This is a delicious secondo, or meat course, that requires a bit more preparation than many of the recipes featured here, but is well worth the effort. Fagottino means “little bundle” and in this case the pork slices are combined with cheese, sage, and truffle paste into little bundles and then baked– delicious! We’ve given the original ingredients as used by Egizia and Franca, but listed appropriate substitutes that will yield similar results in terms of taste and texture. Fagottini di Maiale al Tartufo Ingredients

The 2012 season is looking great at La Romita.  Lots of folks are signing up for our dizzying array of art workshops led by an amazing group of teachers.  Shortly I will be making a series of presentations about La Romita and the art of Umbria in three states in addition to my home state of California. I will be in Austin with Sharon Zuegin at Katherine Brimberry’s Flatbed Press the weekend of the 17th of February, then in San Antonio, Kerrville and the Texas

This is a standby at La Romita, and one of Edmund’s favorite recipes. Like many dishes served at La Romita, it has just a few ingredients: the challenge of this deceptively simple dish comes in its preparation, which while not lengthy (I made it in about 35 minutes) involves attention to detail. Cima di Rapa – literally, turnip tops – translates to turnip greens: at  La Romita either turnip greens or broccoli rabe are used interchangeably for this recipe, depending on what’s in season. I

Fennel bulb is a seasonal vegetable most readily available in Italy during the cooler months– late Fall, Winter, and Spring. There are certain flavors that are far more appreciated in Italy than in the United States, and one of these is the “licorice” family of flavors. Anise is used to flavor liquors and sweets throughout Italy and Umbria is no exception: you can find the slightly sweet, rock-hard doughnut-shaped cookies called “ciambelle all’anice” in any grocery store in Terni, for example, and of course there

Last week in Austin, Texas when the Hunter’s Moon lit up my backyard, I was reminded of the previous full moon, twenty-eight days before, seen from the courtyard of La Romita, an artists’ retreat and school located near Terni, Italy in the heart of Umbria.  It was a glorious, Italian “Harvest Moon” and it kept me awake with its brightness lighting the olive grove around the quiet studio that night. It was a beautiful place to be and to make art.  For two weeks, La

Artist, art instructor, and landscape architect Lisa Guthrie has been involved with La Romita since 1989!  The Marin County, California resident recently spoke with La Romita’s Amina Quargnali-Diehl about watercolor, her artistic influences, her history with La Romita, current projects, and advice for artists just starting out. Amina: When did you first realize you were an artist? Lisa: I grew up around artists, and grew up around art… it was always expected. My childhood scrawls were always encouraged. My father had a classical arts background

This weekend, Dave and I and the kids went to the lovely Blue Ridge mountain town of Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is about 350 miles northeast of Montgomery, Alabama, where we currently live: it’s not a bad drive, mostly I-85 northwest through Alabama, then Georgia, and once in South Carolina a jog north and uphill for approximately 60 miles. Now the reason why we went to Asheville was for me to get a “mountains” fix and also get a little of the granola culture we

This delicious, flavorful roast takes advantage of a favorite method of Italian cooking: slow, oven-top braising. This technique is used frequently by the La Romita cooks, and you can freely substitute other meats – beef, lamb, or even turkey, though the resulting roast will not be “arista” (see below). Arista di Maiale You will need a dutch-oven-type pot or wide-bottomed stock-pot for the stove-top: something that the roast can comfortably fit into for cooking. Cooking time: Approximately 2.5 hours. Ingredients: A 2.5 to 3.5 pork