On one of our trips to Roma we met our beloved former landlords Fabio and Nicolletta who have become so much more than just landlords.
Dinner is at Vino e Camino in Bracciano, a small hill town located outside Rome. There is a castle there and the restaurant is built abutting the castle exterior wall. One step.
This place plays great classic american jazz. The muzak is even great, Dave Brubek, Miles Davis and on weekends they have live bands.
The drive through the italian countryside in March was wonderful. Fields loaded with poppies. Along side the road wild calla and easter lillies with their heady scent. What’s that? It looks like large clumps of prickly pear cactus, flat, thick, waxy leaves shaped like Mickey Mouse ears with thorns. Actually these plants are members of the lily family from Saharan Africa. They are examples of convergent evolution where 2 entirely different species (usually from across the planet) evolve to similar shapes to be able to survive in similar conditions. With the exception of the giant Saguaro most american cactacia (sp?) have plants that look like twins in other deserts throughout the world. They are entirely different genetically and can not be crossbred.
A few lingering daffodils add their splash of yellow. The Roman legions took daffodils throughout europe with them as they conquered. The great English fields of daffodils praised by Wordsworth “I saw a field, a host of golden daffodil” trace their ancestry back to a great, great, grandpappy planted by a Roman warrior. There is nothing useful in a daffodil. You can’t use its sap to heal wounds, its flowers to dye cloth, it is totally inedible from bud to bulb. Daffodils have one function in life....Beauty. This small fact gives me great insight into the Italian character. From the earliest times, precious cargo space and poundage spent on transient beauty. No wonder they gave us Michaelangelo, et al. It’s in the genes!!
Nicolletta says there is a herd of wild horses in the neighborhood and there are regular stories in the media of car/horse collisions. I keep my eye peeled but don’t see any. Part of the dichotomy that is Italy. Busy, noisy, traffic congested Rome and 10 miles away a wild horse herd.
We arrive at the restaurant where Fabio and Nicolletta are greeted with kisses. They had their wedding feast here. We are introduced and immediately made to feel extremely welcome.
A long conversation in Italian ensues between Nicolletta, Fabio and the owner. Tom and I are discussing our choices and I had settled on the rabbit. The owner turns to me. She evidently knows about american tendencies to give certain animals human characteristics. She says “your friends are worried about you and would like to order something special to help build up your strength - it’s carne equina - horse meat”. I knew that italians attribute special properties to carne equina and there is some scientific evidence that the meat does have a higher percentage of iron than most domestic animals. I said - “weeelllll I can’t think of any Disney characters off the top of my head who were horses (unlike Bambi which has created a life long aversion to venison) so as long as it isn’t bloody sure, I’ll try it.” Tom looks at me and says “May I point out that you are ordering Thumper?” I was assured that it would not be bloody and that I could order my rabbit.
The carne equina arrived at the table. It looks like thick saffron. I take a forkful, raise it in a salute and go “hi ho Silver!! Awaaaayyyyy!!” It reminded me a great deal of dried beef, the kind GI’s refer to when they talk about “s**t on a shingle”, it was very salty and quite chewy.
We have a wonderful meal and as we are leaving my cell phone rings. It is our friend Oliver from England who we will be stopping by and visiting as we travel through on our way home. He enquires about our trip so far and I tell him that the rabbit died - to which Tom adds and so did Silver.
Slow Travel Talk 
