Germany: castles, wine and good music

Germany: castles, wine and good music
Part 1

by Silvia Matricardi

We love music and we love travelling and fortunately in our job sometimes we can enjoy both things at the same time. As it happened two weeks ago, when we left Umbria to take a group of young opera singers in Germany, for three concerts in three different small cities inside three castles, in the Palatinate region.
The reason why this charming region, located in the south western corner of Germany directly against the French border, is known as German California is immediately clear; a strip of land where nature is rich in surprises: the flowing of the Rhein river, the high protective hills covered by woods and the geographic position create a climate which is completely different from that of the rest of Germany, that is not continental but mediterranean. Perhaps this is the reason why while we explored these places we felt almost like being home: because the environment that welcomes us looks very much like sweet Umbrian hills, covered with rows of vines. In fact, this region has got an ancient wine culture: the Romans themselves introduced the vine growing when they founded most of the cities in the area.

To tell the truth, we are in the Weinstraße (Wine Street), renowned for the production of red wines, Rieslings and Pinots. Softly rolling hills are covered in a seemingly endless sea of grape vines, while villages, castles and fortresses perch on the adjacent mountains, telling of a millenary history and of a rich and lively cultural and oenogastronomic activity.
Our guests welcomed us very warmly and led us to three small cities in whose castles the young singers of Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto performed three concerts of famous opera arias accompanied by the piano.
The marriage of history, wine and music besides the setting, the hospitality of our German friends and the audience’s warmth led to three charming soirées and engraved our heart and eyes with vivid images.

Germania: castelli, vino e buona musica
Parte 1

di Silvia Matricardi

Ci piace la musica e ci piace viaggiare e per fortuna nel nostro lavoro qualche volta riusciamo a fare entrambe le cose insieme. Come è accaduto due settimane fa, quando siamo partiti per accompagnare un gruppo di giovani cantanti lirici in Germania, per tre concerti in tre diverse cittadine e in tre diversi castelli, nella regione del Palatinate.
Il motivo per cui questa ridente regione, posta nella parte sud occidentale della Germania vicino al confine con la Francia, è nota come la California tedesca è immediatamente chiaro; una striscia di terra dove la natura è ricca di sorprese: lo scorrere del fiume Reno, le alte e protettive colline coperte di boschi e la posizione geografica fanno sì che il clima qui sia completamente diverso da quello del resto della Germania, non continentale, quindi, ma mediterraneo. E’ per questo, forse, che nell’esplorare queste zone ci sentiamo quasi a casa: poiché l’ambiente che ci accoglie somiglia molto alle dolci colline umbre, coperte di filari di viti. Questa regione ha infatti un’antichissima cultura vinicola: furono proprio i Romani che nel fondare gran parte delle città della zona introdussero la coltivazione della vite. Siamo infatti sulla Weinstraße (Strada del Vino), rinomata per la produzione dei vini rossi, dei Riesling e dei Pinot. Distese di vigneti ricoprono le colline, dove si incontrano paesi pittoreschi, castelli e fortezze che raccontano di una storia millenaria e di una ricca e vivace attività culturale ed enogastronomica.
I nostri ospiti, che ci hanno accolti con molto calore, ci hanno invitati in tre cittadine nei cui castelli i giovani cantanti del Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto hanno tenuto tre concerti di celebri arie d’opera, accompagnati al pianoforte.
Il connubio di storia, vino e musica, nonché le location, l’ospitalità dei nostri amici tedeschi ed il calore del pubblico, hanno dato luogo a tre serate molto suggestive ed hanno lasciato impresse negli occhi e nel cuore immagini molto vivide.

Castelluccio dressing white

Castelluccio dressing white
by Silvia Matricardi

In Umbria, the very green heart of Italy, at the border with Marche, inside the Monti Sibillini National Park, you can find an hamlet perched on a hilltop that stands on a large plateau, the Pian Grande, facing Mount Vettore. The hamlet is at 1450 mt on the level of the sea and it is the highest village of all the Umbro-Marchigiano Appenine. You can reach it from Norcia through a beathtaking panoramic road that goes up for 28 km.
When you arrive on top you cannot see the village immediately; your eyes cannot help wandering all along the vast space, to grasp something that moves. You can see the road that runs through the plain and the frame of mountains that bounds it; then at the end, if you lift your eyes a little, towards the left side, you see it.
It is Castelluccio.
The visit to the village can be done in some minutes: a square with several buildings that used to be stables and haylofts welcomes the visitor; walls are covered with white writings in the local dialect (incomprehensible also for Umbrians like me), messages exchanged among groups of inhabitants who used to discuss over local issues.
Besides eating in a local locanda you can practice many outdoor activities here: paraglidding, mountain-bike, trakking with mules, bird-watching, orienteering and, in the winter, sky, snowshoeing.
What I love to do when come up here, usually late in the morning, is stop on top of the road coming from Norcia and stay for a while: listening to the wind and loosing my eyes and my mind into the bright color of the grass, which can be green, red, blu, yellow, depending on the season.
Then I descend, by car, and I slowly drive along the road the cuts the plain; I stop half the way, park along it and step on the grass. You need to walk at least 10 minutes to get in the middle of the meadow, watching the many varieties of short plants and flowers that make the lawn. Then you find out that if you look towards the road, despite cars and motorbikes going once in a while, you cannot hear their noise. It is gone, shattered and lost in the plain, before it could reach your ears. This is something that always gives me a strong emotion, it makes me giddy, while filling my heart , as if I were lost in a place where there is no sound but that of the wind, and as if my eyes could find a spot were they can stop for a while and hold a specific image.
After a quiet walk, with good company or alone, you can take your car and drive to the village. Here you can have a panino, stuffed with the typical cold meats and salami: ham, sausages, salami or the strong pecorino cheese and eat it while seating on the benches you find outside most of the houses. Or you can stop in one of the trattorias you find here, run by families living here all year long.

Last time we were in Castelluccio, on February 14th, it was completely different from the other times we had been there: the Pian Grande was completely covered with fresh snow. That’s how it looked like. It was as if we were watching it for the very first time!

The first sight of Pian Grande, from the top of the panoramic road coming up from Norcia.

The village of Castelluccio.

The road running through the plain.

Loneliness.....

Traces of wildlife.

The recipe of CRESCIONDA Spoletina

CRESCIONDA SPOLETINA

☺ by Silvia Matricardi


Crescionda is a typical cake Spoleto people make during the Carnival. Anyway, you can enjoy it in almost every restaurant in Spoleto all year long; sometimes with weird decorations.... Everybody makes his/her version of Crescionda: this is my family's, since ages....

Ingredients:

4 eggs (whole)
1/2 l of semi-skimmed milk
2 spoonful of Mistrà or Sambuca liqueur
7 spoonful of sugar
250 gr of Amaretti (macaroon) biscuits
2 spoonful of flour
2 spoonful of breadcrumbs
cocoa powder (3 or 4 spoonful, depending on personal taste)
a pinch of salt
the grated peeling of one lemon and of one orange
extra virgin olive oil


Crumble the Amaretti biscuits with a grater and put them in a bowl. Add the flour, the grated bread, the salt and the cocoa powder. Mix them well with a spoon.
In a bigger bowl put the whole eggs, add the sugar and beat them. The add the milk slowly and keep beating; add the liqueur; grate the orange and the lemon pealing and add them to the mixture of eggs and milk.
At this point you have to pour the contents of the first bowl (the powdery ingredients) into the big bowl; you have to do it very slowly, while keeping beating the liquids, so to avoid to form lumps.
Once the mixture is well amalgamated, take a baking tin and oil it with the extra virgin olive oil. Pour the mixture into the baking tin, warm up the stove and put the tin inside. Cook at middle temperature (about 200° C) for about 15-20 minutes. While cooking the elements in the mixture will form 2 different layers: one more milky, the other one less creamy, in a different colour; it is normal and it must be so.
When the Crescionda is done you will see it: first you will feel the smell, then you will notice that when you take it our of the stove if you touch the surface the cake will “move” (it must be “springy”) beneath, indicating that what is under the surface is still quite liquid. Do not cook it anymore: it will become more solid when it cools down and in any case our Crescionda must be eaten with a tea spoon.
Let it cool down and then move it on a plate.



You can eat it alone or with a ball of vanilla icecream... with a good sweet wine....

Enjoy!

Sunday morning in Norcia - Part 3

Sunday morning in Norcia - Part 3

by Silvia Matricardi

Three inhabitants told us the story of the marked of Norcia which used to be very lively and crowded; people would come here with horses and mules and they would use the stone containers under the arcades to measure the cereals and other products they wanted to sell and buy. As a matter of fact, the Valnerina has always been a crossroad for people going to and coming from Rome.

At that moment, anyway, the only elements that made us think of commercial activities in Norcia were the white stands set in the square that the following week would host the typical products and the black truffle for the show.


Then we decided it was time to move forward, towards the mountains, as our final destination that day was snowy Castelluccio.
But never set off before cunsulting Peppone, a local character who has been living here for ages (though he has got a sort of peculiar accent): he can tell you everything about Norcia, its traditions and history, and about the weather.

His weather forecast said: “There is a lot of snow up in Castelluccio and it’s going to snow more, even today. Anyway, nevermind: you have still got a few hours of sunshine before the storm arrives. So: go!”.

And we went.

Sunday morning in Norcia - Part 2

Sunday morning in Norcia - Part 2

by Silvia Matricardi

In the norcineria we met a local man whose features remind of oriental people living in other sorts of mountains and plains. He has run his own norcineria business for years and now simply enjoys welcoming people, chatting and telling stories of when he used to make his own cheese and salami and when he was selected to be part of the cast of “Giubbe rosse”, a famous movie.

He has got a daughter who is studying some sorts of modern advertising in New York, a subject that could not be found in Umbria. “She costs me one and a half lamb each month!” he said: but we could feel the pride in his voice..... It’s true: the walls and mountains that surround this town, neither in past centuries nor now can keep Norcia people from exploring the world....

And there it is, the precious tuber, the black gold, the aphrodisiac fruit, the VIP, the protagonist of next week activities: the Nero Norcia, the black truffle!
You can buy it raw, greated and conserved under extra virgin olive oil, or mixed with other ingredients to make delicious pasta and meat seasonings.

After this whirl of visual and olfactory stimulus we headed towards the main square, where a statue of St. Bendetto saluted us. Here and there knots of people chatted pleasantly and enjoyed the warm winter sun.

(end of Part 2)

Sunday morning in Norcia - Part 1

Sunday morning in Norcia
by Silvia Matricardi

Norcia is renowned for the local production of pork meats and for being the birthplace of San Bendetto.
Even us, Umbrians, who have been led to this small town many times by our parents since we were children, enjoy coming here once in a while, again and again. Maybe beacuse we like watching familiar places, feeling the same atmosphere, the same smell, which have been here for decades, without having changed much. And yet, every time we come back for another visit we discover something new and we make interesting encounters.

Last time we came here it was a Sunday morning of a snowy weekend of February. Norcia was getting ready for the “Nero Norcia 2010”, the International market show of the precious black truffle of Norcia and of typical products, which takes place every year between the end of February and the beginning of March. We felt a certain swarming, an healthy atmosphere of lively projects and plans for the future. We passed under the main door, Porta Romana, where the poster of Nero Norcia welcomed us. The stone door is made of 3 entrances and on top of it the bell tolls every hour.
You could see people walking slowly, browsing round the many shops that sell local products, mostly families with children and couples, probably visitors like us, but also several locals. The atmosphere was very relaxing: it’s the typical easy Sunday morning, when you wander around, maybe after having attended the Mass, before the big lunch or before leaving for another destination along the Valnerina.

We stopped in a norcineria, a place were you can taste and buy all sorts of cold meats and salami: salame, prosciutto, guanciale, ciauscolo, salsicce and kinds of meat coming from other parts of the pork, having weird names.

You can also find all sorts of cheeses, the famous Pecorino and also ricotta, caciotta, prepared in different ways.
All of these products are made here, of course, in the many family run salumifici and caseifici.

Some of them have names that you would associate with other kind of activities and pleasures....

(end of Part 1)

Cats around Europe: Greece, Germany and Italy

Cats around Europe: Greece, Germany and Italy
by Silvia Matricardi

We met this fascinating creature during a journey in Greece, in 2006. That's my hand trying to pet her/him. Have you ever seen anything more charming? He /she was finding shelter from the burning sun in the shade, on a terrace in Oia, the wonderful Greek city in Santorini island full of terraces, churches with light blu domes and breathtaking view of the "caldera"....You DO have to go to Santorini at least once in a lifetime!

Let's move a little North and arrive in Germany. We spotted this cat during a walk through the small town of Wachenheim, in the middle of Germany Weinstrasse, the Road of Wine. It's a great region, full of castles, ancient cities (founded by the Romans!!), great wineries, good food, lovely hotels (we can give you tips about where to stay, if you need) and very well kept and well decorated houses... Despite its being shy, this cat lingered behind the window, carefully watching at us for some minutes, until something else draw its attention and he/she moved away...

We see this cat every morning in Spoleto (Italy), when we wake up, open the window and call him. He miaows at us, comes running at our garden's gate and wants to be pet 5 or 4 times before he steps in. He keeps miaowing all along the short path and stairs that lead to the house. Then he rolls down on the ground and wants more caresses and rubbing...

His name is Topolino (but he doesn't know he as been named after a "little mouse"). He is just a loving and lovely creature, we are so thankful for having him...He is a typical, genuine Italian cat and, like all respectable Italians do, he loves eating...and licking his lips afterwards!

Getting ready for Germany

Hi! I am getting ready for the tour of concerts of Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto in Germany. We are going to have concerts in Wachenheim, Schwetzingen and Worms, from March 18th to March 23rd. Apart from the concerts we'll have one day off and we will visit Heidelberg and Speyer. I'll post nice pictures soon....

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you find interesting tips for out-of-the-beaten path travels....