Pizza, french fries and the solitary singer in Passignano

The Italian food is definitely one of my favorites. As a friend of mine always puts it: the kitchen is semplice, semplice, semplice :) but very tasteful. In Umbria, there are lots of specialities, especially if you like meat. They have all kinds of sausages, seem to have a weakness for wild board and prepare all kinds of pasta, of course. But also as a vegetarian you will be happy: the veggies and fruits are typically very tasty and often they have wicked looks. Non-EU-standardized tomato shapes with funny noses, hooks or other friendly “malformations” are very common.

One interesting thing happened when the locals ordered Pizza. As if the pizza will not satisfy their need for energy, they almost always ordered a plate of fries along as well. This all took place in the restaurant Il Porto. At first sight, it does not seem like a place where you will find food happiness. However – everything I had was really tasty, and the prices are fair. Inside there’s a semi-open kitchen where you can see how the pizza is made, for example.

During the week of “Palio delle barche” a lot of events were taking place. Among others, some bands and singers were performing on the main street, Via Europa. While enjoying some really excellent food at the Osteria Il Maremanno (I had an excellent Ciauscolo sandwich) a solitary singer gave it away on the sidewalk. Now…I’m not a person of superlatives all that often, but she was really the worst public singer I ever had to listen to. It was just amazing how she managed to destroy virtually every song she chose (she had a weakness for Elvis, by the way). The poor child received almost no applause and I felt a bit sorry for her mixed with “holy moly…didn’t anyone tell you that you can’t sing to save your life?!?”. Oh well. Out of discretion no photo will be posted here ;) actually I don’t even have one.

For all lovers of hoopology – a magnificent basketball court is located close to the main parking areas of the village. I really love the little mascot logo in the centre of the court. I took it up with some local boys – we played some games up to 21 and some other funny games. Good stuff!