Autumn in the northern Lazio countryside is dream-season for back road-trips...so last Sunday we took a drive that evoked childhood memories of family drives in rural northern California. Our destination: the town of Tuscia, which was holding its annual Chestnut Festival. (The area produces more than 5% of the world's chestnuts).
We arrived mid-day and were baffled to find the town eerily quiet, save for a few vendors selling chestnut cookies, chestnut spread, and home made jams...so we wandering the Medieval core of Tuscia in search of the festivities. Instead, we found some architecture that could have inspired opera sets.
And a bit of evidence of local efforts to tidy things up for the festival...
Finally, we found the chestnut action: indoors in several restaurant "caves" where residents and visitors were partaking in a great feast featuring chestnuts! Moral: For Italian food festivals, it pays to arrive early (or make advance reservations). We had to satisfy ourselves with a jar of chestnut spread and some chocolate hazelnut cookies purchased at one of the half dozen stands erected for the event.
Our images of purchasing freshly roasted chestnuts at various outdoor stands were off target: there were plenty of raw chestnuts for sale, and even a few groups of burly men roasting wonderfully aromatic chestnuts, but these were all destined for the indoor feasters...and not for sale to aimlessly wandering visitors. Even without tasting the roasted chestnuts or partaking in the chestnut feast, Tuscia was impressive.
Autumn in the northern Lazio countryside is dream-season for back road-trips...so last Sunday we took a drive that evoked childhood memories of family drives in rural northern California. Our destination: the town of Tuscia, which was holding its annual Chestnut Festival. (The area produces more than 5% of the world's chestnuts).
We arrived mid-day and were baffled to find the town eerily quiet, save for a few vendors selling chestnut cookies, chestnut spread, and home made jams...so we wandering the Medieval core of Tuscia in search of the festivities. Instead, we found some architecture that could have inspired opera sets.
And a bit of evidence of local efforts to tidy things up for the festival...
Finally, we found the chestnut action: indoors in several restaurant "caves" where residents and visitors were partaking in a great feast featuring chestnuts! Moral: For Italian food festivals, it pays to arrive early (or make advance reservations). We had to satisfy ourselves with a jar of chestnut spread and some chocolate hazelnut cookies purchased at one of the half dozen stands erected for the event.
Our images of purchasing freshly roasted chestnuts at various outdoor stands were off target: there were plenty of raw chestnuts for sale, and even a few groups of burly men roasting wonderfully aromatic chestnuts, but these were all destined for the indoor feasters...and not for sale to aimlessly wandering visitors. Even without tasting the roasted chestnuts or partaking in the chestnut feast, Tuscia was impressive.
1 comment:
Wish I were there...are chestnuts considered good luck?
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