I’d just intended to buy a thyme plant at Spello’s early April mostra-mercato (literally, “show/display market” or let’s just call it a “show-and-sell”). But there were other enticements, too, at this three-day market called “Subasio con Gusto.”
Mount Subasio backdrops Spello (and Assisi) and this street fair centered on the herbs, plants as well as the foods, wines, artisanal works of the areas around Mt. Subasio.
Booths flanked the 1st c-AD Roman entryway, Porta Consolare surmounted by three toga-ed figures:
Laura Benedetti’s booth of flowers and herbs was right near the Roman arch and the reason for my visit:
I looked over all her selections as she answered questions for a clients:
I found my thyme and settled on the tyhmus vulgaris although I was tempted to introduce lemon thyme into our garden:
…and I chose a pot of strigoli, too, after hearing a woman asking Laura for this plant “as it is so good in frittate”:
With a vase of wild arugula, too, I thought I’d wrapped up at Laura’s stand – and then I spotted her petunias:
From herbs and flowers, I moved on to the stands in “upper Spello” offering visitors tastes of olive oil drizzled on bruschetta, sips of local wines, home-cured olives and organic jams….
…..and nibbles of local sheep’s milk and goats’ milk cheeses:
I bought goats’ milk yogurt from Rodolfo – and some of his cheese, too:
It was a pleasure to buy from someone who clearly cared about his animals. You could tell from the photos near his stand. And if they didn’t transmit the message, the tattoo on his arm did!
I’d headed to Spello for just a pot of thyme and came back to Assisi with thyme, arugula, strigoli, goats’ milk yogurt and goats’ milk cheese: a bit of “Subasio con Gusto.” Yes, Mt. Subasio “with gusto” (in the Anglo-Saxon sense) but also “with flavor” (Italian translation).
Click here to read about the stunning festival in Spello starring floral carpets
Read about the restoration of a medieval tower in Spello by Pino’s team
Click here to read about – and see! – the splendid Roman mosaics of Spello
Read about the Roman highlights of Spello