Titignano

Last Saturday I returned from a business trip to the United States. My return trip was uneventful except that I decided to try a cheaper and more Earth-friendly way to get from Fiumicino to Todi. Instead of using a car service, I would use a regional bus service called Sulga.

There were only two problems. I didn't know from exactly where the bus departed, and the bus departure times were something like 7:15 (before my plane arrived) and 2:00 (by which time I could be back in Todi taking a nap). There was also a bus that departed at a reasonable time--9:00--but it wasn't clear that it actually stopped in Todi.

"Information" at the airport pointed me outside to a bus departure area. Only one problem: no ticket office, no kiosk, and no signs for Sulga. Back in to inquire at a shuttle service counter. They looked it up online and decided it didn't depart from there, only from a Rome transit station called Tiburtina. I knew about an extended stop the bus made there, so I decided to pick it up at that point.

The shuttle service was more than willing to sell me their services. Unwilling to pay their price to Tiburtina, I opted for the trip to Termini, where I knew there was a convenient Metro link to Tiburtina. The shuttle turned out to be a pleasant unguided tour of Rome, passing all the ancient landmarks on its way to Termini. Another passenger, a grad student from MIT who was on his first trip to Italy and hadn't made a single plan or learned a single word in Italian, quizzed me on the words he needed to know and where he might want to go.

One Metro ride later I was at Tiburtina. Regional buses? "Fuori" ("Outside", in the sense of "You have to exit the station"). Ten minutes of signless wandering later, I found the regional bus station across the street, on the other side of an underpass and beyond some construction. No problem buying a Sulga ticket to Todi for the 10:30 departure.

Checking with the driver, however, revealed that this particular bus does not stop in Todi. It only travels the autostrada past Todi. Much to my relief he would, however, make an unscheduled stop at a service station at the exit for a town near Todi. Leonardo met me there, and that is how I managed to take a shuttle, a subway, a bus, and a taxi to get home. And yes, it was still cheaper than the car service, by half.

Why do I tell you all that? Because clearly I would have worked up an appetite with all that travel! Our wonderful, delightful, thoughtful children had given us a dinner out for Christmas, and we had decided that the evening between my return and Alexandra's departure to London was the time to use it.

Alexandra knew about a slightly unusual restaurant nearby. This restaurant is at an old monastery called Titignano. You must make a reservation at this restaurant, and you must be on time for your seating.

So after an afternoon of the usual Hook chaos (this time involving a tutor and three extra children), off we went with no time to spare. Picture the scene: it has been snowing, but the roads are clear and the temperature above freezing. The place is up in the hills and down a potholed gravel road. We don't know exactly where and don't have a GPS, but we do have directions. It is after dark and foggy. And we are driving a tiny 1968 Fiat 500.

Alexandra, the directions, and the Fiat all performed wonderfully and we arrived only a few minutes late, meaning perfectly on time for Italy.

The meal! The place is a fixed-price, fixed-menu place. Wine and water were already on the table, and appetizers came out almost immediately after we arrived. We had been warned that the food would keep coming, so we knew to pace ourselves. The food did keep coming, and all of it was wonderful. It was a very relaxing experience to sit and talk over an unhurried meal. The service was not slow--we generally had the next course just as we finished the previous one--but it was after 11:00 when we finally pushed ourselves away from the table and made our way home.

There was one little follow-on incident that touches on life in small towns in Italy. Somehow Alexandra managed to leave her license and libretto (essentially proof of automobile ownership that you are required to have with you in the car at all times) at the restaurant. The restaurant contacted her to figure out how to return them. Alexandra asked if they could mail them to Todi since she was out of the country and would need them immediately upon returning. Yes, but they had a better way. The director's daughter works in a home goods store in Todi. They would send them with her and I could pick them up there. And so it happened.

Michael