Chiocciola and Tre Gamberi, the Capanno in Spoleto is considered one of Italy's best trattorias. Its strength lies in its "identity": "We don't want to be something different from our history."
Il Capanno
The story
White in the green, Spoleto looks even more beautiful since escalators have made the most hard-to-reach views magically accessible. An open city with many talents: its festival, the UNESCO site and even gastronomy. A few kilometers from the built-up area, in fact, through the forest area of a hill, one arrives at a trattoria, which attracts gourmands from all over central Italy. But a real trattoria, not the downshifting of some bored starred chef: continuity here has blood ties and it spans over 50 years.
The story resembles many others, the child of times when licenses were given by customers. Once upon a time Dad Giuseppe and Mom Angela, a couple with no gastronomic studies other than their empirical training at home, decided to open their own place on family land. It was not an actual restaurant, but a space for summer snacks, since it snowed a lot in those days and in the cold, no one would dare coming over. Stone by stone, out came a small building near the old hunting lodge, with a fireplace, a table, and a peephole for shooting in an area that overflowed with thrushes and wood pigeons.
Demand, however, was increasing no longer just snacks, but also pasta dishes and grilled meat. Angela and a few other village women were behind the rolling pin making pasta, while Giuseppe tended the coals and grilled the meats. They were only open at lunch, however, as he continued to be a subcontractor in the fields, working vineyards and olive groves, and thus had a way to supplement his income. The interest in running the restaurant increased as his children grew up.
Mauro e Daniela
Mauro started to get his first taste of restaurant work at the age of seven, and he became a server as a teenager. "But I was always very shy and when people came, I would hide under a tree." His sister Cristina, on the other hand, attended hotellerie school and later returned to work at the restaurant. At the same pace, the place grew with the first expansion of the stone hall, the house above and the two guest rooms in 1980; the construction of the second hall in 2000. In the meantime, awards (the snail from Slow Food and the Tre Gamberi from Gambero Rosso) started to arrive, so that today this is a place worth the detour and even the trip, as customers at the tables testify.
The trattoria
The team is cohesive. Mauro Rastelli, who seems to have overcome his shyness, is both the director and front man: he runs the room, administers the cellar, takes care of the raw material purchases and has his say on the dishes. Wife Daniela oversees the pasta dishes and desserts, son Giulio the appetizers, Daniela the main courses, and his mother Angela also continues to help.
The land obviously takes the lead with its raw materials. "We try to buy as close to us as we can: goat and sheep cheeses from Francesco Rossi, including Colforcella pecorino, which is a ‘Parmiggiano’ made in 25-kilo wheels; lambs and cured meats from Strettura; Regina dei Sibillini dry pasta; and extra virgin olive oil from several Umbrian mills. We have a nice vegetable garden patch, which is not enough, however, and several people foraging: they pick rampions, chicory, pimpernel, and saprusella (a wild herb native to Umbria) for us, which are great mixed together. There have been a lot of mushrooms this year, and there is almost no shortage of truffles in their different varieties, including the white ones. This year, we’ve also planted almost 500 wild asparagus plants that we are going to harvest later."
Egg-stuffed potato, truffle parmesan fondue and fresh truffle petals
Wines are also on the rise in the area, especially Trebbiano spoletino, an ampelographic ally distinct grape variety from its namesakes, which is making critics fall in love with its potential: it also has great aging potential. "I remember in the beginning, we used to go with Dad and buy demijohns of wine in Montefalco, and when we returned, I would bottle the wine. But it was never stable: sometimes it was good, sometimes not as much. Today, everything has changed. What’s better to pair along with truffles than a Trebbiano Tabarrini, with its empyreumatic and underbrush scents? To out-of-town guests I always propose an Umbrian label, with local diner I expand my proposal range instead. I’m passionate about Piedmontese wines," confesses Mauro, who also boasts fine Italian and French bottles among his 700 labels.
Passatelli pasta with roasted tomato cream, burrata stracciatella cheese and basil
Battered Valnerina char, with radish and berries
But the proposal is not just geographically Umbrian. Those who are from here feel at home. You must know the local cuisine, which is quite distinct from its neighboring ones: it is textural and produce-driven, certainly, but it is also lighter, dancing and aromatic, with a dosage of scents all its own. As at Il Capanno, precisely, where excess seasonings are banished and in a game dish, notes of thyme and juniper, laurel, sage and sorbastrella berries are interwoven with measure for an earthy turn.
Bread dumplings, parmesan strigoli fondue and roasted hazelnuts
The dishes
It is difficult to pass up the cured meats as the meal begins, some of which are produced in-house: a resounding coppa, capocollo, ciauscolo from Val Nerina, prosciutto, and salami, as well as sausages in oil, (now discontinued way of preparing them), which continue to mature while preserving a doughy texture.
Salumi
The truffle fritattina was stunning, which is actually a scrambled egg that’s still runny and undercooked, whisked with the grated tuber with virtually no salt, cooked in the pan and sautéed incessantly for 45 seconds, and then plated. It cannot be perfected in its own simplicity.
Truffle frittata
Strangozzi, prepared at home with water and a small number of eggs, are served with truffle, alla spoletina with tomato and chili, with saffron milkcap mushrooms or with white pigeon ragù. These are basically the carcasses, which are the left over from the pigeon preparation: they are cooked with a mixture of flavorings and deboned.
Summer Truffle Strangozzi
The apotheosis is in the main courses: in good weather there is the large outdoor firepit for cooking venison, lamb, stuffed pigeon, partridge, and pigeon casserole, served along a small rampion salad.
Costine di agnello locale alla brace con le patate
An Umbrian cheese plate, wild blackberry jam tart, and zuppa inglese can all be found on the menu as desserts.
Shortbread tart with custard, peaches, and bergamot ice cream
Pictures by Lido Vannucchi
Address
Il Capanno
Località Torre Cola, 6, 06049 Torrecola PG
Tel: 0743 54119
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