Went to the hometown of Frascati white wine
This is the view from the villa we happen to have come across while walking around the little town of Frascati
I'm finding that some of the best experiences are the ones that are not planned...
My friend Martina (who also goes to Pace) and I decided to go on a day trip outside of Rome. She had heard about the town of Frascati as being an interesting town to visit. It was! Frascati is small but has many villas, shops, and restaurants. By the time we arrived it was about 3pm and all the shops were closed down for the midday break time. It gave an almost eerie feeling to walk around this little town and it was silent, the shops were closed, and there were only a few people walking around in the streets. We took this time to explore the streets and try to search for Villa Aldorandini which Martina had researched about the day before. Since the town is built on a hill this was not an easy task, if we went down the wrong street we would have to walk back up so we decided to just walk up as far as we could and work our way down. We did eventually come across Villa Aldorandini by chance but the gardens and fountains she had read about were closed for the season. The view of the villa was a nice sight though.
Frascati is a very touristy town so there are only a few signs for villas. We did come across a few signs directing to historical sights, so we decided to follow them... before we knew it we were hiking up this secluded path in the woods to chiesa dei capuccini a church and "villa monastery". We gathered this information about the church from reading a sign on the door to the museum (which was closed). We did "sneak" a look at the church because the doors were open and no one was around. We actually didn't come in contact with another person the whole time since we walked away from the center of town. I did see a monk walk by a door as we were leaving though.. It was slightly eerie but very peaceful.
Across from the monastery we saw a little road and a sign for Villa Tuscolana. It was either venture back down to the town or keep going up the hill. We went up. And up. Finally we reached Villa Tuscolana which is a restaurant/hotel. I figured since we walked all the way up here and it is a restaurant... that we should not be shy and just take a look inside. I'm so glad we did! The hallways had many sitting rooms all decorated lavishly. The decor gave me the feeling like I was walking around the villa during it's prime. Each window we pasted had a view that was breathtaking. You could see all the nearby villages and medieval buildings in the distance. After reading about it online it was sold to Napoleon Bonaparte's brother from Pope Pius VII- so it must be an awesome villa. Although the villa seemed very empty upon entering... of course we were greeted within seconds... We had it planned out though that we would ask to look at the menu when we encountered staff. The plan worked though because we were able to pass all the hallways on the way to the restaurant.
The amazing view from the gardens of the villa
Just enjoying the moment...
Finally we decided it was time to venture back down the hill and the little cobblestone streets into the village. By this time the town was coming back to life and we set on our next mission. Martina had heard that while in Frascati we must try Porchetta, it was not an option. If you aren't familiar with Porchetta it is boneless pig roasted over wood. It is usually heavily salted and stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel and other herbs. Prochetta is a very traditional Italian food which this area is know for. If you know me... I have a fear of meat. Especially when it is still basically in it's past form (such as a whole pig roast). So this was very hard for me, but Italy is really helping me get over this fear, and I really enjoyed it!
Martina caught me in mid- devouring motion... but I dedicate this picture to Alyssa my meat loving carnivore sister<3
After finding a delicious gelato place we just sat in a little park and enjoyed the chilly afternoon and watched all the people of this town hangout in this little park. After our gelato was gone, we decided to embark on our most important mission of the day. Frascati white wine! We picked out this nice little enotecha/wine bar (enotecha is the Italian word used to describe a local wine shop). We ordered some of the recommended local Frascati white wine along with some bruschetta. The place was all dark wood furniture with dark bookshelves on every wall in the room filled with wines from all over Italy. While we were sitting at our table admiring the bottles we noticed we were sitting next to a 200 euro bottle from 1975!
This is another church we came across- Cathedral of San Pietro Apostolo.
After a few more hours in Frascati, looking at a couple more shops, and a stop for dessert of course we headed back to Roma.
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