The social center of Torre Orsina is the small bar located on the piazzetta. It opens daily at 8am to serve caffé and cappuccino. There are only two stools at the counter, but a table and chairs for 4 inside, along with 3-4 additional tables and chairs outside. They will close just as the 1pm lunch hour approaches and then reopen at 4pm and remain so until closing well after midnight during the festa. The small town council owns the bar and sets many of the prices, but offers someone the opportunity to run the bar for a small annual fee. Any money they collect above the fee is theirs to keep. (Someone must have suggested that Cinzia and I pay for a membership since we’ll be here for a month, so we each paid €6 and received an official membership card with various other official documents being stamped and filed with the council, town, region, and Italian officials, I’m sure.) It’s certainly not a profitable venture, but more of a community service. Years ago Virgilio and Luigina ran the bar. I recall Evo running the bar in 1997 when I first visited Torre Orsina. In recent years, Cinzia and I have enjoyed Maurizio, and his wife, Fabiana, as they made a go of running the bar. About 3 years ago, just after our last trip to Torre Orsina in 2015, their daughter gave them their first grandchild, so they no longer had the time to properly man the bar and a new couple took the reins.
This couple lasted all of 3 months before Carlo, and his wife Patrizia, took over. The town didn’t take it well when they decided to close the bar entirely for the winter months. As you might imagine, this is their slow season as few people live in Torre Orsina full time and even fewer spend money at the bar in the cold winter evenings. While it’s certainly not worth it having the bar opened for all those hour to sell a few cappuccinos, it’s still the social hub of the town. Closing goes against the rules in their contract, but what recourse does the council have? Carlo and Patrizia put little to no money into the bar. The billiard table upstairs was not maintained and the second floor is now closed. The selection of drinks, snacks, and ice cream was also reduced. Bottles of liquor run low and are only restocked if there is a demand. When we arrived Cinzia could not even get a Spritz! Sufficed to say that the bar, and the town, has not been the same since Maurizio and Fabiana ran the place.
In the almost 2 weeks since we’ve arrived in Torre Orsina we’ve not seen Maurizio. We pass his home, with his 3 large barking dogs, each day but never seen him. Finally during one of our walks down into town we spotted Fabiana out on her balcony. She’s all smiles as she runs down to greet us. She tells Cinzia that Maurizio is working long hours as a baker and is always sleeping, but that she’ll have us over for dinner one evening. A few days later I’m walking through the Colle with Maria Giulia and Maurizio drives by. He sees me and stops his car to greet me. He looks exhausted. We came to find out that the bakery has expanded its clientele and Maurizio is not only having to work harder, but since August is vacation time he’s working double shifts 7 days a week to cover. He arrives at work at 3am each day and puts in 15 hours. The next day Cinzia and I see him on his balcony and he immediately asks Fabiana if she can have us over for dinner the following day. We’ll have pizza. It’s all set.
After coordinating via Facebook messenger, we arrive at 8pm. Maurizio has brought home a couple types of pizza dough and Fabiana must have 8 different pizzas ready go to. Their daughter Virginia is there with her husband Omar and their 3yr old daughter, Penelope. Maurizio’s 17 year old daughter Ginevra is there with her 33 year old boyfriend too. Pizzas are layed out on the table with more in the oven. The first is filled with prosciutto, copicola, mortadella, and Parmigiano and made like a focaccia with no toppings. Very good. The next is more of a traditional pizza with tomato sauce and eggplant, but little cheese. Italians do not put a lot of cheese on their pizzas. I estimated that we put more cheese on the 2 pizzas we usually make for ourselves at home than on all of the pizzas Maurizio made this evening. There is a pizza of cheese, prosciutto, and mushrooms, and another of simply tomato sauce and cheese. More than one pizza is made of each style. Maurizio knows that I like spicy pizza and makes one with a Calabrian spiced salami. A few slices are on the table and it’s VERY hot. The pizza is simply the dough topped with a thin layer of the salami – no sauce or cheese. It’s great.
I ask him about the dough and he tells me that some pizzas have a simple dough, but the hot salami pizza has a dough made with “00” wheat flour, soy flour, rye flour, baker’s yeast, malt, salt and water. It’s a traditional Roman style pizza made in pans with a thicker crust that’s light and airy on the inside, but crunchy and chewy on the outside. I immediately concede that his pizza is better than mine.
We brought I small gift for Penelope from Florida – a Minnie Mouse T-shirt in red, white, and blue. We knew that it would be a hit when she arrived and came to show us her little Minnie Mouse backpack/luggage. She immediately put on her new shirt, hopped in her highchair, and demanded to have soup for dinner. Nanna Fabiana obliged.
The meal ended with an assortment of liquors for Cinzia. She went with Mirto, a liqueur made from a purple berry, perhaps related to the blueberry, that only grows in Sardinia. It’s served cold straight from the freezer. Virginia and Omar are having a church wedding on Saturday, so while she’s showing Cinzia her pink dress, Maurizio is showing me his Airsoft gear. Airsoft is very popular in Italy. It’s like paintball, but uses small plastic beebees fired from authentic weapons, so they are much more accurate. Teams are formed and there are various games that can be played – some lasting 3 minutes and others lasting 3 days. There’s the equivalent of a D&D dungeon master who lays out the intricacies of the games with members donning authentic military gear – the more authentic the better. Omar has a complete set of U.S. Army desert camo which cost him €1,000. Maurizio has duffel bags filled with camo shirts, pants, hats, thermal underwear, etc. His camo gloves cost €300! Then he brings out his weapons. A pistol as heavy and well made as anything a police officer would carry. Then an AK-47 semi-automatic with a dozen clips and precision sight. Next, a sniper long gun complete with tripod legs, silencer, and the works. This hobby must cost him a fortune. He’s excited to go on his next Airsoft games – a 3-day trip with Omar. We joke that it’s a holiday for Fabiana. Omar produces his smartphone to show me videos of some of their games. This one is indoors as his team navigates a maze of authentic buildings. They all have real Motorola radios so they can communicate among team members. There are officials on the “course” who enforce various rules of engagement. Several members must have cameras. Some are mounted on their helmets of on their weapons, so the video looks like a video game. Omar says that some of their missions are based upon video games, like Call of Duty or Black Ops. For the larger outdoor games, Maurizio even brings one of his dogs. He shows me some of the authentic patches he has, saying that they’re from Seal Team 6. The patches look thin and cheap, so I doubt that they are authentic. I make a mental note to see if I can have some name tags made up for Maurizio and Omar. I may have some of my old Air Force stuff around the house or might be able to get them something simple, like camo U.S. flag patches or rank.
We wrap up as midnight approaches. The quality of the food was only outmatched by the company. Maurizio is a great guy and the bar, as well as all of Torre Orsina, is just not the same now that he’s no longer running the bar. He says that his 15 hour shifts will end at the end of the month, so maybe we’ll see him at the bar in September and sit down for a game of burraco or gin.
In the almost 2 weeks since we’ve arrived in Torre Orsina we’ve not seen Maurizio. We pass his home, with his 3 large barking dogs, each day but never seen him. Finally during one of our walks down into town we spotted Fabiana out on her balcony. She’s all smiles as she runs down to greet us. She tells Cinzia that Maurizio is working long hours as a baker and is always sleeping, but that she’ll have us over for dinner one evening. A few days later I’m walking through the Colle with Maria Giulia and Maurizio drives by. He sees me and stops his car to greet me. He looks exhausted. We came to find out that the bakery has expanded its clientele and Maurizio is not only having to work harder, but since August is vacation time he’s working double shifts 7 days a week to cover. He arrives at work at 3am each day and puts in 15 hours. The next day Cinzia and I see him on his balcony and he immediately asks Fabiana if she can have us over for dinner the following day. We’ll have pizza. It’s all set.
After coordinating via Facebook messenger, we arrive at 8pm. Maurizio has brought home a couple types of pizza dough and Fabiana must have 8 different pizzas ready go to. Their daughter Virginia is there with her husband Omar and their 3yr old daughter, Penelope. Maurizio’s 17 year old daughter Ginevra is there with her 33 year old boyfriend too. Pizzas are layed out on the table with more in the oven. The first is filled with prosciutto, copicola, mortadella, and Parmigiano and made like a focaccia with no toppings. Very good. The next is more of a traditional pizza with tomato sauce and eggplant, but little cheese. Italians do not put a lot of cheese on their pizzas. I estimated that we put more cheese on the 2 pizzas we usually make for ourselves at home than on all of the pizzas Maurizio made this evening. There is a pizza of cheese, prosciutto, and mushrooms, and another of simply tomato sauce and cheese. More than one pizza is made of each style. Maurizio knows that I like spicy pizza and makes one with a Calabrian spiced salami. A few slices are on the table and it’s VERY hot. The pizza is simply the dough topped with a thin layer of the salami – no sauce or cheese. It’s great.
I ask him about the dough and he tells me that some pizzas have a simple dough, but the hot salami pizza has a dough made with “00” wheat flour, soy flour, rye flour, baker’s yeast, malt, salt and water. It’s a traditional Roman style pizza made in pans with a thicker crust that’s light and airy on the inside, but crunchy and chewy on the outside. I immediately concede that his pizza is better than mine.
We brought I small gift for Penelope from Florida – a Minnie Mouse T-shirt in red, white, and blue. We knew that it would be a hit when she arrived and came to show us her little Minnie Mouse backpack/luggage. She immediately put on her new shirt, hopped in her highchair, and demanded to have soup for dinner. Nanna Fabiana obliged.
The meal ended with an assortment of liquors for Cinzia. She went with Mirto, a liqueur made from a purple berry, perhaps related to the blueberry, that only grows in Sardinia. It’s served cold straight from the freezer. Virginia and Omar are having a church wedding on Saturday, so while she’s showing Cinzia her pink dress, Maurizio is showing me his Airsoft gear. Airsoft is very popular in Italy. It’s like paintball, but uses small plastic beebees fired from authentic weapons, so they are much more accurate. Teams are formed and there are various games that can be played – some lasting 3 minutes and others lasting 3 days. There’s the equivalent of a D&D dungeon master who lays out the intricacies of the games with members donning authentic military gear – the more authentic the better. Omar has a complete set of U.S. Army desert camo which cost him €1,000. Maurizio has duffel bags filled with camo shirts, pants, hats, thermal underwear, etc. His camo gloves cost €300! Then he brings out his weapons. A pistol as heavy and well made as anything a police officer would carry. Then an AK-47 semi-automatic with a dozen clips and precision sight. Next, a sniper long gun complete with tripod legs, silencer, and the works. This hobby must cost him a fortune. He’s excited to go on his next Airsoft games – a 3-day trip with Omar. We joke that it’s a holiday for Fabiana. Omar produces his smartphone to show me videos of some of their games. This one is indoors as his team navigates a maze of authentic buildings. They all have real Motorola radios so they can communicate among team members. There are officials on the “course” who enforce various rules of engagement. Several members must have cameras. Some are mounted on their helmets of on their weapons, so the video looks like a video game. Omar says that some of their missions are based upon video games, like Call of Duty or Black Ops. For the larger outdoor games, Maurizio even brings one of his dogs. He shows me some of the authentic patches he has, saying that they’re from Seal Team 6. The patches look thin and cheap, so I doubt that they are authentic. I make a mental note to see if I can have some name tags made up for Maurizio and Omar. I may have some of my old Air Force stuff around the house or might be able to get them something simple, like camo U.S. flag patches or rank.
We wrap up as midnight approaches. The quality of the food was only outmatched by the company. Maurizio is a great guy and the bar, as well as all of Torre Orsina, is just not the same now that he’s no longer running the bar. He says that his 15 hour shifts will end at the end of the month, so maybe we’ll see him at the bar in September and sit down for a game of burraco or gin.