Assisi Diary - Day 25 - Dining Out

While at Saint Anthony’s, I’ll be eating out often.  Last evening I dined at an old favorite, Pizzeria Otello, a rustic but warm restaurant that seems to receive much business from local families.  I had skewered, roasted vegetables on a bed of lettuce, along with a baked potato drenched in olive oil.  I say “drenched” as the olive oil is so excellent, and applied so liberally, that it complements the entire meal.  Fresh baked bread came with the meal.  Italians tend not to add butter or condiments to their bread, which instead can draw added taste from the entrée, in this case absorbing the olive oil and other flavors.  Quite good, too, was a glass of the red house wine.

Tonight, after mass at Santa Margherita, I’m hoping to stop by I Monaci (The Monks), a somewhat hidden restaurant down a wide stepped alley, then down a narrow staircase, that opens into a large dining area and a kitchen with a wood fired pizza oven.  The pizza there, of course, is quite delicious.  This is the place where, when dining with friends, I enjoyed a vegetarian pizza that included unpitted olives. 

Although the weather hasn’t fully committed to springtime, more visitors are evident.  I was talking with a fellow from Texas today who, with his wife, has been coming to Assisi for thirty years.  One might wonder what could draw people for so long from so far away, unless one has already experienced being here. 

Ciao.