Breakfast at Casadonna

In the West, almost everyone knows how a rich breakfast is important, yet few have one. "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper", is what enlightened nutritionists recommend. On one side and the other of the Atlantic, though, the contrary often takes place: a quick coffee (or tea) in the morning with a wizened croissant, a moderate lunch and then... fire! Here comes a quick series of courses in the evening, like with Fracchia’s mother.

While the average obesity is sky-high, as admonished by recent scientific reports, this is mostly due to the few calories we take as soon as we get up. A bad habit legitimising the compulsive intake of junk food throughout the day, reinforced by the low average quality of what we eat in the morning. Breakfast is a meal debased by our lazy domestic habits but also by the neglected offer in small and large, popular and noble establishments.

This is why a few days ago we were impressed by the breakfast chef Niko Romito from Abruzzo has created since the first day he opened for his guests Casadonna in Castel di Sangro, almost five years ago. In the morning, after having tasted the latest dishes at restaurant Reale (we mentioned it here), you leave one of the rooms of the ex monastery (they’re 7, soon to be 10) go down and basically find yourself in front of another magnificent tasting menu.

The light in the dining room is dazzling, rays of sun pass through a large window overlooking the Sangro valley, hitting kumquat plants nestled between luxurious pieces of furniture. There’s no buffet but the guest’s table is set with a mise-en-place coherent with the dinner one. From the menu you can immediately choose between the classic coffee offer (espresso, cappuccino, barley infusion by Giacomo Santoleri), tea (a selection of blends including English Breakfast, green, white, red, black Sumatra, Black aromatised with jasmine or Anastasia that is to say Earl grey, lemon and orange flowers), chocolate (araguanì 72% with milk and cinnamon), infusions (lemon balm, orange, linden, fennel, mint, camomile, dandelion) or various centrifuge juices.

While the order is sent, Gaetano Di Loreto, breakfast maître, presents what’s already on the table, item by item: «Yogurt by Cianflocca, a small farm in Castel di Sangro; apple and pear fruit juices, Thun millefiori honey picked right at Casadonna, creamed butter from Trotta [made following the method used for caciocavallo, including the wax on the outside], 100% hazelnut cream». He didn’t have the time to say anything about the small jug of creamy, beautifully and naturally sweet almond milk, emptied out before he could inform us.

Meanwhile, we lift a cloth enclosing a loaf of «bread made with a flour from an ancient wheat grain from Teramo», warm and cut into four very fragrant portions. We spread the slices in turn with pear and peach jam and orange marmalade. At Casadonna leavened bakery products it’s like a religion they follow with a devotion that has no equal in Italy: you can understand this right afterwards, with that crispy parallelepiped of toasted pan brioche, topped with very sweet organic strawberries from Villa delle Rondini in Francavilla.

To think that the object of desire of the morning food lover is yet to come: the pastries. Here comes Gaetano again, with his finger pointing at the reliefs on a magic tray: «We have Hot apple tart, Custard cream pastry, Chocolate chip pastry, Ferratelle [a traditional biscuit from L’Aquila] and rusks».

Should one still not be satisfied, there’s still the menu with the cakes from the kitchen: Hot crespella pancake with honey, Fresh fruit tart or Soup of ricotta, cinnamon, raspberry and chocolate. Or the savoury recipes: Poached egg, Poached egg with pork jowl (served in a Martini style glass), a marvellous Cheese omelette… Sublimation arrives with the selection of cured meat and cheese. You leave feeling like a king, ready to conquer the world.