It’s not just for the “aria fina” (“good air”) that you stop at the Agriturismo Aria Fina in the mountains on the Basilicata/Calabria border near the mountain town of Mormanno. Although we were there to spend the night on our way to Sicily last summer, we soon discovered that many came from all over just to eat there. On arrival, we found out why. An enticing aroma was wafting out of the kitchen: host Carmine’s wife Lina was simmering capra alla cacciatora (a delectable goat’s meat stew) for dinner. Pino and I had decided to stop for an overnight about halfway to Palermo and this agriturismo was the perfect stopover choice. The mountain air together with the quiet and the views were already the perfect welcome. But more delights were to come.
Agriturismo Aria Fina on the border between Calabria and Basilicata
We headed out to explore tiny hidden mountain hilltowns before dinner, returning to find young Ilenia and Gianbattista (children of Carmine and Lina) and pretty Anna, waiting tables, drying wine glasses and filling wine caraffes. Mamma Lina was in the kitchen cooking up the goodness and Papa’ Carmine serving at table, too, chatted with guests. He and Pino immediately found a common chord as Carmine, too, worked in construction – and raised the meat served at Aria FinaI on the family farm. At recent count, Carmine told us, they had about seventy goats, fifty sheep, thirty pigs, two hundred chickens and “an uncountable number of hares and rabbits.” And not only: they have olive trees and vineyards (their robust vino rosso was the perfect complement to that goat meat stew).
Gianbattista and Anna handle the glasses at the restaurant bar
They make most of the cheeses served from sheep’s milk and goat’s milk so how not to try Lina’s ravioli filled with Carmine’s sheep’s milk ricotta? After dinner, I chatted with Lina, out of the kitchen and taking a break. I asked her what energized her for those long hours in the kitchen. “Piacere e passione” (“pleasure and passion”). Lina’s not just in the agriturismo kitchen: she also makes all the crusty bread in the wood bread oven and all the jam varieties served at breakfast (which guests can also buy – I brought her cherry jam home. Buonissimo! ). We tried the bocconotti the next day at breakfast, too (who could eat dinner the night before?!): almond shortcake, typical of Mormanno.
Grilled goat – and the goats are raised by Carmine
After we left the next day, I realized I’d left a small bag behind. Two weeks later enroute back home to Umbria from Sicily, we stopped at the Agriturismo Aria Fina to pick it up. It was lunchtime. Scialatelli (thick spaghetti) with their garden tomatoes, sheep’s milk cheese and ’nduja (a Calabrian specialty of finely-ground pancetta mixed with hot red pepper and made into a spreadable paste) was Lina’s prized dish that day. The luscious tomatoes joined with mozzarella to make the best caprese we’d ever tried. Wide green beans with tomatoes and a Lina eggplant dish – all made with vegetables she’d picked in their garden just that morning – were perfect side dishes.
Eggplant goodness and home-raised rabbit
Pino is sure I had “forgotten” the bag on purpose.
Read about an adventure while at Aria Fina
