Fewer guided Umbrian hill town requests in November means I have more time to join Pino on his frequent trips to L’Aquila. His restoration team – Impresa Edile Alagna – is nearing completion of restoration on three apartment buildings damaged by the 2009 Abruzzo earthquake.
Pino’s team at work on L’aquila earthquake restoration. – nearly complete!
Pino might not miss his trips to the jobsite in L’Aquila three times weekly (2 -1/2 hrs each way) but I know he’ll miss those espresso stops in the morning near Rieti at La Baita where smiling Rita and her papa’ Enrico welcome clients for morning coffee and later on, for sandwiches. This morning, mamma Dea was there, slicing porchetta with the skilled delicacy of a surgeon: “after all, I’ve been doing this for fifty-three years, “ she beamed with a twinkle in her eyes.
Dea slices the porchetta like a skilled surgeon
She and Rita were preparing a mountain of napkin-bundled panini di porchetta on the bar, ready for workers who soon be in to munch them, accompanied by a glass of robust vino rosso locale.
Pino asked for five of them to take to his stonemasons on the job in Abruzzo. He’ll often take them a surprise from La Baita…
Rita and mamma Dea, expert butcher…..and panini di porchetta
We generally head home from L’Aquila at 6 pm or so – or after – and arrive at La Baita about an hour-and-a-half later. We’ll stop for an aperitivo – or maybe even dinner: what’s better than un panino di porchetta – and vino rosso?
Pino’s L’Aquila restoration project will soon conclude but I know we’ll continue to head now and then to La Baita to see our friends there, to savor the goodness.
Read about – and see our La Baita friends – here
Read about nearby Rieti and this town’s food festival
Read about my favorite sandwich at La Baita
Read about a stop at La Baita enroute to L’Aquila
