Lazio Doesn’t Disappoint- Rieti to Paganico

Last night in Rieti we walked around to see the historic center and to check out the International Pepper Festival.  Rieti was a bit busy and the festival added to the general chaos!  The festival was spread all over the historic center with booths overflowing with peppers and street food from all over Italy and the occasional hamburger stand.  We didn’t spend too long there but made sure to see the marker of the center of Italy. Rieti claims to be the exact center. 



There seemed to be peppers submitted from all over the world and there was a large exhibit room showing all the different varieties.  Who knew there were pepper competitions!


The morning started a bit earlier for us as I felt the need to beat the heat as there was a large climb pretty early on.  The climb was a moderately steep six kilometers but it was nice to be in the cooler morning air and still mostly in the shade.  Of course stopped at a local bar to take on some rocket fuel.


My overall expectations for this part of the trip were modest.  I thought this part would be less scenic and a bit impoverished.  Wrong and wrong.  It was another stunner of a day.  Multiple over the top quaint villages, acquamarine lakes, pastoral fields of cattle, sheep, goats and beautiful vineyards and of course olive groves. 






We stopped in the village of Posticciola at a restaurant for lunch.  A first for me an entirely oral menu and of course the proprietor spoke no English but we figured out what to order and had the best meal of the trip so far.  We had a guessing game as to what the bill might be.  The lowest guess was about twenty euros more than the bill was.  So 54 euros for home made pasta dishes beer and several bottles of water for four people. Crazy. Here we are leaving the Taverna da Elena.  Go there if you can.  



We arrived in the village of Paganico where our lodging for the night is.  A village clinging to a hillside with incredible views. The host arranged for a dinner at the home of a chef so more on that later.  These are views from our room and terrace above. 



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