We started off the day with coffee delivered to our room, which was great. Neither of us slept that well in anticipation of the next leg of our journey. We finished our packing to prepare to go to the train station for a two-hour trip to Spoleto to spend our first night before our hiking holiday begins.
Our luggage is heavy, the actual cases even before anything is packed inside. And they are packed full, yet we have nothing to wear. I don’t even have a proper hiking shirt. We succeeded too well in bringing far less than we’ve brought on previous trips.
We didn’t feel like hauling our heavy-as-cement luggage to the train station. I asked the hotel manager about a private transfer to Spoleto, thinking that a door-to-door car ride would be the path of least resistance. Thankfully, he could make that happen at an attractive price. We climbed into the back seat of a very fine BMW and were chauffeured to Spoleto. We both napped most of the way.
Spoleto is so charming. Great shops, cafes and restaurants, narrow streets, beautiful architecture. It is one of the finest hill towns we’ve ever seen in either Italy or France. We got here just as siesta was beginning but managed to buy a sandwich in a small shop before they closed for a few hours. We sat in the sun on our balcony and studied the instructions for the walking holiday. Then, we napped. That’s becoming a habit that’s not going to be sustainable back in Nashville, unfortunately. I’m pro siesta for Americans.
We went for a long walk before supper to see more of the town.
After looking in the windows of several restaurants, Betsy picked out one she said looked warm and welcoming. We walked in and just two people were dining and they were engaged in an energetic conversation led by the owner. He told us it was prix fix dinner beginning with starters then soup, meat and finishing with pasta. It sounded like a lot of food, but we decided to chance it.
Felipou, the owner, was quite a character. He was the last butler for the famed Italian American Maestro Gian Carlo Menotti, who composed and directed 25 operas among other creative endeavors, and is revered in Italy and America. He started the Spoleto Festival here and also is the founder of the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.
Felipou also talked about the impact of Covid on his business. He has owned the restaurant and the building for the past 25 years. The building is over 1000 years old. Covid closed his business for more than a year and even now it means that instead of hosting 35 at each dinner seating, he can only host about 10 due to social distancing requirements. He has received very little compensation from the government and said owning his building and a good relationship with the bank is why he is still in business.
The restaurant filled up while we were there and Felipou kept the room lively, telling stories in Italian we didn’t understand to other patrons who laughed and joked with him. We heard the word “Americans” a couple of times and figured some of that laughter may have been at our expense, but in a good-natured way.
The food was fantastic and there was so much of it. First bread and cheese, then breads with pate and melted cheese and onions and a whole sautéed mushroom, then the best lentil soup we’ve ever had, then a ricotta and polenta croquette (yes, fried cheese), then sausages and roasted green grapes, then a grilled wild boar rib and some spinach-filled pastry. Pasta was supposed to be next, but we declined. Then out came tiramisu that was a like cloud.
We didn’t eat all of anything (except the Tiramisu). It’s important to say that because to have eaten all of that would be impossible. We did taste everything and ate more than we should have. We kept thinking each course was the last. He told us in the beginning there would be four courses. In the end, there were almost 10 different items.
All of that and a bottle of very tasty white wine for 55 euros. That same dinner in Nashville would have been $250 at least.
We found these little gems as we walked back to the hotel.
It’s morning now and we again wish we had slept better. Sometimes the beds in Europe are extremely hard and this is one of those times. Also, no coffee delivered to the room. But, we’ve got our backpacks loaded and our walking sticks at the ready.
Nine miles, here we come.
Ciao
Kim & Betsy 