Everyday Yogini

Late Sunday night, we arrived home from the little town of Ascea, in the Campania region of Italy. Erick had made mention of the Amalfi coast, and I erroneously thought that was where we were going. As Erick said, “We’re going deep…” Ascea is south of the Amalfi coast, south of Salerno, even. If you look at a map of this region of Italy, you see nothing but mountains for miles- and mountainous country it is! The agriturismo we stayed at is within the borders of an enormous national park that encompasses a huge parcel of land in that region.

It was stunningly beautiful, quiet, and serene.

Our host-family has lived on that property for god-knows-how-long. They have olive trees that were planted by the Greeks over 2,500 years ago. Do I have to tell you they are gigantic trees? Absolutely enormous. The property is studded with these giant olive trees (how many people and animals have been fed over the years by these trees????), fig trees, citrus, and wild mint grows everywhere- all you can smell as you walk through the grass is warm mint. All of this, on a cliff overlooking the marina of Ascea- a beautiful beach and a working community with a slow pace of life and some of the most delicious food I’ve had since arriving in Italy. Seriously.

For those of you unfamiliar with agriturismo, they are working farms that have opened up rooms to visitors. They often serve food that is grown on their property and cooked in their kitchen. The one we stayed in was fairly large- they had, I think 10 rooms- and served both breakfast and dinner every day. The rooms aren’t luxurious, but with a three year old? It’s perfect. Dragging dirt and grass inside? No problem. The floor is tile! And plus, I don’t travel to sit in a nice room with air conditioning to watch Oprah. I’m there to visit the place.

We spent a good deal of time on the beach, which, being from the coastal region of the Northwest, I have sorely missed the ocean! We also drove up into the mountains and saw some of the really stunning countryside that is Campania. However, for me (as usual), the food was the star attraction. We arrived later than anticipated, but our guests stayed up to greet us and make us a delicious dinner: fresh baked bread with olive oil and balsamico, pasta with asparagus and garlic, steak and salad, served along side oven fries, and zucchini with garlic and mint.

Let me stop here to tell you, I am still not eating dairy or gluten. I was really worried about the visit, as Erick refused to tell them before hand that I am not eating gluten. I explained when we arrived and they were so gracious. They prepared special dishes for me that were gluten and dairy free. Honestly, it made me want to cry. It was so wonderful. The son even went on a search for gluten-free pasta (on a holiday) because he felt bad that I was having rice every night instead of pasta!

In any case, every place we ate was delicious. One little local place down in the marina was, no kidding, the best grilled veggie plate I’ve had here. I don’t know what they did, but it was like a little slice of grilled heaven. Erick says that the pizza was some of the best he’s had here, too.

Clara was in her element. The family that runs the agriturismo (it is a Mother and two sons, one married, one single and their cousins and extended family live on the adjacent land) have two children, so there were toys and a swingset (buried in mint) and goats to feed (seriously, how fun is that?). It was a throwback to Colorado- Clara could go outside without us and run around and explore. No fear of being run over or abducted… she was free to explore, with other kids. The adults would wander out to check on the kids once in a while, and there were times Clara ended up playing with the grandma while we ate.

All in all, it was a really beautiful vacation and I am looking forward to visiting again…

On Monday was the first meeting of a holistic Mom’s club. After dropping Clara off at school, I headed off for my friend Linda’s house for the meeting. I was surprised to find myself excited to be back in Rome, back home. Six months have passed, and, as many promised, everything is feeling a lot less weird and more like my life. For now, I am home. And grateful as all get-out that this is the life I get to lead.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 3:37 am and is filed under Everyday Life: Italy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.