Tuesday October 4th
Sure enough! If you had to have a place to be while the rain prevented your site-seeing this would be it. The agriturismo Sacchia www.sacchiafarm.it is overflowing with things to do. There is a nice big TV in front of a nice big couch in front of a nice big fire. There’s a billiards room, which had it’s own couch and TV set up, as well as a DVD player and an X-Box. There is ping pong, foosball, basketball, darts, a swimming pool, an exercise area with equipment, and art gallery, and even a museum type thing in one of the out buildings. The house is big enough to sleep quite a few people, so it would be a great spot to rent out with a big family. The apartments were very nicely appointed with living rooms and kitchenettes. Ours might was well have been called a kitchen instead of a kitchenette as it was bigger than the one in my studio apartment in LA.
Gilberto Misura, the owner of Sacchia told us about a Borgo close by that was being totally renovated, and called his friend Bernardo to see if he could show us around. A Borgo is more or less a little tiny town, to be completely general. This one Castello della Pieve was made up of 5 houses a church, a tower, and what will soon be a restaurant. We got a tour of what they call a “country house” which has rooms for rent. It was beautiful inside, and very well decorated. The inscription over the fireplace said 1837. The interesting thing about this tiny tiny little borgo is that this is where the governing bodies of Florence decided to send Dante Alighieri when they exiled him. It’s funny sometimes the random places that history pops up around you. I love this country.
We had to backtrack a bit because we missed so much yesterday. So we headed to the coast to take in Rimini. This is the place where Italians come to spend their beach holidays. The sand is perfect, not like a lot of the rocky beaches you’ll find, and it seems to stretch forever. There is also a thriving nightlife, I’ve heard it called the best in Italy. So maybe not the place for a family vacation, but could be one hell of a spring break! If you come during the summer make sure you book your lodging in advance.
Just down the road from Rimini is the world’s oldest, and third smallest republic. San Marino sits on top of a mountain, and unless you are a resident you can only reach it by Funivia. Up at the top there are 3 castles spread out along the ridge, each of which makes a great picture if you stand at the other. On this day, outside of the rain, the views were incomparable, to one side you see the Adriatic, to the other you see peaks and valleys for who knows how far. We were here once before, and the clouds settled in so thickly that you couldn’t see anything below. It was tremendous, and the castles looked like they were rising out of a stormy sea. You never know which view you’re going to get, but I highly recommend that you come here to see for yourself.
It rained again today, not the whole day, but enough to delay us a bit. As such from San Marino we took very curvy road and headed inland in search of the night’s agri. I will spare you the story, but suffice it to say that I will be sharing two agris with you tomorrow. One of which made us a wonderful dinner. We asked for something typical of this region, Le Marche by the way, and they did just that. The first plate was a Ravioli and Porcini mushroom pasta. The second plate was chicken and rabbit. I don’t know exactly how to describe the taste, but the overriding flavors to me were smoke and salt. I know that sounds less than delectable, but it was incredibly good. I won’t say it’s the best chicken I’ve ever had, but only because I’ve had so much chicken I can’t remember. It definitely ranks right up there. Then wouldn’t you know it, the restaurant sits over a Grappa distillery, so of course we had to have a digestif.
A group of old men came in while we were dining and sat at a big table in the back. They started shucking corn, and then brought it up to toast in the fire. They didn’t say much to us at first, but when they found out we were Americans they warmed up quickly. They were telling us about the area, about how the restaurant we were sitting in was in Le Marche, but the house connected to it was in Umbria, and about the only 4 other people from America that they had ever seen in their town. They gave us some of the corn, which you pick out and eat one kernel at a time. It’s very close in flavor to a slightly burnt popcorn, so not a part of the cuisine I’ll try to take home with me.