agritourismo: eating out, in!
by Laura Del Rosso

Owners of working farms open their houses for lunch or dinner, serving dishes using their home-grown or homemade products.

It was a sunny morning in the Umbrian countryside and a luxuriously free day stretched ahead of us.

For almost a week my friend Charlotte and I had left the little apartment at Tenuta di Canonica, a few kilometers outside of Todi, early in the mornings, setting out to explore the region.We had lounged in cafes watching the passegiata along Corso Vannucci in Perugia, shopped for ceramics in Deruta, walked the Ponte delle Torri at sunset in Spoleto and wandered the narrow streets of Gubbio.

But on this, our last day, we had nothing specific in mind, except a vague idea that we wanted to visit some of the local farms - fattorie -- and places of agriturismo that sell the region's famous deep-green olive oil and creamy, fresh ricotta. We had seen the signposts for these places on our drives somewhere else.

I asked Daniele Fano, the Tenuta di Canonica's owner, about the agriturismo phenomenon.

"Si, si," said Daniele, as he tidied the breakfast room at the hotel. Agriturismo was big in this area around Todi. In fact, there was a place right up the road, in a small town called Titignano. "Potrei prenotare per pranzo oggi. Va bene?"

I remembered that a friend from Rome mentioned she attended a relative's wedding in Titignano. She had described the town as "bellissimo", with a small church and restored medieval buildings. Other Italian friends had told us about the agriturismo movement and I had seen plenty of travelers carrying agriturismo guides as we made our way around Umbria.

The concept is simple: owners of working farms open their houses for lunch or dinner, serving dishes using their home-grown or homemade products. Daniele said the food was very good, authentic and a value.

The scene looked like a set for a medieval movie, minus the people.

So, around noon, we climbed into our rental car and drove up the hill on the old highway toward Orvieto, past some abandoned stone farmhouses and many that had been restored, apparently as weekend homes for wealthy Romans. We reached Titignano at the end of a gravel road, several kilometers off the highway.

There was no one about in the sleepy little town and we began wandering the only street, flanked by perfectly restored medieval buildings, with a stone church at one end and a long low wall that overlooked vineyards and Lake Corbara at the other end. The scene looked like a set for a medieval movie, minus the people.

We walked over to what looked like the main building, a palazzo with a huge wooden door that was ajar. Inside, a woman walked by and, when we asked about a restaurant, she motioned towards the stairs. We found our way to a large hall, old frescoes decorating the high walls and a mammoth fireplace.

Only a few of the long tables were set and there were just two parties in the room: one family of about 12 people and an elderly couple. There was a table set for two next to the couple, whom we greeted with "buon giorno" as we sat down, tentatively.

There was no menu and no one seemed to be around except for the guests.

There was no menu and no one seemed to be around except for the guests. I walked into the kitchen and told a woman wearing an apron who was scurrying between a stove and a large buffet table that we were from Tenuta di Canonica and had reservations. Should we sit down at the table set for two? "Si," she said with a faint smile, distracted by the pots on the stove. After about 10 minutes, the woman from the kitchen emerged into the dining hall, with a large plate of steaming pasta. It was fusilli with a light cream and zucchini sauce. We dug in and, just as we were mopping up our dishes, she was back with another pasta dish, this one baked rigatoni with wild mushroom and tomato sauce.

Two large carafes of wine, one of red and one of white, were placed before us on the table, with mineral water alongside. We asked the server whether the wine was made on the farm and she said it was. Everything came from here, she said.

see also... Giro di Umbria Agritourisimo: Eating out, in! In the Shadow of a Medieval Tower What do you know about Umbria? Visit Umbria Visit other Italian regions

Dishes were swept away and we were presented with baked chicken breasts topped with lemon slices, followed by a lamb stew in a olive and tomato sauce, green beans and scalloped potatoes.

...we had no idea how much this simple, abundant and wonderfully authentic meal was going to cost

Within a few minutes, the first part of dessert arrived, a bowl of fresh fruit, followed by thick slices of apple cake. A small carafe of vino santo was brought to the table and we ordered coffee.

We realized we had no idea how much this simple, abundant and wonderfully authentic meal was going to cost. When we told our server we were ready for "il conto" she smiled and told us the lunch was 25,000 lire each -- about $14.50 for a veritable feast.

Satiated, we walked downstairs and into the cantina that had been closed earlier. There we bought a couple of bottles of the local wine - with a handsome label from Fattoria Titignano - to take home as souvenirs of our adventure in agriturismo.

About the Author...
The daughter of immigrants from a small town called Molina di Quosa midway between Pisa and Lucca, Laura Del Rosso grew up in California, on the coast south of San Francisco. Her father, Silvio, was part of an Italian farming community on the San Mateo County coast that specialized in growing artichokes. Her parents took the family to Italy every three or four years, and she spent several summers with her grandparents. Today, she writes for a trade newsmagazine, Travel Weekly, and lives in San Francisco. Laura finds she misses Italy desperately if she doesn't get back at least once a year so she usually makes a trip either in June or September, catching up with her relatives in Molina di Quosa and then exploring some new regions, such as she did on her most recent trip when she visited Umbria.