my Italian. I got to use it a little bit more than the last time we were here, but I really need more regular practice with speaking. In the grand scheme of things, picking out a toilet, bidet, wall tiles, floor tiles, not to mention the sink, drawers, shower tray, head and doors – all in one visit – that wasn’t bad going. We’re going for plain enough wall tiles, and some wonderful mismatched patterns for the floor. We had planned on a matte finish for the shower tray, sink, toilet and bidet, but they were not available if we wanted our (revised twice) timetable adhered to. So we went for largely glossy – in hindsight, that is kinda better, as it’s most likely easier to clean. And if there’s one thing you need to clean properly it’s your bathroom (ok, two: your kitchen too!).

These are the matte versions of the toilet and bidet we chose. Wanted pipes hidden, so there’s no contact with the floow.

The lady who assisted us was super-helpful and patient. She took down the details, drew little pictures for us, grabbed measurements, consulted catalogues and all-in-all made her money for the 70-80 minutes we were there!

At the time of writing this, the builder has stripped down the tiles and sent us photos. More on the progress in the unveiling episode.

We were hungry when we got back, and we had bought cheese for a cacio e pepe earlier during the day (yes, the wrong cheese). It didn’t deter Niamh, so she gave it a go. Admittedly, the cheese congealed a little, but that’s because I chose the wrong one – but the flavour was good!

Ok, maybe we needed more sauce too – but it was still yummy!

There was a good reason why we didn’t go out to eat that evening! I wanted to attend the final and award ceremony of the Michael Mullan Writing Competition. I had entered into two categories: Short Story (2,000 words or fewer) and Micro Fiction (500 words or fewer). I was long-listed in both, and the short-listed in Micro Fiction. So, I joined in the online final via Zoom… and I won! Yay me! It was one of my proudest achievements, not least because I showed myself that I can still do worthwhile things even when blitzed with anxiety. Also, I was representing out writer’s group (Naas Creative Writers Group). We’re going through something of a purple patch these last 2 years, with competition wins and publications, so go us!

Most categories in the Michael Mullan competition are open to worldwide entry, so if you dabble in a bit of creative writing it’s a great way to practice, and you’d be helping out a great cause. I’ll notify you when the 2022 competition is open!

Anyway, apart from screen-watching and maybe a little (more) wine-drinking, we were done for the day.

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There are a fair few photos in this blog – you have been warned! It’s pretty long too – it was a busy day!

Every year, Tuscan tenor Andrea Bocelli plays a couple of concerts in late July near Lajatico, the municipal centre of the area he was raised. He was actually brought up in small town just north of there: La Sterza, and there you can see several buildings bearing his name: a restaurant, a cantina and, most improbably, a farm machinery outlet.

That day, we decided to take a look at where his performances take place: Il Teatro del Silenzio (the theatre of silence). So called, I assume, not because Signore Bocelli has a sense of sarcasm, but that it is completely outdoors, away from the town, in nature. I guess wind doesn’t count on the decibel scale. The surroundings were supposed to be lovely, and so we were looking forward to the trip, and maybe getting some lunch in Lajatico itself.

But first – the morning walk. Looks like we got lucky with the clarity of the sky, if not the actual temperature that day.

I walked to the panoramic view at Piazza Martiri della Libertà, down viale dei Ponti, re-entered at Porta a Selci and carried on home from there.

Once done, washed and breakfasted we took the all-too-familiar road towards Pisa. The first part of this road always enthralls us, with views of sweeping valleys dotted here and there with agriturismi and tiny hamlets, surrounded by olive groves, cypress and vineyards. As soon as you have entered Molina d’Era, however, the road bores a little as it flattens, although you will still see glimpses of Tuscany-in-a-bottle scenes such as farmland, small homesteads on hills and distant borghi atop ridges. 98% of the time at the end of this section of road we turn right towards La Sterza, whether we’re going to Pisa, Pontadera, La Rosa etc. for shopping or actually heading back to Ireland. This time we were turning left! Excitement!

A couple of kilometers later, we turned right at San Giovanni di Val d’Era towards Lajatico. If you went straight on instead, you could take an alternative route to Volterra, on a road plagued by subsidence, but offering views easily rivalling the Crete Senesi, or even the Val d’Orcia itself. Maybe more on that another time, though. For now – onwards towards Lajatico!

The theatre itself lies on the outskirts of the town – to the southeast – so, we followed Missus Google’s advice and wound up at the near-empty carpark. We got out, and were glad of our jackets. The base temperature wasn’t so bad, but the wind howled about us like banshees, doing the day a little injustice.

There were only a couple of other small groups of people here (three nuns and an older couple), and one or two workmen who where tending the immediate area. It took a minute, but once we had gotten used to the gales of the exposed region, we took in the landscape. And it astonished.

The theatre is the circular area on the left. In the distance, Volterra sitting on top of the butte!

As you can see above, we spotted Volterra in the far distance, crowning the butte.

We headed down farther, to take a look at some of the sculptures on display, as well as the theatre itself, taking snaps and filming all the while!

The whole area is quite spectacular and well worth a visit. Maybe not during the concerts, though!

And finally, two of my favourite ever photos:

Captions not needed!

I would recommend a visit to the Teatro for sure, but maybe during the off-season, like we did – and you can forget it in late July, unless you’re actually attending the concerts. The road to the place is narrow, and I can only imagine how insanely busy it can be. I know from a local that, although they are grateful for the business that is brought, Lajatico becomes a little unbearable during the gigs. It’s a small place, and I can imagine hordes of people would spoil it.

We had been to Lajatico before (before I had started this blog – although I’m sure I still have photos), and found it lovely, but it was during a cooler day, and the town was shrouded in mist. Today was bright and sunny, and the light made the colours of the town pop with extraordinary clarity. This time, we found Lajatico utterly captivating. We had no idea that there was so much art placed in and around town, on the walls, hidden inside buildings with doors which, at a distance, seemed randomly left open. They had placed coloured lanterns over the street lights, and I imagine the town looks amazing at night.

Piazza Vittorio Veneto – the main square. See the red lanterns?

We arrived at the main church in the town, dedicated to San Leonardo Abate and had a look inside and in the nearby park.

Always check the ceilings in Italian places of worship!

Once done there, we headed back up the town to see if we could find somewhere to eat a place of pasta, snapping furiously on the way.

At first we checked out a recommended restaurant – different to the one in which we’d already eaten – but it was closed that day for lunch (Il Marmaldo). In fact, it looked like it only opened at weekends for lunch, and during the evening for most other days. A pity. But, at least we had Ristoro Da Nello – where we had eaten before and had good food and tons of geniune small-town charm. Right? Well… no. Sadly, they were on holidays for a few weeks while we were there, and so were closed too. Another pity. So, I had a flick around Google Maps and remembered that we had never visited Ghizzano, and it certainly looked big enough to have a restaurant, so we headed back to the carpark and drove there.

Ghizzano is a small town nestled atop a hill (quelle surprise!), aways north and a little west of Volterra. What makes it different to the other hilltowns of Volterra? Well it is down to the inhabitants, of course, but also three artists: Alicja Kwade, David Tremlett and Patrick Tuttofuoco. You can read more about them here. But essentially, parts of the town are outdoor art installations – the most notable of which are the buildings of Via di Mezzo – all it seemingly just took is paint. You won’t find many streets in Tuscany looking anything like Via di Mezzo.

At the time of writing this, Google Street View last visited this street in 2011, before the installation was implemented. You can check it out here.

After having a brief tour of Via di Mezzo, we went in search of a restaurant. Not finding one, we instead headed into a cute little bar, attached to a really old-school looking alimentari (food store) called Bar Alimentari Campani. The foodstore, although very clean, looked designed out of the 1950’s, with simple wooden square shelves linging the walls from floor to ceiling. At the deli end, we cheekily asked the young lady there if there was a restaurant in the neighbourhood. She shook her head and pointed us in the direction of Peccioli and Legoli, both about 15 minute drives away. We didn’t feel like another trip in the car to quest for a restaurant, so we looked hungrily instead at the wonderful produce behind the glass counter. We shrugged and thought, sure a change is as good as a rest and went for sandwiches. I had a baguette with cooked prosciutto and fresh pecorino (the latter is the kind of pecorino that has a very short shelf-life and is much softer than the harder, more aged, pecorino you may find in Ireland. Niamh more had the same with added tomato.

We thanked the lady and went back out to the bar section to pay for the sandwiches, a couple of accompanying drinks and a small bag of BBQ crisps (potato chips). Amusingly, that took us about 15 minutes in a non-existant queue. Anyway, we managed to escape, and went in search of a bench on which we could sit and watch the world go by. We found one, near a church and an artist’s studio. By God it was quiet in Ghizzano, but lovely.

We broke out our food and started eating. Well, it was a minor revelation. I enjoyed that simple sandwich like I had enjoyed few others. The ham was wonderful and the textures of the cheese and crunchy crust contrasted wonderfully. It really was good for a change, rather than putting yourself under pressure to find a place that does good hot food.

As we ate on the bench, the crusts cracking and crumbling to the stone flags below, a larger vehicle pulled up near us and a father and son climbed out and headed into a building beside us. The father left the car completely unlocked. I’m not sure anyone in Ireland, even in the smallest of towns, would leave their car unlocked beside a couple of strangers. He saluted us and they both disappeared.

Anyway, once done with lunch, we disposed of our trash in a bin beside a big blue ball (see photo above)!

Our carpark, as it happened, was beside a modern cooperative mill where people take their olives for pressing into oil. There was a small (currently closed) colourful bar area where people could wait while their green gold was being pressed. Wandering about outside, very randomly, was a peacock. Just one of the more unusual sights of the day.

We got in the car, and it was my turn to drive. I punched in the instruction for going back home to Volterra – much of it on roads we’d never travelled before, which is usually what I enjoy. Except that the first part of the road back wasn’t enjoyable – not at all. It quickly crumbled from asphalt to one of those bumpy gravelled roads, made worse by the previous week’s rain. At one stage, we both winced as we heard the brief crunching of the underside of our rental being scraped by a ridge in the middle of the road. It was another kilometer at least before we managed to find a proper way again, but it was plain sailing from there.

Have a look at our video of our day out below.

I had to have a gelato to calm my nerves after that awful road!

Our day wasn’t done. To treat ourselves after our lunchtime forebearance, we decided to head out to La Vecchia Lira for dinner. This would be no sandwich, so we had a bit of a golden-hour walk before we headed into the restaurant itself.

We headed into the restaurant, and the waitress there (whose English was really good) recognised us, and both her and the owner gave us a cheery welcome. We settled in, and ordered our food and drink.