Como To Cortona, Italy
Sunday Evening, May 8, 2011 - Italians and their cars! OMG! Whether it's Cernobbio, Como or Cortona, they are everywhere! On streets too narrow for pedestrians, on sidewalks, in front of doorways... there don't seem to be any "no parking" rules and if they are, it is like their speed limits: they are routinely ignored. I'm afraid it has ruined some of these beautiful medieval cities. But apparently in Italy automobiles are like mistresses... "It's tradition!"
We had seen some interesting restaurants in Cernobbio during our many walks around the Lake Como area. So for our last night there, we decided that for dinner we would again venture out and see what we could find outside the gates of Villa d'Este. Earlier, we had a late poolside light lunch of well-prepared hamburgers, since we had an "urge." Won't even discuss what they cost. It was worth it, though, because the poolside people-watching was quite marvelous. Everything from overly-tanned Italian impresarios with very young wives, to handsome men trying to work a deal on their cell phones while they sipped beers, to a gaggle of four super-models who were either here for a photo shoot, or some reward for being so thin and gorgeous!
We relaxed and enjoyed our fabulous suite in the late afternoon, then made our way to Cernobbio for our dinner. We returned to the ferry terminal area of Cernobbio where we thought it might be fun to have a cocktail at one of the many outdoor cafe areas. We picked one that had the nicest table linens, but it was not quite what we imagined. Ronna ordered a Vodka Martini and got a large margarita glass with vodka rocks, some sort of sweet and sour mix, and SUGAR on the rim of the glass! It was almost undrinkable... but we sucked it up and finished our drinks without bitching, mainly because the waiters totally ignored our waving and requests for attention!
But dinner was better. We had seen the restaurant Ristorante Valpore mentioned on several listings of good food spots, so we wandered in about 8 pm. We got a table the nice outdoor patio of the restaurant, overlooking several quaint alleyways that snake thru the central town area. We started with some insalata mista, then we shared a superb pasta dish of tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms... amazing! Then Ronna had thin-sliced lamb chops that were breaded and fried. I had ossobucco that was fantastic. To end the evening, we sat outside at our suite's balcony table with a tiny candle watching the twinkling lights around Lake Como and sharing a split of Champagne. Bellisimo!
Monday, May 9, 2011
- We keep learning new tricks. Instead of quickly getting dressed to go to the fancy Villa d'Este dining room for coffee and breakfast, we pre-ordered just our coffee to be delivered to our suite at 8 am. Then we leisurely got dressed and had another marvelous breakfast buffet in the Veranda Room.
By 11:30 am we were all packed and unfortunately it was time to say goodbye to Villa d'Este. It was an unbelievable experience and we would love to come back here again, if we have any money!
We asked the concierge to call us a taxi and soon we were on our way to the AutoEurope Car rental agency in central Como. We had to wait about a half hour while a foursome from India squabbled over moving from a sedan into a van. They had 11 suitcases and the adult son had lost the keys to the sedan somewhere in the rental garage! Aaaggh! Our time finally came and we loaded our small bags into the back of a sharp Fiat Diesel Chroma sedan with manual transmission! Ronna was Driver No. 1 this day and did a great job of getting us onto the streets of Como heading toward the A9 Highway to Milan. Only one down shift stall upon exiting the A9 that caused a small honk from a very large truck right on our tail, but we survived!
We had printed out any number of computer directions from Google, MapQuest and others for our drive between Como and Cortona, but they all seemed so difficult. There were dozens of street names and turns and roundabouts. So instead we just asked the car rental agent "How do we get to the A9 to Milan?" She replied, "Go out the garage and turn right. Follow the green "Milan A9" signs." That was it! Italians do a nice job of directing you to their well-maintained superhighways... and we basically did not need a map for our journey down the A9, to the A8 cutoff around Milan to the A1 all the way past Bologna and Florence. It was very intuitive to follow their directional signs, except when we got past Florence, I wasn't sure how long we stayed on the A1. In complicate matters further, after Florence on the A1 you have to follow the signs to ROME. That didn't seem quite right, but it was. About 50 km after Florence we found a small exit and followed the detailed directions to our remote Villa di Piazzano near a small village of Pergo, about 10 km south of Cortona.
Ronna drove the first and last third of the trip. I drove the middle third. There are almost as many big-rigs on the A1 as there are on I-80 to Tahoe! And once you get past Bologna approaching Florence, the road drops down from three lanes to two, has lots of tunnels, steep cliffs and gets narrow as heck! And of course the Italian drivers in the left lane go as fast as they can, and unless you get out of their way, they get within a few feet of your rear bumper and flick their lights to move you over. We were driving 75-80 mph, but not fast enough! It was a very interesting experience, but not very relaxing for either of us! Stress Italian Style. We did pretty well at keeping our silence so as not to annoy our driving partner during this excursion. We did not want to cause an end to the 30 year marriage!
The Italians also have a nasty habit of creeping intentionally outside their lane a foot or two. We guessed they do this to "anticipate" their next lane change and block out other drivers moving past them. It's un-nerving to say the least, when they straddle the lane marker and zip by inches from your car doors.
We followed the Villa's directions after getting off the motorway now travelling on narrow country roads. Villa di Piazzano is in a very isolated location about 1/2 mile from a small village called Pergo. We found it, with just a few missed turns and before dark.
Villa di Piazzano is a beautifully restored manor estate built in the early 1500's by Cardinal Silvio Passerini. Passerini's son, Giovanni, later became Pope Leo X. In 1998, the current owners, who have Australian roots, bought the dilapidated old Villa and painstakingly refurbished it with large guest rooms and suites, amazing gardens and grounds, a large swimming pool, and a cozy bar and dining room.
Our junior suite, done in Tuscan yellow, has a large, four-poster bed, seating area, fine furniture and a nice size bathroom. The windows all had interior wood shutters to close at night. The vaulted ceiling was beamed with terracotta tile between the rafters and the floors were of polished terracotta tiles.
We had scheduled to eat dinner in the Villa's dining room, "L'Antica Casina di Caccia." We had a glass of champagne in the cute bar, then moved in for dinner. There were only two other couples dining when we arrived, and there is just a set menu of starter, pasta course, meat course and dessert. It's like eating in some one's home.
No complaints on the food... huge servings of tuna rolled in zucchini and eggplant on salad, then an amazing thick spaghetti with roasted tomatoes and onion on top of pesto fondue; and finally a perfectly cooked trio of pork cutlets with roasted apple, onion and ginger glaze. Dessert was a pear cake, which we passed on.... way too full!
But the dining room was painfully quiet. There was no buzz or conversation, until a party of four arrived and livened up the room a bit. There was also a tiny CD player with music that was not loud enough. Anyway, we'll do things a bit differently when we open our Villa!
The bed at this Villa has much better sheets than either Chateau de Bagnols or even Villa d'Este. Both of the prior places used extremely stiff pure linen sheets and cases. Ronna tells me they are very expensive and fancy but my elbows got raw from turning over in the night, they were that scratchy. Piazzano sheets are soft cotton. And we slept quite well.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
- We rose at 8:30 am and headed down to the dining room for a nice breakfast buffet spread. We then returned to our room and got ready for our 10:30 Cooking Class, part of our room package here at the Villa.
We were escorted back to a newer stone building that also has some new guest quarters and entered a nicely-designed kitchen with a large counter where four patrons could watch the teaching chef and do prep work and food creation. Our teacher, Gabriela, was an amazing chef and a charming communicator. We were joined by a nice couple from Chicago, Jim and Corrine. He's a leveraged buyout specialist at PNC Bank, and she's a professional photographer. They had similar senses of humor to ours and were also both "foodies." It felt like this was really going to be fun!
First, we went out to the Villa's garden, where we picked several herbs and a gorgeous, huge head of butter lettuce. We then returned to the kitchen, and helped Gabriela make our appetizer, Strudel Salato con Prugne e Panchetta. A nice doughy roll filled with sauteed prunes, bacon, walnuts, parmigiano and herbs.
We also helped create a dessert of Tiramisu with Strawberries. It was so simple... a parfait-like dish with a crushed oat cookie on the bottom, sliced strawberries in the middle, and a custard made of strawberry yogurt, marscarpone cheese and sugar. We chilled these dishes for service at the end of our meal.
Next we learned about and helped prepare an amazing ravioli filled with Gorgonzola, pears and walnuts. We made the pasta from scratch and ran the dough throught an old-fashioned crank pasta press.... so much fun!
We then took a break and had a little white wine with some bruschetta of toasted bread, gorgeous cherry tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Gabriela simply rubbed a peeled garlic clove over the toast before adding the other ingredients. So delicious!
A new step we learned was that when Gabriela made the pasta dough, she used white wine instead of water to mix it. We had to wrap the filling in the pasta dough, cut it into squares with the scalloped edge pasta cutter, and then crimp the ravioli to turn it into a big "hat" shape, like a tortellini. Tricky, but we eventually got the hang of the extra pasta manipulation.
There were plenty of laughs and quips during our cooking class. At one point Gabriela, in her charming Italian accent said, "I don't smoke. I don't drink. I just have really good wine." So that doesn't count as a vice!?! We all broke up over her hilarious comment!
Finally, we prepared an amazing Ossobuco, using the most tender cut of beef shank we've ever seen, with a huge section of marrow. The large, thin shanks were braised in a mix of carrot, celery, onion, garlic, and spices, plus olive oil and white wine. It only took about an hour to cook on the stove, in a large covered saute pan.
It was then time to eat our feast in the beautiful cooking school dining room set for four. This time we enjoyed a wonderful local red wine. Course by course we devoured the amazing dishes, all superb! We finally went out to a table in the garden to have our Strawberry Tiramisu dessert. The conversation was fun, and the cooking tips were fabulous... especially seeing home-made pasta being made, just like my father Hank used to do when I was a kid.
It was one of the best parts of our whole trip... four hours of total enjoyment!
But now we really needed a nap after all the rich food and wine. Ronna and I seriously considered making a pact to agree to never eat anything again, we were that full! But after a couple of hours of rest, we decided to visit the walled city of Cortona... for sightseeing, shopping and maybe some light, late dinner.
Cortona is only about 10 minutes North of Villa di Piazzano, and pretty easy to find with good signage. We read in some guide books that it is smart to drive around the walled town and park up near the cathedral and walk down the hilly little streets. We found a parking spot along the side of the road, parked parallele and ventured into historic Cortona.
We did some shopping and stopped for a glass of wine at about 6:30 pm in a very stylish restaurant/wine bar, Tuscher Hall, that was playing all our favorite smooth jazz hits! Small world!
We then meandered around determined to find a place to eat "just a very light supper." Easier said than done... we scoped out half a dozen places and chose Ristorante La Bucaccia... named after the neighborhood of Cortona in which it was located. Ronna had a nice rustic pasta dish of sausage, ham and zippy pepper, while I had a pasta made with potatoes and pecorino cheese. We also shared a large salad and a too-rich vegetable flan made of chopped veggies and cheese!
We waddled back to our car and returned to our Villa via a challenging drive in the dark.
We had scheduled a full day tour of Tuscany with a tour guide-driver for tomorrow, but this morning we decided to cancel that, since we did not want to be inside a car that much and we wanted more time to relax and see Toscana on our own with our rental car... now that Ronna has become such a masterful Italian driver!
Ciao for now!
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