Summer Fun in Casperia and Nearby - SAGRE

Summer at Friends Cafe

Summer is a wonderful time to visit the Sabina. The weather is hot, the skys are mostly clear, and there are lots of things to do in the towns and villages in the Sabina. You may have heard of Sagre (plural of Sagra), the popular food-themed festivals we Italians like to celebrate. Summer is one of the busiest times for these festivals. Just recently in nearby Selci was celebrated the Sagra del Fallone. 

 

Fallone are a type of baked pastry filled with wild and cultivated greens. The contents of the Fallone vary from season to season and according to traditional recipes of different towns where they are made. The Fallone come from the kitchen of the poor farmers in the region. It is a simple dish, tasty and nutritious dish very typical of Sabina.

A simple dough is made using flour, a little warm water, olive oil and salt. The dough must be kneaded for about ten minutes then divided into smaller portions that are stretched out with a rolling pin.

Greens and pot herbs such as spinach, chard, or chicory are wilted in a pan with garlic, sage and pepper then spooned over the rolled out dough which is carefully wrapped and sealed around the greens. These raw fallone are then pricked with a fork, drizzles with Sabina D.O.P. olive oil and then put in the oven on a baking sheet.

The resulting golden brown rolls of baked pastry filled with the green bounty of our Sabine fields and hills is delicious. Though they are mostly typical of Stimigliano, Torri in Sabina, and Montebuono, you will find them sold in many of the alimentari and supermarkets in the region. You will often find them here in Casperia at the alimentari outside the town walls. If you have not tried one, I recommend it. 

Three Sagre that are coming up soon in the region are the Sagra della Pizza Fritta, or Fried Pizza Festival in Cottanello on July 13th...

the 13th annual Festa degli Gnocchi in nearby Cantalupo on July 25th through 28th...

 
...and the 32nd Annual Sagra  dei Stringozzi in Casperia, which takes place over four days, August 1st through 4th.

First, let's look at the Sagra della Pizza Fritta in Cottanello as that is the one almost upon us. As the poster above advertizes there will be three type of fried pizzas offered for sale: sweet, savoury, and stuffed. Our sweet pizzas are like the so-called "Elephant Ears" I hear you have in America, or the "Beaver Tails" you will find in Canada.

Canadian Beavertail

The savoury version you will find all over Italy. The famous British chef Jamie Oliver fell in love with them during a recent stint in Italy for one of his shows, and uploaded a recipe for one version online. I am sure Signor Oliver's version is quite good, but if you want to taste the best pizze fritte, you must come to the Sabina where it is so popular there are Fried Pizza Festivals also in the towns of Canneto Sabino (famous for its ancient Olive tree) and in Morro Reatino.

Image of Sabine Fried Pizza courtesy of Italiavirtualtour.it

Of course during our Sagre we have entertainment, usually some live bands and dancing. There are contests, prize draws, and local produce and products for sale. It is fun for the whole family.

Gnocchi are known the world over... those delightful potato, flour and egg dumplings have fans everywhere, and the Gnocchi you will taste at the Festa in Cantalupo are special because they are of course made with potatoes and other ingredients produced here in the Sabina. 

Stringozzi, on the other hand, you may not know...

Stringozzi alla Cottanellese at La Foresteria Restaurant in Cottanello, courtesy of Alessandra Finiti

Stringozzi, or hand rolled string pasta, is very typical of the Sabina. We serve two versions here at Friends Cafe, Stringozzi al Ragu', which is served with a meat sauce, and Stringozzi oh my god, in which the noodles are dressed in Sabina D.O.P. Olive Oil, peperoncino chili pepper flakes, and a mixture of hard cheeses.

Here is a link to a video uploaded from the 2009 Sagra dei Stringozzi which will give you a taste of what happens.

You may also enjoy this video of some of our local children demonstrating how stringozzi is made: Gnam Casperia.

The programme for the 2013 Sagra dei Stringozzi is still being finalized. When things are more set, we will let you know the details.

You can see from the 2012 poster that music, gastronomy, entertainment and local crafts were advertised as part of the fair.

And if you look carefully at the poster just above the space between the words "Sagra" and "dei" you will see us waving at you from Friends Cafe just to the right of Piazza Umberto I.

Photo courtesy of Massimo Fidale

Come on by for a visit, a Negroni or two, of perhaps a bottle of Pecorino during the festival. Remember, we have the best place to enjoy a summer sunset in the Sabina.

Photo courtesy of Ine Dennekamp

 

OUR MENU - GOOD FOOD, GREAT DRINKS, AND AN UNFORGETTABLE VIEW

Our world famous bruschette drenched in Sabina D.O.P. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

You will find Friends Café is ideally situated, first of all, because of our proximity and easy access from Casperia's main gate, the Porta Romana. Just a few dozen easy steps up past the gate and you are at Piazza Umberto I, arguably one of the most charming piazze in the Sabina. Here, seated at one of Friends' outdoor tables you can enjoy the ebb and flow of life in this hilltown. 

Friends Cafe seen from Piazza Umberto I at sunset courtesy of Ina Dennekamp

While you sip on a Negroni, or a glass of bubbly Prosecco you will see the townsfolk of Casperia of all ages ascend and descend the stone stairway that leads up past our restaurant to the Piazza Comunale.

The steps leading up to the Piazza Comunale, courtesy of Giorgio Clemente

Nonne and nonni weighed down with their afternoon shopping are escorted up the winding stone cobbled steps by their children and grandchildren and sometimes the family dog, to many a "Ciao!" or  "Buona sera!" from friends and neighbours chatting in the piazza. 

During the afternoon hours after school and the early evenings it is not unusual to see a number of our youth, and sometimes not so young, enjoying an impromptu game of calcio, or football (soccer for you Americans and Canadians) on the piazza. Casperia is a friendly town. If you like to kick a ball, feel free to join in. Just be aware that an enthusiastic kick very often results in the ball going over the wall and bouncing all the way down to the Petrocchi Bar. If you are playing a game with one of our young people, they will usually oblige by running down and fetching the ball. And sometimes, if you are lucky, you will find someone who was chatting down below will catch the ball and kick or toss it back up for you. If you run after the ball yourself, well, it is great excercise and we at Friends Café are happy to provide you with liquid and solid sustenance to help you recuperate once you make it back up the stairs.

Our world famous Sabine sunset-coloured Negronis

We have a simple menu, but one that features fresh pasta made at a family-run pastificcio just outside the town gates. Most pasta lovers are familiar with fettucine, the thin flat ribbons of pasta which we serve with a hearty mushroom sauce, but you may not be familiar with stringozzi, the traditional hand made pasta typical of the Sabina and parts of Umbria, where it is known as Umbrichelli.

Here is an excellent video that shows how stringozzi is made by hand. In this video you will see children from our town learn how to make Stringozzi Aspresi using just flour, water and salt, and using their hands.

Here at Friends Café we serve stringozzi two ways: one with a traditional Bolognese-style tomato and meat-based Ragù. The other is something new we introduced to the menu this year. 

New Menu, as of April 2013

 The stringozzi noodles are dressed with red chillies, Sabina D.O.P. extra virgin olive oil and a mixture of hard cheeses.  The initial response from most of our foreign visitors who taste this version is to exclaim, "Oh, my God!" So we felt we really had no choice and decided that that is what it should be called.

Toasting the launch of Stringozzi O.M.G., April 2, 2013

Of course, Friends is proud to offer a variety of wines, beers and mixed cocktails, from G&Ts to our famous Sabine sunset coloured Negronis, to go along with your meal. If you are a white wine lover, you will probably enjoy a bottle of crisp, dry Pecorino from Abruzzo.   

And when you see the spectacular Sabine sunsets from the comfort of your table here at Friends Café you will want to have something to toast with. Alla salute! Cin cin!

Sunset as seen from Friends Cafe in Casperia

A LITTLE HISTORY ABOUT & AROUND FRIENDS

When you walk into the restaurant from Piazza Umberto I, you will notice a simple tile mosaic on the threshold where the words "La Fontana" are written. La Fontana, of course, refers to the historic fountain just beside the restaurant on the piazza.

The fountain dates from 1889 and brings fresh potable spring water from the mountains into the the city. Atop the fountain you can see Casperia's unique stemma comunale or town coat of arms with its asp, star and corona of castle turrets. 

Below the stemma is an inscription in Italian commemorating its construction. 

La Fontana was the name given to a wine bar, and later a beer pub that once existed at the location where Friends Café is now. If you come inside the restaurant and descend the stairs into the interior seating area you can see a framed old black and white photo on the wall to your left just as you descend the stairs. This shows the La Fontana Birreria in its heyday. 

If you look above Friends you will see a large complex. Divided into various apartments now, this building over a century ago was the town Inn or Locanda. You can see the arched windows in the old postcard below.

The room where we have our seating area and washroom used to be the town  macelleria or butcher shop. If you walk outside Friends and turn to your right to head up the stairs into town you will notice a window onto a dark cellar room. Take a peek. 

This is the remains of an old frantoio or olive press. The large terracotta jars incorporated into the room structure used to serve as storage for the town's olive oil.

When you sit at Friends Cafe you are surrounded by our history. Look at the walls around you and you will be surprised by what you see... This window for instance...

Now take a closer look... 

This wall was constructed in 1570 or 1590... either way, it is old... You will see quite a few of these dated bricks throughout Casperia, some dating back to the 1400s...

Lastly, have any of you noticed the little windowed stone structure opposite Friends Café just as you head down the stairs to the Porta Romana? Yes, that's it, just behind and to the right of Cicciopalla.

 
This is called a Vespasiano, after Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, founder of the Flavian dynasty... and it is a public urinal. Why, you may ask, is a public urinal named after a Roman Emperor? We are not exactly sure, but people say it is probably in reference to a tax he placed on urine collection (useful due to its ammoniac content).

A little bit too much history?  Perhaps...

Let's leave you with something more appetizing... 

One of our famous Negroni's, the colour of many a sunset you will enjoy when you come visit us at Friends Café in Casperia. You know what they say... "No Negroni, no Party!"

Ciao! 

 

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.