Tuesday 20th September

 

We drove out of the airport and soon found the main road to Rome and then the route south towards Napoli. The trip was uneventful and we stopped for coffee and a sandwich on the way finding also some  Cantucci d’Abruzzo which are pistachio and lemon cookies on sale so we stocked up on those, just in case. The road was very clear of traffic and we made very good progress, despite there being a lot of road construction which constricted the highway into a single lane.

When we were somewhat south of the turning to Naples, we left the highway and turned towards Avellino which we found easily enough although the AirBnB that we had booked was rather more tricky to find. By this time we were getting low on gasoline as this car proved to have a relatively small tank. More on this later. After transiting small local roads several times, we eventually found the lovely Tenuta Santo Stefano Azienda Agriturismo. Here is the link This is a very lovely complex with a main building, some outbuildings with a wonderful barbecue grill and a large swimming pool. We were soon shown to our very pleasant room. As it was late lunch time the staff agreed to put together a small lunch for us which consisted of a simple spaghetti dish with fresh tomatoes, some bread and a bottle of wine. What better meal could we have on arrival in Italy? Then it’s was time for a nap.

Lunch!!

Our room

Dinner was booked at a nearby winery which also had a Michelin starred restaurant. This was only a few minutes drive from the Tenuta and is called Marenna. Marenna Restaurant There are few other words to describe our dinner other than ‘outstanding’. I will not list all the dishes on our tasting menu of seven courses. I also had the wine pairing. Each course had a unique and wonderful taste and the wines, mostly from the local winery were exceptional. The service was absolutely on point. There was just nothing at all to fault. Really a great experience. The winery also has accommodation so one could stay there too but we did not know this in advance but it is one for the notebook.

Then it was back to our AirBnB and sleep.