Elsa Bruno, a Via Umbria employee, recently spent two weeks in Umbria at La Fattoria del Gelso. Here are some of her thoughts from the time spent in Italy. 

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Meals in Umbria were always a treat. As anyone who has visited Italy can tell you, eating is a central activity. But some of the most memorable meals were not made in a restaurant, but  prepared from the Farmhouse’s very backyard.

Unlike a hotel, or traditional rental, La Fattoria del Gelso has a working kitchen garden for use by the guests.

Building a meal around what you have physically growing next to you feels so refreshing. The task of thinking of a dinner is not exhausting when you have a finite amount of fresh materials. After a long day of activity, the question “what will we have for dinner?” is met by a glance out the back door. What do we have?

Many times that question was met with the answer of tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, and tons of figs. Enter leafy salads topped with local olive oil, fried eggplant tucked into pasta, tomatoes drizzled with oil and tossed with mozzarella, and figs paired with sharp local pecorino cheese. No matter how many times we had a combination of those dishes, we kept coming back for more.

A glass of local wine (from a vineyard visited that afternoon) was always poured as we assembled the ingredients from the garden and set to work on our dinner preparation. Soon we were walking out to the pool with our hand painted ceramics and wine glasses, to eat a simple yet delectable meal as the sun set.

Being able to cook and eat like a local is a fun part of any vacation. But claiming to have a huge garden entirely at your disposal while vacationing? Now that’s La Fattoria del Gelso. 

The dates for 2016 are now open. I would suggest you book a trip of your own, if not just to see what’s in season in the garden.

— Elsa at Via Umbria