After another amazing breakfast, we headed to the Abbey of Monte Cassino. The Abbey is spectacular, sitting atop a hill overlooking the town of Cassino. It was the original home of St. Benedict, who established the Benedictine order around 529 A.D. It was ransacked and rebuilt four times. During WWII, it was bombed and re-built after the war. The beautiful statue of St. Benedict is original. the craftsmanship and detail inside is a monument to the abilities of the times. At this time, only nine priests live in the abbey.
Not far away was the winery of La Ferriera in the town of Atina. The vineyards extend in many directions and provide the grapes for wines that. Were superb. We tasted two white wines, Semiato, which is a mix of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, Dorato, made from Chardonnay grapes, and two red wines. First was Ferrato, made with Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet grapes, and the other Realmagona, a combination of Cabernet and Syrah. The original vines were brought from France and have been cultivated in this area for a long time. All of the wines were smooth, absolutely delicious and priced between 8,50 and 22,00 Euros. Of course, there were snacks to pair with each wine. Several folks in our group purchased wines that will be sent to them in the US. Lucky them…
Now, time for lunch. Just down the road we ate the Old Cantina Visocci, now restored into a sophisticated restaurant called Mantic. We started with a bruschetta with truffle pate, followed by gnocchi with either a tomato sauce or a truffle sauce, arancini, and finally a tart with pistachios and chocolate. More wine, too. Not bad!
Time for our next cooking class. Today, we are making the secondo, which is usually a protein, but not necessarily. We cut the potatoes, onions, and sausage for the rustic casserole, which was covered in olive oil and baked to perfection by the staff for dinner.
We took a ball of our semolina dough from yesterday and rolled part of it between our palms to make a long, skinny rope that we wound onto a wooden skewer. This would be the basis of our primi for tonight’s dinner with an incredible sauce. We also used part of the dough to cut into rounds and put into small cups, topped with grilled eggplant round slices, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese to make individual eggplant parmesan dishes. We had the eggplant parmesan as an antipasto, then the pasta dish, then the casserole covered with a generous helping of a delicious tomato sauce.
The table was set in the former olive pressing room for a unique experience in dining. At the end, we had what they called a “peach” dessert, but with no peaches. The chef baked these amazing cookies. We made the custard that went in between each cookie and rolled them in sugar. This was how they were served, along with a limoncello liqueur, if you wanted. Another memorable dinner
Tomorrow is our last full day at Casa Gregorio. We will have our pizza party and some musical entertainment to savor at the end of this excellent week.