THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES — BIG CHANGES FOR FRIENDS CAFE

Hello Friends! The cold rains of autumn are upon us as our regular busy season winds down. This has been a tough year for Italy, what with our ongoing political and economic crises, and a year of great challenge for us here at Friends Café. 

The weather, which so often determines the amount of spontaneous visits we receive from other parts of Europe, was particularly bad this year. But we have survived, thanks to your support. 

So, as our 2013 season comes to a close, we have some big news. After a good run of 10 years, our lease at our current location above the Porta Romana in Casperia has not been renewed. Though we are sad to leave this place which is imbued with so many amazing memories, we must take this news in stride and plan for our future. 

There is an  saying in English, something along the lines of, "When God closes a door, He opens a window".  In Italian we have something similar, and perhaps better: "Quando si chiude una porta, si apre un portone" which translates into "When a door is closed, a larger door is opened." 


So today we close the door of our kitchen at Friends Café on Piazza Umberto I. We will continue to operate the bar for a short while, but very soon we will vacate our former premises and will be working hard to open a bigger and better Friends Café to serve you. This new Friends will be located just a few steps more inside Casperia's centro storico on the Piazza del Municipio.

An old post card showing the Piazza del Municipio prior to our town's name change to Casperia

The New Friends Café will be located just a few doors down from the entrance to the Commune's Municipal Offices. This was the location of my mother's former restaurant which was called "Ristorante A Casa di Anna".

The new Friends Café will have three floors. When you come to see us next year, we will be operating not only our usual Wine-Bar/Ristorante with our tried and true regular menu featuring bruschette with Sabina D.O.P. olive oil, Stringozzi O.M.G., and our signature Negronis, we will also have a pizza oven and make delicious pizzas that you can enjoy here in the restaurant, or have delivered to your door if you live or are staying within the centro storico. 

Last, but not least, for those who want to relax with a glass of Pecorino, Falanghina, or a G&T or a Negroni beside a fireplace, our third floor will be a comfortable lounge. 

So there you have it. Over the course of the winter we will be posting updates on our progress with some sneak previews of how the inside of the new Friends Café is looking and a count down to our Grand Opening in March of 2014, so please stay tuned. 

In the meantime, we would like to thank all of you, our faithful patrons: both local, Italian, and from outside of Italy, for your past patronage, support, and your friendship. Without you, there would be no Friends. Salute!    

    

CASPERIA FROM THE SKY

If you travel abroad, one of the most popular television programmes on Italian language channels is Magnifica Italia from Rete 4. Our country's spectacular ancient and medieval cities and hill towns with their breathtaking surrounding scenery are shown off from the sky. Watching this television show people must think that Italy is truly one of the most beautiful countries in the world. 

No doubt for this programme small airplanes or helicopters are used to take the camera person up in the air to do the filming. However, there is another way to get these amazing bird's eye views, and this is by using a small flying camera mounted on a drone.

This past week some friends of some Canadian friends of ours visited Casperia with one of these amazing flying cameras and took some aerial videos of our town. It was a great pleasure to meet with Nicola and Irene. Click the LINK to see their amazing video.

New friends of Friends Cafe: Nicola Moruzzi and Irene Vecchio, the creators of this amazing video.

 

BOH - The Mascot of Friends Café

 

As you enter our little café, you will notice on the right side of the door a number of signs and community notices. There is a sign showing our hours of business, another indicating that the interior of the restaurant is no smoking, and you will also see this sign, indicating the interior of the restaurant is a dog-free zone.

That does not mean the dogs are unwelcome on our patio. Quite the contrary. People here in Casperia love their dogs, and you will see many people walking them to and fro on the piazza in front of the restaurant or up and down the stone cobbled street from the Porta Romana at all hours of the day... And many will park their pooch under outdoor tables here at Friends while they enjoy a Negroni or a glass of wine with friends and neighbours or our many visitors from around the world while they marvel at yet another unforgettable Sabine sunset. 

But if you visit with us often enough you will notice a certain tabby tom wander underneath the tables and unchallenged by the dogs up the stairs and into the restaurant. This is Boh, the restaurant mascot. Boh likes to park himself just inside the restaurant door and survey his domain while he waits for Nicoleta to get him some food.

 

We don't know exactly how old Boh is. He is young. Probably two or three years old, but we have been feeding him here just outside the restaurant for the past year or so. When he first came here he was a frightened, malnourished, unhappy little kitty, but look at him now.

  
Nicoleta tried to adopt Boh and take him home with her but her female cat Mao Mao would have none of him and showed him to the door, which is too bad because Boh is a real gentleman at heart. This doesn't seem to have phased our Boh though. He seems to like his life as an outdoor cat as long as he is fed and watered, gets some proper attention, and is recognized as the rightful king of Piazza Umberto I and mascot of Friends Café. I think we can handle that.

 
In the meantime, Boh recommends you try the arrostincini (lamb skewers) and the stringozzi with ragù. Thanks Boh!

 

A Little About Casperia - Where You Will Find Friends Café

Friends Café is located in the town of Casperia in the Sabine Hills about an hour and a quarter drive northeast of Rome.

Casperia is a town of basalt-cobbled streets winding up and down interlaced with twisting alleys. It is a fascinating cross between a 1100 year-old stone snakes and ladders board and a 3D Escher painting. And calories consumed at a lunch and dinner at Friends can be easily burned off by an exploratory stroll through Casperia's streets. 

Casperia's centro storico is off limits to car traffic. Don't forget to take your camera along for the walk.

Though the medieval town has a history that stretches back to the 900s, the name Casperia itself dates from 1947. The historic name of the village was Aspra Sabina. There are a number of conflicting theories about the origin of the name. Aspra means harshness, and the name is thought by some to reflect the rocky ruggedness of the defensive position the town was built on. Another theory is that the name derives from a local noble family, the Asproni, who once held sway here.

Remains of Roman funerary monument beside the road at Paranzano

The remains of two sizable Roman villas and aqueducts in the nearby frazioni (villages) of Paranzano and Santa Maria in Legarano attest to the fact that the region around Aspra supported a flourishing agricultural economy. One of these villas in Paranzano is reputed to have belonged to Marcus Antonius Pallas, the powerful freedman of Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Anthony and the mother of Emperor Claudius. The name Paranzano apparently derives from Pallantianum, a reference to the land and the villa owned by Pallas. Marcus Antonius Pallas figures prominently in Robert Graves’ novel I Claudius and the TV series that grew out of it. 

Several significant archeological artifacts and cultural treasures were unearthed in the villa sites. Sadly, the two magnificent marble nymphs unearthed in Paranzano in 1871 were carted out of the Sabina and sold off to foreign owners. Today, one is housed in the Museum of Art and History in Geneva (see below), while the other is on display in the Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen.

As if this amazing Roman pedigree was not enough, there were those who claimed that Aspra's history stretched back even furthur to an ancient Sabine settlement called Casperia which is mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid. Despite the fact that underground Sabine aquaducts dating from the 5th and 4th century BC have been discovered in the immediate area, there is no objective evidence to support the theory that modern day Casperia has any connection to that ancient Sabine city.

Whatever its origins, Aspra became a free comune in 1189 and during the 13th and 14th centuries, it was one of the most powerful towns in the Sabina. There are two sets of town walls, the oldest nearer the top of the hill are now largely invisible, having been incorporated into a number of buildings. The current outside walls date from 1282 and are pierced by two gates, the Porta Romana, closest to the modern car park, the bank and all the other local amenities mentioned earlier, and the Porta Santa Maria which leads to the road to Rieti. There is an interesting clock above this later gate which was designed to tell the time according to the canonical hours.

At the town's highest point is a lovely piazza overlooked by the venerable San Giovanni Battista Church with its stately Romanesque bell tower. Its monumental Presepe, or Nativity Scene, in the back of the church incorporates many of Casperia's buildings and is a wonder to behold.

Aspra was renamed Casperia in 1947. This was partially out of a desire by the town council to give prestige to their borgo through its association with the Virgilian epic, but more importantly the change came about in order to avoid confusion with another Aspra in Italy, this one in Sicily.

Today, Casperia is home to about 1200 inhabitants. Its pristine rustic rural setting and spectacular medieval streetscapes, combined with a proud history, culture and Sabine identity, not to mention a good number of cultural festivals and close proximity to other Sabine attractions, make it an unforgettable vacation destination.

Sunset over the Sabine Hills from Friends Cafe

In 2004, the Italian Touring Club awarded Casperia the prestigious Bandiera Arancione (Orange Flag), their seal of approval for environmental tourism, in recognition of the authenticity and preservation of Casperia's historic centre. 

So if you haven't visited our little town yet, please come by, and while you are here, drop by for some refreshments at Friends. We have a great little menu with some traditional regional favourites like Stringozzi with Ragù and Bruschette drizzled with Sabina's legendary D.O.P. olive oil.  

Friends Café awaits, and we look forward to serving you.