We made an appointment for Covid Tests at the Artemisia Laboratory, Rome for 11am Thursday morning 25^th March, hopefully with a negative result for each of us, to entre Croatia.  The two Lab Medics carrying out the tests were in full PPE gear wearing disposable gloves over their PPE gloves.  It was the first time we’d seen anyone in the spaceman looking outfits up close and have to admit it was a little scary.  There was quite a long queue, but we were near the front.  Wearing my face mask, looking down at the ground to avoid the sun, shuffling forward slowly with Steve by my side, both of us socially distancing, I noticed a man barefoot in sandals, looked up and saw he was a priest.  Then I looked at everyone in the queue a little closer and saw there were several other Priests and also Nuns, which kinda made sense being so close to the Vatican, and made me feel somewhat blessed and in good company.  Having completed the process, filled in the Italian forms (with the aid of an English speaking person) we made our way back to Happy Village & Camping to collect our caravan for our journey to the next campsite to complete our drive to Ancona Port the following day

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As we drove out of Rome the roads became emptier and emptier of vehicles, just the odd lorry, with very few people about.  The shops along the route were all closed, except for essential services that we’re now used to, pharmacies, supermarkets, food stalls and garden centres.

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We arrived at Il Giardino defli Elfi (The Garden of Elves) an agri camping site on a working farm – http://www.ilgiardinodeglielfi.it/en/, situated in Cantalupo. – late Thursday afternoon  to be met by Fabiola and her husband Giancarlo – The first thing they did was to point out the view of the mountains to us, and in particular that we could see Assisi, a town and commune in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region.  They told us they had a four course evening dinner prepared for us and asked us to arrive in the farmhouse dining room for 7:30p.m.  We couldn’t remember the last time we had eaten out for dinner and with traditional Italian home cooked food on offer there was no way we were going to be late for that.

Whilst Steve did his setting up ‘blue job’, Stella and I walked around the garden, admired the olive and hazelnut tree groves and the farm’s live poultry stock.  

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There was wifi, but quite temperamental, only in various spots and only if you waved your phone around with patience. We actually liked the novelty of being cut off from the internet to enjoy our surroundings and tranquillity, albeit a short stay.

Dinner did not disappoint our gourmet expectations!  Entering the large farmhouse living room through tall arched entrance doors from the patio, there was a log fire glowing in a corner of this very large family room.  We were seated at a rather large dining table, just the two of us, which was beautifully laid and we were attended by Lorenzo, Fabiola’s 26 year old son who also works on the farm. First decision was for Steve to make a choice of the local wine on offer and then to tuck into our starter of locally cured finely sliced ham with pecorino tempting us from the middle of the table.  Or, so we thought that was our starter.

First Course – In addition to the ham and pecorino, Lorenzo brought out a dish of lardo, which is a type of salumi made by curing strips of fatback with rosemary and other herbs and spices.  Apparently, it is one of Giancarlo’s specialities and it was so good, we started enjoying it, before remembering to take a photo.  Then a plate of three more delicacies comprising tomato bruschetta, pumpkin in pastry and humous; each served on different bread with their own farm produced products, olive oil, garlic, nuts and more rosemary.

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Second Course – green bow tie pasta with a very finely chopped rocket sauce finished off with a sprinkling of chopped nuts. Third Course – Rabbit stew with potatoes in a delicious sauce. Dessert – sponge cake with cream, mascarpone and Rum

Each course was so delicious there was no difficulty in finding room in our tummies for this wonderful home cooked banquet.  At the end of the meal, Fabiola and Giancarlo joined us for a chat, Giancarlo armed with some local liqueurs which he wished to treat us to.  It would have been rude not to accept their hospitality! Fabialo speaks wonderful English and translated for her husband. They only have three caravan/touring pitches and told us we were the first visitors since lock down in Italy January 2020.  We were only accepted because we were already in Italy and were transiting. It is so sad how much the C19 is pandemic affecting everyone. Time flew and we invited ourselves to an Italian breakfast the following morning before our departure.

Travelling east from Spain the mornings got lighter earlier, we got up earlier and were able to pack before moving back to the Farmhouse for breakfast. Over breakfast we chatted again and did some ‘shopping’ coming away with freshly laid eggs, bottles of their own extra virgin olive oil and home made jams.  Fabiola added a bottle of home made vinaigrette as a thank you for our stay.  We hitched up the caravan and said our goodbyes, wanting so much to give these warm people a hug. 

Without the hugs we wanted to share, they told us when we came back there would be no charge and waved us off on our journey.