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Lying in bed. The shuttered door to the terrace is open admitting the warm morning sun and the summoning knell of the church bells. House-martins criss-cross the sky, wheeling and swooping as they carefully bring small gobbets of mud to make their nests under the eaves. Like so many miniature fighter planes they tip their wings and perform a fly past, a flash of a swallow's chestnut breast as it skims the open window. Cockerels crow from the allotments as chickens cackle their achievements. Just another Sunday in Italy.
'Did you put water in the coffee?' An oft repeated phrase denoting the week's holiday. . The pervading aroma of percolating coffee from the 'Verletta' on the hob had been replaced by a distinct smell of burning. The coffee was well and truly roasted, unfortunately not the end result required. But it was Sunday and plenty of time to put another pot on.
Sunday lunch awaited us at Agriturisimo Valle Ofanto. A locale for family lunches, special occasions and on this Sunday for two christenings.
Arriving a quarter of an hour late we were still the first visitors. We were led to a
small table in a smaller back room away from the main room full of long tables set for family groups. Our maitre d showed his colours with an apron emblazoned with the slow food logo and we knew we were in for a treat. As we sat chatting and perusing the menu within a short period of time the whole restaurant became full of frilly, satin dresses, high heels, dark suits and aged nonnas and nonnos. The volume increased and the food started to arrive.
The babies were passed from one cooing relation to another whilst the busy waitstaff hustled and bustled bringing out antipasto plate after antipasto plate. Italy being the originator of the slow food movement I was surprised how quickly we were served! 1989 was the founding of this movement as a perfect juxtaposition to the infiltration of yellow arches. None to be seen in this part of the country!
Valle Ofanto does its best to supply its own produce but with the volume of diners needs must outsource to local suppliers. The food kept coming and we were all happy with our choices although the pudding menu was tantalisingly difficult
to decipher and we asked the waitstaff to help. Unfortunately their English was as stilting as our Italian and one of us received something he did not expect! But it was all delicious as you can see.
A quiet walk down to the farm area did not really do anything to work off the extra pounds but the lovely garden provided a sunny spot to sit and contemplate navels or in our case some valuable reading space. We glanced at the photo opportunities that the families presented with their little babies in white gowns but it was just too hard to get out the camera again and we vowed to keep the memories in our minds.
And so it was a really lazy Sunday, our last day in Calitri until the next time.
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alanc230
non-member comment
Mouthwatering
I just wanted to jump inside this post and have lunch with you! It sounds delightful.