The door to osmice paradise

Although there is usually plenty of free time at IMFA, it feels especially good to take a day off today (at least, for the faculty!). I went to the beach this morning for a quick swim in the Adriatic, had a light breakfast, did some work on a composition project (more on this later), and then seven of us ventured into the rural area around Duino in search of the place to experience “osmice.” This is

a tradition dating back to the days of Maria Theresa where local farmers can sell their goods directly to the public without having to pay

tax. In the olden days, this could happen over the course of 8 days, once per year. These days, it’s a little more flexible, but you have to keep track of where the osmice’s are happening. We started with hard boiled eggs, and red and white wine. T

hen came the meat and cheese platter, with two kinds of cured meat, two crumbly and delicious cheeses, some raw horseradish, fresh bread, huge mixed salads, and the main course (!), which was a pork loin (I think) with polenta. When the food arrived, I assumed that we would be leaving quite a bit behind. Magically, however, the seven of us ate almost everything on the tab

le, with room left over for a little strudel. Our local host, Stefano, gets the gold star for introducing us to this wonderful tradition! Needless to say, I didn’t need to eat anything else today. Tomorrow we dive into the final week of the festival, with deadlines approaching. For now, though, it’s wonderful to enjoy a beautiful, leisurely Sunday in northern Italy.

This was about 1/4 of the spread