Agriturismo

Agri..tur..what?

When we arrived in Naples two of Brad's friends were at the airport waiting for us.  One of them, Dave, had prepared every single thing we could've needed.  He had filled our hotel fridge with food and water... and in the subsequent weeks took us all over.  He was getting ready to leave Italy (infact his family had already flown out) and he took us around to a few of his favorite places.

One of those was an agriturismo.

So, an agriturismo is a place that raises a certian percentage of it's own food and drink that it then serves in it's "in-house" restaurant.  The meals are pretty pricey, but are several courses and it takes about 3-4 hours to eat them!!  Yes, 3-4 hours!  (It took us 3.5)

So, we pull up into a vineyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and this guy comes over to greet us and welcome us.

Our host.

Call it shameless, but I couldn't stop smiling to myself!  This guy was the first Italian that we met "out in town" and top that off with the expensive restaurant ... well he was pretty awesome .... I don't think anyone would EVER see a host at Olive Garden sporting those goggles!  I LOVE those goggles!

So, from the vineyard...

we were led into the agriturismo...

 where he showed us the animals.

 They had small horses,

goats,

 lots of rabbits...

 and chickens.

Our host showed us a big pile of fresh weeds to feed the animals and then gave the kids some fresh eggs.

 He was super nice to us all but especially the kids.

I felt embarressed while taking this picture actually!!  But I seriously couldn't get over the goggles.... : )  After showing us the animals our host hopped on a moped and buzzed out of the vineyard.

 The kids were left to feed and marvel over the animals.

The rabbits were so sweet.... there were tons of baby ones.... cute little puffs with ears....!

 After Ella made it over to the animals...

 ... she was so tickled.

James especially loved the small horses.  (Italians use horses A LOT where we live!)

 So the restaurant is designed for the adults to sit around and chat while the kids play outside.... there were trampolines and other playground things for them to play on farther out past the animals.  But the kids hung out with the animals through out the 3.5 hours we were there.

 Brad and Dave.  Those two had a lot of good times together and Dave was SO helpful and good to us!

 It was all so pretty... with the grapes.... hanging from the rafters and everything....

It's a bit of an understatement ... but vineyards are really popular in Italy....

Bottoms up!  Ok well, just on a glass of water.  --Italians love fizzy water.  Like Sprite without the sugar or flavor.  If you order water, you're going to get the fizzy stuff.  So, you gotta specifically ask for the water "senza gas" (without fizz).

 Ok.  So this is the VERY FIRST COURSE...ONLY.  If I made DINNER and it had this many platters I'd be heralded as a genius chef amongst my family.  : )

 While this looks a little unappetizing it was one of my favorites!  It's pickled eggplant.  : )  It was so good!

 Ella was totally ready to dig in!

 So, in Italy a common appetizer is prociutto (like thin slices of ham...) and mozzarella balls.  But there are other things as well.....

 Ashley LOVES to pause and pose for pictures.

 Her first bite of Mozzarella Di Buffala.

 I have not met ANYONE who dislikes Mozzarella Di Buffala.  It's like the nummiest of cheeses for EVERYONE .... except me!  I actually don't like it.  But it is this super delicious cheese that gets shipped out to regions of Italy... (it's a Naples cheese).  --We've seen the water buffalo pastures to prove it.  : )

 These are olives.  They were so good!  I learned just the other week that the black ones from the can are actually dyed a little.

This was one of the main course dishes.

It was so delicious!

But then when I munched on some super tiny bones...

Dave told me it was ... rabbit... like the ones that my children were in love with outside....

 I kind of couldn't eat that course anymore.....

 All in all, we had a fabulous few hours at this sweet agriturismo...

 ...overlooking the Mediterranean....

It was great!  : )