Hello Vanna, I’d like to buy a vowel…this was my first thought on Sunday morning when I walked up to Lo Scoiattolo. My friend Fran (who, I am convinced, knows everyone in Umbria) had mentioned to me that she was going to Paciano to do her weekly bread run, and asked me whether I wanted to come with her.
“Bread run?”, I asked. “Yes – you should come. You should also write a post on this spot”, said Fran.
Besides being a reader of this blog (THANK YOU!), Fran knows everyone and what’s going on, so I knew this had to be interesting.
Lo Scoiattolo (the squirrel) has almost a cult following. They sell bread twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) at their Paciano location (also their house) and once a week (Tuesday) at the market in Città della Pieve. To get the inside scoop, you join their “coop” by paying €1. This gets you on the insider’s email list which lets you know on Thursday (for the following Sunday) or on Monday (for the following Wednesday) which types of the bread will be the lucky dozen available for purchase. You can pre-order by email or phone and pick up your bread or show up at the store (between 7 am – 2 pm) and take your chances.
You know when you arrive at the right spot. It’s not just the sign of the squirrel, it’s the smell of bread. Fresh, yummy, baked bread. It smells amazing!!!! Following your nose around the corner, you are greeted by people spilling out the door. The place is almost like a party. There is a big communal table where samples and jams are left out for people to try. A large wood-burning oven is running non-stop and an espresso machine is cranking out coffees and cappuccinos. People are sitting around laughing and catching up. It’s 10:30 on a Sunday, shouldn’t everyone be home sleeping? Or at church? The lure of Lia and Fausto’s bread pulls people in from all over the area.
Lia first came to Italy from Germany to study the ancient method of terracotta pottery-making in Orvieto. She describes the finished terracotta product as “quite ugly”, but thought that it was necessary to learn the traditional methods. What started as a three-year-only stint was extended by the birth of first one, then a second, child.
She first met Fausto over 30 years ago when he was the mayor of Castiglione del Lago and she was with the circus (you know that I will have to hear more of this story!). They met again when she owned a ceramic store and he owned a restaurant. The newlyweds have just celebrated their one-year anniversary and their 15th year together.
Lia eventually made the switch from kneading clay to kneading dough and working with a wood-fired oven rather than a kiln. I’m not sure if she just missed bread from her native Germany, or realized that since “Italian bread 30 years ago left a lot to be desired, it was white and unsalted”, other people might also like something different.
They use only natural yeasts and home-milled flours at Lo Scoiattolo and bake everything on site in a large wood-fired oven.
Lo Scoiattolo, are bread artists, making over 100 different types of bread from which they offer 10 -12 different choices each week. Besides various breads, there are cinnamon rolls (Lia’s favourite), orange and raisin batons (which taste like hot cross buns), potato bread and focaccia-style pizzas in potato, onion or Margherita. The pretzels are light and soft, not heavy or hard. I was lucky enough to get a taste of the last chocolate baton, as they had sold out quickly just as we were arriving (thanks Jan for sharing). Breads are sold by weight and you can also purchase half loaves.
I loved the Munster loaf which is a less seedy rye and multigrain loaf. The most popular item is the “Pascià” (Pasha), which is Fausto’s (and it seems everyone else’s) favourite. The Pascià bread was created as a birthday present for a friend of Lia’s. She made a bread with buckwheat, sesame, sunflower seeds, flax, whole grains, rye and beer. As it was a gift, Lia told the friend he could name the bread. After two days, her friend declared that “the bread is to be called Pascià – because I feel like a Pasha when I eat it”. A star was born! It is their best-selling bread and people are not happy if it is sold out before they arrive.
If you are in the area on Wednesday or Sunday, stop by and buy some fabulous bread and get the chance to catch up with some lovely people. It’s worth the trip to Paciano.
Where: Associazione Culturale Lo Scoiattolo, Via Antonio Gramsci 9, 06060 Paciano (PG) +39 320 071 7220;
When: Wednesday and Sunday 7 am – 2 pm (Città della Pieve market – Tuesday morning)
sounds wonderfully delicious!! perhaps a visit in the fall?
Definitely worth the visit!
Sounds super yummy! Now I’m craving some fresh bread, and those pretzels sound amazing!