Today we took a day trip to Todi, a hill town located in Umbria. Umbria is a landlocked region in the center of Italy.  It took about 2 hours by bus to get there. 

generic internet picture of Todi

After milling around the small cobbly streets of Todi for 2 hours, we got back on the bus

random Italian tour bus 
note: how silly are the rearview mirrors on Italian buses? Like bunny ears!

From there we went to Frattoria Titignano, which is a 12th century castle with 4,000 acres of land. It is currently used for Agriturismo, “ a style of vacation that normally takes place on a farm or ranch. This may include the chance to help with farming and ranching tasks during the visit. Agritourism is considered to be a niche or uniquely adapted form of tourism and is often practiced in wine growing regions”. 


Ooohh an old castle

what a vista! 

Despite agriturismo involving farming, we did no such thing. Instead, we ate a lot of food. 

When we arrived, after driving there on many windy narrow roads, past many fields of dead sunflowers and vineyards, we were greeted with food outside

like so. 

Outside we had antipasti. There were 3 types of pizza: 1. sweet white onion with cheese 2. margherita pizza 3. pizza dough with rosemary. All of these were delicious, particularly the rosemary bread. There were also two types of crostini with spreads, liver and one that looked like mixed corn (it was lumpy and yellow_ and things.  I tried the liver, yuck, and then avoided the weird corn combo thing. 

Then we moved inside to eat the rest of our “meal” more like feast. TURome took over the space with our about 200 people and of course in the main banquet hall our loud American group was seated next to a table reserved for an Italian wedding party.  I would not have been pleased with our loud selves at my wedding, but meh. 

Here is what we ate:

Course 1: a pastry with layers of thin crispy dough with soft cheese between and cured meats (little salamis, a big weird round meat and prosciutto)

Course 2: risotto with asparagus and thick noodles with stewed boar meat sauce

Course 3: Venison, which was super gross, very fatty and rich and a weird texture kind of like brisket but tougher

Course 4: Lamb or Chicken, I had lamb and again it was just too rich so a little gross 
with buttery roasted potatoes and a salad with oil and vinegar

Course 5: tiramisu, biscotti, dessert wine (that you dip the biscotti in), espresso, and fruit 

I liked the two pasta dishes the best, and boar meat was significantly less creepy than it sounds, particularly because it wasn’t very solid, but instead part of a sauce.   

Also, none of these photos are mine because I brought my film camera on this excursion.