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The area around present-day Vairano has been inhabited since prehistoric times: first by the Oscans, the Etruscans and then the Samnites. In 290 B.C. the territory was conquered by the Romans.
After the fall of the Empire the region was overrun by a series of barbarian tribes. The Longobards lived here in the 6th century and were themselves conquered by the Normans in the 11th. These in turn built a fortress designed to defend them from Saracens invaders. In 1191 the fortress was given as a gift to the Abbot of Montecassino by Henry VI of Hohenstaufen.
In 1590 Vairano was purchased by Baron Mormile who turned the military fortress into a residential castle where generations of his family lived for over two hundred years until the year 1806.
In nearby Teano the treaty of the Unification of Italy between Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II was ratified in 1860.
Housed in what was originally the manor built into the battlements of the ancient fortress, the restaurant overlooks the medieval town of Vairano Patenora and its fertile green fields.
Restaurant owner and chef Antonio Ruggiero is a well-known expert on wines and oils and offers creative renderings of traditional dishes.
Program
10:30am – Arrival at Vairano Patenora
Sample Menu (recipes will vary depending on the vegetables that are in season)
Ravioli made with borage and stuffed with meat, mozzarella and tomato concassé
Black Casertan Pig with pappacelle (pickled peppers)
Baked Sheep Ricotta
Diced oranges with citrus-flavoured bavarian cream and extra-virgin olive-oil sauce
After lunch you will visit the Franciscan Monastery at Roccamonfina.
Price: 120,00 euro per person (4 people or more)
200,00 euro per person (2-3 people)
price includes: cooking course, ‘Oil Apèritif’, meal, wine, personal guide and interpreter
It is possible to visit a mozzarella cheese producer early in the morning.