You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
Last days in Castel Gandolfo
21-24 October 2023
A rainy day; good for just hanging out, resting up, etc.
Lunch at Sor Capanna, one of the small restaurants on the central street in the borgo, the Corso della Repubblica
Dining indoors this time
Memorizing the menu
The kind of menu where you just want to say 'I'd like one of each please'.
Oh man. Ravioli ai fiori di zucca e zafferano -- Ravioli with courgette flowers and saffron
Bad weather for a wedding party on the windy piazza, especially when the bride's false eyelash needs to be pasted back on.
Scurrying for the car
A brief break in the weather, perfect for sitting out on the balcony in informal meditation, until . . .
. . . a monster torrential rainstorm came over, and we've opted to dart up the hill to our nearby Ristorante Pagnanelli.
Once again, at this hour we've got it nearly to ourselves.
This is the kind of restaurant that will probably remain memorable to a long time.
Not out on the balcony tonight -- howling rain-sodden winds, etc.
-- Let me at that menu!
A peek into the one room we hadn't noticed before. This is our last outing to the Pagnanelli
(unless someday we manage to come back).
A fine day ensues. Kristin is visiting Ewa in Rome, but rest of our party is perched on the sunny balcony with Tore Skeie, The Wolf Age: the Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the battle for the North Sea empire (2021). Anticipating dinner time.
In good time, back up to the Piazza della Libertà, bound for the Sor Capanna again.
Worse luck, they don't begin serving until 7:30, so we're at loose ends for three quarters of an hour; oh no.
Street scene
A hasty, cloudy shot of a gala celebration of something or other, with a truckload of local dignitaries milling about with grins on, hands extended for shaking.
We got through that one successfully, but with still half an hour of famished dreaming and planning.
We're waiting this out with a little apéritif at a table outside L'Emporia in its corner of the piazza. Suddenly, there's a great booming loud noise coming from the Via Roma/Via de Zecchini (behind that walking fellow).
The great booming noise rounds the corner and comes straight on.
It's an event! We're being entertained.
It's explained to us that this is a Polish marching band on tour. No word about why.
Boom, boom . . . boom again. It's all good fun.
They appear to be headed for the Municipio, the city's administration (the only other establishment over there is a specialty shop featuring religious souvenirs).
-- Oh no, it's coming this way.
Dinner's over, the piazza is clearing out.
Last scenic walks round town -- the Via Palazzo Pontificio outside the palace precinct, to the Belvedere overlooking the lake
The Via Saponara, down past a few more restaurants
Another good-looking restaurant that we hadn't had a chance to try yet, and no luck this time either . . .
. . . they don't do lunch.
So, it's lunch at the Pasta Nostra out on a street table in the Borgo.
'Two hearts and one carbonara' - 'What an empty cheese?' [?] - and a third one in English.
And a last dinner at La Papesse
Mind your head!
Our favorite late-night weird tree, up on the papal palace's grounds
Who just spent two hours on the balcony watching a search-and-rescue helicopter training exercise, locating a person in distress, lowering a crew member into the water to harness and winch up a useful dummy in need. This is the third time through the whole routine (with a break for lunch halfway through).
A crepuscular view of Lago Albano on our last evening here
The last night's dinner, with . . .
. . . a fascinating motif
The sign for La Papessa has been covered over; what's that about?
A valedictory look at the lake
Off to Rome now, en route to Naples, 25 October 2023
Next up: A week in Naples -- settling in near the Castel dell'Ovo
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All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 11 December 2023. 
