The white evening of Anagni's Fuori Festival got off to a 'great' start, and we were happy to have been the corollary to a show that pulled the audience into a state of pure enjoyment.
To read the title one could have been terrified, 'The Orlando Furioso' by Ludovico Ariosto, even though Roberto Mercadini's name portended subtle levity. And indeed Roberto took us on a discovery of an author who is more surrealist than Calvino and more ironic than Pelham Grenville Wodehouse. Only he was doing this five centuries earlier!
According to Sciascia, reality always exceeds fantasy, but according to Roberto Mercadini, Ludovico Ariosto's fantasy far exceeds conventional fantasy and thus reality.
The show (monologue by Roberto) began by asking how a skirmish like the one at Roncesvalles became so popular along with the story of Orlando.
But then, after all, Orlando Furioso is not the story of Orlando but the story of many surreal characters immersed in magic, counter-magic and bravado.
In the end, I think we will all have to go regain our wits on the moon by rappelling a hippogriff or, alternatively, look for our 'disenchanting ring.' I promise to do so as of today!
After the audience's long and interminable applause at the end of the show, the Fuori Festival returned with the interview corner dedicated to the actor and 30 years of the Anagni Medieval and Renaissance Theater Festival and the signing of autographs by Roberto Mercadini.
Meanwhile, the producers led the audience in tastings of their excellence, telling their story and their connection to Anagni.
One thing surprised us positively, we found young, prepared people with a deep love for their choice to live in Anagni(and Alta Ciociaria) and work in agriculture.
We start with Francesco Trimani with a truly intriguing 2020 white: Strada Bianca. The name comes from the road that separates the vineyard where the grapes for this wine made with passerina, bellone and malvasia are harvested. Roberto let us in on the aromas of this wine, which demonstrates that even Lazio's white wines have reached a level of excellence. Roberto stayed late into the evening while Maria Vittori led the tasting of passerina from the Cantina Sociale del Piglio, one of the first social wineries in Lazio.
By the way, Stradabianca is an Anagni IGT, and let's remember that Anagni is one of the few territories that can have this designation!
The 'white' evening had mozzarella as its theme, and there are many dairy farms in the Tufano area of Anagni. Mauro Marocca of the Il Casale dairy guided us on a tour of his company, letting us taste buffalo mozzarella, cow mozzarella, and goat and sheep cheeses. A real riot of white for a guy who closes the entire production cycle and guarantees the authenticity of his products. Mauro also let us taste some excellent honey and cured meats that perfectly accompanied the wine.
The title of youngest producer of the evening (and happiest) goes to Francesco Bracci, who has taken over his grandfather's business and grown it. He presented his vegetables, but the real excellence is the Limousine cow meat he raises here in Anagni. For the past two years he has opened a butcher shop together with his fiancée, and his dream is to continue to grow by flying high but always remaining with his roots firmly planted in Anagni.
The mozzarella was accompanied by Torre Ercolana oil, a historic company in Anagni now led by the two Pilozzi sisters who have also opened their in-house oil mill (now open to other entrepreneurs). Their Torre Ercolana oil is a blend of the Moraiolo, Leccino, and Frantoio cultuivars that are typical of the Anagni area and come from an olive grove located about 400 meters above sea level.
And in an evening you cannot miss the bread thanks to the Antichi Sapori bakery in Sgurgola but especially the flours of the Pesoli Mill. And here Giovanni (aka Gianni) Pesoli deserves separate consideration because he is the reference for all of us wheat producers (us with Donna Vittori of Paliano) and has been milling for 3 generations in Anagni. His mastery is so well recognized that his clients include Bonci and Netflix has included him in one of its series on bread.
To close the evening we tasted fruit in brandy and jams from Angelo della Frutta in Sgurgola. Angelo's (his wife Luciana's and now their daughter's) story stems from a desire to reinvent himself after the closure of the factory where he worked and is representative of the journey of many people in the Sacco Valley.
Industrialization of the 1960s and 1970s with loss of crops and agricultural culture and a return to the land after the crises of the 2000s with a new mentality, with a desire to sell processed products and create unique scents and flavors of our land, Alta Ciociaria.
Thanks to the Proloco of Anagni for their invaluable help and support in the survey activity in which we are involving the spectators of the Anagni Medieval and Renaissance Theater Festival.
See you at the next bubbly night!