Aeidin, a friend and ex-colleague from Hong Kong came to visit Sarnano and Florence for a summer mini-break. Her presence gave me a great excuse to abandon my thesis-writing for a few days of travelling about.
We saw some of the highlights of a Marchegiana summer together - fire-eaters and a capoeira spectacular in Sarnano, a fabulous meal at the Ristorante Duilia in Sant'Angelo in Pontana, with its incredible views, and great food.
The trip back to Florence included a stop at Visso, beautiful and coloured like candy, up in the mountains, where I bought some ciabuscolo, a spreadable Marche salami, that's only available locally, in a Slow Food recommended store. and the enormous Piano Grande, with the lentil growing village of Castellucio perched on its edge. The sun shines on the plane, 10kms across, and at 1400 metres above sea level, whilst the mountain known to locals as "the cloud factory" towers above.
Aeidin has been in Florence before so did the alternative tour - which mainly consisted of prosecco and ham in Nanut of Florence, steak and wine in the trattoria nearby and a lot of wandering around the streets, just exploring.
Aedin has a theory that most of the time I have been in Italy, and in most of the pictures, I have been drinking wine and eating ham. I think the time that she spent here only served to reemphasise that impression.
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