Buitoni Bounty

May 21, 2007

Casa Buitoni is the PR and experimentation headquarters for the Buitoni company, an international pasta/bakery company that originated in Sansepolcro under the entrepreneurship of Mama Guilia in 1827. The company became internationally recognized after Nestle bought it and enlarged it; its second-largest factory is stationed right here in Sansepolcro. The villa, built in the early 1800s in the neoclassical style, was bought by Buitoni in late 1980s for its new public headquarters--you can see a picture of it on the Buitoni packages (all of them are green, by the way).
The hike was arduous and took us halfway up a mountain, but it was completely worth it--we could see the entirety of Sansepolcro from up there in a stunning panoramic view, the sun glinting off the red-tile roofs and verdant greenery. We took a tour of the casa and saw its experimentation kitchen, and then they served us a plethora of their experiments for lunch. Our professor had told us that it might be only appetizers or light snacks, but it was a full-on meal, with fresh fruit and torte for dessert! Afterwards, a local Italian, Andrea, sang several opera songs to us, and fellow-traveler Stacie followed up with two arias. We then serenaded Andrea and the members of Casa Buitoni with several good ol' American classics ("Johnny Appleseed," "Amazing Grace," and "God Bless America").
The end of our adventure eventually arrived, but homework and classes awaited us. Our two last travelers joined us later in the day, exhausted from their trials and tribulations created by navigating Italian trains and buses.