Italy del Giorno

We had 4th of July dinner with friends last night.  Every year, American chef Jennifer Mcilvaine, creates an American Cheeseburger from ground Chianina beef at her restaurant, Basiliko’, in the center of Foligno.  The clientele was exclusively Italian and in addition singing rousing renditions of “American the Beautiful” and “God Bless America”, we coached them on how to eat a hamburger (put down the knife and fork).

From Great Plates

The Cheeseburgers at Basiliko’

From Food

Italians eating burgers “American” style 

Some even dressed the part in their “red, white and blue” best.  

From Italian Dressing

Renting a villa is a fantastic way for small groups to vacation in Italy.  Of course, unless you plan to eat out every night or hire staff, feeding the crowd can become an onerous chore for the one doing the cooking and cleaning.  Thankfully, Italy is filled with Rosticcerie that will do most of the cooking for you.  A Rosticceria is a prepared foods shop with everything from roast meats, tins of oven ready pasta dishes, meat based pasta sauces, and roast vegetables.  Most are also open on Sunday morning, which can be a life saver if you forget to plan ahead for the weekend.  

From Food

Our Rosticceria dinner ready for the oven — Roast Chicken, eggplant parmesan, cheese filled arancini (fried rice balls), and roast zucchini with parsley.  We added a tomato and arugula salad and a liter of vino sfuso for a complete, delicious meal for 4 for around 25 euro.

Every return to Umbria starts with a visit to a local winery to pick up some wine for everyday consumption.  Vino sfuso is bulk wine (usually sold in 5 liter jugs) that will be the centerpiece of all of our informal lunches and dinners.  The winemaker fills your bottles directly from a stainless steel cask using a contraption that looks much like a gasoline pump for your car.  When we get home, I then have the relaxing task of pouring the big bottles into small ones.  How does it taste? all vino sfuso is not created equal — so be sure to try it before buying. 

From Food

‘Oldest’ image of St Paul discovered - Telegraph

Archeologists and art experts used lasers to “clean” centuries of grime from the image.  They are hopeful to open it to the public by the end of the year.

G8 Summit 2009 - official website - News

If you are traveling to Italy in the next couple of weeks — be ready to show your passport when you get off the plane, even if you transited through another European city.  After my flight from Duesseldorf to Rome yesterday, we were greeted at the doors of the baggage claim area by a set of temporary desks and immigration officials who dutifully flipped through and stamped every passport that passed through the checkpoint.  This will have little affect on American travelers, as we are required to travel with passports in Europe, but if you are traveling with friends who are residents of the Schengen area you might want to let them know.

Archaeologists Unveil Majestic Roman Ruins in Ostia Antica, Italy, That Rival Riches of Pompeii - NYTimes.com

Visits to Rome just got a bit more interesting . . . our guides in Rome are telling us that this will soon become a “must-see” on visits to the Eternal City.  We hope to visit as soon as possible and post a review.

Last week, I stopped by Florence’s museum of sculpture, the Bargello Museum.  The Bargello is a great small museum to visit – housed in the castle-like fortress that served as town hall until the sixteenth century when it became an infamous prison.  The building served as a prison until the 1860’s and opened as the sculpture and ceramic museum in 1886.  With its beautiful courtyard and tower, the museum offers variety to visitors, and its size makes the Bargello a manageable stop for families with children. 

Although the collection is relatively small, it is full of important renaissance sculpture - here you can compare Donatello and Michelangelo in close proximity.  There are also many terrra cotta reliefs by the della Robbia family on display and a comprehensive collection of Italian ceramics. Donatello’s famous depiction of David is housed at the Bargello and is currently undergoing restoration.   This David is the first free standing sculpture, and first nude male sculpture since antiquity.   Usually, works under restoration are taken out of the collection and are brought to the closed workshops to undergo whatever cleaning, restoration and repair is needed.  Because this David is really the star of the collection, the museum feared falling attendance if it was taken out of view, hence the museum administrators have decided to restore it in the open.  For the next several weeks, David will be lying on his side as the restorers work to make some repairs.   It’s quite interesting to witness a public restoration.  Also at the Bargello at this time, a special exhibit honoring Vincenzo Danti, sixteenth century sculptor from Perugia.  

The fall is a perfect time to visit, because there is no air conditioning at the Bargello.  Like many Italian museums, the Bargello is experiencing great financial difficulty at the present time, and they just don’t have the funds to make the kind of improvements they need, which is unfortunate.   A piece about the difficulties of Italian arts organizations appeared in the New York Times today:  Wanted - Money for Italy’s Starved Cultural Institutions - NYTimes.com

Microsoft has come out with a new online “photo stitching” technology called Photosynth that creates panoramas of your photos.  I tried it out with an upload of some shots from the Pian Perduto in Castelluccio in Umbria. (If you don’t have the Photosynth viewer it will ask you to install it.)  Photosynth says that I was 47% successful and I agree — even though the photos were taken in a series it does not seem to recognize the road in the center as part of the photo series.  I haven’t given up yet however and will keep trying.  

A “normal” photo of the Pian Perduto — to see the “synth” click here  (If you don’t have the Photosynth viewer it will ask you to install it.)

Travelers gravitate to the ancient sites of Rome, but don’t let Milan’s status as a modern international city obscure its important ancient past.  Of course, celebrated sites like the gothic Duomo and Da Vinci’s Last Supper are must sees, but consider adding The Archaeological Museum of Milan to your short list.     

The museum is located in the former Monastery of San Maurizio, which is near Santa Maria delle Grazie (home of the Last Supper), and is well worth a stop on your way to or from Da Vinci.   You do not need a reservation and will most likely have the place all to yourself.  The monastery itself is in the midst of Milan’s richest ancient archeological deposits and features some well preserved architectural structures as well, such as a Roman tower and walls dating from the 3rd – 4th century AD.  The origins of present day Milan can be traced to the 5th century Celtic settlement of Mediolanum, which was a Roman city by the 2nd – 1st centuries, and this small museum does an excellent job of informing us of this early history.  Notable pieces of the collection include glass (an incredibly ornate goblet among them) and kitchen objects from Roman times and a couple of interesting mosaics, all with some general descriptions in English as well as Italian.  One really interesting  part of the exhibit is the section of tombstones dedicated to informing us about the jobs and lives of the citizens of Mediolanum.  There are a number of tombstones of individuals and couples with engravings and descriptions of their careers while living.  My personal favorite:  the stone of a teacher (maestra) featuring an engraved bust of her, with a description of her excellence and success as a great disciplinarian of students – further illustrated with an engraving of her whipping a child. 

There are several tombstones on display, with translations only in modern Italian, so it would be useful to visit the museum with a professional guide.

During the summer, Italians are almost exclusively focused on one thing – finding time to go “al mare” –  to the sea  or to the beach as we would say.  Italian beaches are (in)famous for their ability to accommodate a lot of people in a small space.  You can reserve lounge chairs, umbrellas and changing cabins on a daily, weekly or seasonal basis.  It’s a bit different than an exclusive private beach in the Hamptons, but costs are quite reasonable and considering the numbers of people who flock to Italy’s rather limited swim-able coastline, it is quite orderly and civilized. We visited friends in Rimini last week and were able to take in some of the sights of this celebrated seaside resort.   

The beach in Rimini 

In addition to hanging out on the beach, Rimini offers a beautiful historic center and is close to other interesting historic towns like Urbino.  And in case of rain – there are always the discount designer outlets of the municipality of San Marino.

The Ducal Palace in Urbino