Italy Retreat

Rio Maggiore is the southernmost town of the Cinque Terre (five villages). It is often a stopping place for youth and student travelers because they can stay at a hostel owned by Mamma Rose. Of course, there are also hotels to stay in. One of the enjoyable things to do is walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola on the Via Dell'Amore (the street of love). This is a paved hike that takes about 20 minutes to walk. Watching the sunset is a wonderful event to enjoy each night from one of the Mediterranean towns.

This is a post from EGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters.

"High above Riomaggiore (you’re in the upper vineyards and the sea is far below), is the hamlet of Groppo. High up in the hamlet is the restaurant Cappun Magru.
We were there for the first time five months ago and the meal was so good we decided to go back (it is about an hour plus from Forte dei Marmi). It didn’t disappoint.

The dining room is on a promontory, almost cliff like, overlooking vineyards and vegetable gardens. Spectacular view. It holds at most 20 people. Typical husband and wife team, Cristiane in the sala, Maurizio in the open( to the dining room) kitchen.

Very carefully prepared Lugurian food with vibrant flavors. No modern nonsense (read that to be, no foams, no experiments, no Fernand Adria school of cooking), you’ll recognize everything on your plate and it will taste delicious. A real cut above most anything in Luguria and certainly a far cry from the usual Cinque Terre menus and execution.

Yesterday we had Cappun Magru and filetto di Lanzardo al vopore as antipasti; tagliolini di faro con scampi, seppioline in a salsa di ricci… and Ciuppin (with a lattughe ripiene of fish) as primi; for secondi, polpette di manzo con crema di borlotti freschi and filetti di Nasello con purea di sedano rapa e zucchini in fiore. Dessert was a torta di fichi freschi, which was excellent as well. A great bottle of a Walter Batte white and a glass of his Sciachetra' for dessert.
A very good wine list, with very moderate pricing. The list reflects the Bordoni’s taste and travels (and they have great taste in wine), in Italy and France. Very friendly service, but not of the fawning kind. An absolutely delightful place with wonderful food and wine."
*****************************************************************

CAMOGLI: Another beautiful small town that we'll visit during the Retreat is north of the Cinque Terre towns. You may read a wonderful article at the Italian Notebook