Savoring Farm Goodness in Scheggino

When you’re ready for the best in “farm-to-table” eating (called “kilometro zero” in Italian), head to the medieval hilltown gem of Scheggino on the Nera River for dinner at Osteria Baciafemmine where smiling young Elisa cooks up the meats raised on the family farm at the : pork, lamb, fowl, beef (just 1. 6 km away – so a bit more than “kilometro zero”!) as well as trout caught in the Nera River winding below Scheggino. Try it with shaved black truffle on top; after all, Scheggino is renowned for black truffles, Nera River yellow trout (“fario”) and crayfish and truffle/trout combination is a local culinary highlight.

Scheggino on the Nera River

And at recent lunch at the Osteria, Pino opted for the Nera River crayfish on gnocchi (potatoes grown by Paolo, logicamente! ) with saffron (nearby Cascia is saffron area). Our friend Jim opted for strangozzi (thick strands of eggless pasta) with porcini mushrooms and artichokes from the farm garden, while his wife Louise chose the strangozzi di cinghiale al culo mosso. The first time we ate at the Osteria, “culo mosso” (“moving bottom”) as a culinary term puzzled us both and Elisa had explained with a grin, “You have to move everything when you roll out that pasta!” This time, I chose strangozzi with Paolo’s sheep’s milk ricotta, guanciale (pork cheek) from their pigs and black truffles. Second courses? Crusty bread with homemade ground sausages and black truffles, sheep’s milk cheese (made by Paolo) melted in the oven with shaved truffle on top, Nera River trout with truffles, and lamb and pork from their farm.

Pasta for the family with fresh vegetables

Pasta with fresh vegetables at the Osteria

Elisa’s family was eating there, too – in the room adjacent ours: homemade pasta with vegetables from their garden and then garden green beans, small and slim as they should be. I imagine a birthday cake followed as son Alessandro had turned five. His older brother Alessandro was helping him unwrap his gift when we came in with grandparents Manuela and Luciano (Elisa’s parents) at the table nearby. Now and then, Manuela popped up to slice bread for the tables or homemade cheeses and prosciutto, salami and capocollo for antipasto platters. As we were leaving, she was serving farm fresh eggs scrambled with Nera Valley shaved black truffle.