Mark the date in your calendars; Bellaugello opens on April 5
It’s been a funny winter. November and December were very mild. Later December and January it rained a lot, now in mid February it has turned cold and I understand the rain is blanketing the north of Europe. Certainly we have big grey skies here these days, but also intense orange sunrises and magnificent ruddy sunsets.
Hear and I got away for a break, enjoying long walks and, for me, time to make a start on some of the books I have been piling up ever promising to read. My winter is time to plan for the upcoming season and catch up with friends and keep thinking that I must diet but as ever not doing so. So many clothes just do not fit anymore. We have been several times to Il Panaro, the osteria at the end of the road. Elio has sourced so many great new small scale suppliers. The other evening I ate a delicious cured guanciale, the indulgent gand generous fat just melted the moment it hit my tongue. Delicious ravioli generously stuffed with burrata finished with lightly sauteéd Pachino tomatoes, whilst my dining companion tucked in to handmade tagliatelle doused with truffle butter and shavings of truffle, all rather delicious. The food is even better that it already was, and Calogero (Carlo) is as funny, hospitable and eccentric as ever.
But magnificent sunrises and sunsets do not make up for the absence of guests in the house. Even after all these years it is so very strange to be here at Bellaugello without you guys. I am so used to, and love the sound of laughter, of splashing in the pool, the merriment in the Jacuzzi, woodsmoke wafting lazily up from the chimney of the sauna and the buzz of conversation. I miss the house being busy, of sharing a bottle of wine at aperitivo time, time to chat whilst working in the garden, of picking vegetables to share with you, of being infront of the barbecue and sitting at dinners on the terrace under the stars surrounded by great guys. The season cannot come back soon enough.
