Perugia (so far)...

Day 1 (Sunday Evening)
Upon arriving in Perugia, we checked into the hotel and met Addie from the Umbra Institute, who gave us the "nooks and crannies" tour of Perugia.  We then proceeded to dinner, at a legendary local restaurant called "Dal Mi' Cocco." We had some excellent bruschetta, pasta, grilled meat, and a berry coconut cake.  It was mostly typical Umbrian food...and very good.  Afterwards, we returned to our hotel and got some rest.

Day 2 (Monday)
First, we visited the Ferretti Caseficio - a local cheese factory - where we saw the production of a variety of traditional (and not so traditional) cheeses, and did a lot of tasting!  We were accompanied by Cat and Marco from Umbra, who helped us navigate the travel and documented the visit.  We then had free time for lunch, and afterwards did some market visits with Elisa Ascione, the food studies coordinator and faculty member at Umbra.  We checked out two CoOp supermarkets, and visited a small independent shop called "Ciao Ciao."  After this we had a short debriefing session, and then had a pizza workshop at a local pizzeria called Pizza e Musica, where the students were able to learn from a real Pizzaiolo.

Day 3 (Tuesday)
We left the hotel early and went to a local outdoor market, where Elisa helped us to chat with some of the vendors and to better understand some of the products and market behaviors that we observed.  We also got a chance to meet Elisa's mother, who talked with us about her favorite stands and foods at the market.  We  tasted cherries, Umbrian Porchetta, and Sardinian Pecorino (sheep) cheese.  Yum! We debriefed back at the Umbra Institute, and then had lunch on our own.  Later, we were accompanied by Laura and Cat from Umbra on a visit to the Lungarotti Winery.  We had a bit of an adventure catching the bus, but thanks to Laura we finally made it (after enduring some loud Italian teenagers in a very hot bus). We saw how they produce the wine, and returned to Perugia for dinner on our own.

Day 4 (Wednesday)
Today we left the hotel around 11:15 and headed to the Carsulae archaeological site, where there are ancient ruins of an important Roman city on the Flaminian Road.  After getting a tour of the site, we headed to a beautiful small Umbrian hill town called San Gemini, where we saw the historic city center, and then had a cooking class with Lorena Autuori, a local chef and cooking instructor.  We learned to make gnocchi (a potato pasta) with Umbrian pesto, fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella cheese (and anchovies, but only in a few), and strawberry tiramisu.  You may be familiar with pesto Genovese, which is primarily basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmigiano-reggiano cheese.  Umbrian pesto additionally includes marjoram, thyme, dried oregano, and walnuts, as well as pecorino cheese.  It was wonderful, and Lorena taught us a few key tips such as draining the mozzarella before stuffing the zucchini flowers, using an ice cube in the blender when chopping the herbs (to keep them from burning), among other things.  The students loved the food, and learned a lot!  We headed back to Perugia, and back to the hotel.

We're hoping to update about our last day in Perugia during our travels home, and to upload the final set of pictures.  Thursday will be full with a farmers market visit, storytelling session, olive oil workshop, and final night pizza dinner.

Ciao!