Towns of Lazio: Alatri

      Last weekend, we had one of the last days of warm sunshine until March or April, I fear.  We took full advantage and headed straight down to the Hernico mountains, stopping by the city of the popes, Anagni, along the way.  Anagni is a gorgeous town in Lazio that is not to be missed, but, when it came to choosing a place to eat for lunch, Alatri has one of my favorite osteria in Lazio.  Being about a 30 minute drive from Anagni, we booked the last two places available at the Osteria Bacco e Ciacco, and had ourselves a wonderful day out.
     Alatri is a wonderful town nestled in the heart of the Hernico hills.  The Hernico Hills are to be found in the south of Lazio, in the region of Frosinone, and border with Abruzzo.  They are both cultural and natural treasure in Lazio with their picturesque mountains which are perfect for hiking, and birdwatching, skiing.  Then, the 16 historical towns that make up the mountain  community.  They are named after a pre-Roman culture that once resided in the area, the Hernico, who were eventually assimilated and swallowed into the Roman empire. 

 

View from the acropolis of Alatri

 

Alatri is the best preserved town of the province, the town walls and acropolis date back to the 6th century B.C. and are still intact.  The walls of the town best show the the technology of the Hernico people.  They are huge and will impress even the most cynical of people. 

  

The large size of the massive stones brings to mind the legendary Cyclops, after whom they are named.  Cyclopic stones.

 

 

The outside wall of the 6th B.C. acropolis

 

«Ye citizens were wont to call me Ciacco;
For the pernicious sin of gluttony,
I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain.» (Inferno, VI, 52-54)

     The name, according to Buti, one of the oldest scholars of Dante,  suggests a derogatory nature of this name: "Ciacco is said to be a pig's name, hence he was called this way for his gluttony"  Bacco, or, Bacchus, of course is referring to the roman god of wine.  With a name that refers to the sin of gluttony and the pagan god of pleasure and wine, one may expect delicious treats inside.  And they definately to be had. 
     This was our third visit to the osteria, and we were a bit skeptical when we entered into its new location.  Our first two visits had been darling.  The osteria was a hole in the wall with the capacity to seat about 15 people, max.  The new location is to levels and has the capacity to seat at least 50 people.  With the change, would the quality of the food change?  Would the service be less friendly and personal?  It only took us about 5 minutes to realize there was nothing to worry about.  They were able to move to a bigger location based on the quality of the food.  The place was packed, the service excellent and friendly with the addition of ONE waitress, and the food, in a word, excellent. 

 

We started with a bottle of local Cesanese del Piglio, which you can read about HERE. 

Mixed grilled vegetable and crostini antipasto

 We started with the mixed grilled/roasted vegetables and mixed crostini. This included grilled marinated eggplant, grilled marinated zucchini, roasted red peppers, grilled radicchio, and roasted fennel.  Everything was prepared perfectly.  The vegetables were the most flavorful I have ever eaten.  The marinated eggplant was incredible, perfectly grilled with delicate flavors of olive oil, garlic, and Italian parsley.  I could tell each vegetable was individually prepared because they all retained wonderful aromas, texture, and flavor balance.

 Crostini with black truffle sauce

The main event for me were the mixed crostini, which are small toasts.  They came with a small amount of oil dribbled over them, and with tiny serving bowls and spoons for self service.  The sauces were all homemade, fresh and lovely.  They included black truffle sauce, hot peppers, and an olive paste.  Of course my favorite was the black truffle, which paired excellently with the Cesanese del Piglio. 

Close up of roasted fennel and grilled vegetables.  

Primo: Strozzapreti with a walnut and pumpkin sauce

     For my first course, I ordered the strozzapretti with a walnut and pumpkin sauce.  Strozzapreti are a simple handmade pasta made from water and flour, which which are then manipulated into a sort of corkscrew shape.  Their name means, "strangled priests."  Even though the name is historical, it is a bit relevant in today's Church atmosphere.  I have also seen they called "Strangled Husbands."  

    My dish was outstanding.  The walnuts gave it a bite while the pumpkin gave it a velvety smooth texture.  It was creamy, rich, and hard not to stuff the entire plate in my mouth at once.  The pasta was perfectly cooked as well, and each corkscrew held the sauce well, ensuring that each bite was a luxury of pasta and sauce.  I am sure this would not be difficult to make at home.  While I was eating them, I couldn't help but imagine thinly sliced white truffles on top.  Maybe next time I should bring one of my Tuscan truffles with me and secretly slice the truffles over it while nobody is looking. ;)

 

Cime di rape in padella

     For my second course I ordered a side dish of cime di rape in padella, which are sauteed field greens from the area.  Man,  it was a delicious plate and a great way to finish off my meal.  I love cime di rape because it is both slightly sweet, when cooked with garlic, and slightly bitter.  It is healthy as well.  One cup of this vegetable will provide more iron than a beef hamburger patty, which I would never eat because beef is disgusting and comes from a murdered cow.  I'll take the field greens, thanks!

I actually finished off with a few slices of pineapple.  I like to end my meals with a piece of fruit to aid digestion.  Pineapple is fill of enzymes that are perfect for this.  

Osteria Bacco e Ciacco

Via Duomo 11

Alatri, FR

0775 447090

reservations recommended, closed Mondays

For a fun day trip from Rome to Anagni and Alatri contact Antiqua Tours

Wines of Lazio: Cesanese del Piglio

Wines of Lazio:  Cesanese del Piglio

Casale Della Ioria

Cesanese del Piglio

Tenute della Ioria

2007

DOC

     It would be nearly impossible to have any sort of discussion on the wines of Lazio without discussing Cesanese del Piglio, Lazio’s first wine to acquire the D.O.C.G appellation.  We frequently take day trips to the region of Frosinone, which is south of Rome, we go for the fabulously underrated food and wine that we find in the many nearly abandoned towns in the mountains.  Piglio is a town in the ernico Apennines which is built on the foundations of a pre-roman town.  Piglio is near the medieval papal town of Anagni, and a day drip to a winery and a cultural visit to Anagni and lunch at Piglio make for the perfect day trip from Rome.  I  have already written about it HERE.  Piglio is now home to Lazio’s first DOCG wine(in 2008), a heartwarming red wine made from the Cesanese grape. 

     One of my favorite producers is Casale Della Ioria owned by the Perinelli family.  They make two Cesanese del Piglio, both from the Cesanese di Affile grape.  I am quite fond of the 2007 Tenuta della Ioria.  When we tasted it, when were in the amazing medieval town of Alatri which I think has Lazio’s best olive oil.  It is an intense ruby red wine, with gorgeous legs and great consistency.  It is suggestive of cherries under alcohol, blackberry jam, fennel, tobacco, earth tones, mushrooms, and sweet red peppers.  After w few minutes the dried red roses start rolling over everything, evocative of a very sensual perfume commercial from the 90’s.  It had balsamic notes.  In a nutshell,  a very complex and intense nose, but still developing.   Towards the end of our evaluation we started to smell coffee, but then we realized the waiter was making espresso!  This wine is dry, full bodied, with nice freshness.  I thoroughly enjoyed its rich but well balanced tannins that were harmonious with the weight and silky structure with slightly bitter finish.  It has a long finish that kept reminding me of fruits and dark earthy minerals.   I think this Cesanese has a great potential to age and soften but to remain complex.   A great wine in the winter to serve with complex and bitter foods, or roasted veggies with rosemary.

Our Day in Piglio

Our Day in Piglio, Latium, Italy


Our day in Piglio.
A few week ago Ettore and I were tired of being house bums and decided to get back into our old routine of going for a Sunday drive to a town within two hours of Genzano for a walk and lunch. We decided we would go to a little mountain town called Piglio which is located in the hills of Frosinone, which is a province of Latium. Piglio is "famous" for a native laziale varietal called Cesanese and Cesanese del Piglio has the excited new designation of a DOCG wine, which is th first in the region of Latium.
After the fall of Rome is 476 C.E. Rome experienced a huge change, which was a population drain and a brain drain. When the Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire from the city of Rome to Constantinople, many of the skilled crafts people left, as well as scholars. Rome's population in th 5th c. dropped to about 10,000, although some estimates say 20,000 people. With the collapse of Rome in the west, Italy was espeically plagued by constant evasions by the so-called Barbarians. Without a central power securing the city of Rome, many people fled the area and moved into the hills of Latium where they built these amazing medieval towns out of stone totally isolated from anyone else, but also protected from invasions. Piglio is a great example of this. In the Middle Ages, Italy was primarily made up of hundreds of little city states, all at odds with each other. What happened is really what defines Italy today, a country of extreme diversity in culture, language and kitchen. Many people went back to their roots, to the villages of their ancestors before they were Romanized. The Hernici once ruled this region.
The Pigliesi retained their cooking and wine making skills for centuries without interuption, many of these traditions were brought from classical Rome. When one drinks the native varietals of Latium, one drinks the wine of the Classical Romans. It is a very exciting time in terms of wine production in Latium, with native varietals being rediscovered and wine producers realizing they have gold in their hands, and instead of relying on the internationl grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, they are places their bets on what seems natural, and what will thrive in the region.
So on this cloudy day, we decided to give ourselves a few hours break from our sick puppies, and took a drive into the real backwater countryside of Latium for a small taste of what the town offered.
After a very pleasant one hour drive from Genzano on the Autostrada, We encountered this town built of whatever stones were in the area. I would have hated to be the peasant who had to transport good from the fields to the town!

Due to recent rains(I should say never ending rains!) the countryside of Piglio was very green, and even though the vines of Cesanese were lifeless at the moment, the had an air of nobilty and age that no New World wine countryside can compete with.

When we got to town it was still too early for lunch, so we decided to have a walk in what seemed like an ancient ghost town, but surprisingly we came across people just minding their own business. This lady seemed to be taking laudry from the well to hang to dry. The people of these sorts of town are very interesting. It is rare to see young people, and the older people really hang on to their traditions as if glued to them. Ettore enjoyed hearing their dialect. He couldn't understand. That is what centuries of isolation created!!

It is good to know Italians never lost the ability to make the Etruscan arch. That's right...the arch is NOT a Roman invention, but something Romans took from the Etruscans when they conquered them.I love to study pre-roman Italian civilizations.

So we finally saw a child. Sometimes people who are from these towns move to the cities, but they never forget their roots, and come home for Sunday lunch.

When it was finally lunchtime, we found a real hole in the wall, down a stone alley, with the smallest door. The only reason when knew it was a open for lunch it because of the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. It was cold, and we cold smell minestrone and polenta, cold weather foods that appealed to our cold hands.

The restaurant is called La Cantinetta. They weren't quite ready to serve lunch, but they welcomed us anyway, and we got our table and ordered the house wine, which was made by the owners Uncle, a lovely Cesanese del Piglio, which was lovely with the grilled vegetable antipasto which were the best tasting grilled vegetables I have ever tsated. they were perfect, straight from the garden, and with a very earthy homemade olive oil from the region. YUM!

For lunch I ordered the Polenta di Porcini which was more of a creamy polenta with fresh mountain porcini, most likely fund in the forest behind the town. I can tell you it was delicious, but not very good looking, which is why I didn't take a close-up photo.

Ettore ordered the Penne di carciofi the pasta with artichoke. It was also delicious, and not as bitter as many artichoke dishes are, which was great in terms of being to taste the wine. Sometimes the bitter metalic property of artichoke interferes with wine. It is notoriously hard to pair with wine. Ha! You can actually see the fork moving in the photo. It was so delicious, I couldn't get Ettore to wait 5 seconds while I took a photo!!

All the food was extremely fresh, the kitchen aromas were enough to appeal even the pickiest eater. We had a lovely day trip, and the best part of it was the cost. Our meal, which was two antipasti, two primi, two desserts, house wine, and caffe was only

30 euro for both of us.

It was really one of the best meals of my life. Simple country food, that was satisfying in is simplicity, but also in it's soul and heartiness. I can't wait to get there in the summer, when everyone is boiling in Rome, I will be enjoying the cool mountina breeze of Piglio, sipping on a local wine. We saw that there argreat haking paths in the area and want to make a backpacking trip in the area. Hiking all day, eating local cuisine at night. Our favorite kind of vacation. The first year I lived here, Ettore and I would go on spontaneous day trips like this all the time. This tradition has waned, but I am hoping to revive it. Italy is so diverse, even a town about 50km away is like a different country for us.