We woke up determined to make the best of our stay here, and to cut it short by two nights.  I had a text from Marta in reception that we could go on the olive mill tour at 10:00, so that was perfect.

After some really delicious pastries delivered to our door, we met with Rosella and 2 other couples.  One spoke German and the other French and Rosella did a masterful job of engaging all of us in 3 languages.  Her husband’s grandfather started this business in the 1800’s and now she and her husband, Franco, run the olive oil production of about 150,000 bottles per year.  Their son is now well into the business producing a fabulous gin.

We started the tour right in front of our agriturismo seeing this river stone carved in 1669.  :

You can still see the date on it.  And we went into the old mill just below L’Adagio.

The filters in which the olives were crushed were made of hemp in the 19th century. Although mechanized, the mill was powered solely by human strength and energy generated from the river.

The sun began to shine and then we all walked over the river to the new ROI mill with its spiffy stainless steel machinery and had the opportunity to actually watch a batch of olives go all the way through the production process–from cleaning the olives to producing the oil from those same olives:

That green color of the new oil was spectacular.

We tasted a few different oils, plain and on bread, some spreads and olives, a bit of light red wine and finally the olive flavored gin, which was my favorite product.  Ken and I both did not care for the ROI oils.  They are in the powerfully peppery style which is not my favorite, but the experience was priceless.  They also have a small shop which was busy with customers ,but I only bought a tiny bottle of local saffron.  (I am concerned about adding weight to our suitcases which will fly on the very strict EasyJet airline to Prague).

Still full from the tastings, we just ate a little snack back at the suite.  After rest time, we took a nice long walk along the river and on a super easy hiking trail.  There are a few beautiful homes on the outskirts of this small town.

Our dinner was at “Umami a food experience.” They have had a Michelin “mention” and serve on some of our friend Diana Baur’s plates. The restaurant is beautiful with olive wood tables and trims. 

We ordered two different menus.  For Ken, “The garden” and for me, Umami.  The amuse got us off to a great start—fried ravioli with potato and onion filling and a garlic/miso mayo.  The meal as a whole was pretty uneven.  My favorite dish was these raw scallops with three sauces:

And I loved Ken’s dessert—coconut milk panna cotta with guava.

We walked the 7 minute walk home super fast because, of course, it was raining.

This was really a successful day.  We got to appreciate the town and the culture a lot more than the day before, but I am glad we will be starting a new adventure tomorrow.