Heaven in the Sicilian Countryside
I leave Noto on Friday morning after another amazing breakfast spread put out by Salvo and lots of hugs from Lynne & Marty. The GPS does its thing and takes me on a wild ride through the city center and then directs me to go northeast when I know I need to go southwest. I turn myself around and of course, the GPS recalculates – finally – after telling me 3 times to make a U-turn. Whatever, I’ve studied where I’m going, and I’m right!
My next & last stop before returning to Rome is a luxury wine resort outside of Ragusa. The Ragusa region is currently “the” food capital of Sicily with it’s amazing farms & artisan products. I plan to hit the beach one day, go into Ragusa another, and want to see Modica (for both the architecture & the unique chocolate that everyone raves about) while I’m in the area. I decide on a whim to hit Modica on the way and program the GPS to the city (but no specific “place” in the city).
On the way, the countryside is gorgeous. Not only is everything in full bloom, but this area of Sicily is heavy with stone walls. I see hundreds of miles of stone walls . . it looks like they were not only used for property delineation, but for pasturing animals and cording off orchards & vineyards. I think about the thousands of men that must have been required to move all this stone & build all these walls and hope that they were not slaves. These walls have held up for thousands of years and are still in use today for both “working” and decorative purposes. They’re not especially tall (maybe 3 or 4 feet), but really beautiful and effective.
The hill city of Modica comes into view as I round the bend and I see a sign that say “Upper” Modica and I decide to defy the GPS (who had me on a course for “Lower” Modica) and I turn right & head up the hill. The architecture was calling me – but I found instead a bunch of very narrow, one-way streets and not much commercialism – just lots of residential places (old houses, tenements, new apartments & piazzas) and I realize the GPS was right this time. I should have gone straight to “Lower” town. By this time, the GPS has re-calculated the route and I’m winding all over town trying to get to its chosen destination. Not so fun! I seem to be getting more indifferent to this town and not sure I really care of I go at all and finally arrive at a parking area that has a ton of tour buses unloading. I decide to drive a bit further and see what’s here and amazingly, I’ve arrived at the historic center of town. I drive through and see little parking, but a lot of tourists. I decide, “heck, I’ll come back another day when I’m a little more enthusiastic” and continue out of town. Within 10 minutes I am in “no where land” and there is nothing but a few gas stations along the road. I’ve now programmed the GPS to take me directly to the coordinates that I’ve been given, as Baglio Occhipinti, the luxury wine resort, is definitely off the beaten path. I decide to wait to get something to eat (and load up on snacks, since I was basically out and didn’t buy in Noto) until after I check in – so I continue on. Surprisingly, the GPS takes me right to the front gate of Occhipinti and I am thrilled – there IS NO WAY I would have found this place without the GPS. NO WAY! I’m serious & certain!!
I buzz the desk and they open the gate for me. I drive about ¼ mile up towards “the house” and park the car. I don’t leave for the next 75 hours. Yes really, 75 hours!!!
Occhipinti was to be my last splurge and this place far exceeded every expectation I had for it! I had seen only 9.5+ to 10 scores for this place on both Booking.com and the Italian Agritourism site – but a 20 would not do this place justice. This IS, WAS, WILL ALWAYS be my definition of Heaven on Earth, Nirvana, and the place where I would be happy to be when I die!!! Perfection, beauty, complete zen . . . may everyone get a chance to visit this place at least once in their lifetime (but tell no one, as we don’t want the secret to get out or the place to fill up so we can’t get in!).
I spent the next 3 days enjoying the company of new friends, walking & photographing the property, cooking with the chef, eating amazing Sicilian food, drinking really good wine (lots of it – I wasn’t driving after all), meditating, sleeping late (rare for me) and just loving my final days in sunny, warm, beautiful Sicily.
Now if you remember. . I was starving when I arrived. I asked if there was a restaurant close by that I could get some pranzo (lunch). Federica said she’d prepare me a snack. The details of that “snack” are both memorialized in pictures, as well as in my “Appreciation” post. I will never forget that meal – never! It satisfied me on every sensory level and Federica’s kindness & service was unforgettable. That was the first of many wonderful meals at Occhipinti and I found each was so delicious & generous that I needed no snacks (good thing, as I didn’t have any). However, the kitchen was happy to make lunch if you wanted it and you could get their delicious homemade yogurt with honey & fruit any time of day.
Later in the afternoon, I met Myra. A 13 year old German teenager who blew my socks off. Her perfect English, her maturity, her sweetness, her friendliness, and her love of cats – this kid was the complete package. For the next 2 days, I don’t think I saw Myra or her sister, Clara, without either Carlo or Camia (adorable little orphan kittens who were heavily spoiled & photographed by us all) on their laps. Later that night, I met their parents, Claudia & Patrick. The staff had set the tables for dinner by family . . one for my new German friends, another for an American family of three, and a single table for little old me. I laughed out loud and said, “I guess I’m eating over here” as we were called to dinner and Claudia promptly started picking up the cutlery & glassware and said, “no you are not, you are eating with us”. I fell in love with this woman immediately! We laughed & drank wine until about midnight – and the girls stayed and talked and played nanny to the kittens until “the mean old lady in the kitchen” (Myra’s description) took the kittens away and put them in their box for the night.
The next morning, we all convened in the garden for a big breakfast. Claudia kept saying “wait until you see what’s next”. She was right, the food just kept coming. 5 courses later (including dessert) I was stuffed. We stayed at the table chatting & laughing until about noon – and I needed a nap. The girls stayed back & cuddled the kittens and Claudia & Patrick went to the beach. We had talked Fausta (the owner) and the chef (Sebastiano) into a cooking class for Claudia, the girls & me – so we all met in the kitchen about 5pm to start dinner. Sebastiano poured wine for Claudia & me and we all started making pasta. This new hand rolled & cut shape was labor intensive and we were at it for over an hour when Fausta’s Dad came in & scoldedthe chef; apparently he wasn’t teaching us correctly. He then spent time showing us how to more efficiently roll & cut the pasta and the process sped up considerably. Clara finished up the pasta and the rest of us moved to the sauce & main course. We made this really unique red sauce with the leaves from the zucchini plant sautéed and folded into the sauce. Delicious! Then we rolled slices of think pancetta (unsmoked Italian bacon) around medallions of pork tenderloin and pan fried them in rosemary-infused olive oil. Then we made a really, really, REALLY tasty apple & butter sauce to go with the pork. We finished off the bottle of wine & waited for Sebastiano to pull together the rest of the meal.
That night, the place was full. By this time, the staff knew that I had been adopted by the Hoffmanns and set my place at their table. Four other tables were set for the other guests. Our food, with a few additional items added by Sebastiano, was served & devoured by all, over the next few hours. Of course, the wine never stopped flowing. A couple from New Orleans was seated at the table next to us. She was very nice; he was exceptionally obnoxious. He used the f-word in every sentence – sometimes more than once in a sentence. I think they drank 3 bottles of wine between the 2 of them and you could tell it was affecting him, even though he kept saying it wasn’t!
The girls took it upon themselves to play hostess and went around to all the tables (with kittens in hand) to ask if everyone enjoyed their dinner. They were met with lots of positive affirmations and proudly shared that they had cooked dinner that night. It was too cute! Claudia made a quick trip to the bathroom and stopped by the last seated table to say hi. She came back and told me that “she was very nice, but he’s kind of full of himself”. The Hoffmanns were due to leave early the next morning – so Claudia reminded me that “these people” were to be my breakfast companions the next day and it just wouldn’t be the same!!
We stayed at the table drinking wine & talking about the girls coming to America for exchange programs. Myra tried SO hard to teach me some German and while she was patient, I just sucked at the pronunciation of their complicated guttural sounds. I fell in love with that family that night and told them they would forever be welcome in America. They invited me to come to Dusseldorf and assured me they’d set up a great tour to see northern Germany when I do. I shared my theory of speed limit signs in Sicily with them. I am sure that the business of making, selling & installing them rests with the Mafia. On average, I would say there is a sign every 100 feet on the autostradas and that they are all in conflict with each other! I challenged the Hoffmans to count 100 signs the next morning and report back on the distance they travelled while counting them. We all laughed, hugged good-bye and promised to see each other again. Sadly, they left the next morning before I got up.
Breakfast that morning started with the couple from New Orleans (lucky me I was seated at the other end of the table) and a nice couple from Switzerland. About 2 courses in, “the nice lady & full of himself man” sat down at the other end of the table. Ana (originally from Macedonia) and Art (from Holland) lived in Amsterdam. They owned a high end clothing company and while they travel frequently to Italy for business, they were at Occhipinti on a much needed holiday and had booked for only 2 nights. I loved them both the minute they started speaking. So wise, so kind, so worldly! **I later texted Claudia and told her they were actually both really cool and that we needed to do a girl’s weekend with Ana. They’re both all in and we’re going to try to make that happen in Amsterdam next year.
I spent the rest of the day & night with Ana (Art joined us for dinner). We talked & talked, cuddled the kittens (the girls were gone, so someone had to do it!), did yoga, meditated and talked some more. We dressed for dinner (yes, you do that in Sicily) and ate & drank for hours. The next morning over breakfast there was a lively and intelligent discussion on the French election which parlayed into a full on discussion of the historical & political climate of all of Europe. Fascinating!
I asked the chef to prepare a late lunch for Art, Ana & me – my treat – that we could enjoy before I left that afternoon. I told them this was in lieu of a “Kari prepared meal” that I promised to make for them when they come visit the United States. Unfortunately, New Orleans guy, sort of barged in & started drinking wine. For some reason, Art was under the impression that this guy was treating us to wine (though I had ordered & paid for a bottle) – but I didn’t bother to correct him – we could always get another bottle. We generously, but somewhat awkwardly, shared our lunch with them. All good – it was lovely; Sebastiano had done it again!
I loaded my stuff in the car and went to say good bye to the staff & Fausta. I thanked them for a spectacular stay and promised I would be back.
I found Ana & Art relaxing in the garden. I hugged Art good-bye and Ana & I walked arm in arm to the car. We hugged good bye and assured each other we’d meet again.
Two amazing women found at one amazing place. Yes, Occhipinti exceeded all my expectations.
And you know what? If the place was for sale . . I’d buy it in a New York minute!
**Footnote: I’ve had some great email & text exchanges with the Hoffmans & Ana since leaving Sicily. I am certain a trip to northern Europe is in my future.
Clara Hoffman reported that they did indeed count the speed limit signs on the way to the Palermo Airport. She said that they counted 25 in 25 kilometers – which weren’t quite as many as I suspected – but she assured me it was definitely a sign of Mafia involvement!
Ana later reported that she & Art had determined that 2 nights at Occhipinti were simply not enough. Fausta had managed to accommodate them for 3 more nights, though they had to keep moving rooms, and one room had only a single bed. Regardless, Ana would have stayed the remaining week of their trip at Occhipinti. Art said it was time they ventured off the property. Like me, they too had not left the grounds of Occhipinti during the entire duration of their stay!
