Our first stop on Tuesday was a very old church in Abbadia a Isola. It was built when pilgrims went from Europe to Rome and then some of them went onto Jerusalem. We are familiar with the Camino Santiago because my cousins Eva and Anna walked it and because of an American movie called “The Way” which starred Martin Sheen. What we didn’t realize was there are other pilgrimage trails. There is one that runs from the North of France to Rome. The Camino Santiago trail connects to that trail. While the Camino Santiago is a a very popular pilgrimage, there are still pilgrims walking on the trail to Rome. The church is still active and there is a place for pilgrims to sleep. The picture on the right is of the altar area of the church.
A short history of pilgrimages. Note the reference to Charles the Great.
The altar piece and the cross in the front of the church.
After viewing the church we headed off on a walk to Monteriggiori on the old pilgrimage trail. It was a hot and humid day which added some difficulty to the hike. Here are some pictures from the trail.
Only 300 km (185 miles) to Rome.
A view from the trail. The first part was in valley with farm land.
The second part got hilly and was in the forest.
We came to fork in the trail and Luciano said we could choose a shorter trail that a very steep finish or a longer trail that was more gradual. We chose the steep version. Luciano did not lie. It was steep. Fortunately it was short, perhaps 200 meters. We stopped in the shade of the trees to catch our breath. Caroline stopped to rest a minute.
The end of the walk was at the Monteriggiori gate. Our first stop was for gelato and cold water.
The church in Monteriggiori
We got in our van and drove 30 minutes to a sheep farm. The 30 minutes of air conditioning cooled us off. The farm was a real working farm and not visited by tourists very often. Our host was Simona, the daughter of the couple that started the farm. She was in her early 20s and is an integral part of the operation of the farm.
After we arrived we were taken to a small enclosed area where we were served cheese, water, a table wine made by a neighboring farmer, salad, and bread. The cheeses were all homemade and ranged from 4 weeks to 2 years old. The tastes differed, but I (Chuck) liked them all. The wine was surprisingly good and was a perfect compliment to the cheese.
Simona joined us and we got to ask her questions. The farm has 560 sheep. They can milk 24 at a time and it takes about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening to milk the sheep. She told us she got up this morning at 5:15 AM and was soon at work milking.
After milking the sheep her next task is to make cheese. In the first picture she is standing by a large vat that is filled with sheep’s milk and then treated with heat. When it has cooled sufficiently they add rennet in order to make curds. Using what look like cylindrical colanders, she scoops up the curds. As it sits, the water seeps out. The molds are rotated and eventually the cheese is removed. Then it is stored in a refrigerated area and aged appropriately.
We were shown the aging cheeses. The oldest cheese is 4 years old. In the photo below you can see the cheese in storage. She sells the cheese directly at the farm, in markets, shops, and other places. It is not widely distributed. The income from the farm comes from the sheep’s milk, the cheese, and the male lambs at Christmas. We all bought some cheese from her. The next picture below is her cutting the cheese with stabilization help from Luciano.
The sheep have lambs once a year and they time the pregnancies so the male lambs can be sold for Christmas dinners. The pregnancy lasts 5 months and 1 week. After the first pregnancy, a sheep can give milk for 7 or more years.
She showed us where the sheep are milked. In the barn next door were 6 male sheep (shown below). They take care of about 25 ewes each night. She has marked them so she knows which male impregnated which sheep. It is not clear how she knows or keeps track of them. The sheep do have a micro chip in then, Maybe the microchips are used somehow.
It was a fascinating visit.
The cheese aging area.
Cutting the Cheese.
The male sheep.
Our final stop was for dinner at Dario Cecchini’s butcher shop for dinner.
Dario is a very famous butcher in Italy and worldwide. He cooks for dinners where about 100 people are served multiple courses of beef. Below he is chopping up massive t-bone steaks for our dinner later. AC/DC was playing loudly in the shop as he cut the meat.
The meat was ready to be put on the barbecue.
Chuck, Dario, and Caroline
On the table the when we arrived were vegetables, bread, seasoned olive oil, water, and wine from Chianti. The menu below show what each person received in any quantity they wanted. I tried the tartare, but I am not a big fan. We ate way more meat than usual. Desert was an olive oil cake, coffee (espresso), and grappa. Chianti butter is pork fat that can be used on the baked potato.
It was a unique and special experience.
