Italy del Giorno

Although we left Italy a bit earlier than usual this year, we were there late enough to indulge in one of our favorite annual rites: fave dei morti.  Literally translated as beans of  the dead, these cookies are made every year from October through All Souls’ Day on November 2.  The ritual is derived from the ancient Etruscan practice of leaving offerings of beans for the dead in their tombs.  Whoever introduced the innovation of eating these fava bean shaped sweets in lieu of actual legumes surely deserves our eternal thanks and devotion!

Recipe from Maria Grazia Marchetti Lungarotti’s Il Piacere della Tavola: 

Ingredients:  1 1/4 cups sweet almonds, 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, grated rind of half a lemon, hot water.

Preparation:  “Blanch the almonds in boiling water, remove the skins and chop finely.  Add the flour, sugar, grated lemon rind and combine with hot water, enough to dissolve the sugar well.  Continue mixing until the dough is stiff.  Roll to a thickness of 3/4″.  Cut off small rounds and shape these into fava beans – flat and oblong, with a little indentation in the center.  Place on a buttered cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees (farenheit) for about 30 minutes. Remove and let cool before serving.” 

Brian and I usually stay in Italy through October each year, but this year we returned early to participate in the Condé Nast Traveler festivities in New York for the Top Travel Specialists of 2006.  We had the opportunity to meet with Traveler editors, writers, and publishers as well as attend presentations by leading industry experts and service providers.  We  also attended the black-tie Reader’s Choice Awards presentation at the Museum of Natural History which will be broadcast on the Travel Channel October 25 at 8:00pm. This was all very exciting for us, but the best part of all was meeting some wonderful travel specialist colleagues. 

Wondering how to get upgraded to Business Class?  I discovered a new weapon against coach steerage when I checked in for my KLM flight from Rome.  It so happened that two seeing-eye dogs were accompanying their human companions home to the States on our flight.  The KLM staff was concerned about having dogs and cats together in the cabin, so Baci and I were upgraded to Business!  The flight attendants joked that they would all be traveling with a cat in the future.

Baci is still trying to recover from the jet lag!

We all flew back to New York this week to attend the Condé Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Awards.  Maria and Baci (our cat) flew from Rome Fiumicino and connected in Amsterdam before heading on to New York.  The flight left at 13.50, so we didn’t have the stress and congestion of trying to make the early morning non-stops to New York.  To get to the airport in time from Umbria you have to leave very early in the morning because the usual 2 hour drive from Perugia can easily turn into 3 hours with the morning rush hour traffic and construction outside of Rome.

Brian also took the road a bit less traveled but one that is the most convenient, and at certain times of the year, most cost effective, way to get to the heart of Umbria — flying from Perugia (PEG) to Milan Malpensa and then on to New York.  I always pack important documents in my carryon briefcase – especially in light of the recent baggage “disappearnce” issues through Malpensa.  If you don’t mind propeller planes, I recommend this itinerary.  Alitalia has spun off its regional routes to small airlines and this service is offered by Air A!ps.  The flight leaves at 6.30 but there is no need to get there hours ahead of time, check-in is a breeze, and it has a decent on-time rating (we did leave a little late, but the pilot quickly got on the radio and informed us that the late departure was caused by a fuel issue that was “not the fault of the airline” — the culture of non-culpability is everywhere in Italy).  His flight on the 11th was the last one for 10 days as they are closing the airport to lengthen the runway.  This has been talked about for many years because the runway is too short to accomodate a 737 type jet with a full load of passengers and baggage.  Ryan Air, the low cost British carrier has scheduled service from London Stansted to Perugia beginning on December 20 so the work needs to be done.  Unfortunately for Perugia, it is being done during their biggest trade show of the year - EuroChocolate.  This badly timed construction has drawn a strong rebuke from the organizers of the event, but is going forward nevertheless.  At this point , the Ryan Air flights do not appear to coordinate with connections from the US, but now that Perugia has the infrastructure to handle the bigger aircraft,  a connecting flight from Frankfurt or Amsterdam may be in the future . . . we’ll keep you posted.