I hadn’t been back to Calabria in many years, but it felt like being sucked into a time machine. When we got on the “Strada dei Due Mare” (the Road of Two Seas), which leads from Lamezia Terme to the Ionian Sea, the scent was enough to flood my mind with unforgettable memories: a mixture of wild fennel, black anise, myrtle, juniper, black pine, licorice, sea salt, and the wind off the mountains. Because this is what Calabria is like: the sea, or rather the seas, and the mountains, Pollino, Sila and Aspromonte, which give shape and strength to the toe of Italy’s boot. And so we begin, with the fragrance in our hearts, the light caressing the hills, and the wind moving the turbines, new landmarks scattered almost everywhere. The first stop suggested by chef Caterina Ceraudo, our guide and travel companion, is in San Floro, about six miles from Catanzaro, to discover an institution that radiates positive energy and produces organic stone-milled flours: Mulinum. “If the people living in a certain territory do nothing to protect it, the territory is doomed to disappear.” This is how Stefano Caccavari, the mind behind the project, begins. “I’m a computer buff, but this isn’t Silicon Valley. I looked around and asked myself: What is this land’s calling?” And that’s how Mulinum was founded, financed by a fundraiser launched on Facebook and built from scratch in an environmentally responsible way in just less than four months, transforming a good idea into reality (it works so well that it will soon be replicated in Tuscany and Puglia). The ancient grains are grown without the use of any chemicals; the flour is ground in original stone millstones (saved from the last of the nine mills of San Floro); and they even make and sell their own bread and pizza. We taste a piece of “Brunetto,” their best-selling bread made from wholemeal semolina, and we set off again, this time toward the Azienda Agricola Ceraudo where we’ll spend the night.
Up the mountain we go
We are awoken by the first light of the sun, singing birds, a velvety sheep’s milk yogurt and bread with candied lemon, made by Caterina with flour from Mulinum. Full of energy, we get ready to head to Cupone (in the province of Cosenza), where there’s an entrance to the Sila National Park. A guide is waiting for us to explain the features of the park and take us on a short hike, during which, alas, we do not encounter any Silano wolves, the symbol of the park. To reenergize after our trek, we visit Camigliatello Silano (at an altitude of 4,173 feet, where people come to ski in the winter) for a break that’s more than revitalizing: grilled caciocavallo cheese, freshly picked and grilled porcini mushrooms (Calabria was one the first Italian regions to export these mushrooms), soppressata, Calabrian sausage and ʼmpacchiuse potatoes (sliced and cooked in a frying pan until they form a crust and start to stick to each other), capocollo, pecorino cheese, Rositi mushrooms marinated in oil (another typical variety of the undergrowth in the park) and, of course, chili peppers, whether in a sauce, crumbled, ground into a powder (here they call it red pepper) or transformed into a compote. To finish off in style, we’re served a portion of “pitta ʼmpigliata,” a rich and flaky strip of dough filled with raisins, dried fruit and honey that’s rolled up, held closed with a toothpick, and then baked in the oven. It’s accompanied by a glass of Jefferson Amaro Importante, from Cosenza’s Vecchio Magazzino Doganale, which won the World Drinks Award in 2018 for the best herbal liqueur in the world.
Our return to the coast allows us to admire a rapidly changing landscape: from conifers (the highest point of the Sila plateau, Botte Donato, is at 6,325 feet above sea level) to birches, maples and other broad-leaved trees that also crop up from the waters of Lake Cecita, a man-made reservoir created by stemming the flow of the Mucone River to generate electricity and ensure an adequate water supply for crops and farms raising sheep, Podolica cattle and goats (more on the Tyrrhenian side). Together with farmers and fishermen, shepherds and dairymen play a crucial role in the Calabrian economy. Caterina has chosen her very own suppliers of dairy products, meats and cured meats after extensive research, in order to pinpoint the best possible products that are also the most respectful to animals and the environment.
The professions of shepherd and dairyman have changed very little over the centuries (health rules aside, of course) and still retain something archaic and magical. Giuseppe De Tursi, who has been running his farm (founded by his father Luigi in 1947) in the Murge di Strongoli hills using organic methods since 1994, tells us this with emotion and pride. “Our sheep graze freely; they don’t know what animal feed is, not even the organic kind. Since we haven’t intervened in the fields in any way for years – no sowing, no fertilizers – little by little the flora that had been lost has been restored. Sprouting up once again are wild herbs, medicinal plants and wild thistle, which we use for plant-based dairy making and what the sheep graze on to preserve their health.” It is precisely because of this that the milk is so exceptional, as is the yogurt, which we ate for breakfast along with peaches picked straight from the trees in Caterina’s orchard. After visiting the dairy, Giuseppe and his wife Rosalba prepare the shepherd’s breakfast: in a bowl, they pour a bit of “scotta” (the whey remaining after ricotta is made), then they add in pieces of dry bread and a few tablespoons of freshly made ricotta. We drive back to Strongoli, once the ancient city of Petelia, which is home to the marble bases containing the Wine Testament of Magno Megonio, a winemaker from the second century. The view from the square of the Santa Maria delle Grazie church or from the open space in the back is breathtaking: on one side the Sila mountains and on the other the Ionian sea. Pausing to take in the sea, you can feel the wonder of the white beaches, the steep cliffs, and the protected nature reserves that stretch for miles: Pantano, Gabella Grande, Capo Colonna, Capo Rizzuto. For an ultra luxurious break, you can travel by sailboat to the Praia Art Resort, a magical place where time seems to stops. But today we are sticking to the land, and Caterina takes us to eat some typical dishes at a family-run trattoria in Cirò named L’Aquila d’Oro. Elisabetta Cariati is in the kitchen while her husband and son are in the dining room. It would be impossible to list everything I savored, but I can assure you some of the most memorable items were the sautéed fava bean pods with bread crumbs, vinegar and mint, the focaccia with elderflower oil, the “cipollata” (scrambled eggs with stewed onions, tomato, and basil), the goat blood sausage with bell peppers, the goat liver, and the anchovy meatballs.
And the sea?
So far we’ve seen it from (not too) far away, but we slowly draw closer, stopping to visit the city of Crotone. At the port we meet Angelo, who supplies Caterina with the best fish. As he tells me about the pearly razorfish, so elegant with their sky blue, yellow and pink streaks, a honking truck whizzes by. It announces that a trawler has arrived with the catch of the day and invites anyone who has a counter or shop to the fish auction. We also participate (as spectators). Everything takes place in a flash: the fisherman sets the starting price, the auctioneer offers, and the interested parties raise and buy in rapid succession. Here they’re spoiled for choice: shrimp, cod of different sizes, mullet, cuttlefish, octopus, baby octopus, sole, and more.
Of course, after all this spectating, my stomach begins to growl. We are awaited at the seaside restaurant Da Ercole, one of the province’s most famous. Calamari with oregano, crostini with “sardella” (young sardines salted then blended with spicy or sweet red pepper and wild fennel until you get a cream; Caterina filters it through a sieve to make it perfectly smooth), marinated anchovies, “Pythagorean” spaghetti carbonara (an original creation by chef Ercole Villirillo), and “quadaro,” a peasant’s fish soup with tomato and chili pepper eaten with slices of toasted bread. The name comes from the giant pans that were once carried on the trawlers: the fishermen, after dividing the best fish into crates for sale, would cook the third-rate fish in the pan (the “quadaro”) to eat before returning to port. Today, this soup has been enhanced with more prized fish varieties, such as Peter’s fish, scorpionfish and gurnard, but still remains a bit unrefined, with heads and bones included to provide the dish with greater flavor.
A happy oasis
Halfway between Strongoli and the sea lies the farm founded in 1973 by Roberto Ceraudo (now run by his three children, Susy, Giuseppe and Caterina), a 17th-century farmstead surrounded by acres of land and a true place of wonders. Here the real masters are the ancestral rhythms, the passing of the seasons and respect for the land, cultivated with organic farming for more than 30 years. The vineyards produce fascinating wines such as Grayasusi, a genuine, fruity rosé made from Gaglioppo grapes perfect to serve during a meal. Meanwhile, the olive trees – which date back thousands of years – bear an authentic, delicate oil. Inside the walls of the estate, in what was once an olive oil mill, there’s the Dattilo restaurant (Michelin-starred since 2012) which Caterina runs with grit and determination. Her dishes are small gems, full of wisdom (mullet, bread and oranges), energy (Podolica beef, roses, Jerusalem artichokes and coffee), and love (anchovies, toasted almonds and Jefferson amaro). A palpable love toward her family and her land. Those who dine at Dattilo can also stay overnight in one of the seven recently renovated rooms and experience the hospitality of Casa Ceraudo first-hand: trust me, you’ll wish you could stay forever. And I say this because leaving Dattilo wasn’t easy. I retraced the road back to the Lamezia Terme airport with the car windows down, to fill my head with the wonder that is Calabria, and left with the certainty that I would come back again soon, to take in the aromas that will always make my heart skip a beat.
Photos by Monica Vinella