Mediterranean Pt VI (Final)

This was the last stop on our trip and let me tell you, we saved the best for last.  The entire trip both the wife and I were looking forward to seeing (and tasting) Tuscany.  “Under the Tuscan Sun” is one of her favorite movies.  Wine and dried cured meats are some of my favorite foods.  Tuscany embodies everything I expected out of Italy.  At first I thought to myself “All those beautiful pictures you see of vineyards and endless hills must be the nice part of Tuscany.”  From what I saw (we drove for hours through the countrywide) it ALL looks like that with a vineyard visible on every hillside.  The beautiful farmhouses nestled in the hills amongst the cypress trees and fields of wild poppies filled the hillsides.  We passed by Andre Boccelli’s house and an outdoor amphitheater with posters announcing his show the following week … I love this place.

We started our Tuscan adventure in San Gimignano which is the home of the world’s BEST gelato.  Or, so the sign says.  We will get to that in a second.  Our first stop was at a café for a cappuccino and a cannoli.  I did not get pictures of them but this is the display case in the café filled with premade ready to grill paninis.

We walked around for a while trying to find places that my wife and Pam would recognize from the movie.  After searching we found a place called Pluripremiata Gelateria.  This was it!  This is what I had heard rumblings about on the trip here.  I thought Venice was supposed to have the best gelato but it turns out that it is right here in San Gimignano.

Being the food connoisseur that I am, I wasn’t going to take their word for it.  The flavor choices seemed endless.  With our friends Tom & Pam anxious to explore the tastes and smells of our discovery, Tom decided on the Nutella gelato, and so did I.  I had just eaten a Nutella crepe in France, but you can’t go wrong with chocolate and hazelnut.  Gelato is very similar to ice cream.  The difference is that it is not whipped so there is much less air in it making it a much more dense (read: heavy) dessert food.  Since I was sharing with my wife, I went for the medium.  It was an overcast rainy day but that didn’t stop me from eating this amazingly delicious frozen treat.  

Full hazelnuts were covered in fudgy dark chocolate and large chunks of chewy chocolate all throughout the dish.  Almost every bite had a hazelnut in it.  The ones that didn’t were filled with chocolate.  It was a remarkable midmorning snack.

As we headed to our next destination (a farmhouse in the countryside of Livorno), we passed several more vineyards and a prison.  If I were incarcerated this is where I would want to go.  The views were spectacular.  When we arrived at our meal location we were introduced to the owner and his family.  We sat at a family style dining table and were served fresh olives.  We then did a little wine tasting with three distinct wines made on the premises.  The first was a fruity Chardonnay.  It was very light and had a very nice slightly tart and very sweet aftertaste.  The next two were Cabernets.  The first was younger than the second one.  They were both full bodied and smooth, with the older one having a slightly earthier and deeper finish.  Then one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever eaten was served to me.  First came the pasta ragu, fresh penne rigate with a thick meaty sauce.  This is not your mothers meat sauce.  The ragu was mostly ground meat with very light tomatoes and fresh seasonings.  Next was the salad consisting of freshly grown lettuce (I believe it was from the family farm) with light vinaigrette dressing.  We were then served fresh bruschetta and Tuscan garlic bread.  The bruschetta tasted like I was eating it in the garden.  The vegetables were so fresh and full of flavor; I’m pretty sure they were picked that morning.  The Tuscan garlic bread was grilled fresh bread rubbed with garlic and olive oil.

Following that came the main course.  Although I was stuffed full of gelato, olives, pasta, and bread, I started to salivate when this came out.

The cheeses are two different aged pecorino cheeses made from goat milk.  They were aged 9 months and 18 months.  They were rich, creamy, and paired perfectly with the local prosciutto and salami that was served beside it.  These dried meats were by far the best I have ever had.  The owner of the vineyard worked with a local farmer who made the prosciutto and salami a few miles down the road.  The prosciutto was dry and salty, just like it should be.  The fat melted away in my mouth giving every bite of food a burst of flavor.  The salami acted in similar fashion.  The peppery seasonings hit the tip of your tongue as the fat dissipated into a flavor wave over my entire mouth.  I had found the most amazing food I had ever eaten in my life.  Maybe I’m a little biased because I am Italian.  Maybe I hyped up Tuscany in my mind so much that no matter what I ate, it would be amazing.  I don’t care.  I want to go back.

After the feast we were served an almond biscotti and an aperitif wine made from honey.  It was similar to mead but not milled with spices.  It was also much thicker and more concentrated.  As people were leaving the dining room to go and walk off the meal Tom and I went back for wine.  

The rest of our day in Tuscany was filled with excitement.  We went to Volterra and saw some guys dressed up as knights preparing to reenact some important historical event.  Tom and I both got shit on by pigeons and were told its good luck.  I could write a book on what I saw and learned in Volterra.  Churches, towers, wars, foot races, vampires, etc… Volterra is a very old settlement dating back to the Neolithic era.    The ruins date back to 700 B.C.There’s a lot that has happened here.  Let’s just leave it at that. 

Sadly, our Mediterranean vacation was over.  We headed back to Rome, hopped on a plane, and flew back to the States.  The memories that were made during this amazing trip will last a lifetime.  We met new friends, saw spectacular places, and ate some of the most amazing foods I have ever put in my mouth.  We hope to be able to travel like this again sometime in the near future.  Until then, I guess I’ll have to deal with American food.