We have arrived in Lari, and have left Ugo in a convenient parking lot.
Looking in the direction we'll go.... I wonder about that little bridge between the buildings. Hmmm -- now that I think about it, I bet there used to be a gate there.........
Standing in the same place, looking back. See the silver car, partially visible behind the end of the closer wall on the right? Just below and to the left of the streetlight? That car is in the parking lot where we left Ugo.
Here's our destination.
My daughter did a lot of research before we left home. One of her study topics was "food producers we should visit." She based her decisions on recommendations from her colleagues at the fine-food place where she works, as well as on her reading (she brought Waverly Root's The Food of Italy with us). Using her work-place connections, she was able to set up appointments to visit businesses which are not open to the public.
She talks to fine-food producers when she's preparing to write for work. One question she asks is "If you couldn't eat your own [whatever they produce], whose would you eat?" Pasta people say "Martelli"........ She made an appointment for us to visit Martelli.
We were early. We walked around Lari.....
War memorial. (Now I am wondering what caused the damage. Is that "normal wear and tear," or is it a result of enemy action?)
I didn't pay attention to whether this is a business or a dwelling.....
What a cool door. I wonder how old it is..... Love the colors...........
Lari's hill top is very high.
Zoomed out from the same perspective; looking at another town (near left end of the horizon above)..... I am no good at estimating this sort of distance. I wonder how far away this is.....
Love the variety of greens..... Everything from the yellowest light green to some very dark blue-greens.
Redbud, and palm tree. We have redbuds, here in Michigan, but I am pretty sure no palm trees can live outside year 'round in Michigan.
Standing in the same place, lifting the camera just a little -- some of those big evergreens whose name I don't know. I don't remember seeing any of these in France......
A narrow street, leading to a wonderful view.....
More excellent doors.
A wider way, to more excellent views....
Back at Martelli. Looking up. This laundry is beautifully color-coordinated with that golden yellow. Love the shadows.....
One of Martelli's doors.
Our host took us inside. I am sorry this is blurry -- these are enormous bags of flour. I'll bet the panels that make up the four sides of these bags are a meter wide ( about 3'3"). They must have been 5' tall. The wheat was grown in Tuscany.
We could see through a clear panel into the machine that was mixing the flour with water.
They were making penne when we visited. Martelli's extruders always have bronze dies. Bronze dies result in pasta with a rougher surface than stainless steel dies leave. After the past is cooked, that rougher surface clings to sauce better than a smoother surface. Bronze dies don't last as long, and so are more costly than stainless, which is one reason they are not commonly used.
There is a blade whirling around inside the cone-shaped metal guide thing, cutting penne loose from the long tubes of pasta. You can see some flying, right under the green thing with the black knob.
I must have been quivering with interest -- yet another blurry pic. This worker is stacking up racks of penne for drying.
Thank goodness! A clear pic! Racks of penne, waiting to be wheeled away to rest while they dry.
Upstairs, spaghetti was drying.
Martelli pasta is always air-dried for at least 50 hours. Most pasta is dried in just seconds, blasted by very hot air. Pasta that is air-dried is able to develop flavor during drying.
I think these pieces of spaghetti must have been more than a meter long. Draped over a rod to dry, each piece is a very long skinny U shape. This machine will cut them in half, lengthwise, making them easier to ship and to cook.
Martelli spaghetti is hand-packed. When the spaghetti includes some pieces that have the bend (where it dried over the rod), you know it was hand-packed.
We were very glad to have had the chance to see the pasta-making process in action. Thank you!
In order to facilitate chronological traversal of these posts, here is a link to the next post.
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