Opera Calcata is a women’s song and a tribute to opera. Traviata, Aida, Faust, Don Giovanni are famous opera characters who inspired the sisters Guendalina and Consuelo for the name and decoration of their intimate and welcoming restaurant opened ten years ago in the main square of Calcata Vecchia. But what does opera have to do with the village known as the town of artists and intellectuals?
Savoring the village
Guendalina explains it to us at the table who, after having created the restaurant, decided to involve other people, all women, around this project called Opera Calcata in which each one has a role, just like in melodrama, the most complete and complex show which is performed in the theater. In fact, it combines music, song, history, costumes, characters, scenes, and sometimes even dance.
Opera Calcata has precisely this objective: to collect various proposals in a single project to give well-being, sharing and fun to those who decide to visit the village and stop loving it just as it is loved by those who are part of the group.
Guendalina and Consuelo were born in the other Calcata, the Nuova one, but since they were little girls they have frequented the oldest part of the village. “We love it – they told us – and we want to ensure that it remains in the heart, with a tourist offer that meets the needs and desires of visitors”.
They do this by capturing all the senses of those who, like us, decide to deepen their knowledge of the country through a short stay that allows them to experience it as those who have chosen it as their usual home.
The aromas and flavors of their cuisine conquer the palate by offering revisited traditional local dishes and as a happy ending the delicious desserts prepared with their hands. The sight is satisfied by the beauty of this village in the Agro Falisco, clinging to a cliff overlooking the Treja river and the surrounding woods. For the touch it is enough to slide the palms of the hands on the rough and thick walls that emerge from the high blanket of tuff that supports the hill on which the village hangs.
The hearing is involved in the spontaneous concerts in the square like the one that welcomed and intrigued us as soon as we arrived, a little out of breath, on the top of the square in front of the church of SS. Name of Jesus, having crossed the imposing access portal. Only music and no noise, especially those related to traffic, because cars do not reach Calcata Vecchia: for the village that risked being demolished, given the instability of the tuff mountain on which it rests, you can only get around on foot.
What is the advice of the female team of Opera Calcata, completed by Federica who accompanies guests to their houses? Savor life in the village slowly, scouring its tiny historic center street after street, admiring the flowers on the windowsills, stroking the cats lying in the sun, getting lost in the alleys that suddenly open onto the void of the ravines.
Not just a restaurant then. To give the visitor a more complete experience and convince him to stop and avoid Sunday hit-and-run tourism, the women of Opera Calcata have decided to create a network of rooms for rent, a bit B&B, a bit spread hotel. In addition to the Opera Suites, there are also available to guests other tourist accommodations suitable for all needs.
“We designed our rooms with the idea of being able to offer, in cooperation with the restaurant, an all-round experience in the world of hospitality in Calcatese, creating the conditions to fully enjoy unique moments to remember, with all the comforts of our days, in a place where time has stopped: the heart of the village of Calcata”.
From this idea were born the Opera Suites designed with a common thread in the furnishings, made by local artisans. In all of them there is a unique atmosphere and an unmistakable style.
As in our Suite called “The path of happiness” with a wonderful view of the valley, where everything recalls nature. At our disposal we have found a coffee machine, kettle, free Netflix and a large bathtub with salts, rose petals and essential oils, perfect for a romantic couple’s bath and to warm up from the cool gusts of wind that in Calcata Vecchia makes hear its voice often.
And the theme of sound and music returns. At the base of the dishes served at the tables of the Opera Restaurant, amidst smiles and courtesy, there is the search for new symphonies of flavors expressed in a menu consisting of traditional dishes with innovative notes.
After dinner, it is pleasant to walk in the village which is gradually emptying of those who have chosen it for a day trip and also of those who join it to open their shops only on weekends. And then reach the Suite “The path of happiness”, our small house located in an alley on the side of the main square of this village where time seems to have stopped and where people from all over the world live who have made Calcata Vecchia their house.
But Calcata cannot be explained, it must be proven. Just as the protagonists of Opera Calcata recommend, inviting you to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the village. We accepted the invitation and together with our Otto we tasted a feeling of intimate tranquility that we will hardly forget, bringing a piece of this magical place, which many artists have chosen as their residence, inside our hearts. What are you doing? Aren’t you curious to discover Calcata by letting yourself be captivated by the singing of the bewitching women like sirens of Opera Calcata?
Opera Calcata
Via della Pietà, 2 – Calcata (VT)
Info: +39 0761 176 9547 – Whatsapp +39 327 0480966
www.operacalcata.com – operacalcata@gmail.com
