Balestra

Thursday 8 July Urbino

For our last night in Urbino, we hit La Balestra (“Crossbow”), which had given off a simpatico vibration as we wandered by around lunch time.

A nice young waitress brought us a plate of papardelle di duca, broader than elsewhere, with a ragu of wild boar sausage. Then freshly snipped gnocchi with duck (real ducky with a fugitive bone or two). For secondo, we split a plate of lamb stufato (beef stew) Urbino style, which was, we must confess, a bit too salty. The meaty dishes called for a red, so “Maioliche,” from Rosso Conero (a DOGC area), 2006.