Last weekend, I went on the school trip down to Gragnano, Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi in Southern Italy. We started early, taking a train to Naples (home of the best pizza ever), and took a bus to Gragnano.
Once in Gragnano, we took a tour of a pasta factory called Pastai Gragnanesi. I never realized how much work goes into making my fall-back dinner food. We learned that there used to be over 150 pasta factories on the main street in Gragnano, but now there are about 15. We saw where the pasta was mixed, dried, and packaged all within the same building. This particular factory produces over 50 types of pasta, and we got a sample of a few of their most popular pasta. Because it was a Saturday, we were unable to see everything being made, but it was very cool to see where it all begins.
Pasta in the drying rooms, just hangin'. (haha)
A picture of how pasta used to be dried, without the technology we have today.
Next, we took a bus to Slow Foods farm, which is an environmentally friendly, family-run farm that produces fresh foods in small quantities. When we first arrived, we were starving, and immediately dug into the Focciacia bread that was covered in garlic and other seasonings that was fresh out of the outdoor wood-burning stove. Little did we know that we would be about to eat over 20 different Italian dishes for our 3 hour lunch... Our 3 hour lunch included the following food (try not to be too jealous):
o Mozzarella Cheese
o Ricotta Cheese
o Ricotta Cheese
o Artichoke and Potatoes
o Artichoke Salad
o Artichoke Quiche
o Mushroom at Prosciutto Quiche
o Mixed green and Radicchio salad
o Carrot and Fennel Salad
o Foccacia Bread
o Marinera and Pecorino Pizza
o Mozzarella and Basil Pizza
o Artichoke and Prosciutto Pizza
o Pancetta
o Fava Beans
o Artichokes with Garlic
o Olive Cheese
o Strawberries
o Traditional Sorrento Lemon Cake
o Vanilla Gelato
o Home-made Limoncello
o Vino Frizzante Rosso
Welcomed with Foccacia bread! (outdoor awesome stove in the background)
Our tables in the backyard of the family's house.
Artichokes smothered in garlic, grilling on the charcoals.
Yummmmmmmy.
Our feast.
Fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.
My first plate.
Pizza #1: Margherita
Pizza #2: Artichoke and mozzarella
Pizza #3: Tomato and Parmesan
Artichoke pieces.
Vino Rosso Frizzante
Dessert!
Home-made Limoncello.
GONE.
After our feast, we sat out in the green grass under the sun... in food comas for a little bit before hopping on the bus again to depart for a Limoncello factory. It was like we were at a cooking show, as we were shown the steps to make delicious Limoncello. We learned the secret to making the best Limoncello is all in the lemons. Bad lemons makes bad Limoncello. The ingredients include lemon peels, pure alcohol, sugar, and water. You peel the lemons, and add them to the alcohol for ten days. After the ten days, you mix the sugar and water, and add that to the alcohol (after taking out the lemon peels), and there you have fresh Limoncello! We were given a taste of it also, which was
strong but absolutely delicious!
Sitting in the sun with this as our view.
Lemon peels in the alcohol.
Pouring the sugar-water mixture into the lemon-y alcohol.
We then got on the bus to Sorrento, and I was amazed by the beautiful mountains and views from anywhere I looked. We dropped our things off in our room with a view in the hotel, and headed out to catch the fantastic sunset. After the colors faded, and the night began, we walked around central Sorrento, shopped, laughed, talked, and got delicious gelato. Me and two of my friends Krista and Courtney also got a bottle of wine, and sat out on the balcony of our room and
talked and laughed until we were dead tired!
The amazing sunset in Sorrento.
Central Sorrento by night.
Strawberry yogurt gelato, and Limoncello gelato is absolutely yummy.
We then got a bus tour ocean-side through the cliffs of Positano, and smaller towns on the Amalfi Coast. It was pretty foggy the whole ride, but it made it look beautiful and mysterious. We stopped a couple places on the road not to look at the view to the water, but to the rock walls next to the road, where mini towns were created up the walls, as a mirror to the towns below. Positano is the extremely expensive town where George Clooney owns a house. There is only one road to get into the city, and one to get out of it. Parking there is expensive, so cars lined the road above and while their owners waited for the bus to come take them below. We were also told that it costs 50 euro to rent a space on the beach, not including any food or drink you want to purchase, or even if you want to use the restroom (crazy!).
Me with Positano, Italy.
The coast.
Krista, Courtney and I with Positano!
We finally made it to Amalfi, looked through the paper-making factory and the famous Amalfi Cathedral in the biggest piazza in Amalfi, both being absolutely amazing. Krista, Courtney and I found lunch at a little restaurant that was hidden away, and ate delicious pizza. While we were eating our pizza, we were complaining that it will be hard to go back home and it not to be the norm to eat an entire pizza in one sitting! The 2 American ladies sitting next to us barely finished half their pizzas, and we devoured our whole thing without a thought!
Paper made with real flowers on display and for sale at the paper factory.
Amalfi Cathedral.
After lunch, the sun decided to make an appearance! So we hit the beach with our gelato, and our cameras! We sat on the rocks by the beach and talked about how we have the most amazing life in Italy, and how truly spoiled we are! We were extremely sad to leave once it got to be that time, but were so happy to be back in Rome, the absolute best city in all of Italy, and Europe!
Coast of Amalfi, Italy.
Looks like Jurassic Park, we kept expecting to see pterodactyls flying down from the top of the mountains.
Courtney, me, and Krista with the coast of Amalfi.
Il dolce di far niente.”(the sweetness of doing nothing) really describes our experiences here!
xoxo Erica
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