Stone Carving and Cheese Pits

I am back from my travels. I drove to San Leo which is in the north west corner of Le Marche. I was told it would take 2 1/2 hours (Italian speed) so I added an hour (get there in one piece speed) and that was about right. I listened to the radio on route and there was much discussion and consternation at the news that in England Tesco has launched the Lasagne sandwich. I am going to set up a facebook page C.A.C (Crimes against Cuisine) - Chicken Tikka pizza anyone?
San Leo is built at the top of a hill and dominated by its castle. This photo of the town was taken from the castle and you can see the Marecchia valley in the distance. I discovered a local stone sculptor at work and took a photo of him to include in this post and then cleverly deleted it from my camera. So instead I have included a photo of the carving I bought of, well I'm not sure what it is but I like it. I was chatting away to Signor Moretti and he was telling me about St Francis (of Assisi) and wanting to show off my biblical knowledge I said he was the Patron Saint of Animals. Sig. Moretti looked at me in a strange way and said no he wasn't an animal, he was a saint. I made a mental note to look up "patron saint" in the dictionary, paid up and left.
That evening I made my way to La Rocca for dinner. I had called in advance to book a table. Lucky move seeing as I was the only person for dinner. Still I had my choice of tables on the terrace. I felt I had to eat at least 2 courses to make it worth while for the cook to have got out of bed, so for pudding I had formaggio di fossa, which is local cheese that is buried in straw lined pits in August and dug up in November, cleaned up by scrapping with a spoon (wouldn't get that through English Health & Safety) and served with fresh figs and honey. If you like very strong strong cheese then I recommend it. The evening finished with fireworks in the square. No one seemed to know the reason but who cares - it looked lovely.
I am back in San Ginesio now and as I walked through the door I thought how lovely it was to be home.