Is there a food more comforting, more reminiscent of home and more suited to rainy, grey days than a perfect roast chicken with all the trimmings? A whole burnished chicken, stuffed with an onion, garlic, half a lemon, some springs of rosemary, thyme perhaps. Sizzling with the butter and fat it’s been basted with, some scattered salt crystals and a few chopped thyme leaves to … Continue reading Roast Chicken and other stories…
Sticky post
Six months felt like the natural time to start a blog on our new life here in the Castelli Romani. Where I hear you ask? Nestled some 10 km South East of Rome in Lazio, the Castelli Romani comprises sixteen towns set in the beautiful Colli Albani (Alban Hills). Rich in history and known for its food and wine (think the eponymous white wine in … Continue reading Six Months….how on earth did we get here?
There are so many stories I want to tell – and opening sentences that I’ve turned over in my head many times, only to be discarded half written as I try to settle down to what it is that I really want to say. I’m brimming with tales of how we’ve moved, slowly but surely from summer to autumn: of Ottabretta Romana and the pile … Continue reading A feast for the senses
It’s been a funny old week. Something’s not quite right and I’ve struggled to pin down exactly what’s been niggling me. I’ve not been drawn too much to introspection since we arrived here in March. Our lives have become a blank canvas for us to paint as we wish. True Freedom. There’s still so much to be discovered and places already found, that we long … Continue reading A change is gonna come
Hi and welcome. I’m Cathy, or Catty as the Italians tend to pronounce it! Originally from the beautiful university town of Cambridge in the UK, I moved to Grottaferrata in the Castelli Romani in March 2019 with my husband and 6 year old miracle IVF daughter, Mimi. Oh and our elderly cat Maisie and recently adopted kitten Mimitu, the craziest kitty in Europe, who is … Continue reading About
It’s not a question I’d ever asked myself before the move, when living in the flat fens of Cambridgeshire, despite being a stone’s throw away from what is arguably East Anglia’s greatest cathedral. And what a place for three atheists to start their new life, in the foothills of the Vatican City no less! Now whilst the Catholic Church is an ever present feature in … Continue reading What do you do when the priest comes knocking?
From Cambridge to the Castelli Romani 