The late April day had promise. The forecast was for sun, and for the first time all month, there were no thunderstorm warnings. It was time to head for the cute little piazza called Cavour, which one might come across in nearly every Italian town, and head for one of the few restaurants in Aulla, Per … Bacco. The little dots? Yes, they’re in there. The pause that refreshes.
It was a holiday. Liberation day. The streets were empty. Per … Bacco was full. We had to eat outside, which fit Martha like an oven mit.
In fact, we had the only table outside, under the sun shade.
It was glorious. The waiters, known across the web for their friendliness, were on their game. We chatted, ordered, and watched the enormous gleaming white cloud scudding along the skyline of our little town.
Of course, as the pasta course was set in front of us, little warnings, like the sun disappearing and a cloud falling upon our romantic “solo per due” table, arrived ominously.
But forget the weather. What pasta! The homemade fish-stuffed ravioli with a seafood sauce redolent with chunks of crab was mine, all mine except for the stolen bits stabbed by the fork that kept appearing from my right. Martha had ordered the raviolo in sfoglia verde di erbette serviti con salsa profumata alla salvia the aromatic erbs set off in a sauce “perfumed” (I love this term in Italian cooking) with sage.
The umbrella over us managed to save us from the drizzle. From the door of the restaurant the crew offered me a “golf” meaning a covering like a sweater, or so I suppose, and then were forced to run out and change the arrangement of the table so Martha wouldn’t get drenched. I can imagine we were the talk of the town as we refused to come in from the thunder and rain. Once you’ve made a stand, it’s hard to reverse course, isn’t it?
But eventually the second course arrived with a little vino rosso and all was well again. Off the menu was a deboned, stuffed rabbit with roast potatoes that made me quite happy.
Martha ordered the Calamari stuffed with fish. When I look at the picture, I can see where the Romans got the idea of the wine amphora they were known for producing.
It was a very fine meal. Despite the rain we’d have to walk through to get back to our apartment, we were deliriously happy that there was such a fine restaurant in a town with few of them.
I can’t help but leave you with a view of our romantic but bedraggle “place in the sun”. Bacchus would shudder.
Visiting Information
Location: Piazza Cavour 9, Aulla, Italy
Per … Bacco has a facebook page with all the information you’ll need.