So Far, Yet So Close

Today we went to the Minardi Winery in Frascati. It is a boutique operation and their program gets universal praise from people who have already spent the day here. Out of convenience, Roberta drives us directly to the vineyard. Granted, she lives more on the outskirts of the city, but it only takes 15 minutes to drive to the rolling countryside where several wineries are located. Once we arrive in the hills you can overlook the city of Rome from a vantage point that most visitors could not enjoy.

you'd never know it, we are just fifteen minutes from downtown rome

rome just beyond the rolling vineyards 

We have signed up for the pizza making class and it is not long before we are getting our hands-on, crash-course in pizza dough mixing and rolling. It takes about a half hour to make the dough and we get a look at making focaccia in the pizza oven. A little olive oil, rosemary, and a sprinkle of salt is all it takes. A glass of wine rounds out the perfect snack. 

making pizza dough

While our dough rests, we meet up with the pasta making class for our guided walk with the owner. We walk through the vineyard and olive grove below getting an incredible amount of detail of the mechanics of farming this land. The thing is that the old farmer wants to tell us everything there is to know about farming, but he is not giving the translator an opportunity to do his thing. While the translator has probably done this tour a hundred times and knows the spiel without the farmer, he is doing his best to condense his part to move the tour along. 

Back at the farmhouse we reunite with pizza dough and each get to make a personal pizza. This was the only disappointment of the day for me. Not making the pizza, but when the completed product was pulled from the oven, they were promptly cut into six equal pieces (one for each of us in the class). Essentially, I got one sixth of the pizza I made with the toppings I like, but I also got five more sixths with toppings that other people wanted for themselves. Their contention is that we each get to taste different kinds of pizza. My contention is that I don’t want other people's pizza, I want mine. 

our pizza, oven fresh

We wind down the lunch and catch a ride back to the center of town where Roberta picks us up and takes us to the town of Campagnano where we spend the afternoon visiting with El’s extended family who grew up in and still live in this small town. They are universally welcoming and friendly towards me and Google Translate is getting a workout since El is the only English speaker in the area. There are other English speakers in the family, they just aren’t here now. Nonetheless, the moment is all about El visiting with family we haven’t seen since 2019. I couldn’t have asked for a better day.