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Family and Food

Our final page for Italy (but not for this trip report) is, appropriately, about family and food. On the Friday before we left, after having gone to Urbino and Pergola, we went to cousin Filippo's restaurant for supper. When we were here in 2018, the restaurant was closed for some renovation work. This year, with the restaurant open, we were able to eat in the restaurant itself. His busiest time is in the summer when people can eat outside, but in the off-season the restaurant is open on weekends. Filippo was working but of course came over to talk to us many times. Here is our group, clockwise from the left: Francesco, Federico, Valentina, Guilia, Grazia, Doni, Anne, Paul, Filippo.

People gathered around a table and looking at the photo taker. There are glasses with some white wine and white empty dishes on the table. The room has light wood walls.

Filippo's restaurant is known for using local products as well as making the food, even the pastas, on-site. They are also famous for their meats. The cooler that can just be seen on the left of this next picture has large cuts of meat in it. The cooler is computer controlled, and ages the meat for at least 3 months. During this time, it dries and cures, losing 40% of its weight. During the meal, Giulia read us a selection from her English class schoolbook; she did very well.

People gathered around a table and looking at the photo taker. There are glasses with some white wine and white empty dishes on the table. The room has light wood walls.

Filippo took care of us and made certain we had dishes that were both vegetarian and without onion and garlic. But he always thinks that we can eat more than we can. He started us with an appetizer of polenta with a soft and a firm cheese on the top.

A bowl of polenta with some melted cheese on it plus some chunks of cheese.

Prima Piatti (first course) was a dish of tagliatelle with peas and a second one of ziti with fresh tomato, a pureed eggplant sauce, and pistachio.

Federico is serving from a large dish that has pasta and peas.

Paul is holding a plate of pasta with tomato and chopped pistachio

Secondo (the second, or main, course) was tomato gratin, roasted potato, bread, and bean soup. There was also some meat for those interested.

A plate of bread-topped tomatoes

A bright red plate of toasted bread with olive oil, with a bowl of beans in broth behind that.

A plate with some potato and with the tomato gratin

Most of the workers at the restaurant have been with Filippo for many years. We remember Eugenio; he went with us and Filippo to tour the nearby Di Sante winery in 2018. We were happy that he remembered us as well. Eugenio opened a bottle of Di Sante Timòteo Sangiovese wine for the table. Since the restaurant is open, the other tables have other guests at them.

A man is opening a bottle of wine. Closer to use there is a tall red bag on the table and a yellow jacket on the back of the chair. There are three tables behind him, and customers are at two of them.

Doni had made Zuppa Inglese, a cake and custard dessert, which we had after the meal.

A white plate with a cake on it and a little spoon that looks like a flat shovel.

We enjoyed being able to speak a bit more with Aunt Grazia this year. She only speaks a few words of English, but since our Italian is better now than on our last trip it was possible to have conversations with her.

A woman with short blond hair and dark glasses standing next to Paul.

Location of Locale Atipico da Ciavarini

Anne's only regret from our first trip to Italy was that she had not taken pictures of any of the fabulous meals that we had with Doni, Francesco, and Flo. Doni is an amazing cook. This time we remembered to take at least a few. We started with our first full-time day in Fano. We had driven up from Mondavio, and Francesco picked us up at the parking area and drove us to the house for unloading. Meanwhile, Doni and Flo made gnocchi and cooked it with tomato and eggplant, then topped it with Burrata (a mozzarella with a creamy center). It was, of course, delicious.

Flo, Francesco, Doni, and Paul stand around a wood table

A white place with a random painted design has large gnocchi on it with eggplant and burrata.

A couple of days later, we took this picture of sliced zucchini with dressing, buffalo mozzarella, artisanal cheese (from our cheese tour on page 16), and assorted stuffed vegetables. The meal also had roasted squash, a crostata for dessert, and some roasted chestnuts.

A wooden table with empty plates, glasses, and a couple of bottles of water. There are plates of food as described above, waiting to be served.

Another fun meal that we had with our hosts was a savory pie of greens and cheese, rice stuffed tomatoes, and artichokes. You can see in the lower right of the picture that we were also making progress on the wheel of artisanal cheese from the previous picture.

Looking down at a wooden table, there are plates of the food desribed above. The cheese wheel is over half gone.

Doni gave us another cooking lesson, this time ricotta-spinach ravioli. We interrupted Doni's kneading of the pasta dough for a picture.

Paul has an arm around Doni. She has a ball of pasta in her hands, resting on a pasta board.

Doni demonstrated the technique for using the mattarella (large rolling pin). Paul uses one of these at home and is always trying to improve his technique. Anne also took a turn using the mattarella, but Doni said she was 'too delicate' in her approach.

Don is wearing a cooking apron with vegetables on it, and has her hand on a rolling pin that has dough folded over it. In the foreground is a bowl of the spinach - ricotta filling.

Doni's method of filling the pasta is to cut long narrow strips, put dollops of the filling evenly spaced, then press a second strip over the first one. The mounds are cut apart and then the edges are firmly sealed.

Doni and Paul at a pasta board with ravioli in process of being made.

Don is demonstrating the technique of assembling the ravioli, as described above.

Flo and her boyfriend Dodo arrived while the ravioli assembly was happening.

Flo and Dodo are standing near the table, Francesco is sitting on the sofa in the background, and Doni is working on assembling ravioli.

In the photo above they had just arrived, but they were far from being idle bystanders. Dodo's family used to have a restaurant. He obviously knows his way around a kitchen, and made a tomato sauce to accompany the ravioli. Here we are at the table, with one of Anne's skillfully taken selfies. Starting at the lower left and going clockwise around the table are Anne, Dodo (Eduardo), Flo (Florinda), Doni (Donatella), Francesco, and Paul. This was lunch, by the way.

6 people around a wooden table, with plates of ravioli in front of them. There is a pot of ravioli in the center of the table. Everyone has a water glass and a wine glass.

Then Doni brought out a flourless chocolate cake. It was delicious, & much of the leftover cake went with Anne. Anne has since made this at home, but it did not come out nearly as well as Doni's version.

Francesco is being the table, and there is a chocolate cake with sugar coated green grapes on it.

A slice of the cake

That night, our last in Italy for this trip, we got some pizzas.

Four pizzas on the table. The one closest is just crust with rosemary. The two on the sides have cheese and basil, and the far one has other toppings.