My favorite restaurant in Umbria, Ristorante Vineria Stella, is from now onwards also offering cooking courses.
The restaurant has been listed in the Slow Food Guide for many years and rightly so. It is the best place to go for a real good dinner, accompanied by wines you can and will only find here. The wine list (book rather!) contains bottles of many small producers, often making ‘natural wines’. Unique. Also the food is excellent, prepared with the best ingredients.
You can participate in a cooking course that starts at 5 o’clock and then continue to eat dinner in the restaurant. You can choose to prepare 3 typical dishes or you can choose to go ‘in depth’ and work on one specific course (like making pasta or torta al testo). A fun thing to do while on holiday in Umbria!
Price: 50 euro per person (including the dinner, excluding wines)
How to book: call Silvia on +390756920002 (at least 4 days in advance)
Number of participants: between 2 and 4 (the course is not suitable for young children)
Where: Ristorante Vineria Stella – Via dei Narcisi 47/a – 06126 – Perugia
Language spoken: English, Italian and German
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Another ‘novità’ they now offer is a take-away dinner of, obviously, excellent quality. You can book this two days in advance and pass by the restaurant between 18 en 20 hrs to pick it up.
The meals they can prepare to take-away are below, in Italian (I really can not translate a menu in English because it just always sounds very wrong!).
Box 1, € 15,00 a persona
Maccheroni artigianali con piselli dell’orto e guanciale di maiale umbro.
Parmigiana di melanzane.
Box 2, € 15,00 a persona
Lasagnette estive con ortaggi.
Sformatino di verdure col ragu di chianina.
Box 3, € 15,00 a persona
Torta al testo umbra farcita con spinacini.
Coniglio in porchetta con verdure dell’orto grigliate.
Box 4, € 15,00 a persona
Bocconcini di chianina all’ aceto balsamico ed erbe aromatiche.
Pomodori e zucchine ripieni e gratinati.
I just wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying your blog. I am a writer and my next book is set in Umbria. I was doing some research and google pulled up your blog. Since I’ve never been to the area, I’m very much enjoying the glimpses I’m getting. Thank you!
Hi Anita, thanks, very kind of you! You should come to Umbria, it is lovely! How come your book is set in Umbria?
I would LOVE to come to Umbria! I’ve never even been to Italy. My agent attends the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera every year and she also teaches a workshop in the Spring, but so far I haven’t had the funds to travel that far. 🙂
I chose Italy for the setting of Guardians of Stone because I needed catacombs and I didn’t want to use France. 🙂 Since I don’t know much about Italy, I did some research and talked to friends who have been there. I’ve also met a lovely woman who lives in Italy. I needed a region with lots of hills and trees, where I could have an area secluded enough for a secret castle to be hidden away from sight. It couldn’t be a city or large town. I’m using a fictitious small town, but placing it in Umbria. Other than a brief stay at a hotel outside Rome and a visit to St. Peter’s Square, the two settings in Italy are a quaint inn where the characters stay as they search for this secret castle, and the castle itself.
I’ve described the inn’s location as sitting about a hundred feet off the main street and backing up to a hill. The inn is approached by a lane and there is a small stand of woods or an area with trees between the inn and town. My critique partner insisted there were no trees in an Italian town setting, but it’s a very small quaint town, not a city with cramped streets. Do you think this setting could work in Umbria?
The castle is twenty minutes away from the inn. It’s very difficult to find because this secret order does not want company. It’s a hard two hour hike starting at what appears to be a goat trail and they’ll end up climbing over large rocks and crossing a swinging bridge over a dangerous ravine, basically an obstacle course designed to keep intruders out, before finally finding the castle. The castle itself is built against a hillside and disguised by vines. Very fairy tale like. The area around the castle is as beautiful as the area approaching it was harsh. There are caves, secret tunnels and catacombs on the castle grounds.
The book is a romantic mystery series with a paranormal twist. There are secret orders, castles, catacombs, mysterious curses, and ghosts. And I have movie interest. So I truly hope it fits the setting. My friend in Italy says it will. What do you think? You’re the expert!
Hi Anita,
many Italian towns have a park with trees and also big lanes in bigger towns can be lined with trees. The small towns (the old ones) never had wide streets … so your partner is right that finding trees in old towns is rare. Immediately outside town yes and also where the cemetery is (cipress trees).
The more difficult part to find in Umbria would be the track you describe to arrive at the castle. Umbria does not have many dangerous ravines. Also, where the countryside gets very rough, there usually are no castles. Or they are still in rocky conditions.
Did you see this post:
http://villainumbria.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/eremo-santa-maria-giacobbe-near-foligno/
This could be a nice setting because you have a small town, waterfalls and an old beautiful structure built against the rock. You do have to climb a bit to get there. However, it is not a castle.
Finding a castle overgrown with vines is also not easy … nothing comes to mind. However, in Umbria there are very many castles! I have not seen many of them yet.
Thanks so much for the info. My story is in no way meant to be taste of Italy, but I do want it to feel accurate. I may need to rethink my setting or change the area from Umbria. Actually, it’s only Umbria in my head. I haven’t mentioned it by name on the page. Since it’s a fictitious town, maybe my descriptions will be okay.
Some of what you are describing works nicely; for instance, the rough countryside. It could still work, even though there aren’t any castles in those areas since this is supposed to be hidden. And it’s fiction! 🙂 There’s only one ravine, which isn’t that deep. I guess I could eliminate it.Hmmm. I have to think about this.
The inn does sit just off the main part of town. I supposed I could move it farther out of town or get rid of the trees. I do have a chapel with a graveyard. I guess I could have the inn near the graveyard if I want trees close by. Are there any graveyards in town, or would they all be outside town?Probably best to just get rid of the trees. Darn. I love trees. I’ve seen pictures of areas similar to what I’ve described, but it was probably outside the town.
Loved the link you provided. Wow, that’s right on the side of the cliff. I suppose I could use the setting of Foligno. Again, it probably doesn’t matter too much since I’m not naming the area. Thanks so much for your input. Feel free to add any thing else!!!
As I mentioned, I really enjoyed the blog. Even those mating snakes. Creepy and amazing!