Orvieto con Gusto: Slow Food

"Orvieto con Gusto" ("Orvieto with taste"), a gastronomic event dedicated to traditional food, wine and people interested in celebrating the "good life" organized by the City of Orvieto in collaboration with the Association Slow Food. This specacular event will take place during nine days in the month of October 2005, to celebrate the wine and gastronomic tradition of "Made in Italy".

Live the Slow Life

Living the slow life with food as the focus is as rewarding as it is easy, and it can be done daily by each one of us. Living the slow life can also be done with others, because part of the pleasure of slow food and the Slow Food movement is in sharing, which is why the convivia are so compelling. What could be more fun than sharing a passion for good food and wine with other people who feel the same way?

The founding father of the Slow Food Movement, Carlo Petrini, recognized in 1986 that the industrialization of food was standardizing taste and leading to the annihilation of thousands of food varieties and flavors. Concerned that the world was quickly reaching a point of no return, he wanted to reach out to consumers and demonstrate to them that they have choices over fast food and supermarket homogenization. He rallied his friends and began to speak out at every available opportunity and soon the movement was born and Slow Food was created. Today the organization is active in 50 countries and has a worldwide membership of over 80,000.

This year's theme is "the flavors of tradition" during which, you will be able to enjoy cultural events within museums and historic monuments as well as the tasting of traditional Umbrian culinary specialties.

Culinary Specialties of Umbria

The most important products of Umbria are meats, cheeses, legumes and truffles. Most of Umbria's cooking and commerce is influenced by the production of truffles. There are also excellent salamis, hams and particular sausages prepared in special cellars.

Umbrian cooking comes from generations of farmers, many who loved to make handmade pasta. One of the most famous, "tagliatelle" is made with eggs and flour, and the other, "umbricelli" is made with water and flour resembling a kind of a think, long spaghetti.

Soups are also very popular and include "pasta e fagioli" made with pasta and beans, flavored with pork as well as the famous "scafata" soup made with lentils from Norcia.

Another very special Umbrian food is the "torta al testo": a hand made bread prepared with water, flour, salt, pepper and olive oil, cooked on a special marble stone in a wood burning oven. "Torta al Testo" is stuffed with ham, sausage or simply with herbs prepared in olive oil.

A typical Umbrian meat dish is"Faraona alla ghiotta" (roasted guinea-fowl). Other roasted meats include chicken, pigeon, rabbit, lamb, wild boar and pork with herbs.

The fish from Trasimeno Lake is also famous: roasted queen carp, fillet of perch and roasted trout with wild fennel.

Traditional cakes are famous as well and prepared for special periods such as Christmas and Easter day. The special cake of Perugia is "pinoccate," made of sugar and pine-nuts as well as the "torciglione," a cake with almonds. There is also a cake for the patron saint of Perugia ( St Costanzo) "torcolo," which resembles a large ring studded with pine-nuts, raisins and dried fruit. During the Carnival period, a fried cake difficult to prepare "strufoli," is made. For St. Joseph's day one can eat rice and cinnamon pancakes. During the Fall period there are special cakes with almonds called "fave dei morti" and the "rocciata" of Assisi, a cake with raisins, nuts, almonds… With these cakes you can also drink an aromatic and sweet wine: the "Vinsanto" a traditional, delicious home-made wine!

Wines of Umbria

The Umbrian landscape and climate make the cultivation of vineyards easier than in other parts of Italy. Clay ground and rich spring-waters have been the base of high quality wines since the time of antiquity. A wide range of wines are produced in Umbria including several special DOC and DOCG wines.

Orvieto - Since Etruscan times, this wine has been produced and preserved in tufa caves. Today it is an excellent dry sweet white wine.
Torgiano - This recent production area is specialised in rosé, red wines and spumante.
Montefalco - This wine was produced during Roman Times under the name of "Itriola". Later it was replaced by "Sagrantino" a world famous wine. A dry red and a "Passito" (raisin wine) is also produced here.
Assisi - Also this area (Perugia, Assisi, Spello) is good for producing red, white and rosé wines. Famous are "Grechetto" and the "Novello".
Trasimeno - This is a special area of Umbria. Lake Trasimeno, with its climate and hills exposed to the sun, facilitates the production of red and white wines.
Colli Perugini - This area was exploited by the Etruscans and the Romans. The zone continued on the right side of the Tevere, south of Perugia.

Artisan Crafts of Umbria

Umbrian craftsmanship dates back several centuries and is still alive today thanks to the passion of local artisans. The most famous kinds of craftsmanship are ceramics, pottery and maiolica. Artisans still today use ancient shapes and medieval ceramic styles.

Another type of craft famous on Lake Trasimeno and the town of Panicale, is the hand-production of lace-works and needle-works together with a special kind of cloth called tulle.

In the area of Perugia and Città di Castello the art of linen weaving is still alive and dates back many centuries. These handmade linen cloths are usually blue and with several decorations such as the Griffin, the symbol of Perugia, and other figures deriving from the Renaissance.

You will also find many artisan craftsmen specializing in iron work and wood carving.

Olive Oil of Umbria

Olive oil production, as wine production, has been an important economic resource since Etruscan Times in Umbria. The Umbrian region with its hills, grounds, and climate allow the olive trees to grow and produce superior quality olives with low acidity. The rich and at the same time light taste are the guarantee of a level of quality very elevated and certified by the denominations D.O.P. D.O.C. D.O.C.G. that the largest majority of the producers of the region has earned. In the last ten years, biological cultivation techniques have spread over the fertile land of producers caring for the saving of the environment and for the quality of products such as the Umbrian ones.

The extra virgin olive oil from Umbria suits the simple, genuine and delicious Umbrian gastronomy.
The olive oil from Assisi, Spoleto, Colli Martani, Colli Amerini, Colli del Trasimeno and Colli Orvietani carries the special "Umbria" label. Additionally travelers may visit the fascinating museum of olive civilisation in the city of Trevi, showcasing ancient tools used in olive oil production.

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