Today’s excursion took us to Serena’s farm for a very local lunch, including cheese that we made ourselves. But first, we visited Pietranico, a local village with stunning views and unusual hobbies.

This picture isn’t the local crochet club … it’s the women on our tour. But apparently there has been s a crochet club in Pietranico for some time, and about two years ago it went viral, when crochet works began appearing all around town in the most unusual places.

We loved how it was incorporated into the landscape in creative ways. This next picture shows how an empty window in an abandoned wall was decorated, making it look like an inviting window in someone’s home.

The crochet works add splashes of colour to an otherwise gray medieval village. But it wasn’t the only thing adding colour.

The medieval walls were largely intact, though they had been repurposed as the outside walls of houses with the addition of doors and windows. But the original city gate still remains open as shown here. Once again, the crochet club has added a bit of colour.

The city has been in decline for some time, but it is beginning to attract knowledge workers with fiber optic internet service and other amenities. We liked the contrast of the electric car charging stations on the street, with medieval villages in the background. It’s nice to see that some parts of the world are embracing the future rather than trying to recreate an imagined golden past.

Pietranico is on the top of the world with stunning views of the surrounding valleys on all sides. This picture gives you a tiny sense of the views in every direction.

Then it was time for lunch on the farm, but first we stopped at the local shop to pick up bread (made with wheat from Serena’s farm) and sausages prepared by Serena’s aunt.

After we arrived at Serena’s farm we enjoyed an educational tour of the working farm, learning about how food was grown in the past, and how it is grown today. And then it was time to help prepare our own lunch (just a tiny bit) by helping to make cheese.

We learned how to make the cheese, but it wasn’t just a demonstration. We also had a chance to be hands on.

And then it was time to eat. Our tiny bowl of cheese was a very minor part of a multi course lunch, all of it made with ingredients from Serena’s farm and the surrounding countryside.

Of course we had wine (and beer) with lunch, but best of all, we finished the meal with Serena’s homemade ratafia, an amazing sour cherry liqueur. Fantastic.

Our final stop was one of the “wine rocks” around the area. These were carved out of large stones and used to crush the grapes to make wine. Serena explained how they were used.

After the explanation, we had to all climb in for a group photo.

Then it was back to the Baron’s Estate, where two of the more adventurous (aka crazy) members of our group went for a swim in the frigid pool.

We finished the day, as always, with a lovely meal and excellent company.