Cartoceto

Leaving our last Italian hotel, we went  38km to Cartoceto, to visit Gastronomia Beltrami. This is a family establishment making extra virgin olive oil and cheese by traditional methods. The 118 year old granite olive grinder is impressive, as is the press.

The family matures pecorino cheese in cloth bags filled with dried herbs in holes in the caves beneath the house.  The holes are then cemented over and the cheese is left to mature and develop for 100 days.  The holes had also been hiding places during bitter defensive action by the occupying Germans near the end of World War II.

We had a beautiful lunch,  tasting the two ages of pecorino, and then lasagne hand-made by Nona.

 This was characteristic of our hosts throughout the tour, genuinely pleased to offer hospitality and loving to explain their way of life.

I cannot imagine that any of the arrangements with families could be effect otherwise than by personal attendance in advance; and before that the research to discover what may be experienced. Marc Millon brings very admirable passion and expert explanation and overview. He has made a complete list of every wine we tasted, the majority being grape varieties grown only in Le Marche, or even a sub-region.

We ate too often and too much, but hey, this is hospitable Italy.

Our bus took us 183km to Bologna airport to meet our evening plane to Heathrow. BA gave us no hassles (though we had steeled ourselves to make a fuss if necessary). Since we were flying steerage it was long trudge through passport control at Heathrow, with signs all along the way saying Australians should pre-register with UK border office to get fast track, no landing card required, through passport control. Why don’t travel agents advise this?

This last post for this trip is written from Sofitel Heathrow 5, a really good and convenient stopover. Several of our group also stayed overnight.