Outing to Sutri, November 2008

We had a nice outing to Sutri on Sunday, a gorgeous day, in the 60s, nice for walking around. We first stopped at an ancient amphitheatre which was carved out of the local rock, nearby are also tombs carved into the hillside.

Next we walked around the old town of Sutri, checking out the fountains, lots of cats here (more than any other little town we've visited), lots of nice balconies with plants and flowers, old churches (peeped into the first one on this post and it had a beautiful ceiling but mass was being said and a choir was singing so we ducked out fast.

We found a cute shop owned by Giovanni Arnoni where they make terra cotta puppets, games, etc. Beautiful little items. I bought a nice green bell to hang on our Christmas tree. There is a picture here of the front of the little store and the man and woman who were inside making items. They have a website www. arnoni.it

We ended up at the Trattoria La Sfera d'Oro where we had a great seat near the fireplace where an older man did the grilling of meat. There was a huge chandelier in the high-ceilinged room we were in, spotless white table cloths, very nice atmosphere. We ordered wine and water and antipasti which wasn't really worth it. There were some breaded deep fried veggies but they were not hot, they looked better than they tasted and one was anchovy which I hate, and we asked for antipasti misto but it was just slices of various items like salami, proscuitto and we weren't really in the mood for a plate of meat. Next though we had a wonderful bowl of their funghi porcini soup and we don't see this on menus anyplace so we ordered it. It was a bit expensive 12 Euros a bowl but worth every penny. Was very filling too so we should not have ordered another item but we did. Anyway the soup had croutons, a nice broth and tons of funghi porcini sliced. This is the season so they were fresh and good. There is a picture down below of this soup. Next Doyle ordered a funghi pasta with fresh made fettucine in the restaurant and I had polenta with a small chunk of sausage and a small chunk of a pork chop in it. It was good of course but too much to eat. We were stuffed. So after having a coffee we left to head home.

We really enjoyed the shop, walking around the streets, the view from the town was heavenly and the old amphitheatre was interesting. Lunch was divine! Love these Sunday outings!