At a snail's pace through the cascades of flowers: a day in Borgio Verezzi, Part II

Arriving at the agriturismo we are welcomed with great kindness by the owners, Mr Gian Paolo and Mrs Ivana, who have run the farm for a quarter of a century and have been hosting guests in their agriturismo for sixteen years. Given the splendid day, before settling inside the historic building to eat, we take the opportunity to discover this very particular farm of evocative beauty. From the terrace immersed in an explosion of flowers, which opens onto a priceless view of the sea in which we can easily make out even the island of Gallinara, we need only take a few steps to enter the heart of the terraced crops. Besides the olive trees of the renowned taggiasca variety, whose pastel green blends with the blue of the sea, we discover an infinite number of wonderful plants, some of them truly unusual.

Besides the spectacle of prickly pears, capers and flowering trombetta courgettes, we are surprised even by Goji plants, the trees that produce the berries known for their beneficial effects on health. "Sometimes we make tarts using not only strawberry grapes or other fruit, but also goji berries, and our guests love the idea," Mr Gian Paolo explains as he lets us taste some orange berries, very good and sweet. There is no farm without animals and, to the delight of young and old, this agriturismo is no exception: among the fasce there is room not only for hens and rabbits, but also for sheep that watch us curiously and even for a few very friendly little donkeys.

The farm, awarded at Expo the prestigious Green Agriculture Flag of the Italian Farmers' Confederation, is part of the "Wine and Oil Route from the Alps to the Sea" Association, which brings together the best Ligurian producers, and during our dinner we get to taste many of their genuine products. "Practically everything we serve comes from our organic, untreated crops, from olives to artichokes, from trombetta courgettes to other vegetables and capers. Our ancestors also produced salt, and carried it down to the plain along the famous Salt Road, returning laden with sacks of flour," Mr Gian Paolo tells us as we settle at our table inside the characteristic room of the house dating back to the 1600s.

"Some parts of the building, such as that stone doorway, are even much older," the owner points out, as our gaze ranges over objects that bear witness to the house's history, such as the beam that was part of the structure of the oil mill - in the past almost every house in this area had its own mill - or the niches in the thick walls that were used to keep jars of butter cool. A recurring element of this house is the typical pink stone of Verezzi, and on a windowsill we even discover a work of art made by Mr Gian Paolo: a beautiful snail carved in the precious local stone, a way of paying homage both to the local "pink marble" and to the snail, queen of Verezzine cuisine. On the walls we also discover a series of photographs taken some years ago, when the agriturismo, together with the Association, organised a re-enactment event creating a genuine charcoal pile according to tradition.

"Young people today often don't even know what coal was for," Mr Gian Paolo recalls with a smile as we begin to taste the first specialities of the house. We start with stuffed courgettes and aubergines, and we also taste fritters of herbs and onions. The onion variety found here has been grown for over five generations and is particularly exquisite and sweet. We continue with the so-called mandilli de sea, that is, the typical "silk handkerchiefs", an extremely fine pasta from which are cut the ravioli that we can enjoy filled with herbs and meat, but also with nettles, seasoned with borage or other vegetable sauces, with meat or with Genoese pesto. Among the first courses we also very much like the tagliatelle served with various sauces, including the one made with kernels, that is walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts. Some of us instead choose a nice healthy, tasty minestrone.

We wash down these delicacies with excellent wines, both from the farm and from other local producers, including Vermentino, Pigato, Granaccia and Rossese di Ventimiglia. We continue with traditional dishes such as Ligurian rabbit with taggiasca olives and pine nuts, the cima genovese, roasts prepared with the meat of local butchers, and above all we taste the signature dish of the agriturismo: snails alla verezzina. This is an ancient speciality whose preparation requires time and dedication that is certainly not as fleeting as we are used to today. "Snails alla verezzina are made by preparing two types of chopped mixture: the first with garlic, parsley, onion, capers, anchovies, aromatic herbs, pine nuts and chilli. With this mixture the first stage of cooking takes place, lasting five to six hours.

Then comes the second mixture made with bread, capers and hazelnuts, for another ten to fifteen minutes with the addition of wine and meat broth. Needless to say, we don't even know what a stock cube is," Mrs Ivana reveals. Finally, we certainly don't resist the sweet temptation of the house desserts, including the amaretto pudding and the fantastic tarts made with jams of apricots, strawberry grapes, peaches and sometimes goji berries. After a splendid day like this, leaving is not easy: we manage it only by taking with us, besides the memory of the colourful reflections of the caves and flowers of Borgio Verezzi, also some jars of pickled capers and caper sauce with pine nuts and Vessalico garlic (a Slow Food Presidium) produced by the farm, and promising ourselves to return here soon, perhaps for the Snail Festival organised by the La Concordia Mutual Aid Society on 13-14 August.

A little healthy slowness experienced in this wonderful place will always do us good.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

Via Ortari, 22 Borgio Verezzi (SV) Tel.: 019/611952