|
On a sunny day a few summers ago we rode into
Varese Ligure on a Vespa with our Italian friends. We stopped
near the castle in the center of town to have a gelato. On the
main street in town we saw a charming restaurant and peeked
inside. The owner Stefania was there and invited us in. On the
wall is a picture of Stefania’s grandparents who were
greengrocers in the same space where she has now opened a
popular restaurant. This Michelin guide listed restaurant
features brick lined curved ceilings and stone walls lined with
shelves of wine. Stefania was excited to learn that we brought
groups of people to Italy to learn about the local food and
culture. She offered up her chef for a cooking class to showcase
the mushrooms foraged from the surrounding forests. Stefania has
organized the well-known summer outdoor summer opera and knows
everyone in town. She encouraged us to visit the town and get a
taste of rural village life in Italy.
On Tuesday morning our driver drops us off in the
center of town and we peruse the local market. Rounds of cheese,
piles of just picked produce and fresh fish caught last night
make up many of the stands. The other stands are for practical
things that the locals need like linens, sweaters, kitchen gear,
and shoes. It’s fun to search through the bins and find a
beautiful scarf or the perfect tablecloth and since it’s not a
market for tourists the prices are right. Next we take a short
drive to the cheese cooperative on the edge of town. The manager
of the cooperative explains how the town and the valley
surrounding it decided to go green in the 90’s. Because of the
their
unspoiled valleys, woodlands, and olive groves
they could produce organic meat, cheeses, and produce. The Val
di Vara area where Varese Ligure is located now is known
nationally as Valle del Biologico (Organic Valley). In January
2004, the European Commission honored Varese Ligure as the “most
eco-compatible rural community in Europe,” We have a tasting of
the cheese they produce and a tour that includes the heady
perfume of the cheese storage rooms. Then we’re off to lunch in
a cantina in the Borgo Rotundo, the center of this round
village.
After
lunch and a stroll around the village, we go to the restaurant
to meet charming Carlo, the chef. He is a smiling, fun chef who
is thrilled to show you the local dishes. In the fall he shows
off the porcini mushrooms gathered in the chestnut forests of
the valley. He shows us how to use the chestnuts themselves to
make an incredible crepe. Although we think he probably enjoys
teaches the ladies how to flip them the most. The highlight of
the day is making a unique local pasta, stamped with a hand
carved wooden stamp. After all that cooking we take time to get
a gelato, have a stroll in the village and meet the local
woodworker in this shop. At different times of year you’ll find
grapes drying on the rafters or mushrooms piled up on racks. If
you’re lucky he may invite you to try his homemade wine.
The
friendly villagers find us fascinating. They wave to us from
park benches and come by the restaurant to see what we’re up to.
We go to visit the two sisters in the yarn shop to look through
the skeins of Italian wool and show them the latest pictures of
our granddaughter. The owners of the tobacco and shoe shops will
often serenade us at dinner on dueling accordions. The day ends
in a ride through the moonlit forests back to the coast knowing
we’ve tasted a day in an Italian village.
|
