Day 17 (29 October). Carciofi — 15 Miles

The land in this part of Lazio is pretty flat. Hazelnut groves were almost all we saw for most of the day. However, given the proximity to Rome with its wealth and population, we passed three golf facilities that were adjacent to one another. One caught my eye, the National Golf School of Italy. We could not see into the facility. The best I could do was to included a photo of one of private courses.

We continued through the small town of Monterosi and walked along a narrow path next to SR2. The traffic was fierce and thankfully we soon turned onto a gravel road. Regardless of where we had been on this journey, gravel roads were a hazard because of the dust that was sent airborne as a car passed us by. I decided to present a picture of how hazy the road may be after a car passed or approached us.

The most pleasant part of the stage was our brief walk through the Parco Regional Valle del Treja. We saw families, and adults walking in groups. Many stopped at the only restaurant in the park. We did too. I also add that Halloween is big here too. The restaurant is hosting a special dinner that night.

We were soon joined by the young French couple, Angelique and Herve, whom we had met five times before. They are psychologists who left their jobs in eastern France two months ago. They will relocate to Brittany to be close to their parents. Before they do, they decided to walk the VF starting in Besancon, France. They said that the most trying part of their walk was through the Po Valley seeing rice fields for days on end. I’ll stop talking about the hazelnut groves.

We had 6 km to go and it was easy to cover the distance quickly because the terrain was flat until we reach Campagnano. The final climb was straight up about 300 meters. We entered another hill town similar to Capranica. We walked through — about a half mile — to an archway to the newer part of the town. Our hotel was within two blocks and we hurried to find it for a most welcomed shower and nap.

Without a cicerone, we walked back into the centro storico before dinner. We saw what we think is the HQ of the local police— an imposing building in the Venetian style. The city gate was lit as we headed back out to our restaurant.

Our antipasti for dinner inspired the title for this blog. Osteria Pizzeria dal Micione had no written menu. Our young server spoke to us about each item for the night. His first item was carciofi. We stopped him there. We both ordered it. Superb. They were brought to the table hot as they would in a first class tempura bar in Japan. The coating was crispy and light in appearance and texture. On a previous visit to Rome, Sharon and I tasted carciofi four times but never had it served this way.

Our primi piatti was pasta fagioli— my second of this trip and made differently from the one in Orvieto. We loved this version too. The pasta was al dente and the beans were slightly firm not mushy. I would order this dish once a week if I lived in this town. We ended with sautéed chicory. The veggie was firm and the garlic and oil sauce was piquant. Simple and delicious. A vegetarian meal from beginning to end.

The osteria’s name includes pizzeria. We did not try it because we were satisfied. Pasta fagioli is filling. We asked the chef and our young server to pose for a photograph. Here they are with a well deserved thanks from us.

For the first time on trip, I was in bed by 9:15 PM. Yes!