Gael Arthur reports on

ITALIAN DINING AND THE CASTELLI ROMANI ©

Chef, Giorgio Conti

With all roads leading to Rome, the corollary is that all roads lead out of Rome.

Once you are on the complicated set of highways and throughways, it is hard to imagine ever getting away from the hustle and bustle of Rome traffic, but really, it's not hard to get out of town.

Head where the Romans have beaded for ages: is a loose term for a series of little towns that have been home to the leisured class for centuries.

The volcanic past of the area has left wonderful remnants - clear deep crater lakes, including the Nemi and Albano.

Each town in the region is associated with something different and interesting - Castelgandolfo offers the Pope's summer residence; Frascati stakes its reputation on its wines;

Nemi is home to the goddess Diana and huge Roman ships; and Genzano is most famous for its "Infiorata" - a flower festival, held
every June since 1778.

It's a region that you could comfortable spend a week wandering around, spending a day in each little town, getting to know the people and their lifestyle, close to Rome, but far enough away to breathe the country air and enjoy life at a comfortable pace.

The Diana Park Hotel (taking its name from the goddess Diana) may just be the perfect spot for a sojourn from the city. The hotel may seem a bit incongruous on first inspection.

The hotel is an elegant four-star property, with outstanding views from the terrace of nearby Genzano, the forest and Lake Nemi below. Yet, the hotel entrance is adorned with framed lists of soccer teams. The reason? The hotel has a huge park space around it, with training fields - soccer teams come from all over to train here.

I am not convinced they come for the training fields - I think they come for the food.
Certainly, I wished I had arrived with the appetite of a soccer player, rather than a moderately hungry food writer. I had joked earlier that day that I had a 17 course dinner ahead, little knowing how close to the mark the fabulous meal on the hotel terrace would come. While the dining room is delightful in its simple elegance (complete
with grand piano), the terrace offered both a breeze and the feeling of being in the country, a must after a few days in Rome.

We decided to try a number of small things, to get a good idea of the kitchen's range and depth. It was the perfect way to eat, not knowing what was coming next, but knowing that the Chef, Giorgio Conti, would be certain we didn't miss his favourite dishes.

I confess I lost track of the number of courses, but I am pretty sure there were four appetizers. The first is one I will try to replicate, next time I get my hands on some real buffalo mozzarella. Equal pieces of salmon and fresh mozzarella (say, 100 grams each) were wrapped in radicchio, then grilled and served on a bed of arugula, with a simple mayonnaise. Next came a delicate piece of tuna on a potato galette with a light tomato sauce. Then, fresh marinated anchovies (not like the tinned things!), with grilled eggplant, followed by a fresh
Hungarian pepper (the long skinny kind), stuffed with a delicately flavoured cheese and potato mousseline. I know that mousseline and potato are not usually placed in the same phrase, but the texture warranted the term.

Eventually a pasta course arrived, an egg fettuccine with swordfish in a pecorino ricotta tomato sauce. Another
pasta course arrived (this with lobster and a slightly spicy sauce) and I began to worry that I might never see the end of the meal.

Of course, each course was wonderful and, thankfully, not too heavy or large. The sea bream and gamberoni course (with porcini mushrooms and crunchy potatoes) was exquisite, but by this time, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. In Italy, it really is bad form to leave anything on your plate and I was doing my best, but I began to flag. We were all slowing down by desserts, and I was happier savouring the wines, all carefully chosen and perfectly matched to the food.

The Italians are great drinkers of sparkling wine and understand that it is a perfect way to start a meal. While the somewhat oaky Villa Chigi 2000 Chardonnay was much lauded, I preferred the Conte Zandotti Frascati
2001. It may be sacrilegious to drink this wine warmer than cooler, but as the evening wore on, I kept coming back to this wine, which exuded even more complex aromas as it warmed in my glass.

The end of the night, as we drove back to Rome, I added yet another stop on the itinerary for the next trip to Italy - a week visiting the beautiful towns know as the Castelli Romani.

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Report by Gael Arthur ©

 

Link to Italian recipes in "Bon Appetite"