The village is fairly empty as we stroll down the cobblestone lanes of Pitigliano just before noon. We window shop all the ceramics stores, eventually stopping into one with some of the most creative pieces we’ve seen. They had huge lamps and pots and statues, with all sorts of different finishes – and these awesome dishes with leaves embedded in the glaze. I had to break down and buy one just to have and figure out how to do it! I had the best conversation with the woman who owns the store, completely in Italian! I understood about 1/3, but it was enough. Her husband is the main artist, Roberto Polidoric, but I believe she said she also made pieces, and made the coaster that I purchased. It was all terribly fun and I only wish I had the nerve to ask to take pictures of their pieces – they were totally unique. (After we got back to the apartment I found their website, and they actually give classes. How fun would that have been?)
After our little encounter, we just wandered though the town snapping pictures here and there of the pretty alleyways, churches and buildings.
We make the circuit, passing the synagogue museum still with the polizia guards,UZIs in hand, outside, then back to the main square, where even though TripAdvisor said this one restaurant would be open – they are not until 12:30. The chef tells us 10 minutes, so we take advantage of the great day and sit on a bench in the sunshine to wait.
Trattoria il Grillo is worth the wait. We were hoping it wasn’t going to be too terribly touristy and over priced, since it is located right off the main square in Pitigliano, and we were delightfully surprised. The delightful owner (we think, and who we called Mr. Grillo to ourselves of course), greeted and seated us (as the first customers). He was so sweet and nice, and patient with our pidgen Italian. We ordered the Mixed Antipasti Grillo, which was huge and nicely appointed with different meat selections, bruschetta and a great mixture of sundried tomatoes and pickled radicchio in oil. Yum. We also shared the Chinghiale stew with prunes – absolutely yummy and as usual, far too much food!
Good thing our afternoon plans include walking through Parco Orsini – that will burn off some of this great food! We traverse the square and hike up the hill to retrieve our car. We are especially glad we have this teeny little Panda car, since the wide open parking space we left the car in is now squeezed between two other not so little cars. But while we think it will take forever to maneuver out of the space, its so tiny, it takes one turn (not even a reverse and turn) and we’re on the road. Of course we don’t have too far to travel, only down the hill a bit to the next parking lot where we can walk up to Parco Orsini.
We’re lucky and find a space right up front, and commence our trek. Up the road, around the hairpin curve, then up the steep little lane to the chained park entrance. The Park consists of statues carved out of the tufa, commissioned by the Orsini’s. Everything we’ve read about it says it is spectacular, but sadly abandoned by the town commune – thus the chain at the entrance. They designed this great area, but with nowhere to park, and no access so no one uses it. Which is a shame, because there is a huge picnic area, with about 50 picnic benches, all over grown and decaying by disuse. A stone path lines the area, again, overgrown and starting to disappear under the leaves, weeds and debris.
We weed hop our way through the picnic area to find the viewpoint looking over the Maremma valley. It’s gorgeous – but oh so scary! The stone viewing area just drops off into nothing, with no warning or guardrails, making us quite leery of getting very close to it. But, still, it is a nice sunny spot to sit (or stand) and stare out over the countryside.
Traipsing all over that park, though the weeds and the grass, along the fenceline, everywhere –and can never find one hint of a carved tufa statue. We found a place that looked like something may have been removed recently. There is also a poorly maintained trail leading into the woods away from the picnic area, which after a few hundred feet becomes completely overgrown – so we’re not about to try hiking through there. It is probably where the statues are located, but without the proper hiking gear – or better knowledge of the area – it is not on our have to do list – so we abstain.
It’s nice enough walking about in the sunshine in the picnic area, and after we’ve explored every inch, making sure we missed nothing – we walk back down to the car park and head toward home, only semi-defeated from the hiking disappointments today!
The road home is filled with little tiny roads – one particular 4KM stretch of one-lane country paths through the farmland which finally dumps us out onto a “better” road. Of course, the idea that we call a little tiny 1 and 1/2 lane road “better” is particularly humorous, thank heavens Ed likes to drive with the crazy Italians! At least it gives us plenty of beautiful scenery and lots of farm animals to see.
We find a new way to come back through the city, which seems to be a bit easier than the original way I had mapped it. If you exclude the pesky school children who won’t move when you are politely driving through narrow little lanes (one almost lost her backpack to our sideview mirror – but only after she looked right at us and decided not to move out of the way), it was quite the smooth re-entry into Orvieto. Punto safely housed in the garage, we retire to the apartment to rejuvenate for a bit before heading out in search of dinner.
Tonight we have no specific plans, which means we sort of wander through town, checking out all the menus posted around. We’ve been to so many of these places, that we know most of the menus – but it is still not an easy decision. We finally settle on Pozzo Etrusco Giovanni, where we have always had such excellent food and service. Of course we’re early, so once again we hang out in the escalator building waiting for the 7:30 opening hour, watching all the waiters come out to smoke their pre-service cigarettes.
We finally venture in, and are, as always, greeted enthusiastically and shown to a nice two-top, even without having reservations (we find this far easier since we eat so early!). Tonight, we are forcing ourselves to be a little different with our mains – it seems we always go for the same dishes (mostly because, of course, we can’t get them at home, but still, we need to stretch a little now and then… LOL). For our starter, of course, we split the Antipasti – a fantastic mix of meat, but also different appetizers like an artichoke tart, cheese melted over eggplant on crostini, some sort of layered cheese and vegetable roll, a decadent pate and this great mayonnaise and olive spread. It was excellent and so filling, I could have been quite done – but no – I had decided to blow the carb count all to hell by ordering Tagliatelle Giovanni – the house specialty made of (wait for it) pasta with cacao (yes, chocolate pasta!) with a mascarpone sauce topped with prosciutto. Oh my. And oh my, it was so worth it – even if I couldn’t even beginning to finish it and Ed had to help even after he finished his excellent duck breast.
I think I need to go run tomorrow morning!
Fully stuffed, we stop for a nightcap at the Blue Bar and hang out with Anthony for a couple of wines and beers, a few songs on the guitar (he’s getting really good), and lots of talk about families and life and how to move forward. A thoroughly wonderful end to our evening. And a lovely stroll through the empty streets to our cozy apartment for the rest of the night.
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