CITTA DELLA PIEVE ( Umbria) Saffron, Perugino and Lunch with White Truffles

CITTA DELLA PIEVE

 Flanked on each side by olive trees, heavy with fruit, is the town of Citta Della Pieve, 

about a 20 minute drive from Panicale.

SAFFRON FESTIVAL

ZAFFERIAMO,  October 19-21

This is the weekend of the annual Saffron festival, so James and I along with Betty

took a drive over to  medieval Citta Della Pieve to take a look, do a little shopping, look at some art and have lunch. The sky was clear blue and the sun was warm.
Sounds like the makings of a pretty good day.

As the vendors were setting up for the Saffron Festival we had a chance to buy some of this unique

local product, as I am quite fond of saffron risotto.

The saffron from this region comes from the stamens of fall flowering purple crocuses.

It is a labor of love to remove the tiny stamens from the flower and it takes hundreds of them to

fill a small jar, as you might imagine.

PERUGINO

It is not possible for us to be in  Citta Della Pieve without a visit to see 

the the paintings by Perugino in the Duomo.
  On our first visit here, many years ago,

it was with great disappointment that after making the trip here James and I were not 

allowed entry because the floors had just been washed.

Behind the alter is this Perugino painting. It is hanging  quite high

above my head  as to be seen above the main alter. Although I had a difficult time

Getting a picture, I love the angels above the flags.

If you are in this church, take note of the walls and columns, they are

faux painted marble....not real marble as you would think...making them that much more interesting.

Faux marble on the Duomo wall.

A plaque dedicated to Pietro Vannucci, aka. Perugino, who was born 

 in Citta Della Pieve in 1450,
 and died  of the plague in 1523, in the small Umbrian town, Fontignano.
A true Umbrian.

ON TO LUNCH......
WHITE TRUFFLES, SAFFRON ....and more 

 Our destination for lunch was Trattoria Bruno Coppetta. 

White Truffles are now  being found on restaurant menus, as the season has started!!

James opted for the pasta with White Truffles. Betty ordered pasta with a white Chianina

Beef ragu, and I chose Risotto with Saffron and Porcini Mushrooms, we are

here for the Saffron Festa after all!

The truffle dish James ordered was worthy of a performance....
and we got one!

The waiter was sure to toss the pasta just enough.

Then the special part, shaving the White Truffle on 

to the hot tagliatelle.

Everything was delicious!

After lunch, a walk back to the car, a look down a couple of
Citta Della Pieve's side streets.

Città Della Pieve is a lovely Umbrian city that can boast of it's art,

it's buildings and history, wonderful food, lovely small shops of all sorts, and nice people.

Umbria, The Green Heart of Italy

This site is dedicated to Umbria, a place that has a long history.

It is a place of beauty, of lovely people and great art. The wine, food and olive oil here are precious and  a deep part of Umbria's land and culture. This is an agricultural land.  From Panicale one can see Lake Trasimeno, one of Italy's larger lakes. Lake Trasimeno is partially ringed by flat geometric shaped parcels of farmland that run to its shore.

For those unfamiliar with Umbria, it is called the Green Heart of Italy for it lies near the centre of Italy and is landlocked, although it does not take too long to get to either the Mediterranean the Adriatic Sea.

We are in the last bit of the waning Harvest Moon. The grapes have been cut from the vines and will be made into wine. The Olives will be picked later in October then pressed into the best olive oil in the world.

James and I had been looking for a small farm stand to buy local tomatoes and possibly some farm fresh eggs. We had seen a sign down in Macchie, just down the road from here, that read,

Cocomero, pomodori , melone and fagiolini , in other words...

....watermelon, tomatoes, melons and beans. This was looking hopeful!

The signora at the farm was very friendly. We asked about fresh eggs, and Yes!, there were six available. We bought Roma tomatoes for sauce, red peppers, and some garlic.

We left without buying one of these grand pumpkins, but we are going to have a wonderful fresh tomato sauce cooking on the stove!

James and I took a short ride past silvery olive trees and freshly plowed fields before driving back  up the hill to Panicale. This is our first visit to Panicale in October and the landscape is certainly different, but no less beautiful than in the Spring.

Happy to be here.

,