As we were travelling north from Pratola Serra to Florence, we cut across the middle of the country and drove along the Adriatic Coast on Italy's east side. First we stopped in Sulmona, a city so close to my grandparents' village in Abruzzo that I almost felt bad that we didn't go visit (but Kimberly and I are going later in the trip, so I don't feel too bad). We then drove out to the coast to head north to tuscanny.
We were looking to stay on the coast somewhere kind of close to Florence, but read that Rimini was a party town (and we're taking it slow) and Ravenna has a lot of really cool stuff (and we only had one night to spend, not the 2 or 3 Ravenna seemed to require).
We ended up staying in Fano, a small, seaside port. It seems that Fano is a big spot with the Euro crowd (lots of German language pamphlets), but our American guidebook had very little information.
As we wandered the historic center, checking out the old fountains and piazzas, we started getting hungry. Since this was the closest we would get to the ocean on our trip, we decided to have some seafood. Fano had many options, but many seemed to be prohibitively expensive.
When we first walked past the Hosteria 500, we weren't convinced; it was empty and had no prices posted. After some investigation, Kimberly and Sissy saw that the prices were reasonable, so we were decided to give it a try.
At first, it was a quiet time. A little spumanti and fried artichokes, on the house, to start us off. We perused the menu, looking at some pasta with fish options that looked fine. We also were looking for some local wine, but had no idea what was good for the region.
We started by ordering just the pasta plates, with Mom getting convinced by the waiter\cook to have the special - the polenta with frutta di mare (fruits of the sea). Through some difficult Italian-English negotiations, we decided on a bottle of
Bianchello del
Metauro, as it turns out a lovely white wine. Then we were done ordering. Or so we thought.
The waiter would have none of this 'one course' ordering. He insisted that we must have an antipasti. Although we resisted at first, his Italian charm eventually broke us; I ordered an 'antipasto typico.'
As we sat sipping our wine, he brought the first plate of antipasti - frech anchovies in olive oil. Although we were all a little worried at first (anchovies don't have the best reputation in the states) we figured when would we be able to eat fresh anchovies again, right? And it turns out these little suckers were really tasty.
Well that was a good appetize...what's this? Um, beans are typical of the regi...oh, those aren't beans they're bombolini? What? Oh, bombolini are snails. Ok.
Well, when's the next time we're going to eat snails? A little picking, a little sucking, and down the hatch it goes...and...wow, not so bad. Let's try a couple more.
If you ever get to eat a snail, do it. By the end of the plate, Sissy was basically fighting us over the last few. They were that good.
Alright, antipasti is ove...more? Bruschetta? Fantastic. Beans? Wow. Random white fish with oil and herbs? Divine.
Popolo? Um, that looks like, um, tentacles. Is that, um, Octopus? Um, yes, yes it is.
I have to say, the octopus was fine, but not great. A little chewy. The dressing was very good though.
And finally, the antipasti ended. We were informed that the four of us ate antipasti for two. I'm not sure if that's true, because we could barely eat our main course. Spaghetti with fish sauce, Polenta with frutta di mare, gnocchi with radicchio and porcini in a cream sauce, and pisatelle with a white fish sauce all went half eaten (well, I finished my gnochhi; those were like little pillows of wonderful).
Really, the antipasti was the star of the show. And could've been eaten alone.
We've eaten a lot of good foo on this trip so far, but those little snails will certainly hold a place in my heart for many years to come.
