Italy del Giorno

Get on your bike and RIDE

May 10th, 2011

Living in Germany without a car taught us to use the bicycle as our primary mode of transport. This meant riding to work in the rain, snow, cold (often all three!) and schlepping kilos of groceries and other items up a deceptively tiring incline from the center of town. Biking in Italy, for us, is a different experience – the weather is better, the town is flat as pancake, and the overall feeling is much more stylish than utilitarian.

From 2011-05-08

There was recently an exposition of classic bikes at the Palazzo Trinici in Foligno.

From 2011-05-08

There were classic bikes . . .

From 2011-05-08

. . . and kid’s bikes from the 1920′s.

From 2011-05-08

Bikes made famous by their riders, like this one ridden by “Champion of Champions” Faust Coppi in the 1951 Giro d’Italia . . .

From 2011-05-08

. . . and even a bicycle made for two.

From 2011-05-08

Since the bikes were all “Made in Italy” they were also works of art and design.

From 2011-05-08

None were as famous though as “Chiara” – Maria Gabriella’s bike that zips around Foligno with a basket full of flowers, ringing greetings and warnings from her brass bell.

From 2011-05-08

Tags: bicycle, bikes, Foligno
Posted in Day Trips, General | No Comments »

Photo of the Week – Montalcino

May 5th, 2011

Montalicino May 3 2011 Photo by Brian Dore

From Wine

Posted in Photo of the Week | No Comments »

Umbrian Cashmere

April 28th, 2011

Umbrian cashmere “giant”, Brunello Cucinelli is hot in the press this Spring. He’s featured in Esquire’s Big Black Book, Harper’s Bazaar, and is being blogged about on Put This On and Sartorially Inclined.

Maria Gabriella shopping in Solomeo From Blog Photos

The village of Solomeo is located just north of Perugia near Lake Trasimeno. The town is completely dedicated to all things Cucinelli and is worth a stop to visit the factory store where “bargains” (Cucinelli cashmere is a luxury product that carries a hefty price tag) can be found.

The scarf, the beard and the extra kilos are all gone – the Arena di Verona is still there. From Blog Photos

The Region of Umbria gave me a Cucinelli scarf (pictured above) for giving a concert at the Instituto di Cultura Italiana in New York with Maria Gabriella. They gave her a black shawl and unfortunately both have disappeared over the years.

Posted in Day Trips, Italian Dressing, Men, Shopping, Women | No Comments »

Eating through Easter

April 25th, 2011

The secular side of Easter in Italy is about gathering together with family for two days of feasting on the culinary delights of Spring. Maria Gabriella spent a full weekend of cooking and eating with our extended family of friends and clients. (Brian remained in Germany for a performance of Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor and preparations for a new opera premiere on April 30).

From Blog Photos

The weekend started with some “team building” with 3 generations of a family from Pennsylvania painting Easter eggs.

From Blog Photos

Sunday lunch was spent with our extended Italian family of friends in Foligno.

From Food

Lunch started with cheese, raw fava beans and casatiello napoletano, traditional Easter bread from Naples.

From Food

Our assistant Cristina’s mother-in-law brought carciofi alla romana from Rome . . .

From Blog Photos

. . . and boisterous kids crawled under the table and tied their Uncle’s shoes to his chair . . .

From Food

. . . before the main course of lamb stew cooked with lemon.

From Food

Pasquetta or Easter Monday is also a holiday and is usually a time to get outside and enjoy Spring. Maria stopped in on a client’s cooking class where a traditional Easter antipasto plate started things off.

From Blog Photos

The cooks had foraged in the olive grove for wild asparagus . . .

From Food

. . . to make homemade tagliatelle with tomato and, you guessed it, wild asparagus.

From Food

A local butcher was invited to share the secrets of the preparation of the main course with our clients . . .

From Food

. . . grilled sausage with field greens . . .

From Food

We once again passed and left to the locals the traditional Umbrian Easter dish of roast sheep’s head (pictured above).

Posted in General | No Comments »

Nascita di una nazione

March 17th, 2011

A Birthday Cake for Italy From Blog Photos

Today is the 150th anniversary of the birth of a nation. On the 17th of March, 1861 by decree of parliament, Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia became the first Re d’Italia (King of Italy) thus bringing the Italian peninsula under one national government

Retail store window display in Foligno. From Blog Photos

The holiday will be celebrated throughout Italy with parades, office and school closings and a visit by current President Giorgio Napolitano to the grave of Vittorio Emanuele in the Pantheon.

Purses in the colors of Italy adorn shop window.From Blog Photos

Throughout Italy, buildings and storefronts are decked out with the tricolori (the three colors of the flag of Italy, red, white and green).

From Blog Photos

March 17 is not generally a national observance, but 150 years has been deemed a milestone worth observing. For a little flag waving fun click on the link for a rousing rendition of La bandiera di tre colori

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY0NwMrEL6c

So this March 17, enjoy a Pizza Margherita with your Guinness in honor of two great lands with three colored flags.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Posted in General | No Comments »

Spalla cotta

March 15th, 2011

From Food

Spalla cotta or cooked shoulder, is a pork specialty from Parma. We were lucky enough to recently receive one as a gift. It is the best tasting, most elegant “boil-in-bag” dinner I’ve ever prepared. As its name suggests, Spalla cotta is cut from the top of the front leg (shoulder). It is dense meat with lots of tendons and nerves for extra flavor. The shoulder is de-boned, soaked in wine and spices and then salted and left to cure for 15 days. It is then fitted into a casing of pork bladder and left to age for 1 to 3 months. It is finally “boiled”in a mixture of wine and water for 8 to 10 hours to arrive at the final product.

From Food

To prepare it, one only needs to leave it in the vacuum packing and bring it up to temperature in a pot of boiling water. The result is a delicious ham that with a particularly “corned” flavor. We served it with rosemary scented white beans and fresh spinach.

Posted in Food, Great Plates | No Comments »

Going compact on an Italian driving vacation

March 14th, 2011

From Motoring

On our recent trip to Firenze, Lucca and Liguria, we rented the ultra compact Fiat 500. We only had hand luggage and were traveling as a couple (although there would have been plenty of room for CIU office assistant, Maestro the cat, in the back seat) so luggage room and passenger capacity was of little concern. The Fiat 500 is small, but felt surprisingly roomy from the driver’s seat. I’m not the smallest traveler (a robust 6′ 3″) but never felt cramped due to the large moon roof overhead. The control panel is intuitively laid out and it had a USB port for music and charging the GPS. Maria was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t a glove compartment with a door that closed, just a small shelf on the passenger side. Like many things that are Made in Italy, the 500 is extremely stylish, fits a bit more snuggly than American tastes dictate, but you’ll feel extremely hip wearing it. It is also a dream to park and maneuver in tight spots – fundamental for a car rental in Italy. The main negative, if there is one for a fuel efficient compact that is perfectly capable of getting you from A to B on vacation, is that it can’t get much above 130 KPH (80 MPH) on the highway and you may find it lacks the oomph necessary to pass someone on country road or handle hills without downshifting.

View of the Trunk w/ 2 carry-ons and jackets From Motoring

Who is it for? Couples with a sense of style, without much luggage, touring the small towns and cities for a few days.

Who should look elsewhere? Anyone with a need for speed, a trunk to hold the kitchen sink, someone who plans to be driving a lot of dirt roads, or anyone with more than a child who needs to sit in the back seat.

FYI – it cost 47 Euros to fill-er-up in Lucca.

Tags: Fiat 500, rental cars
Posted in Ground Transportation | No Comments »

Signs of an Early Spring

February 3rd, 2011

Groundhog Day came and went yesterday and despite the record snowfall and apocalyptic storm that stretched from Maine to the Mexican border, Punxsutawney Phil predicted that spring is just around the corner. As you may have guessed, this tradition of predicting the arrival of Spring on February 2 did not begin in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania but is instead an Old World tradition. In Italy, the weather on Candelora (Candlemas in English or the day that the church candles are blessed for the year) is the determining factor in how much longer winter weather will persist.

The poem goes:

“La Madonna Candelora
dell’inverno semo fora
ma se piove o tira vento
dell’inverno semo drento”

For Holy Candlemas
from winter we are out
but if it is rainy or windy
we are in the middle of winter

Yesterday in Central Italy it was sunny with calm winds and a midday high of about 50 degrees – good news for those traveling in March and April this year. It is also a positive omen for wine drinkers, as it is also said that a sunny day on Candelora brings a fine vintage. For the even more superstitious, Candelora is also the day to perform an exorcism on those that have been cursed by the malocchio or “evil eye” during the year. If you suffer from such a malady, I apologize for getting the news to you that your best chance for exorcism was yesterday – February 2. I’m afraid you’ll just have to suffer under the curse for another year.

Posted in General | No Comments »

Festa di San Feliciano – Foligno

February 2nd, 2011

Ever wonder how St. Valentine got his start? Well, it is said that he was ordained by San Feliciano, patron saint of the central Umbrian town of Foligno. Every year on January 24th, Foligno honors its patron saint with a mass and procession through the streets. A large silver and bronze statue of the saint is removed from the Duomo and carried through the town. Foligno’s residents gather to pay homage to the saint by touching the foot of the statue. The main square is filled with a market and stalls selling oranges. This kind of observance can be experienced in almost every Italian town on the patron saint’s day – large or small.

From Blog Photos

The statue is by baroque sculptor, Giovanni Battista Maini, and was commissioned by the Archdiocese of Foligno in 1735. Maini was a prominent sculptor in Rome and received commissions from the Papacy as well as the Portuguese monarchy. He also worked on designs for Rome’s Fontana di Trevi.

From Blog Photos

Many of Foligno’s civic groups participate in the procession, including the different neighborhoods of the Giostra della Quintana. (The Quintana is a Renaissance festival that takes place in June and September.)

San Feliciano (160 – 249) was an early Christian leader and the first bishop of the area. He was martyred in the aftermath of the decree of Caesar Decius that all citizens should make sacrifice in front of the Roman magistrates as a sign of allegiance to Rome. The town of Foligno, an important crossroads between Rome and the Adriatic grew around his tomb.

Tags: Aldo, Foligno, Photo
Posted in Day Trips, General, Italian Dressing, Men | No Comments »

Photo of the Week: Low season al Mare

January 25th, 2011

One thing we love about living in Italy half the year is that we’ve become friends with many Italians. Not the hotel managers, tour guides, winemakers, and restaurant owners we’ve met through the course of doing business (many of whom have become good friends) but we’re talking about Italians who don’t work in the tourism trade. Like our friend Aldo – he works in pharmaceutical sales. His territory covers Liguria, Toscana, and Umbria. He is a master of the business lunch and we can always count on him for unbiased restaurant recommendations that never disappoint.

Aldo is also passionate about photography and always has his camera with him on business trips. The photos below were taken by Aldo during the winter months of 2009 and 2010.

We plan to feature more of his photography on Italy del Giorno.