Casa Caponetti Days
A piece of heaven only an hour and half drive north of Rome
When I shared the news that my husband and I would be driving from Rome to Piedmonte, my friend and colleague, Lani Raider, of NOBULL Specialty Foods, Inc. told me with no equivocation that I must stay at her friend, Lorenzo Caponetti's agriturismo retreat and maybe even do a little "cheffing" while I was there.
Lorenzo was a frequent guest lecturer in Lani's course on sustainability and food culture at the CIA in Hyde Park and they became fast friends. I immediately reached out to him and booked our 4 day stay at Casa Caponetti. Lorenzo and I briefly discussed my cooking while I was there, and decided we would work it all out when I arrived.
Casa Caponetti is located in central Italy, about an hour north of Rome. Turning off Hwy SP3 after passing through the town of Tuscania (2 km away) we drove down the long dirt road taking in the sprawling olive tree covered fields and vegetable gardens and got our first glimpse of the farm house and yards surrounding it. A group of people were finishing a luncheon at the picnic table as we drove up. Lorenzo and his girls (the youngest on his shoulders) came to greet us with warm welcoming smiles and perfect English. His older daughter displayed a couple of excellent cartwheels as we chatted.
We would later meet Lorenzo's wife, Guidetta Orlando, who was tending to the livestock (horses, pigs and cattle), her role on the team being animal husbandry.
There was a lot to talk about and we were excited to see the property, our room and the guest house. We were looking forward to learning about what was growing, and to discuss menu ideas for the dinner I would cook with their chef. We discovered that Lorenzo's f