Cucinapalooza is upon us once again. Our second annual installment of last year’s week long cooking tour designed not to enable our budding chefs to leave here thinking that they can cook like an Umbrian but so they can return home knowing they can more think like an Umbrian cook.

Our group of five arrived in Rome on Saturday, being picked up by the villa’s semi-official driver Aldo Dionigi for the two plus hour drive to nearby Santa Maria degli Angeli. There we stopped for a typical Umbrian lunch of sliced meats and cheese, pasta and a salad, introducing our surprisingly non-jetlagged party to the joys of Montefalco wine. Then off for a two hour walking tour of Assisi before checking into the farmhouse and enjoying a welcome dinner prepared by Maria Pia.

The cooks’ agenda began in earnest on Sunday, or more precisely in Citta di Castello and Citerna, with a visit to the Tartufi Bianconi truffle laboratorio after a romp through the woods with Emma, our four legged truffle finder and Saverio, patron of Tartufi Bianconi and the area’s most respected expert on truffles. After being greeted by his wife Gabriella we moved into the Bianconi’s kitchen for a presentation on the different types of truffles and how to use, store and enjoy them. And based on the food noises emanating from our group, enjoy them we did. A visit to the Bianconi’s – to experience the thrill of truffle hunting and digging them from the ground, the pleasure of smelling and tasting them and to begin stripping away the mystery that surrounds these expensive funghi and replacing that mystery with appreciation, and the unalloyed joy of spending time with this delightful family – is always a highlight for our guests and Sunday’s visit was no different. What is terrific for Suzy and me is that despite the number of times we have accompanied our guests north to truffle central, it never gets old for us. Sunday’s visit was as much a voyage of discovery for us as the first time we met Gabriella and Saverio.

Pizza dinner back at the villa featured not just a dozen or so handmade pizzas prepared by Marco and Federico, but a visit by Daniele Sassi, the head of sales for Montefalco’s Tabarrini winery, producer of some of the best wines in Umbria. Daniele regaled our group of former flight attendants with tales of Umbria and Umbrian wine, engaging our group into the late hours of the evening and causing them to forget that they had just arrived and were suffering from jet lag. What a wonderful start to the trip!

But if our group was getting adjusted to the time and rhythms of their new home for the week, they were quickly thrown off pace on Monday by Chef Ernesto, owner of Cannara’s Per Bacco restaurant, who once again presented a marathon cooking – and eating – class for our group. Starting slightly late to accommodate the morning yoga session, we arrived in our local village a little after 10am to begin our education under Ernesto and his colleague Anna Rita. More than six hours later

and eighteen – count them, eighteen – dishes later, each of which we mixed, kneeded, rolled, shaped and topped with sauces and, of course, ate – we returned to our home and sanctuary in Umbria, grateful for the wide doorways, king beds and comfortable chairs and couches. There was a whole lot of sleeping and snoring going on upon our return to the farmhouse, into the early evening (where a few brave souls had a light dinner of torta al testo filled with local sausages, prosciutto, spinach and stracchino cheese) and overnight on this, the third evening of what is shaping up to another grand cooking and cultural experience here in Umbria, the green heart of Italy. Now please help me look for some antacid to quell my case of the green heartburn of Italy.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy