Today was a good day. We took a train out of Rome and out of the heat and headed to Frascati via Tor Vergata train stop to visit a winery named Antiche Terre Tuscolane. Our host gave us a grand tour of the vineyard, the winery has been in the family for 9 generations. The area is rich with volcanic rock from a nearby extinct volcano giving the soil an acidic tinge which makes amazing white wines. We walked through the vineyard and learned about the grapes and the delicate balance of humidity, sun, soil and temperature to produce the optimum grapes. This particular vineyard uses a canvas method to help balance the sun and rain for producing the best grapes.

We had the opportunity to visit the caves where the wine is produced and stored before it gets sent out. We sampled a wine in the cave and then sampled a few more outside.

We also sampled some cheese, biscuits (cookies) and pizza bread during our visit.

After our visit to the winery, we headed out to Frascali proper and took a walking tour with our host Daniella. She walked us through the city plaza and showed us the Italian prince’s home pictured below.

She then took us to this church and gave a bit of history. During World War II, the Nazi’s took over Frascali and used it as a base of operations. The United States bombarded the area with 2500 bombs destroying most of the city except for the church pictured below and the water fountain.

We continued our tour with a stop at a cookie shop where the cookies have tits. Not just two tits like a normal cookie but three tits and they represent the three good things in Pascali: wine, milk, honey.

We then made a pit stop at the bakery below, constructed in 1300’s and had a small pizza made from a shop across the street from the bakery. The place was called Ceralli (1920).

We ended up at Hostaria Santa Maria restaurant and sampled some bread and pasta. We had a great conversation with a couple from Ohio but stationed in Germany on the tour. We completed our visit and really liked Frascali. It is located on a high hill area and there was a cool Mediterranean breeze blowing through the city.

I asked our host how much a two bedroom apartment would rent for in the city and she said about 1000 euros per month. I took a photo of some real estate options as well.

Sadly, we had to head back to Rome and the infernal heat…

Categories: Rome, Italy
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