2020

Panna Cotta with rose syrup

La Rogaia Recipes: Panna Cotta with Flower Syrup

The rose garden of La Rogaia opens again!

From mid-June we can welcome guests. To celebrate the end of the "Decameron", Amira has prepared a panna cotta with syrup made from roses and lilac flowers from our garden.

See you again at Villa La Rogaia!

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Sleeping Beauty Rogaia

When we came to La Rogaia more than twenty years ago, part of the garden was overgrown with blackberry bushes. And indeed, in the Umbrian dialect "le roghe" means: thorny brush ...

We then set about planting a garden and the name "ROGAIA" stood for us as an abbreviation for "ROse GArden In Advance"

The roses have grown and they bloom more beautifully every year - this year too. And our two daughters these days sometimes feel like living in a remote enchanted castle.

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Recipes from the "Decameron": "Stuck in paradise" and an Orange-Fennel-Carpaccio

Our garden is particularly beautiful these days.

Aurora - the "dawn" - and Amira - the "princess" - enjoy it to the fullest.
It is - like the garden of the Villa from the Decameron - a little paradise.

But sometimes they feel a bit “stuck in paradise”.
Aurora tells you about it.

And Amira presents you a new recipe:
A carpaccio with oranges and fennel - as colorful and fresh as spring!

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“La Zappa” or: Tango is back to the "Decameron"

For 20 years these were the first Easter holidays in La Rogaia without Tango guests and without Milongas with our Tango friends from Perugia!

As Wolfgang is a passionate tango dancer, that really made his heart bleed.

But then he found a way to "dance" nevertheless:

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Recipes from the "Decameron": Pasta with Leek and Walnuts

Easter is just around the corner, but this time without the traditional feast with family, friends and guests of our agriturismo.
But there is a delicious and very simple pasta recipe from Amira`s vegetarian cuisine, of course inspired by Mamma Ornella.
These are the little joys that will keep us going for the next few weeks of curfew - in Italy until May 3rd!

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Happy return to "Decameron"

After an absence of several weeks, Wolfgang, the master of the house, has returned to La Rogaia. He got "stuck" in Germany but finally he could come home.

As of now he is not allowed to have any contact with the ladies of the house as he is in "quarantine". He lives isolated in one of our holiday apartments until April 13, 2020. But nevertheless our joy is overwhelming. We can wave and talk to each other from terrace to terrace.

Immediately after his arrival, Wolfgang planted an olive tree as a sign of hope!

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Recipes from the "Decameron": Radicchio-Risotto, Food for Body and Soul

We are starting our fourth week of quarantine today and we feel so priviledged to be healthy and to live in a remote place in the countryside.
But the continuing tragedies with losses in so many families in Italy and the whole world make it hard also for us to keep spirits up.

Therefore cooking and eating together is an important part of our everyday life in the "Decameron". We try to preserve this "momento conviviale" (the moment of being together) which is so wonderfully important in Italy.
It is helping us and hopefully many other families in our country in these difficult times.

Our chef is Amira, who also takes care of our vegetable garden. Today she presents a traditional risotto recipe - with radicchio.

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Snow is falling on our "Decameron"

This morning we woke up to our little world covered in snow, the first in this winter and a rare thing in Umbria anyway.

It feels even more quiet and isolated than before.

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Humor is when you laugh anyway

Two days ago my mom brought us some nice photos when she had to go to Passignano to the pharmacy.

This is the church tower of San Vito, which was already used as a lighthouse for boatmen on Lake Trasimeno before the christianization.

A lighthouse is always a sign of hope in the dark and in stormy times!

How do we get through? Read on!

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"Decamerone"  by J.W.Waterhouse
"Decamerone" by J.W.Waterhouse. wikipedia.org

Life as in the "Decamerone" by Boccaccio

For more than a week we are staying in our Umbrian country house in an almost idyllic "protected area".

It feels ghostly: the everyday life (or what is left of it), the fears and the sufferings of our fellow citizens in Italy lie behind the gently rolling hills, the bees are buzzing in the spring sun and hyacinths and lime bushes exude their sweet fragrance.

This reminded us of the book "Decamerone" by Boccaccio. It describes a group of young people who flee to a country house near Florence at the time of the plague in the 14th century. They pass their time with storytelling.

And so we came up with the idea of sending stories, pictures and experiences from our Umbrian hill over the next few days (and weeks?)

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