Tiled Duck in Ravenna

I wrote a lot about the most Byzantine of Italian cities, Ravenna, before (in this here post), and even (in said post) showed a pic of a random tiled duck that was on the floor of San Vitale. I forgot (until going through my pics again, for nostalgia’s sake) that there were actually two ducks on the floor, and since I loved them both, I wanted to bring the second one a bit more public attention:

*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Dessert Nibbles at Da Cesari

I’ve droned on and on to all who will listen about the gustatory glory that is the restaurant Da Cesari in Bologna (here's my Da Cesari post, in case you missed it). Not only is the food top notch, but the folks that work there are swell, too. So swell that they always bring us a little plate of sweets to accompany the homemade blueberry grappa (which they also are nice enough to bring out). This is on top of the wonderful Cesari dolce proper, but hey, you can’t have too much of a good thing, right? I especially love the chocolate-covered candied orange peels:

Delicious.

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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Radicchio Bruschetta at Nestor’s

Doesn’t this just make your mouth water:

Nestor’s Pizzeria (one of our favorite pizza spots, and considered by many to be the best pizza in the Upper Tiber Valley) is, of course, renowned for its pizza. But gosh, as the above pic shows, they have some other tasty items, too. This bruschetta was wonderful, with that tart radicchio playing off the salty pecorino and the olive oil tying it all together on top of the crisp little toast. A crunchy delight.

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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Nat Gets Close to Nature

We’re lucky that Seattle is a very tree-y and plant-y city--and that we have our very own cherry tree in the backyard (and a garden in the side yard). But I still miss the forests we were surrounded by in Italy, and I’m guessing Nat does, too. One of the trees we saw a decent amount of was the Castagno, or chestnut tree. The chestnut is a big deal in the Niccone Valley, and in the fall when we were there you’d see a ton of roasted chestnuts for sale near markets and even on the side of the road (our own local bar in Lisciano Niccone, Mafalda, even had plates of them as snacks during the aperitif hour a couple of days)--and one lovely little town near us, Preggio, has a huge chestnut festival. We also saw loads of un-shucked chestnuts on forest walks. If you haven't seen them, they're very interesting--spiny (though soft spines) and round and not looking at all like you'd expect:

I also think it looks like Nat’s about to send that one flying at me through the air, in some sort of Italian spell-casting. Hopefully it’d be a friendly spell (maybe one that ensured my bottle of Strega was always full)?

*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

The Church Outside Castel Rigone

Castel Rigone is a smallish town up even higher (and a bit south and east) than Cielo Chiara, the lovely house we spent out Italian pre-tirement living within, and once we found the town we stopped in often (it’s only a short 5 or 7 minute drive on the back roads from Cielo Chiara). Usually, we’d just have a drink at the café in the small town center, playing Quiddler or having a snack with the drink. But once in a while we’d walk around the town (there are only a few streets, and some are solely walkers), to check out the amazing views of Lake Trasimeno, or to look at the lovely old church on one end of town:

Yet another amazing, little, seldom-stopped-at Italian town that you might just want to spend a few hours in, relaxing and enjoying the Italian sunshine.

*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Gnocchi Tartufo at the Taverna di San Leo Bastia

I am almost 100% sure (at least 97.5% sure) that I’ve posted a pic here already of the Gnocchi Tartufo from the Taverna di San Leo Bastia. If I haven’t here, I know I did on Spiked Punch after an earlier trip. But dang it, I’m going to post another pic here, because it is so good, and because I am craving it so much. The homemade gnocchi are delicious, warm with a tiniest bit of chew, and that truffle sauce, all creamy and yummy and truffle-tastic, could make a mad man sane:

One of my all-time favorites in the Upper Tiber Valley without a doubt.

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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Lookie at This Pleased Pasta-Eater

Well, when we were pre-tiring in Italy we had oodles of great guests, so I’m not going to put one on a pedestal above the others. But look at pal Christy Scharrer’s pasta enthusiasm for the tagliatelle ai funghi in this photo:

That’s showing the gusto Italians love to see. And, when she was taking this bite, she’d only been off the plane a few hours, and only off the train a few minutes. Amazing, really. The restaurant we were eating at was called Ristorante Etruria, and mostly chosen because of its nearness to said train’s station, and actually shared a wall with a used car lot, and was completely non-descript, with a waiter/owner who spoke little English and stood about 5-foot flat, but the food? The food was still delish.

PS: Happy Birthday to Christy, too, one day early (but hey, it's almost your birthday in Italy right now)! Wish we were all in Italy celebrating.

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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

The Duomo and the Christmas Tree

The Florence Duomo is one of those building that makes you have an instant intake of breath. A “wow” moment, if you will, and (at least for me) not just the first time you see it. It’s not only breathtakingly lovely with its variety of colored stone, marble, and statues, but also just massive. Seeing a giant Christmas tree alongside it, which it dwarfed (even though in this photo the tree is partially holding its own—due to my lack of a sufficiently wide-angled lens to even come close to capturing much of the Duomo), only emphasized the massivity:

*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Calagrana Lemon Cake

Sometimes I dwell too much on the savory side (which makes sense as I tend to like savory better than sweet. Which isn’t to say I won’t sweet it up on occasion). Which may be why I never posted this pic of a delicious, light, flavorsome lemon cake we had at the wondrous Calagrana:

But wow, it was (like everything there) great. And the homemade ice cream on the side? And the delicate creamy lemon chocolate sauce? Also great. But would you expect anything less? Maybe if you’ve never been—but in that case, what are you waiting for?

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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Stone Heads in Citerna

Citerna was an Italian hill town we visited one fine afternoon in November, 2010, which I detailed a bit here. It’s well worth a visit if you ever happen to be in Northern Umbria and like art, good coffee, and amazing views (and who worth their salt doesn’t?). Wandering through the town we took a right turn up some stairs in hunt of a particular antique fireplace and all of a sudden were face-to-face with these carved heads:

I was both scared (they do have that “we will now pronounce your doom” look about them) and in wonder (at how you never know in Italy when you’ll all-of-a-sudden be face-to-face with art).

*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Florentine Pugs

I’ve mentioned this before, but it deserves reiteration (or re-bark-eration): we’re dog people. And so took pictures of lots of Italian dogs, including these adorable pugs (or pug and a pug-mix) in Florence. I love how that little tongue is sticking out—touring around is so hard for a dog. While our dogs are big ‘uns, my sister-and-nephews-and-brother-in-law have pugs (as well as pals Ame and Ron), so we definitely have a pug soft spot:

*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Bar Fizz Quattro Formaggi Pizza

This pic is of the first pizza we ever had at Bar Fizz! And I hadn’t yet posted it here (I think). That seems somewhat amazing to me in my culinary hindsight. You can tell it’s early, because it’s a Quattro Formaggi (notice the Fizz usage of gorgonzola on their version of this standard Italian pizza) but it doesn’t have the cipolla addition that we grew so fond of during our pre-tirement:

Yummy. I think if I could afford it, I’d fly over to Italy tonight just to have one of these.
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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.

Amuse-Bouche, Italian Style

Looking at the chilly day in Assisi pic below reminded me that to get out of the cold (and because it was lunching time) we wandered into a restaurant called al Frantoio (which we tried to go to twice more on other Assisi visits, but it was closed each time, darn it it all). The full al Frantoio experience is detailed here, but I forgot when writing it up the first time about the lovely plate of sun-dried tomatoes and olives they brought to us right when we sat down (along with a little bread-cracker basket):

Nat even enjoyed eating the olives, which isn’t a food she usually munches. But wow, I thought the sun-dried tomatoes were the tops—tangy, sweet, and olive-oil-y. Yummy.

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*Note: We were on pre-tirement, and now we’re back. Want the full story? Start the pre-tirement journey here. Want to go backwards? Read the last pre-tired post here and scroll back. Or, just keep coming back for pretty Italy pictures.