Chapter 1: Nonna's Farm
What an experience it was watching Luca and Andrea's Nonna (Grandma) cooking handmade pasta and homemade ragu over a wood fired stove! Her kitchen was enchantingly rustic, and I loved it. This wasn't just a kitchen, it was a food laboratory, where Nonna has been developing flavors and her cooking skills for decades! Almost like stepping into a museum.
She served us this beautiful pasta dish for lunch, and then gave us the bits of meat that she simmered into the sauce which included beef short ribs and an entire rabbit! Incredibly delicious.
And the divine second course was the best chicken I have ever had in my life. It came directly from Nonna's farm on the property, so the freshness was unmatched. Simple flavors maximized to their greatest potential. Signature poultry flavor with a hint of herbs, crispy skin, and moist, tender meat. According to Luca, Nonna has shared this recipe with her relatives, but no one can replicate it. I think she has a secret, and no one may ever know...
The scenes around the farmhouse were intoxicatingly beautiful. Cows, pigs, dogs, chickens, olive trees, fresh vegetables like fennel and broccoli, beautiful peppers both fresh and being dried, grapevines past their season with multicolored leaves, and robust olive trees. Not to mention the cellar where Nonna and Grandpa make their own homemade wine. I got to take a look inside their aging and storage barrels. What a beautiful process to learn about.
Here is a stream just down the road from Nonna's farmhouse. This might just look like a regular stream, but it's actually drinking water! The cleanest drinking water in the world, as a matter of fact, according to Andrea. I was fascinated by this. I tasted water out of the nearby tap and it was refreshing as could be.
Chapter 2: Cairano and other Southern Campania towns
Atop a towering hill in Campania sits Cairano. A beautiful, nearly remote town where all you can hear is the whistling wind. We didn't see many people in Cairano, but the people we did see were incredibly kind and inviting, aside from one man who thought Luca had parked his car too close to his white BMW. We stopped and chatted with a man who had a shop and made his own alcohol, and tried his product. He told us the guy with the white BMW is often on cocaine. Ah, makes sense. Although the shopkeeper only spoke Italian, and I couldn't understand a word, Andrea and Luca called him "a philosopher." I could tell that he was very kind, because kindness translates in every language. We walked through narrow streets on the edges of cliffs that were covered in welcoming arrangements of flowers. We hiked up to the top of the town where we encountered a high-altitude theater, the town church, an organ built into the mountain top, and a friendly dog named Scott.
On the way back from Cairano, we visited the old town of Conza. Old Conza was destroyed in the 1980s by an earthquake, and was re-erected close by, where Luca now lives. It was eery and sad observing the town, which is now closed off. It showed me how quickly high-quality life can be taken away from people, and the fact that no one is ever truly safe.
To show the stark contrast, here are some pictures of the new town of Conza. I joked with Andrea that "it gives me a soviet vibe," because of the 80s-style architecture, neighborhoods of houses that look the same, the uniform gold and light brown colors of the city center, and the statue in the square in the middle of the city. Lenin, is that you? All jokes aside, Conza is a lovely town with friendly people and great food.
We also took a walk around the small, but lively town of San Andrea, the birthplace of Luca and Andrea's mothers. We were able to go to a bar there, and grab a drink. The bar actually had other people inside!
The next town we went to was Calitri. Another hilltop town much bigger than Cairano. There were actually cars driving around and people filling the streets. We stopped at a cafe where I had the best capuccino of my life, no joke. And then we went strolling through the back streets. Everyone acknowledges each other in Campania, which is a significant change of pace from America. All around Calitri, I was greeted with "Buongiorno" by whomever passed by. Apparently, some houses here are on sale for as little as 1500 euros. Sounds like a good deal. Maybe I'll be back to capitalize on that.
Chapter 3: Real Pizza
At Nova Compsa, Giuseppe is doing it right. Giuseppe is the owner of Nova Compsa, and a good friend of Luca and Andrea. Best pizza I've ever had in my life, no question. I haven't eaten pizza since because it would just be disappointing. My favorite was the white tuna pizza with olives, artichokes, and basil. I made sure to pick up high quality Campania-style tuna, olives, and artichokes before I left Campania, in case I ever want to try my hand at making that pizza at home. It won't compare, but at least I will have tried. I made a pasta with those same ingredients since I've been home and that was very good, I'll give myself that. All of the magic happens inside of Giuseppe's massive wood-fired oven. Most of the pizzas cook in under a minute, and you can feel the heat from 15 feet away.
Do yourself a favor and visit Nova Compsa in Conza if you're ever in Campania. And follow them @novacompsa on Instagram.
Chapter 4: Discovering the Podolica Cow, its succulent meat, and mouth-watering cheese
Luca and Andrea are well-connected when it comes to food, especially in Campania. So, on Saturday, we visited a meat and cheese producer who showed us his factory, his process, and his cows. The Podolica cow is native to Campania, and that is mainly what he raises.
We grilled the Podolica steaks over coals for dinner that night. You hear a lot of hype about the Bisteca Fiorentina, or Florentine Steak. However, I doubt it could get better than these steaks. Plus, they were cheap, at 8 euros per kilo. Not pound, kilo.
I have to give my final shoutout to Luca's mothers cooking. She does such an amazing job of maximizing the flavor of simple ingredients. Like in this greens dish, made with wild vegetables, sausage, and Italian style corn bread cooked in pork fat. The greens were so incredibly tender and utterly delicious. Pure satisfaction for lunch.
