If you have seen the repeated episodes of the BBC TV series 'The Darling Buds of May' then will recall Ma and Pop Larkin and all the whole Larkin family sitting in the sunshine at a long table under the trees enjoying a feast of a meal. Well, eating at La Vialla is a very similar experience. My wife and myself joined 18 other guests, mainly from Holland, to eat an incredible meal at one long table under the olive trees on a hot August afternoon on this rural estate in Tuscany. It was one of the highlights of our stay in Italy this summer!
We have been ordering pasta sauces from La Vialla, via the internet, for two years now and decided that we would try to visit the source of these sauce this summer, while staying in Umbria. Fattoria la Vialla's website has a webcam, on which you can watch the farm's workers and their guests eating outside in the farmyard each day. I have been quite a compulsive viewer over the last year and so I was excited to see if it really was this idylic. Well, it is!
Castiglion Fibocchi is not easy to find and Fattoria la Vialla is not well signposted when your get to the village. We aimed for Arezzo and then folowed the river Arno out of town until we could cross it north west of the town. It was only on leaving the village that we saw a sign to Trattoria la Vialla. I would recommend that travellers get a good map of Tuscany if they are to find Castiglion Fibocchi.
On arrival, we were welcomed by an english speaking guide, Ana, who gave the two of us a personal tour of the farm, its manufacturing plant and its wine cellars. Generous tasting of their wines followed and an opportunity to order any of their locally made produce, which is shipped to the UK free of carriage cost. (Our order arrived today - three weeks after our visit!). La Vialla only supplies directly to the customer and does not use any 'middle men', so we took the opportunty to order our Christmas wines, and restock our pasta sauce cellar. It really is good pasta sauce and so many different varieties.
We had e mailed la Vialla in advance, to say that we would be visiting and we had booked our lunch at 25 euros per head. What good value it turned out to be. After our tour and shopping, we were directed to the outside table overlooking the valley and we then spent the next 3 hours enjoying the locally produced, cooked and served food and wine. Appetisers of all types filled an adjacent table, with light sparkling wines to accompany them, followed by a range of starters and more wine. Pasta dishes folllowed and more wine and then a lamb dish with much more wine. Desserts were supporetd by sweet wines and finally out came the grappa. All of this wonderful food and wine in a beautiful setting under the Tuscan olive trees with our hosts being less Larkin and more Lucietto - but equally hospitable.
We will call again next year, I hope. Now we have found Fattoria La Vialla it would be a pity not too. In the meantime, when we open their Bombolino pasta sauce, we will remember our 'Darling Buds of May' Italian experience.
