Most days I feel like there are not enough hours to get everything on my ‘to do’ list  done. I look at the clock and all of a sudden it’s 7pm and time to start thinking about dinner. How did that happen?
But then there are other days that are so full of amazing, wonderful things that I can’t believe that only 8 hours have gone by.
Last week I had one of those amazing days.
Sophie and I took a road trip south of Rome. Our destination was a small town in the Valle di Comino: Picinisco. We’ve been researching day trips out of Rome and decided to follow our stomachs. In this case we made friends with our favorite cheese vendor in the Circo Massimo Farmer’s Market, Loreto Pacitti. Loreto is pretty well known in the cheese world for his Conciato di San Vittore. A sheep’s milk cheese that has been aged in a mixture of wild herbs, I’d first had it atop a Bonci pizza several years ago. It was a thrill to finally meet the man behind the cheese, and a road trip to see how it was made seemed like a pretty good idea to me.
As it turns out this cheese was only a small part of our day.
While I had been expecting sheep and cheese making (and we eventually got to that) we met Loreto at Casa Lawrence. This perfect little 19th century villa is situated at foothills of the Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo and hosted D.H. Lawrence while he was writing The Lost Girl. Perfectly restored based on descriptions within the novel, the charming house is now an angriturismo with two guests rooms. They’ve maintained one of the rooms as a ‘museum’ complete with desk and bed where Lawrence slept.
Next door is the family’s Caciosteria. Cacio, in Italian, is another word for cheese and this spot is all about the cheese. The rustic building belonged to Loreto’s grandparents and is now a small restaurant featuring mostly the family’s cheeses. Sophie and I settled in front of the fire while Loreto made us – of course – cacio e pepe. (see the film below) We also had ‘hung’ cheese. Loreto attached a scamorza to a rope and hung it over the embers. As soon as a layer had begun to melt and then brown, he sliced off a piece for each of us. Brilliant, right? Kind of like the Italian version of raclette.
Halfway into our meal a friend of Loreto’s stopped by. Lorenzo is a guardia forestale and his job is policing the mountains that separate the Lazio part of the National park from Abruzze and Molise. As we listened to his tall tales of wolves and bears (actually we got to watch his videos that he carries around with him) we finished up the last of the pasta and then headed out for our drive up and down the valley.
While I thought we were heading to see some cheese making (kind of why we were there) we managed to do the following:
- Visit three mountain top villages
- Climb around an abandoned castle
- Have a barrel tasting of a biodynamic wine made from local grapes
- Hang out with some sheep
As the sun set over the snow topped mountains we finally pulled up at the caseificio where the pecorino was being made. While Loreto’s mother and sisters filled small baskets with the day’s fresh curds, we made plans with Loreto to come back soon. To take a walk with Lorenzo through the mountains, to visit a few more of the hilltop villages, to visit some of the other food producers in the valley…..one day, it turns out,  was not nearly enough.
Casa Lawrence
Picinisco (FR)
Tel: 0776.688183
349.072.3087
Casa Lawrence is an agriturismo and has two simple, but lovely rooms. Casa Lawrence is open for lunch and dinner on Sundays. During the rest of the week, the Caciosteria serves a limited, but delicious, menu of cheeses and cured meats, as well as baked potatoes topped with local specialties. Reservations required. They also maintain a library of works relating to D.H. Lawrence. Every Sunday you can stop by for tea and cakes, and read away the afternoon.
Cominium Vineyard
Via S. Titinto
Alvito (FR)
tel: 0776.510.683 and 328.628.4603 The cantina welcomes visitors for tastings.
Lorenzo Vacca
In addition to being a Guardia Forestale Lorenzo also has a Botanical Garden  and leads private walking tours in the park. [email protected] tel: 348.720.2610
This morning I was watching the local news and getting very irritated with a certain former PM.
Then I saw your film and read your post and remembered, this is Italy too.
So true!
Elizabeth, I love the video! Can you give relative proportions of pasta, cheese, and pepper?
Everyone has a different approach, and in fact, while he was making his Loreto kept changing things around: a bit less water, a bit more cheese, not enough pasta…..I’ll be posting another version of Cacio e Pepe soon, this time with an exact recipe. Hope you can wait!
I need one of those bear patches!
I know, aren’t they great!
Oh, my. If I have one food weakness – it is cheese and these photos of these luscious examples are killing me. What a lovely post. Thank you. Again.
And they tasted even better than they looked!
This is the Italy I know. Thanks for this genuine and lovely ‘cortometraggio’!
I’m thinking the “get some milk” part of the process is the hardest part
Once you find the sheep……
I’m changing the old Chinese saying………….
a video is worth a thousand words, so much fun
and right to the point!
You make not being there the next best thing.
A thousand thanks….
I love your videos! They make me smile!
I have tried the method shown in the video many times, but i never pulled off a good Cacio e Pepe that way.
As soon as I add the hot pasta water to the grated cheese, it clumps and curdles and it’s all over.
I think the key is cooking the pasta in very little water (to concentrate the starch) and then mixing it it with the grated cheese and some pasta water (as needed) off fire…
But i am really not sure…
In fact, that’s how I usually do it too. So was really interested to see how Loreto did it.
Loved the video, but am more interested in learning to time travel, How did you film in February, 2015? Things really are different in Italy! 😀
It’s all about the age of the cheese. As long as it’s over a year old, then you can time travel at least a month ahead of time to make dinner. 🙂
Can I somehow magically transport myself there? Right now please? 🙂
Great video, lovely seeing my parents home town on video. I have several pieces of the San vittore cheese in my garage, bought last summer when we were there on holiday. I don’t eat it (shame on me lol) but my husband loves it and like bonci puts it on pizzas.
Can I ask though elizabeth the date at the end of film is it a little error? Don’t quite think we’ve had Valentine’s Day 2015 yet. Lol
Thanks for sharing xx
I need an editor, obviously. 🙂
Long day and i am tired- I remember this video- beautiful- i think the cheese has to be grated finely- i did it twice! But absolutely delicious! A quick delicious dinner!