Monday 3rd June

Monday 3rd June
Today we got up at about 7.30 a.m. and had our usual fruit breakfast with coffee. The day had started off with bright sunshine and very little cloud and it was starting to warm up quite early so we were in for our first really nice day for quite a long time!! 

Then we drove into Pescara to buy a voucher for a spa which is actually at a small town called Spoltore just outside the city. The spa called AcquaPerla which is attached to a small boutique hotel called Citta Bianca at 142 Viale Europa in Spoltore.

We bought two vouchers and hope that Stefania and Daniela will be able to go together and this will help them heal their rift. After buying the voucher we returned to LFMD and changed in preparation for our lunch at La Bandeira in Civitella Casanova which is about 18 kms away in a small village. The restaurant which carries a Michelin star was started by a lady who had a dream.

Originally a lady called Anna D’Andrea who had worked as a chef in Rome came back to her roots in Civitella Casanova with a dream of starting a restaurant. Her son, Marcello Spadone and his wife Bruna and their children Alessio and Mattia together with a great staff have transformed what was a tobacconist into a superb Michelin starred restaurant featuring innovative takes on Abruzesse food. Bruna who is the chef and described as the ‘soul of the restautant’ has a kitchen garden from which many of the vegetables and herbs used in the cooking emanate. The place is also a B & B and has a pool and the most spectacular views of La Maiella mountain and the surrounding hills and valleys which all look wonderful shades of green after the large amount of rain that has fallen over the last few weeks.
Our lunch was relaxed and delicious with some small antipasto our start with, some pasta for the others and roasted artichokes for me followed as a main course with a version of arosticini for MAC and I and bacalau for Stefania and Bruno. Our ‘arosticini’ had a small ‘lamb burger’ alongside which was cute and tasty at the same time. To drink, we started with a sparkling local wine which was excellent and then we washed the meal down with a 2016 Fontana di Canale Trebbiano from the Tiberio vineyard of our friend Christiana.

Too full for dessert, we ordered coffee but were also brought some small ‘petit fours’ which together added up almost to a dessert!!

During lunch, we presented Stefania with the two vouchers for the spa treatments which we hope that she will enjoy with Daniela. This was her belated birthday present as we had even waiting for the spa at La Reserve at Caramanico to reopen so we could get a voucher for there but the place has either gone bust of they are delaying opening for some time. Their website is very confusing and seems to indicate that their 2019 season schedule is not yet available. Other reports seems to indicate that the place is no longer trading.

After lunch we took a stroll in the garden and then headed back via a different route to LFMD. The roads are not in too good shape around here and it was a bit of a bumpy ride but the countryside is so spectacular especially on a beautiful sunny spring day like today.
When we arrived back, Stefania showed us the sad sight of a robin’s next which had been made in her mailbox but which had been accidentally destroyed by the mail man when he delivered the mail. Then we walked over to a mulberry bush which she has in the garden that was full of sweet fruit which we tasted.

Then it was a rest.

The weather seems to be taking a turn for the better and maybe we will get a swim before we leave.

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