Mick F. wrote: >Dear All, >My wife and I are doing the typical english thing and >visiting Tuscany and Umbria this August. We're staying at >various locations, including Florence and Todi. >As it's our first visit to the region, can anyone recommend >especially good sites to visit and restaurants to eat at? >Regards, >Mick Sienna is a must see, one of my favourite places in Tuscany. On one of my visits there I had a good meal at the Osteria de Loggia which at that time (1991) was located just in the center part of town. I also had a wonderful lunch at Badia Coltibuno several years ago. I believe they also offer a cooking school. Enjoy, Catherine
Italy
Tuscany & Umbria
>Mick F. wrote: > >>My wife and I are doing the typical english thing and >>visiting Tuscany and Umbria this August. We're staying at >>various locations, including Florence and Todi. Hi Mick, When in Umbria, Assisi is a MUST SEE! The birthplace of St. Francis, it is one of the most serene places I have ever been. The best restaurant in town (IMHO) is the Buca di San Francesco, just west of the town center. Their specialty is "fileto al rubesco" (steak marinated in Rubesco wine), and the lasagna funghi is delightful. Dinner for two, with wine and cappucini, was about 30 pound-sterling (tip included). If you can make a day-trip to San Gimignano, which was once the "Manhattan" of Toscana, it's well worthwhile. Though only four or five of the towers remain (where there were once over 70), it is still a charming village. It's also near the heart of the Gallo Nero (Black Rooster) Chianti Classico winemaking region.... vr/ shane Shane D. Deichman +1-619-553-2767 [DSN: 553-; Fax: -6288] NRaD/4122 San Diego, CA 92152-7341 USA | [email removed] ..-.-
Orvieto is worth a visit to see the front of the Duomo and a wander round the hilltop town. You can also visit the caves inside the volcanic plug beneath the town - enquire at the tourist info. office near the Duomo. There is a market on Thursday and Saturdays where you can buy your parmesan, anchovies etc. to take home. Volpe & L'Uva in Via della Pace is an excellent simple tratattoria/restaurant on the opposite side of town to the Duomo behind Pizza del Popolo (where the market is) - only a 5 min walk from the Duomo. A full meal for two will only be around £30. If you are in the region try Umbracelli with tortofino (the spelling isn't right I'm afraid), basically hand made pasta made without eggs and topped with generous shavings of local black summer truffles. It might sound luxurious but the dish will only cost around £4 to £5. Graham
For sure, if you will be in Assisi (and i strong recommend you to go there), you should try the resturant "La Stalla", on the way up to the Subasio.
Someone wrote: : As it's our first visit to the region, can anyone recommend : especially good sites to visit and restaurants to eat at? For eating, I can suggest you the "Porcini Mushrooms Festival" that will take place in August 14,15,16 in the village of Moggiona inside the national park of Casentinesi Forests, Arezzo district in Tuscany, rather half a way from Florence and Todi. Look at Moggiona in http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~sbianchi/moggio.html Ciao Simone
Mick F. wrote: > Dear All, > > My wife and I are doing the typical english thing and > visiting Tuscany and Umbria this August. We're staying at > various locations, including Florence and Todi. > > As it's our first visit to the region, can anyone recommend > especially good sites to visit and restaurants to eat at? If you will have a car, and if you are inclined to travel anout the countryside of Chianti, I'd recommend a visit to La Bottega del Œ30, a small, charming restaurant in the village of Villa a Sesta, about 5 km north of Castelnuovo Berardenga. The food is excellent, the service is cheerful and efficient, and the wine list is quite good as well. Not at all touristy. Bill Rohwer
The Badia e Coltibuono (an abbey dating back to the 11th or 12th century) is a winery and they also produce olive oil. It's located near Gaiole, which is near Siena. The other posting said they served lunch and, if so, I would say go. They run a cooking school out of the winery and the students stay in the old monks' quarters (or at least they used to). When I visited 10 years ago, the wineries in the area would take turns hosting things like harpsichord concerts. It was wonderful. Justine from UC Davis
BearNormal wrote: > The Badia e Coltibuono (an abbey dating back to the 11th or 12th century) > is a winery and they also produce olive oil. It's located near Gaiole, > which is near Siena. The other posting said they served lunch and, if so, > I would say go. I surely wish I could agree, but my experience there last year leads me to advise __ skip it. The setting is lovely and worth a visit for itself, but the service I experienced was astonishingly uninformed about what was in the dishes and untrained about when to do what. (This kind of ignorance would be charming if the tariff were adjusted accordingly, but it wasn't.) The food was fgood, but not at all remarkable in an area where the cooking is often very remarkable. Bill
Hi folks,
A few weeks ago I asked for recommendations about where to eat and stay in Tuscany and Umbria. Here's a summary of the replies (number of responses in parentheses, negatives say "don't go there"). Enjoy:
Where to stay
Orvieto
Villa Cippoli (Ceboni?)
San Filipo
Where to visit
Arezzo (2)
Assisi (6)
Carrara
Chiusi
Citta della Pieve
Cortona
Florence (5)
Grosetto
Gubbio
Leghorn
Lucca
Massa
Orvieto (2)
Cathedral
Panicale
Passignano
Perugia (3)
Pisa (2)
Pistoia
Pitigliano
Polvese
San Gimagnano (3)
Sienna (4)
Abbazia Monte Oliveto Magiore
Spoleto (2)
Terni (-1)
Volterra
Where to eat
Assisi
Buca si San Francesco (2)
La Stalla
Florence
La Biritullera
Il Tranvai
Perugia
Dal Mi' Cocco
La Lanterna
Sienna
Osteria de Loggia
Badia Coltibuno
Todi
Ristoranti Etrusca
From [email removed] Wed Aug 9 13:08 EDT 1995
To: [email removed]
Subject: re: Italy.eats
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Hello!
Just returned from a trip to Firenze and the Dolomites. Didn't get to any of the restaurants that you so kindly forwarded to me in "Italy.eats" but you can add one to your list for Firenze:
Ristorante Brigatini
Piazza G.B.Giorgini, 12/r
Firenze
Telephone 055.475255
Nice neighborhood restaurant just off Via Vittorio Emmanuel II in the district north of the station. Pleasant, family-run place. Sidewalk seating as well as inside seating. First courses run 7000 - 12000 L. Second courses run 9000 - 15000 L. Desserts (flan, gelati, tiramisu) run 3000 - 6000L. Good D.O.C Chianti at about 10000 per 75 cL bottle. No tourists here at all - very much a local ristorante. By the same token, no English spoken but that doesn't pose a problem. No credit cards accepted. This place also does a huge take-out business on pizzas and roasted meat platters. Their pizzas (done in a wood oven) are superb. As a first course try their Lasagna al forno - best I've ever had! For second course have their veal chops done over the wood fire. They are also supposed to have a fantastic rendition of the florentine roasted pork with garlic and sage but every time we went there they had already run out of that dish! Highly recommend this restaurant.
PS: Sorry I don't have more "tips" for you! We mostly ate at the Brigatini or at my son's apartment. We did run across a very nice pizza/ristorante on Piazza della Liberta but I can't yet find the information I jotted down re its address, menu, etc. If and when I find it, I'll send it along.
Tom SneiderNNTP-Posting-User: am In-Reply-To: Xref: usenet.ins.cwru.edu rec.food.restaurants:18575 rec.travel.europe:33674 soc.culture.italian:70744 On 16 Aug 1995, Lazchance wrote: > Our big meal in our two days spent in Assisi was at Medioevo. The night > we were there it wasn't crowded, the service was personalized and the food > was terrific. > We went to Medio Evo also, this past June. It was outstanding. The service was friendly and knowledgable (especially about regional wines) and the food was really delicious. I had lamb stew with artichokes--among many, many other things--which I still dream about. Make sure you save room for dessert and a grappa: they exceeded our expectations. Amy
Hallo! I live in Perugia (Umbria) and if you need some suggestions about local restaurants, food and wines, I'll be happy to help you. Have nice days (and meal!) in Italy! ____________________________ Federico Paoletti, MD Dept. of Angiology, Internal Medicine Perugia Hospital - ITALY ____________________________