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Oh another huge breakfast.
Today the weather is over cast again. It's unclear whether it will clear
up or not. We decide to move forward with our plans and head out for a
drive. Will we all fit in one car. We get about 10 minutes out of the
hotel and decide that no we will not. The back seat is not just large
enough for three...Back to the hotel to get the second car, and then we
are off for Carrarra and Colonnatta, the homes, respectively, of the greatest
marble and the greatest lardo in the world. Colonatta is up in the top
of the mountains (above Carrarra) and is where many miners are from (there
is a memorial to them in a town square, overlooking the mountain quarries.
It is also the home of lardo, the pork fat cured in marble casks. We explore
the town and taste the lardo. It's excellent, perfumed with a touch of
bacon and sweet. You can eat it plain on bread as a sandwich. The cloud
cover is significantly thicker on this side of the mountains and this
high up. But we were able to see many 'cava'
(quarries) on the tiny road leading up to the town and we watch trucks
and cars head up even higher into the mountains while exploring. All
of a sudden there is a huge boom. It startles all of us. At that moment
a woman comes out of a house and sees us looking around, wondering. She
tells us the quarries do that once an hour and that even after her whole
life there, it still startles her....
We purchase some lardo as a gift for a friend in Rome and share a panino,
then head down to Carrarra.
There is a quarry museum (tourist trap) just in the next valley, we pass
through a very long and very rough tunnel to get there and find the fog
and clouds even thicker. The place feels other worldly with the open quarries
having cut off the sides of the mountains, with enormous tracter trailers
rumbling on the roads, and with the cranes and marble cutters moving huge
blocks of rock around. There are a couple of shops selling marble tchotchkes,
but we mostly control ourselves. I walk up to the viewing area that gets
you closer to the actual quarry, but through the mist it's hard to see
too much, besides a huge white hole where the mountain ought to be. They've
been pulling marble out for 2000 years and Michaelangelo came here personally
to get stone for his sculptures.
Amazing.
We head down and head for Sarzana for lunch....farinata. We walk through
a great medieval centro, but it is virtually deserted. We find a couple
of pizzarerias and sample some farinata (very good, a little greasy, but
in a good way) and manage to find agree on a restaurant (one of the few
open shops). Lunch is a mix of plates...some pasta, some salad, some bresaola,
and some veggies. It's a nice place, and the food is good, but nothing
special....I would have kept looking for more farinata....The town is
really nice, lots of old streets and buildings, not unlike Sansepolcro,
but it is empty. My parents have had this exact experience here before.
There are no tourist destinations here and the siesta is strictly observed.
It's too bad...later in the day, I imagine it would be interesting.
Back to Lerici and the hotel. Naps are had. Michael and Seth head down
to town in search of a hardware store. Seth's camera has lost a couple
of screws and he wants to try to find some. They also are looking for
empty glass bottles with good stoppers to fill with olive oil from the
local frantoio. They find thm, but also have a run in with the local wine
store. He's a warm and friendly guy and we've been to his shop many times.
They go in and start asking about olive oil. 30 minutes later and after
a taste test, they buy several bottles, having been given a lesson in
local oil. As they are about to leave, Seth asks about local honey. Well
this guy use to raise bees; 30 minutes later they have been given a lesson
in local honey, and buy a jar....He's a good salesman.
Mom and dad have gotten to be friends with one of the desk guys at the
hotel, Luigi. He was born and raised in Scotland, but is Italian. He speaks
perfect english, but with a Scottish accent. He's even married to a Scottish
woman (who has lived in Italy for 20 years now). Tonite they are taking
us to have a local specialty, pannagaccio (I'm sure I spelled that wrong),
pronounced 'pana-gootch. We drive way, way up into the mountains on the
Tuscany side (worth the drive for the views alone) to an area where there
are a half dozen restaurants, all specializing in pannagaccio. It's basically
similar to a crepe or tortilla, but is cooked in a special way. the batter
is ladled onto small ceramic disks that have been heated on an open fire.
Then they are layere, disk, batter, disk, batter, disk, batter, etc. The
heat from the disks cooks the batter, creating a CD sized crepe. then
you put strecchina cheese, prosciutto, lardo, sausage... anything you
want inside, fold it over and eat them steaming hot. They taste kind of
bready and the cheese melts and it's just amazing. The guy who makes them
stands at the fire all night heating the disks and cooking the crepes.
He rings a bell when a basket is ready and they are brought to your table.
They are only the appetizer.
Well, they are the highlight....they bring out crepes with tomato sauce
and then with pesto sauce...each fine, but nowhere near as delicious as
the appetizer version. Then there is a mixed grill, of ribs, veal, and
sausage. French fries and salad round out the meal. It's all good, but
after the pannagaccio....why eat anything else. ever.
The place is packed. there must be 150 people jammed into this place and
it's hot and everyone is drinking and eating and smoking. Luigi has a
saying about these places (which has been repeated by the parents): "If
you don't book [a table], you don't eat" and he's right. Yet another great
meal.
Back to the hotel and the nightlife of Lerici on a Friday night.
yeah right. We go straight to the room, turn on Italian Big Brother, and
start to fall asleep. Michael is snoring as I type....
Tomorrow: All roads lead to Rome.
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