Girls Just Wanna Have Fun(ghi)!
“Oh, when the working week is done, oh girls just want to have funghi! Oooh, girls just wanna have funghi!”
My very own version of that feel good classic was swirling around my head the entire weekend as we climbed our way through the mountainous terrain around Cuano Mutri to devour some mushrooms. All Cyndi Lauper puns aside, this weekend was most definitely the best I’ve had in awhile…and I’ve been living in Rome for the past 5 weeks so that’s saying something! There are so many differences between Cusano and Rome, it’s almost like comparing apples to oranges. In a way, Cusano Mutri felt more authentic. I was not greeted in English, but *gasp* Italian! You would think living in Rome this would be common, but the constant tourist population definitely hinders any Italian language exchange. I fell in love with the small town atmosphere immediately and embraced the full mushroom menu I enjoyed all weekend. I am not exactly the outdoorsy type, so this was definitely an adventure in more ways than one.
Most of the weekend was planned around what were described as “novice hikes,” AKA: something even this athletically challenged, city-goer could handle. Well, what started as a leisurely stroll through a forest preserve on day one suddenly shifted gears into an intense, rocky climb on day two. Our guide for the second climb was hardly breaking a sweat as our group ascended 1,500 feet up hill. I’m convinced that this temporarily closed ski slope we were traversing was at least a 75 degree incline at all times, or at least that’s what my calves were telling me 15 minutes into our hike. Where were we climbing to you ask? To the top of the world:
A view like that was worth every bead of sweat and rock I tripped on getting to the top.
Throughout our trip, SO MANY mushrooms were eaten. I’m convinced my fellow JFRC members and I cleaned out the entire harvest ourselves. Each course we had included mushrooms in some way, from mushroom gnocchi to polenta in a tomato and mushroom sauce. There was no shortage of funghi that’s for sure! This fungal feast continued into the small vendors throughout Cusano Mutri. There were mushroom and truffle cheeses to be enjoyed! Cured sweet and spicy sausages to be devoured! Nutella doughnuts and various cakes to conclude our meals! And most importantly regional liquor to be tried, including fragolino. What was described as a strawberry wine, would be a closer relative to limoncello in my opinion. Now I mentioned previously that breakfast is not a huge deal in Italy contrary to what every American mother preaches. Being a breakfast connoisseur, I was initially weary of being without eggs and a huge coffee to start my day off. However, this weekend I was fully converted believing in an Italian breakfast. I’m convinced the woman who ran our cabins was a saint. Each morning, at 8:30 precisely, she would open the dining room and serve us a breakfast of freshly made cornetti (chocolate, cream, and marmalade filled), juice, and individually made cappuccinos and espresso. Divine intervention was surely the cause of such a magnificent spread.
Small town Italian culture is something I’m incredibly happy to have experienced first hand. The feeling of an entire town coming together to celebrate a harvest is overwhelmingly beautiful. Wine makers, farmers, local cooks, and townspeople all come together to celebrate the mushroom harvest as well as their own local products. Cusano Mutri wholeheartedly welcomed our group and treated us like members of their community, which I am grateful for. I’ll never get the insight to such an integral part of Italian culture as I did this weekend. Here’s to mushrooms and memories made at Cusano Mutri!
