Finally a glorious
day of breezes and sunshine!
However, we had a
rough start getting acquainted with the new Villa Cecca - spilled a pot of
coffee, couldn't find a cutting board etc. We didn't really feel like making
another long drive but today was the only day Claudio was available and we
havent seen him in more than 12 years so off we went.
A very special
day. Lecce is about an hour from
Cisternino - an easy drive. It is also a
very lovely town. Many baroque churches
and monasteries still intact as they were not bombed during the war. Claudio and Tom met in Chicago studying Italian together. We met him again in Rome and Florence but hadn't seen him in 12 years. He looks just the same, a lovely and
elegant man - lithe in spirit and figura.
He gave us a tour of Lecce and clearly loves the city. He lives about 20 miles southwest in
Cutrofiano as his uncle left him a house there.
We couldn't get over the fact that we were seeing each other again and
so far from Rome.
We lunched at Alle due Corti -
exquisite. Tom had agnello with
patate, Claudio and I had the fava pure
with chicoria (OMG!) A beautifully creamy (without cream) pure of fava beans blend beautifully with the slightly bitter bite of the chicory.
As secondi I had wide ribbons of pasta in a light
tomato sauce and Claudio had offal, a
specialty in Puglia. Everything was
excellent. A little more walking and a
stop at a bookstore so he could present us with a lovely book of Puglia
cooking.
We finished the afternoon with
ice cream, pastry and coffee. Claudio complimented Tom on his "perfect Italian" even though he spoke mostly English with us. Alas we needed to move on but we are so glad we made the effort to see him.
Back at the Casa Cecca ) we caught up on laundry,
reading and Tom went in to town for a few necessities . It was so wonderful to just sit in the sun
and enjoy. I didn't think I could eat
any more but we went in to town for a stroll, and had a terrible dinner. We
agreed that we have had only two superb meals since arriving in Italy - today's
lunch and our dinner at Antiqua Locanda in Rome. Tonight though was really bad. An arugula salad turned out to be iceberg
lettuce with a few sprigs of arugula.
The pork was absolutely raw, even after we sent it back. The pasta was well cooked but too salty. The only thing that was good was the eggplant
which was sliced paper thin, and grilled with a little oil and garlic. C'est la vie.
We ate outdoors, had a little conversation, but tomorrow night we eat
in. We should have eaten at one of the restaurants the Angelita recommended - lesson learned!
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