With such a wealth of black nuggets at hand, it is not surprising that the gourmets of Umbria have indulged themselves in a spaghetti sauce containing a substantial quantity of pounded truffles. This dish is a fast favorite, especially in the Christmas season.
Spagbetti alla Spoletina
In a mortar pound 4 or 5 ounces of peeled black truffles with a little parsley, a filet of anchovy, and a clove of garlic. In a shallow saucepan heat 1/5 cup olive oil and stir in ½ cup tomato paste and a little hot water to make a sauce consistency. Add salt to taste and the paste of truffles and heat but do not boil. Use this sauce on 1 pound of cooked spaghetti. Serves 4.
Umbrians also have a sweet tooth, to judge by the carloads of chocolate which emerge from the Perugina faculty in Perugia, and by the templing cakes which brighten up its pastry shops. One of these is a lozenge-shaped concentration of goodness called pinoccata, and it is practically compulsory at Christmas and New Year's festivities. It is made with pine nuts, lemon peel (sometimes a touch of candied orange peel), and sugar. Some are left a golden color, others are colored with chocolate. In either case the result is seraphic. The shops also glisten with mounds of a sweet bun called il torcolo, a fine, fattening delicacy embedded with raisins, candied fruits, pine nuts and anise seeds.
In the Marches, one dish dominates all others, the divine brodetto marchigiano. It has two distinct versions, but both are based on the same piscatorial finery, consisting of sole, red mullet, cuttlefish, baby octopus (calamaretti), palambo (a lean critter who looks like a baby shark), and squid (which, unlike fountain pens, are of no practical use until their ink reservoirs are removed). Garlic, parsley, onion and oil complete the cast of characters. In one version the fish are sprinkled lightly with flour, and the sauce is allowed to thicken, with saffron added. In the other recipe, the sauce is thin, vinegar replaces the saffron and garlic is more in evidence. Either type turns out to be a symphony if you go in for this son of thing, and you really should, just once.
The wines of Umbria are few, but one of them is a bright star indeed. This is Orvieto, one of the best known of Italian wines, and one of the finest travelers. Its squat, Straw-woven fiasco is known in far corners of the epicurean world. Its color is pale, straw yellow, its bouquet seductive, its power (12 degrees) well concealed. There is a sweet and a dry Orvieto, for different tastes and dishes. The dry one, which has just the suspicion of a flinty aftertaste, is reminiscent of a Chablis, and a worthy companion to the superlative sea food from the nearby Adriatic. The sweet Orvieto is more than adequate as a dessert wine. The fame of Orvieto's wine goes back for centuries. Pinturicchio, the famous Umbrian painter, loved it so much that he wanted a rider put into his contract for painting murals in the town cathedral, allowing him all the wine he wanted while working. Actually the wine comes from slopes far afield from the ancient citadel. Visitors may be, puzzled, as we were, at seeing so few vineyards when approaching the town. The surrounding countryside borrows the Orvieto name and preserves its standards, but the heart of the wine business is in the citadel itself. There are plenty of opportunities for the inquiring oenophile to indulge in a private wine tasting also. The house of Bigi and several others are most hospitable in this respect.
Three other wines of Umbria are secondary but worth looking for: Vino Santo d'Umbria. Sacrantino, a friendly, powerful wine grown near Montifalco, and Greco di Todi, a mild and aromatic white.
Umbria and its coastal neighbor are well equipped to take care of the traveler in the larger towns and shore resorts. The smaller hill towns call for the hardier type of hotel dweller. May we offer thumbnail sketches of some of the highlights?
PERUGIA
The capital of Umbria is a queen among lull towns, a gay, populous, intellectual citadel built high on an Apennine ridge. Originally an Etruscan stronghold, its timestained Arch of Augustus antedates by centuries the Roman emperor for whom it was named. Studded with Gothic palaces, fountains. Renaissance doorways, and very individual churches (our drypoint shows the tall, octagonal church of Sant'Ercolano), it is a joy to the traveler and a long-established stopping place for him. In this civilized city the scooter, motorcycle, baby Fiat, even the bicycle, must bow to the pedestrian during the promenade hour. Late every afternoon the main thoroughfare is roped off to all but strollers and most of Perugia takes a walk: town dignitaries, college professors, giggling signorine arm in arm, young marrieds with their perambulators and a profusion of gesticulating college students. You see many beautiful, oval faces, just as Perugino used to paint them, but there are many un-Italian types among these chattering pedestrians too. For Perugia is the site of the Italian University for Foreigners, and many a lad or lass from Caen, Copenhagen, Canterbury or Kansas City has learned the lilt of the Italian language here. Hut they study more complex subjects too, among them Etruscology.
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