Sunday, June 2, 2013

"Campi Di Fragole" (Strawberry Fields) Forever!

Today was a big day in small town of Nemi.  Nemi is an ancient village in the heart of the "Castelli Romani,"which are a set of scenic hill towns outside of Rome.  Nemi is about 20 miles away.  

Nemi is most famous for its "fragoline di bosco" (wild strawberries).  There is a celebration in Nemi every year of its strawberries, and today was the high point: the "Sagra delle Fragole."  The festival includes a parade, girls and women dressed in traditional costumes, and more strawberries than you've ever seen in your life -- strawberries sold in bunches on their own, strawberries in tarts, strawberries in bowls of custard, strawberries with whipped cream, strawberry risotto (which I read about but did not see), and, my absolute favorite, strawberry pizza!  

Anyway, it was sort of a fun little excursion.  I mean, the strawberry pizza was terrific.  The other dessert-type strawberry concoctions I ate were good too.  And the town of Nemi itself is perched quite dramatically high up in the hills.  Very scenic.  But it was a long way to go.  Not sure I'd do it again.  Would not have made it either if that cop in nearby Genzana didn't respond to my question about directions by telling me -- in Italian words I barely understood -- to hop into his car and he'd take me to Nemi.  (Hitching a ride with a cop in some small town outside of Rome is not a bad idea, right?  Nothing could go wrong there, si?)  

The pizza though, the pizza......

The pizza made up for my melancholy in not finding the strawberry risotto.  

Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C and other antioxidants.  
Health professionals believe that strawberries ward off cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.  They are also good for the skin and have fiber.  

1 comment:

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    .................
    Thanks
    Faisal
    strawberry strawberry Lover.

    ReplyDelete