Cooking with Raffaella

If you’ve ever dreamed of living on an Italian fattoria (farm) and cooking in a farm kitchen, then Raffaella’s kitchen is just what you’ve dreamed of.

Located in the Umbrian countryside near Perugia, Raffaella Bucefalo and her husband Roberto run Agriturismo La volpe e l’uva, which has several simple yet charming farmhouse style cottages surrounded by shaded pergolas, beautiful lawns, pots of flowers, and an inviting swimming pool.  Of course there are also olive trees and vines as the farm produces its own wine and olive oil.

The agriturismo is also the location of the cooking school Let’s Cook in Umbria, where Raffaella teaches traditional Umbrian dishes.  The cooking school is what is what drew me to La volpe e l’uva in June.

I spent 3 days cooking with Raffaella and 6 other students in her charming farmhouse. The classes are hands-on, with no more than 8 people in a group, which makes for lots of individual instruction and plenty of opportunities to measure, mix, knead, and shape pasta. As well as make sauces, meats, and cakes in an authentic Umbrian home. 

Our group consisted of my long-time friends Susan and Jim, plus four fun ladies from the US (Gay, Cathy, Vicky, and Kristi) who quickly felt like new friends, and me.  There was a lot of laughter around the farmhouse worktable as we practiced new skills, crafted new dishes, and discovered new must-have kitchen tools. Each day our efforts were rewarded with a 4-course meal in Raffaella’s beautiful dining room or outside in the garden.

The best thing about Let’s Cook in Umbria is Raffaella herself.  She is a wonderful teacher - energetic, fun, with a great sense of humor. She provided encouragement, and occasional cries of “oh no, disastro”, as we learned to make various types of pasta, doing it all by hand.  Even our disasters were fun and by the end of the week “oh no, disastro” became our rallying cry.

Each day we made an appetizer - fabulous little melanzane (eggplant) parmigiana stacks, flat breads stuffed with either prosciutto or arugula and cheese, and a thin focaccia baked with cheese inside.  I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. All are recipes that I will make at home

. 

We made a different type of pasta each day.  The first was strangozzi, a typical Umbrian pasta made with semolina flour, salt, water and a touch of olive oil.  As we kneaded it, Raffaella introduced us to the kneading song.  Exactly 2 ½ minutes long, we had to knead “with energy” for the length of the song.  There just may have been some spontaneous dancing too. After kneading and resting the dough, we used a chitarra to cut the pasta.  Chitarra in Italian means guitar and a chitarra has metal wires like the strings of a guitar.  The pasta dough is placed on the strings, rolled to cut the pasta, and then when you strum the strings, out falls the pasta. I think I earned my official Italian Nonna badge using the chitarra. To go with the strangozzi we made a sausage ragu – delicious!

Day two we made tagliatelle, an egg-based pasta which we rolled and cut by hand.  Raffaella taught a method of rolling the dough to the required thinness that was new to us all (no cheating with a pasta machine!) and one I want to try again at home.  A simple zucchini and speck sauce was perfect with the tagliatelle.

Our third pasta dish was gnocchi made with potatoes and flour. Gnocchi can be tricky to make but, with Raffaella’s guidance, ours were soft and delicate. The fresh tomato sauce made it a perfect light dish for a summer meal.

I think we could have made a whole meal out of each of the pastas, but a second course was also on the menu.  Day one we made a delicious chicken with peppers.  Day two, Umbrian special occasion polpette (meatballs).  The ingredients sounded a bit strange to me – they included orange zest and finely chopped raisins, not things I’ve ever seen in polpette recipes before. But the taste was wonderful with just a touch of sweetness from the raisins and a subtle hint of citrus.  They were served in a simple tomato sauce.

The last meat dish was a pan roasted pork tenderloin with grapes, shallots, juniper berries, fresh bay leaves, and white wine. The scent of it cooking was hunger-inducing and the grapes cooked down with the herbs and wine to make a lovely sauce. This would make a perfect special occasion meal.

I arrived the day before the cooking class began, and a piece of cake baked that morning by the previous guests was in my cottage for breakfast. I appreciated their efforts to make this peach cake.

Lastly, a dolce (sweet).  Each day we made a different cake, having a piece for dessert and saving some for breakfast the next morning. 

It’s hard to beat a cup of coffee, a slice of not-too-sweet cake, a seat under a shady portal, bird song, the smell of jasmine in bloom, and a view of an Umbrian hillside as a way to start the day.

Day one, and my personal favorite, was a carrot cake with lemon glaze.  Ground nuts gave the cake a wonderful texture. The lemon glaze kept it light and more tangy than sweet. 

Next up was a chocolate cake with pears.  Tender and not too sweet, it was delicious topped with a little cream.

Lastly, a crostata with ricotta and strawberries.  Ok – maybe this was my favorite.  Can I have more than one favorite? 

After each lunch we had a short rest and then headed off for some fun.  One afternoon we went to Col Santo winery for a tasting, another to Frantoio Decimi for an olive oil tasting and to a ceramics producer in Deruta where we had a demonstration and a chance to try shaping the clay.  

Raffaella is a joy - I miss her already!

As if the cooking and dining together were not enough, our course was one of Let’s Cook in Umbria’s seasonal courses.  In this case the seasonal special event was the Infiorata in Spello.  It took place on the last day of our time with Raffaella and so on that day we went to Spello early in the morning (transportation and a guide included in our cooking program) and cooked in the afternoon for an evening meal. The Infiorata is a truly spectacular event (see post from June 15th). It was a lovely way to end our time in Umbria.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Let’s Cook in Umbria.  Raffaella is a joy.  I learned new skills and new dishes, ones that I can make at home.  And really, is there anything more satisfying than making perfect pasta by hand?

The shared meals were wonderful.  And leftover cake for breakfast? What a treat.  The small group was a delight.  The extra curricula excursions were fun.  The setting in the Umbrian countryside was beautiful.  It was a delightful and memorable experience.

To find more information or to schedule a class, visit the website for Let’s Cook in Umbria.   www.cookinumbria.it

Raffaella also has a cookbook: Sprinkle with Flour. It is available on Amazon. I can hardly wait for my copy to arrive.

A big thanks to Gay, Cathy, Vicky, Kristi, Jim, and Susan for graciously allowing me to use photos from our work in the kitchen! I would travel with this group anywhere, anytime. They helped make this a fantastic few days of cooking together.

The Colorful Month of June

Agriturismo La Volpe e l’Uva, near Perugia. I sure enjoyed my morning coffee on this patio.

I’ve spent time the past couple of weeks in both Tuscany and Umbria, enjoying the late spring / early summer that is one of the loveliest of seasons in Italy.  Temperatures are quite warm (but not yet uncomfortably hot) during the day, with cool mornings and evenings.  A perfect beginning to “aperitivo season” when the evenings are ideal for enjoying a get together with friends sitting outside on a lively piazza.  Bright orange Aperol Spritzes are now dotting tables everywhere, adding a definite burst of summer color.

One of the best things about June in Italy is the range of colors painted by nature as the trees and vines get their leaves and the flowers bloom.  Look closely and you can find small clusters of grapes forming, the earliest hints of olives, and tiny figs that hold the promise of August sweetness.  The scent of Jasmine in bloom is the best sort of perfume.

 The countryside is stunning as the bright yellow blooms of Ginestra (in English we would call it Scottish or Spanish Broom) mingle with the greens of the vines and olive trees.

The beautiful countryside near Perugia in Umbria filled with Ginestra in bloom

 In towns, flowers fill window boxes and pots.  They spill over walls, sneak into crevices, and take over abandoned doorways.

Lucca in June

 Even the railroad tracks are dressed up by the last of the spring poppies.

 In Lucca, the garden of Palazzo Pfanner is the place to go for the best variety of colors and flower varieties.  Especially stunning are the rows of hortensia (hydrangea) in white, pink, blue, and purple.

 I enjoyed seeing June burst into color in Italy.  Next up for me will be the desert blooms of New Mexico; I’ll enjoy those until I return to Lucca in a few weeks.

The Infiorata of Spello

In Italian, the word fiore means flowers. An infiorata is a festival in which flowers are used to create stunning, but temporary, works of art.  A wonderful tradition in Italy is to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Domini, which falls about 60 days after Easter, with an infiorata.  Many towns participate in this tradition, some are small local celebrations, while others are large events which draw thousands of visitors.  The celebrations are not just about art or flowers – they are at heart religious celebrations in which the fleeting designs are offerings – and they guide people up the village streets to the church.

 On any normal day, the town of Spello is filled with flowers.  They spill from window boxes, fill pots in little alleys, and line the steps of buildings, creating one of Umbria’s most charming villages. But on the Sunday of the annual Infiorata, Spello takes flower displays to exponentially greater levels.  It is one of the most famous Infiorate in Italy, and something I have long wanted to experience.  This year I finally got my chance when a visit to the event was included as part of a 4-day cooking class in Umbria (more about that in upcoming posts).

A detail from one of my favorite quadri

 The city of Spello closes to traffic on Saturday evening when tarp coverings are placed over the streets.  Teams work under the lighted tarps throughout the night, using only natural plant materials (petals, stems, leaves, herbs) to create detailed designs.  The materials can be fresh or naturally dried but no artificial colors or materials can be used. The labor is intensive, placing petals by hand, making a design come to life, keeping the petals moist, and staying up all night to do it!

One of the most elaborate of the tappeti at this year’s Infiorata

There are two main types of works –  quadri, which are large scale “paintings” and tappeti, long “carpets” of designs which are often geometric shapes.  Templates with the designs are worked on over time and then taped to the ground and used to create the displays.

It is hard to describe the scale of the Infiorata.  The designs wind up hill from the entrance to Spello near Porta Consolare, fill the Piazza della Republica, and continue up through the city up to its highest point.  The route is about a mile long in total.  Along the way are spectacular works of art, many reflecting religious themes (this is after all a celebration of a Catholic feast day), others have broader messages, and some are just pretty reflections of nature.  The event is also a competition, with winners in several categories announced at the end of the celebration.

My favorite work featured these delightful animals

It is best to arrive early (or even stay in town the night before) as the tarps start to come down by 8:00 am, the crowds are waiting, and arriving later can mean a long wait to get in.  The climb can be strenuous if you happen to have a really hot day, so earlier is better.  Luckily our weather was perfect and not hot at all, and the way the displays wound gradually up hill made the walk easy.  One confession though, I did most of the route but skipped the steepest part at the end. It can be a challenge to get photos of the larger works as everyone is trying to get close enough and to find the right just the right angle. There are some scaffolds that can be climbed to get shots from above, and I bet the photos from drone that was flying overhead were amazing. Most of my photos have lots of feet in them! The best photos zoom in on details - are here are some of the most intriguing ones.

The procession moves through the flower art on the way to the church (photo from the Commune of Spello)

Come too late and you’ll miss the fun all together. The works provide a path for a procession led by the Bishop, who walks right over the beautiful creations.  The procession begins around 11 am.  By the end of the day, it will all be swept away.  But this is not sad – it is as it is meant to be.

And now begins the planning for next year’s Infiorata.  Easter comes early next year, on March 28th.  The Infiorata will be Sunday May 30, 2027.   Now’s the time to think about coming!

Walking Through Lucca’s History

In Italian, the verb rievocare means to recall, commemorate, or evoke.   Lucca is, for the most part, a Medieval city.  That history can be recalled easily in the current street plan, Medieval towers, and the many churches from that era that can be found throughout town.  To “rievocare” that Medieval history is easy. 

There are of course vestiges of earlier eras, the outline of a Roman amphitheater, remnants of the Roman wall, and some remarkable Roman ruins lying under churches and houses.  The later Renaissance history can also be spotted, most clearly in the walls that surround the historic city center.   But when it comes to celebrating historical events, it is usually the Medieval period that is recreated through costumes, processions, music, and competitions.

How would one even go about planning an event that would recall the broader scope of Lucca’s history?  From before the Roman era and through the period at the end of World War II?   Well, fortunately, someone decided to do just that, and in late May a festival took place – Rievocando Lucca, A Festival of History.

A call to arms for Roman soldiers

 The event took place on the city walls, a perfect way to present, in chronological order, a series of vignettes tracing Lucca’s history from pre-Roman/Etruscan times through the city’s liberation at the end of WWII.  Each stop along the walls featured costumed actors, period specific crafts and weapons, and representations of daily life during the time period.  The actors were a wealth of information, explaining the displays, answering questions, and demonstrating the use of tools and weapons.

 Some highlights:

The Roman Legionaires made camp along one section of the wall and they were fierce!  Dressed for battle, armed, and bearing shields, they made an impressive sight during the commander’s morning call to arms.  Marching through town one evening, they caused quite a stir with their chants and battle cries. 

 In the Medieval village, a candlemaker described the process and coloring agents used in making her candles. Nearby, a woodcarver demonstrated his skills.   The Medieval costumes were beautiful too.

Piazza Napoleone and the Ducal Palace, both created by Elisa Bonaparte.

 Napoleon also left a mark on Lucca’s history – gifting the city to his sister Elisa who ruled as the Princess of Lucca and Piombino in the early years of the 1800’s.  Her influence can still be seen in Lucca -  the largest piazza is the Piazza Napoleone and it sits in front of the Palazzo Ducale, the palace Elisa Bonaparte built.

 For the Rievocando festival, a Napoleonic camp was filled with French soldiers in their colorful uniforms.   Alongside were a group of French ladies taking tea, as they might have done once upon a time in the Palazzo Ducale.

 The final vignette was of WWII, during a time when American and Brazilian troops played an important role in and around Lucca.  It was American Buffalo soldiers who entered Lucca in September 1944, ending the occupation by Nazi forces.   

 Also fun was walking around town and seeing the many costumed participants having lunch or strolling the walls.  The weekend event provided little glimpses of Lucca as it once was. 

Suddenly Summer

Just an interesting display down a shady street, outside of an antique shop

The Italian expression all’improvviso means “suddenly”.  To say improvvisamente estate means suddenly summer, and that perfectly describes the change in weather over the last week.  It seems we went from cool and often rainy days requiring jackets and scarves, to sun and heat, dresses and sandals almost overnight. 

Over the years I’ve learned to cope with the Italian summer heat and humidity (coming from the desert of New Mexico, the humidity is still a struggle for me). The key to schedule errands and walks in the mornings, social gatherings in the evenings, and middays at home with fans and the “pinguino” (portable AC unit) running. Truth be told, the pinguino isn’t very effective in cooling my apartment due to the really high ceilings, but if I sit right in front of it, it helps. 

So does the Italian habit of closing the shutters and curtains in the mornings, especially on the east facing windows, to keep the house cooler.  I’ll sacrifice light for coolness every time.

The cafes around Piazza Napoleone are shady and the piazza is full of activity.

It also helps to walk on the most shaded streets, dashing quickly through the open and sunny piazzas where the difference is temperature is considerable. Restaurants with shaded patios, cafes with tasty iced coffee, and places with good indoor AC are invaluable on hot summer days. 

None of this is to complain though.  The sky is bright blue, the trees are green, flowers bloom throughout town, outdoor musicians provide the soundtrack, and special events and festivals (like the ceramics market this past weekend) are a weekly occurrence.

Piazza Napoleone offers both shade and liquid refreshment

Tuscany is wonderful at this time of year.  Not to mention that an Aperol Spritz, sipped on a shady piazza, has a remarkable ability to cool me down and make me sigh with contentment.

I am enjoyed morning walks, whether up on the walls or through town. I continue to be delighted by interesting details spotted while having a coffee or when turning down a small street, by small details that I may not have noticed before, by gardens that I haven’t visited since last summer, and by the general day-to-day scenes of life in Lucca. 

May June be delightful wherever we find ourselves!

This tucked away garden is a favorite, and very quiet, spot in Lucca. It’s a great place to listen to birds singing.