Often – well, pretty much always -we take for granted the little stuff, the daily stuff, the routine stuff. And this is certainly true when talking about our first activity of the day here in Italy – breakfast.

Breakfast at our villa is really one of the great – but simple – pleasures in life. There really is no better way to start your day, to set off on a trajectory that if not guaranteeing a good day, at least vastly improves the chances of one. For a smile or a bit of pleasantness first thing in the morning carries a good deal more weight than one in the afternoon, after life has had a chance to interfere with and undermine the optimism of the early hours.

So when you shuffle down the outside staircase from an upstairs bedroom or throw open the doors of your ground floor room, the bright Umbrian morning sun washing over you and welcoming you to a day of new possibilities, the sights and smells of morning breakfast beckon you into the dining room and draw all of your senses through the doorway to the kitchen. There, past the warm wooden furnishings and soft yellow walls of the dining room an equally cozy kitchen awaits, its stainless counters softened by a rustic pasta making table, the wooden side table and a clutter of brightly decorated hand painted coffee mugs. The rich aroma of coffee brewing in the American coffee pot, one of several different types of coffee delivery systems arrayed on the far counter, fills the air, as does the smell of the various breakfast treats set out by our morning matriarch, Maria Pia.

Maria Pia, known and beloved to all who have shared time with us at the villa, is about as authentic an Italian experience as we have in our villa, which is chock full of Italian-ness. Impossibly magnetic, the ruler of the villa’s kitchen speaks not a word of English, yet nearly every morning when we emerge for breakfast she is engaged in animated conversation with one of our non-Italian speaking guests, both parties gesturing, exclaiming, smiling. Maria Pia is simply impossible not to engage.

And every morning she brings from her home or prepares in our kitchen a layout, a spread of enormous breadth – from cheeses to sliced meats to toasts and breads slathered with jams and other sweetnesses to savories and cakes and confections. A station laid out with fresh locally made yogurts and cereals and fruits awaits the dairy lover, as do eggs in any number of manifestations – scambled, in a frittata or simply hard boiled with a generous topping of fresh olive oil or perhaps some truffle to take your mind off the cholesterol.

I am usually the last to make my breakfast rounds, generally dedicating the early morning pre-group activity time to catch up on work in my room. On most days when I burst through the dining room door there is a handful of guests lingering at the table, a warm cappuccino or caffe lungo in front of each and a scattering of brightly painted empty breakfast plates strewn about. I say my buon giornos and pass through into the kitchen, refilling my coffee cup (filled earlier each morning thanks to Suzy’s coffee delivery service) and scanning the remains of the day’s offerings. Some days it is a bowl of Ferretti’s homemade yogurt with some fresh fruit and granola. Other days it is a few slices of salami and cheese. And on the really good days it is Maria Pia’s frittata or a huge ball of fresh mozzarella picked up from our favorite Campania dairy along the road from Rome to Cannara, cut in half and drizzled with olive oil and a few pinches of salt. Suzy, on the other hand, dreams the previous night of waking up to a sandwich of tuna and artichoke.

No matter what has been placed out for us to enjoy in the morning, breakfast at la Fattoria del Gelso is always a pleasure. It’s buon giorno and buon appetito all in one.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy