Newcomers {Lunch in Ceveteri}

I love newcomers to Rome. Their fresh eyes and optimism are great medicine to the everyday routine that one falls into anywhere, no matter how enchanting a place it is.

This normal monday morning, with a long list of unpleasant phone calls and errands ahead of me, I get a phone call from a couple who has packed up their lovely comfortable life and family in northern California for an Italian adventure. "we have a car - let's go for lunch in the country" now faced with boring everyday life or a sunny jaunt to an etruscan town for a lazy delicious lunch....what would you pick?

If you find yourself in cerveteri on a monday at lunchtime take the advice given by the owner of what was recommended to us as one of the best restaurants in Lazio (closed on mondays) and go to the beautifully renovated Il Cavallino Bianco. Order everything the charming waiters recommend (we had fresh pasta with porcini and polenta with sausages and puntarelle (with chili!) and one of the best carciofi alla romana I have ever had.