Look at the lengzai in front of me. So cute!
Olive Oil is only a small market in the asian region but i am glad that we were given the chance to know more about Olive Oil. Hoping that the consumption of Olive Oil would glow in time to come.
The driver picked us up in his fancy Mercedes, it was new i heard. woohoo..
The ride from Rome to Spoleto took about one and half hour, we passed by beautiful views/scenery. Was hard to fall asleep in the car when you are greeted with such beautiful big fields and mountains.
We were placed at the Monini guesthouse, it's beautiful. So so beautiful, weather in Italy is a little warmer but it gradually gets colder as the sun set. It could easily go as cold as 12 degrees at night. Very very windy as well. As we arrived at the guesthouse, Evan, who were in charged of taking care of the house, greeted us with a great spread of food just for tea, oh goodness! We were famished so we had a little too much.
Both me and Shelley decided to share a room
The living room, waiting area
Mini dining area
Main dining area, Monini parties are usually hosted here! Such a beautiful place to host guest
Everything looks so beautiful!
Michela was a great host, she brought us to fancy fancy dinner. Day 1's dinner is at Osteria Del Matto, also knowns as the crazy man/mad man in town. Technically, he is not crazy but a very funny man! very great hospitality from Mr Mad Man. Hahah
One great thing about this restaurant is, it doesn't have a set menu for you to select from. Basically, you need to make your booking with this restaurant and the chef will pick out the freshest ingredient in the morning when she does her marketing and dinner will be a mystery, you will eat whatever the chef serves you. Everything that was served was fantastic. Did not managed to capture all the dishes as we were busy eating and chatting away.
Address: Address: Piazza del Mercato, 3, 06049 Spoleto PG, Italy
We had a walk a little before getting to the restaurant from where Michela parked. Very very cold at night but it was a great walk!
A wine that comes only from Monte Falco, Umbria. Fantastic taste
Mr mad man owns a B&B in Sukhothai, Thailand, he told us, we will always be welcome! Placing the number here just in case you are interested.
Mr mad man is in love with Pinocchio, lotsa Pinocchio from all around the world is display in his restaurant. A little creepy though. HAHAH
Day 2, woke up when the sun rose and got ready for a knowledgeable day.
Overlooking the highway from our window.
This is how the guesthouse looks like up close.
Day 2 in Spoleto, we were taken for a tour in Monini factory.
The processing plant is actually located at the guesthouse, so our 1st stop was to find out at how Olive Oil is picked, squeezed and cleaned.
It was tough to really understand without seeing how the actual thing was done, we were a bit too early. If we arrived 1 - 2 weeks later, we could have seen the actual process but unfortunately the Olives were not rip enough to be harvest yet. But, i can assure you, Monini produces the best quality of Olive Oil, it is after all NUMBER 1 IN ITALY!
Run your research before purchasing Olive Oil, there are lotsa Olive Oil brand that is sold in Malaysia who did not pass the 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil test in Malaysia.
Monini might not be as famous as Bertolli or Colavita or Fillipo Berio in Malaysia but quality wise, we are excellent. Best quality of Olive Oil in Malaysia.
Before the official tour begins.
Plant manager taking us around the plant, letting us know step by step how Olive oil is tried and tested before it is stored in a tank and eventually bottled.
Unfortunately, Granfruttato is still not sold in Malaysia. Granfruttato's Olives are harvested slightly earlier, therefore a little unripe, which only allows lower percentage of oil being extracted but it is a lot richer in antioxidants (polyphonols) that provides stability and greater green fragrance.
In Malaysia, you are able to find Classico from our local premium stores. Classico's olives are ripe and it smells like fresh cut grass. Did you know that Olive Oil is by right the best oil as compare to animal oil or seed oil.
Fun fact: Olive Oil contains mono unsaturated fatty acid, which significantly reduce bad cholestrol without removing the good cholesterol and they have a high resistance to oxidation.
Animal oil and seed oils contains saturated fatty acid and poly unsaturated fatty acid which heighten cholesterol and the oxidation level is lower than of Olive Oil.
The Italian uses Olive Oil for all sort of cooking and that includes deep frying. They even drizzle them on their cooked food just for that extra nutrients.
I hope i didn't bore you with those fact, i feel the need to educate people the true benefit of Olive Oil.
Anyway, we were brought around the factory to see each and every single steps.
Lastly, the laboratory. Monini has a team of R&D team, sitting behind their desk, just to try out olive oil, if it doesn't meet their standards, therefore the oil will be rejected entire. You can safely consume Monini oil without any sort of fear.
Next, we were brought into the tasting room, a cup of 6 olive oil were placed in front of us.
I was a little disgusted at first thinking that i might have to consumer at least 1L of oil that day but thank god, the tasting only uses your sense of taste and smell. Spit it out once we have a little sniff in mouth. HAHAH silly me!
Spent almost 1 and half hour listening to Michel telling us the benefit and differences between olive oil.
By the time we were done, it was time for lunch, Michela had another 2 colleagues that joined us. They were nice to talk too. :)
When we were in Anuga, she stumble across the topic of truffles. Michela told us that Umbria has 3 important GOLD, things that are precious around the world.
1st being Olive Oil
2nd being Truffle
3rd being Saffron - it's a spice derived from a type of flower, used for cooking.
And for lunch, she will be bringing us to somewhere with truffles! yummeh! i have never had truffles before and watching Audrey's vlog when she visited Croatia makes me want to try real truffle badly.
Shelley said it's either you like it or you hate it! Like for me, i hate hate hate foie gras, it taste and smell weird but i see lotsa ppl enjoying it!
I can safely say, i enjoy truffle but Shelley said the smell of the truffle we had in Italy is not as strong as the one she had before.
We were served truffle with egg, with mushroom and finally my main course was truffle with ravioli. and not forgetting Monte Falcon wine again! Yummy yum!
After lunch, Michela became our official tour guide, she brought to Spoleto tourist attraction.
Michela mentioned that, last time, in order to get to the top of the castle, tourist had to walk all the way up through this alley. But now, they have built this escalator which brings you all the way up. So so simple! No such thing as sweating or whatsoever.
The beginning of the tunnel
and eventually an elevator that bring you to the top.
The view that greeted us the moment we stepped out of the elevator.
This used to be a dam but it's no longer used, people were allowed to walk across to the other side last time but it's now closed for good because there were cases of suicide.
We walked to the other end to have a closer look of the dam.
With our dear Michela!
Take a look at how high the dam is up close. Pretty scary I would say!
I believe these are probably residents. Such a beautiful place to reside!
Walked through alleys and Michela said right around the corner, you will be surprise. She told us to be ready!
This beautiful structure greeted us! Gosh, it is indeed beautiful! Spoleto Cathedral, it looks so cosy just sitting there, the bricks wall were literally shining.
Tbh, i have never been to many churches in Malaysia and have no intention too but Italy makes me want to go visit the church every single week. It's so quiet and calming inside. It's a perfect place to escape the world.
Italy churches walls are painted with beautiful paintings. Every single stroke by the painter is flawless.
This was what greeted me when i looked up! How to not be amazed?
Walked out the cathedral feeling great!
Walked down some more and we came across another church, Michela said this church is never open but she saw that the door was slightly open and to our amazed, we could enter. Lucky us!
A beautiful statue of Mother Mary.
Had a slow walk down after that. A pic of the map just to show you where we were. We started at Rocca, the castle and made our way down to the Duomo, Cathedral and then Ponte Ponzianna.
Sun setting ahead of us, took a short break at the guesthouse before Michela picks us up for dinner.
Dinner was at Sabatini Spoleto, it's a close walking distance to Osteria Del Matto.
TBH, i was being a hero, i had on very light clothing and when the wind blew, i was shivering badly! HAHAH But i still miss the cold weather all in all.
Michela helped us order a small serving of all the started. Oh gosh, even by just having the started, i was already full!
Main was beef with a whole cube of truffle shaved right in front of me! I was totally amazed!
Shelley ordered lamb, she was still sad over the fact that she didnt fully enjoy her lamb steak back in Cologne at Hyatt Regency. HAHAHA. i cannot!
By the time i was done with my beef, i was so so so full but Michela insisted on dessert but no regrets! Tiramisu was so good, so fluffy!
On the way back to the car, we came across the small roman amphitheater.
Day 3, our train doesn't leave till 2plus so we had the whole morning to kill. Michela decided to bring us to a winery, the wine that i have mentioned above. Wine from Monte Falco, a friend of hers works there so we had a great great hospitality again!
Wine, cheese and hams! Let's go
Start all my days with a selfie cause the entire 2 weeks, i actually took the time and initiative to put on make up.. Can't believe I was so hardworking.
The car ride from Spoleto to Monte Falco took about 45 mins. Not much car on the road but there were speed traps.
Beautiful peony greeted us when we arrive at the winery.
All wines made in Monte Falco are made from Sagratino's grapes. No other types of grapes.
The leaves are huge, it's even bigger than my face.
Red leaves fell from the autumn tree! It's so beautiful!
We came at the right time, the grapes harvesting is currently ongoing. Olives and grapes harvesting are almost the same time.
These Sagratino grapes are plucked and kept in this room to dry before being process.
The grapes itself is super duper sweet! Had a couple. Sweeter than what we can find in our local supermarket.
We were brought around the plot of land to see vineyards.
Was amazed that every single bunch is hand picked. Imagine how many people is needed to do this hard labour? hmmm
Brought into the room to see where the wines are fermented, in this huge oak barrel.
These are smaller oak barrel that were used in the olden days but they are still currently using them.
This sure does look like Hobbit's home le! HAHAH
A tag is display to indicate which wine is currently being stores in the big barrel.
In this big room, with rows of bottles sticking out are where sparklings are made. The worker are to rotate the bottles everyday or something like that. I can't really remember already. Sigh!
Of course, after the tour, we got down to business. Wine tasting! hehehe. with Cheese and Hams! oooo yummy!
There were altogether 7 varieties to try. I have already reach my wine quota for the year, so i took it slow that day.
Started off with sparkling first before the red and white wine came into the picture.
I bought 3 bottles altogether. wanted to get more but was afraid it would be took heavy to handle as we are heading to Rome on the same day and had another 5 more days to continue before heading home.
Took a train from Spoleto to Rome which cost us 8 Euro. Train ride was about an hour and half.
Anyway, i will be continuing with my Rome exploration in the next update. Stay tune.
Signing off,
Samantha Tew
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