Lazy Pasqua

It’s Easter – Pasqua – in Italia, probaby the most important holiday of the year. We had a lazy morning, a nice sleep-in, and eventually we rolled out of the apartment for some brunch.

Meals in Italia are more of a ritual than a time of day here. Our brunch today, and to a lesser extent our meal last night, were examples of how things are done here. First off, there is no mood. Thinking about romantic Italian restaurants with soft lighting, violins chattering in the background and hushed voices of lovers as they feed each other… think again.

Harsh, bright lighting (courtesy of compact fluorescents), TVs blaring bad variety shows in the background, and lots of animated conversation. And yes hands a wavin’. We’ll let you know if we find something that strays from this mold.

Meals are served in courses. The first course is, of course, the antipasti – the apppetizers. These can be anything ranging from stuffed olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, or mushrooms, to thinly sliced meats (proscuitto – Mmmmm!), cheeses, fried mashedpotato balls, mozzarella balls, shrimp – they sky’s the limit here, and it’s often enough as a meal all by themselves. They’re intended to stimulate the taste buds, though, not fill you up.

Next comes the Primi, the real first course. Traditionally, this is either a pasta dish, or a rice like risotto. Often, as today, both. Today we had both a truffle tagliarini (a thinish, flat pasta, sort of like fettucini) and an asparagus risotto.

The main course is the Secondo, and it is usually a meat based dish. Sometimes vegetables come with it on the side, but often not, or you have to order them separately. Ours was a meat samples, with pork chops, a piece of lamb, short beef ribs, and a short Italian sausage.

Really weird to eat a dish of nothing but meat. Ours was grilled to perfection though, absolutely wonderfully done up on a griglia.

Brunch was so big and so filling, we end up not eating (other than nibblies) for the rest of the day.

By the time we recovered from that ordeal, it was already late afternoon, and we were ready for nice stroll in the old town centre of Perugia.

There’s lots of history in Perugia. The town was known for its fierce and bloody warriors and battles, and inhabitants built and almost-town underground into which to flee when besieged. It’s now used as a corridor between the lower and upper towns, complete with escalators.

Even on a late Sunday afternoon, with all shops closed and shuttered, it’s amazing to see how many people are out and about, strolling along with families. It’s a pleasant day, not cold, but not really that warm. And yet the steps of the Doumo are wall to wall people, and the streets are filled.

And there are lots of interesting people about.