Arrividerci Italia

Arrividerci Italia

As we sit in the Florence airport awaiting our flight to Germany (Germany to Philly to Miami), I find myself reminiscing about the last 2 weeks in Italia. it was certainly the PERFECT coming of age trip to a long awaited destination. Although my Italian grandmother (NanaTischio) never had the desire to come to the place of her mother's birth, I have always been curious to learn about the people, culture, and of course foods of my Italian heritage. My visits to all of the regions except the north of Italy has helped me do exactly that! I've had a wonderful time in each city and feel that we did a lot without over-extending or exhausting ourselves.

My top recommendations for each area are:
Rome: Sites-colosseum, pantheon, and capital hill including the forum, house of vestals, and Sistine Chapel,  time at the various piazza's people watching. Things to avoid: taking a taxi if you're not sure where you are going, taking a crowded bus, and asking for directions. Best tip- ask for a fan on the first night and be prepared for some rude interactions. I'm just saying...

Sorrento: Sites- Ravello, Capri, Anacapri ...it's all beautiful. Pompeii is also a  must see! Avoid: having a car, driving is crazy! Tip:take a tour with Paolo from Joe Bananas...some of the BEST money spent on our trip. All the food was fantastic, loved the bread and wine! Lots of fruits and salads there! AVOID driving to Naples at all costs!

Tuscany: favorites included San Gimignano, Voltera and Asissi. Food fabulous except for the bread...it is made with very little salt and fewer grains than in Rome and Sorento. Best experiences...it was all great, cooking class and biking were unique experiences. Might have gone to Sienna if we had time, but no regrets. Tip: you must have a car to get around, and if you have a car you MUST have a GPS! A local map of the region might be helpful for those times you are "recalculating".

Florence: loved everything! Use tours for the Duomo, Accademia, etc but take time just to enjoy the city. Last night, as we walked back to the hotel fro, dinner, there was a street performer and a huge crowd having a wonderful time. The city is vibrant and best experienced living in the thick of it!I would highly recommend Hotel Axial...we found the location perfect and Paul at the front desk so very kind and accommodating! Be prepared to hear the sounds of the city through your windows...it made us feel we were apart of the action.

Miscellaneous notes-
1. Physically train for this trip! Florideans: practice walking up steps and hills. Build up to 400 stair steps.  I'm not kidding, many spectacular places had well over 150 steps, and that's not counting the inclines. If your biking, good luck on the hills!
2. Bring a metal or plastic water bottle ( thanks Elisa for the tip). Water is expensive but there are free fountains in most cities. Florence actually had a water station that you could pick flat or carbonated water "with gas"!
3. Travel lightly, it takes less time to pack and unpack! Also, some airlines are now weighing carry-on baggage (Lufthansa had us unweight our carry on, thank goodness for big purses.)
4. Eat gelato...even though I didn't always indulge, it is an experience and can be developed into an art form. Ask Tami for Gelato tips, she is an expert.
5. Drink wine- it is less expensive than other beverages and has important nutrients. In the middle ages wine was a main source of nutrients (according to our guide yesterday). Salud!
6. When possible, eat outside to enjoy the people and sites of Italy! There is never a dull moment...whether it is two people arguing loudly or two lovers holding hands, the people here are surely embracing life. This is the lure of the Italians...passionate, expressionate, and beautiful.

I think that's the end of my blog unless I have an interesting journey back to the states.  Speaking of the states, it will be great to come home! God bless America!

Goodbye Tuscany, HELLO Firenze (Florence)

This morning we rose before the sun and dragged our bags down the stairs to the Ford Focus wagon, our faithful rental car the last 7 days. Sally and Nicole were heading ton the Florence airport :-(  while Tami and I were heading to our last 2 days of vacation in Florence. It was somewhat sad saying goodbye to the beautiful Tuscan countryside, although I'm ready for city life again. I will miss gazing out over the gorgeous countryside, because in addition to its beauty, I really relaxed for the first time in a LONG time. I hope to keep the lessons of Tuscany long after I'm gone...  enjoy the gifts of each day like the sun and the good company of friends, chose fresh foods over processed ones, push it up the steep hills in life so you can enjoy coasting down the hill, say yes to Gelato and good wine, and laugh even though your GPS is "recalculating."

Although we never could have made it without my GPS  Clarisse, we had a few times that she did not get the memo that the road was closed or that it was 1 way in the opposite direction, and this morning was no exception.  In retrospect, it was really quite funny this past week when we kept finding ourselves in the same spot over and over...kind of like European vacation except that it was pitch black and there were huge mountains to traverse. Hats off to Tami and Sally who drove the crazy roads- Nicole and I were navigators who were trying to interpret the GPS and the crazy signage.  A typical intersection (most of them circles or in the shape of the letter S or Y) might have 4-6 signs all  going in different directions. Rarely does one see stop signs or traffic signals, just vague arrows and street names that go something like this: Strada Maria Cavella Santa Callouzia Domingo Principal! Ok I made that one up but with long  names like that the letters are really small! With all the confusion, it always seemed that it would take about 10 minutes to travel a mile...we felt like we were in this time warp in the hills (twilight zone music begins...)

So, Tami and I arrived at our Florence hotel at 6:15am, a few hours (wink) before check in and of course the door to the lobby was closed. Thankfully, the laundry delivery man showed up and we sort of sneaked in, if only to sit rather than stand with our bags. The hotel clerk arrived at 6:30, eyes wide when he saw us sitting there! We explained our situation and he was fabulous. He let us store our bags and use the Internet room to hang out till nearby restaurants opened up! Grazia Hotel Axial! You have renewed my faith in customer service!  In the 2 weeks here, we had more hospitality in this little hotel in our first hour than in all the others combined!

 Still flying somewhat by the seat of our pants, we decided to book a walking tour for Sunday and a "David tour" for today. After a cappuccino and croissant (YUMMY)  we headed out on our own to check out Florence. Our hotel is one block from the Duomo, probably the most beautiful church  I've seen. We took a tour that gave us the rich history of the church and it's famous dome! Michelangelo was involved in some of the artwork and as was almost every famous painter &  sculptor from that period. We found a small cafe for lunch and another for dinner...a big perk because we were able to enjoy people watching.

The DAVID tour was outstanding. Since neither of us know much about art history, we decided to have a tour guide. As we walked to the Acadamia, he gave us the history of Michelangelo and how he became a sculptor. His Dad was a lawyer and would consider artists, especially sculptors, as lowering oneself in society. At 13, he negotiated with a famous artist to pay him to be his apprentice when usually one paid to be an apprentice. His David was sculpted over 3 years with a block of marble that other artists said was too imperfect to use.  And David, it is amazing! Danny, I know why you said you were fascinated by it...hard to describe unless you've seen it! although it was designed to go on top of the church, when he was finished they put it in the piazza. This is why some parts of the sculpture are slightly out of proportion, because he sculpted it with the assumption that it would be viewed from below and only 2 angles. The detail is incredible, ie, the veins in his arms and the anatomical accuracy of the muscles. Anyway, for those of you contemplating a trip to Florence, this is a must see!

I LOVE Florence! The people here are more friendly, helpful, and interactive with tourists than even Sorento ( which was touted by Rick Steves as friendliest city)! When we could not find Artvia, the walking tour company, several people stopped to help us. This was a first for me, because in the many times I asked for directions elsewhere, I usually received the brush off (it's a gesture where people literally look like they are brushing something off, ie, move on or get out of here). Stop laughing Nicole! Also, there is an upbeat spirit here that I didn't find in Rome. As we went to sleep last night, the sounds of people laughing on the street floated up to our room and lingered in the air, as if to say "enjoy life, celebrate!" as we get ready to do the walking tour of the city, I am more eager than ever!

Tour de Tuscany

Sept 9, for real!

Today was our last day in Tuscany.  We spent the first half on a mountain bike doing  a bike tour of this region. Our tour guide,  Ingo, took us on a route that was used thousands of years ago for people making a pilgrimage to Rome. He said that while a 1000 people would start at any given tome, only 100 would get there and only 50 make it back! The most famous and detailed description of this trek was by the bishop (Chauncer ? Spelling) of Canterbury who walked 2000 kilometers from England to Rome. He detailed what the "road" was like for the travelers. While the wealthy stayed in castles like Castle de Pietro, the poor and common folk stayed in churches along the route. Many would only travel 20 km/day and had to find work to buy food etc!  It gives one pause to think of the difficult journeys our ancestors took to get to Rome. I complained about the delay leaving Charlotte when we went 6000 miles I'm 8 hours! Humbling to say the least!

A tidbit we learned while on the road was that the reason the bread here in Tuscany is kind of bland ( no salt) is that the early settlers used their salt to age their meats which was more of a priority than salt in the bread. Anyone who has tasted prosciutto and other meats like salami  knows that they are full of sodium!

The bike tour was described as "gentle rolling hills" whereas in reality it was at times 70 degree inclines of gravel and dirt. Liars! Our Tami was the real hero of the day...1 year post knee replacement surgery and 8 stents and the gal did NOT give up! Ingo provided some moral and physical support as needed, but you can't keep a good gal down!  Ingo would provide us with the history of the region and answer questions big and small. We met Jamie and Mike from Seattle WA who are about to celebrate their first anniversary.  Mike made it up the big hill to the castle while the rest of us pushed our bikes! We ended the tour with lunch (cold beer ..Moretti), lunch, and gelato. Actually in true form I had an espresso while the rest of the gang had geloto.

Highlights of the bike tour in my opinion were:
-eating figs fresh off a fig tree! Hey people, don't knock it until you try it! As Ingo said " no spray" meaning no pesticides!
-going downhill at a million miles per  hour (so I exaggerate!) I loved me my downhill coasting at fast speeds
-seeing how far we rode- pretty cool to turn around
-the end of the bike tour ( no regrets, but happy it ended)
- and that FIRST sip of cold beer...perfecto!

Tonight, dinner in San Gimignano and then pack for Florence! Andiamo!
Mary

Hungry anyone?

September 9, 2011

Today was a very fun and different day on our Italian adventure. After a leisurely breakfast at Poderi Arcangelo, we headed into the car to our Tuscan cooking class at Il Vicario. Now I know what your thinking, a cooking class when there's so many things to see and do? YES! What better way to learn about how to prepare the delicious food we've been enjoying? Furthermore, we thought we might all learn some new techniques or approaches to cooking while getting to know some local folks a bit more intimately than one normally does on vacation (don't be fresh Sally)!

So, we were met by Fulvio...he and his niece Katia run this business as well as a bed and breakfast. Fulvio directed us into the bathroom to wash our hands, and then we all donned our white aprons and were told what we would be cooking.  First, home made pasta similar to spaghetti but a bit thicker and made with a mixture of flour and semolina flour along with a simple sauce; next brushetta and pansa...(forgot the name) which is a mixture of bread soaked in water, squeezed dry and mixed with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and capers; followed by a chicken dish with whiten wine and capers. Our mouths were watering, but were we up to the challenge?

We began by making the pasta. Fulvio poured half cup of flour and half semolina flour with a teaspoon of salt. After mixing this we created a hole in the center in which he poured water. As we kneaded the mixture, sometimes we had to add more water or flour. I was the slow learner of the group, Fulvio had to give my piece an extra treatment! Eek..I thought this would be easy for the hands that do deep friction massages, but apparently I did not have the right touch! He jokingly shook his head and I'm sure he thought "who is this slow American gal?" Not to be discouraged, I began the next task of rolling the dough as if rolling play doe to look like a thin snake. Without boring you with the details, once again I was the last one in the class! Not a believer in the bell curve, there I was consistently at the bottom end! Mama mia...how would I ever get through this? While everyone else rolled at least 3-4 noodles, here I was the last to finish only 2! What was wrong with me? I finished my noodle with 6 eyes staring and critiquing..."Mary, roll more on the left" or from Fulvio "we might have to have pasta for breakfast!" I'm thinking, is this a vacation? Why is sweat dripping down my back?
.
The rest of the cooking went much better. I redeemed myself in the sauce and learned 2 important things to share with my American friends. First, always put vegetables in cold olive oil, ie, don't heat the oil first. This allows the flavors of the onions, garlic etc to come out. Second, you can make a delicious sauce with this simple combination: sautéed onions, canned tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a touch of chilling pepper! Perfecto! Making the appetizers with fresh ingredients, including fresh basil and cucumbers was another part of this experience!

When we ate our appetizers, Fulvio served a dry white wine that was very nice and light. He explained that you want light wine with light food, robust wines with more robust foods! Makes sense to me! Our two pastas were delicious, and we had them with a light red wine. We then stepped away from the table to finish the 2nd course and perhaps give our bellies a rest! The final course, chicken dusted with flour and cooked with white wine and capers was made very quickly. He taught us to cut meat with the grain. We finished the dinner with espresso freshly made...a perfect ending for this coffee lover!

We ended the day with a trip to Voltera...more on that tomorrow! Hope I left you with your mouths watering!

PS. Fulvio also said that Americans press their garlic and that is not the best way to cook with it! Pressing the garlic opens the core of the clove and it loses the water from inside which is a big part of it's flavor. When making our brushetta for example, we rubbed the peeled clove over the bread to give it the garlic flavor before adding course salt and extra virgin olive oil! Mmmm good!

St. Francis of Assisi

September 8, 2011
Today we took a road trip to Assisi in the county of Umbria. Sal and Nicole stayed behind to soak up some sun and maybe ride horses. We dropped off two Australian travelers staying at the Poderi Arcangelo to the town of Siena. It looked cute but we had St. Francis in mind. A note to future travelers to Italy...you need a car when you're in this neck of the woods. That's because if nothing else you have to get to the train station from wherever you are staying. We really did not need the car in Sorento but we're  glad we have one here! Also, other than a few roads that were closed, it is not too hard to navigate with your GPS. I bought a Garmin chip for Italy/Greece (that was the only way to get Italy) so if you need one in the future let me know.

Assisi is, like all of this region, beautiful. I was drawn to this town for many reasons: it was the birthplace and town of St. Francis, one of my favorite saints; it is geographically and culturally a little different from Tuscany; and it is known for it's rustic Italian food ( stews, vegetables, etc). St. Francis is the patron St. of animals and a proponent of peace and simplicity. You all may be familiar with the well known poem/song "make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred let me sow love..."  or the poem  /prayer referred to as the canticle of the creatures "praise be to thee my Lord with all thy creatures..." Basically, he was a very cool guy that preached a good message (Dan-love IS everything)!

The Basilica of St. Francis was amazing. Unlike the mosaics in St. Peters, all walls were filled with frescos of paintings. Famous artists contributed to the art of this church as was the case of St. Peter. We were not allowed to take any oictures in the basilica. We also stopped by a church called Santa Maria degli Angeli,  it was built over the small chapel given to Francis by the local bishop around 1200. The original chapel is underneath the dome of this church. Santa..Angeli is the world's 10th largest church. The original chapel of St Francis inside the church is, like he was, humble...me thinks he might be embarrassed to see the current church. Mom, inside the original chapel is a lock of hair from St. Clare who sounded the order of poor Clares. Basically she was the female version of Francis and I believe his first follower. One more tidbit for my Catholic friends and history buffs, St. Francis was actually never ordained a priest because he started his own order with the blessing of the Pope who had a dream about him. His "brothers" or friars took a vow of obedience, poverty, and chastity. He wore a simple tunic and gave up all his worldly possessions...his miracles included being able to be seen in 2 places at one time and  receiving the stigmata.

Dinner tonight in the town of San Gimignano. It was a small trattoria called Laconta di Sant'Agostina. The trattoria was in the piazza next to, you guessed it, St. Agostina church.  Dinner included wine, salad, and I had white beans with sausage, Tami- amazing ravioli with meat sauce, Nicole pizza with arugala and Sally a mediterranean salad. Belisimo! Tomorrow cooling with Katia...you would think we are tired of food ....NEVER!!!!!

Under the Tuscan...

September 7, 2011

Ahh, the beautiful country-side of Tuscany. We are staying at the Poderi Arcangelo, a bed and breakfast and agricultural business (argriturismo) that produces wine and olive oil. While the views are spectacular, we have not found the staff particularly warm or welcoming. This has been fairly constant in our travels, few hoteliers for example say anything like "hi my name is Mary, welcome to ..." This was true in Rome as well...perhaps we are used to a different type of hospitality (welcome to Walmart). Anyway, we came here for the views more so than for the people. We hope to have a more intimate experience tomorrow when the four of us are taking a cooking lesson with Katia and her Uncle not far from San Gimignano. Based on the trip advisor reviews we think she will be as warm and fun as Paolo was in Sorento.

One of the pleasant things about Tuscany is the lack of traffic. Our GPS Clarisse has been having some troubles here in Italy, but more importantly Italian drivers are crazy..really crazy...like NYC can't hold a candle to the driving patterns of the drivers here. For example, imagine driving your car down a narrow alley, then add a car in the opposite direction. Then, just for giggles, add two Vespa's, one on either side scooting around you because you can NEVER go fast enough! Then, add a 70 degree incline and hairpin turns, with Clarisse screaming "recalculating" and you have a mental picture.

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Poderi Arcangelo. Picture steaming hot coffee along with eggs (cooked like an omelet with bits of bread tasting like croutons), pastries, cakes, yogurt, and plates of cheese with salami and ham. After mapping out our top choices for the week (cooking class, bike tour, etc), we toured the grounds (stunning views, one better than the next) and took some pictures. We then headed to the town of San Gimignano-one of the oldest medieval towns with remaining towers. The town originally had 72 towers and now has 15 remaining (don't quote us on the exact numbers, I think you get the gist however. The story goes that it housed the first pharmacy in Tuscany, where both herbs and perfumes were created. We went to 1300, a museum that has a town replica in miniature made out of clay. San Gimignano also was one of the first towns where people had separate residences. People would bring their families, along with soldiers to guard their house/property and belongings. Remember this is the middle ages, so neighborhood wars made the Soprano's seem tame.  Anyway, soldiers slept up top (10-12 per household) whereas the family slept on 2-3 floor and on the first floor there was often some type of business at the ground level. The village of course also had farm areas, churches, and a watch tower. People could come in through the main gate, pay a tax, then sell their wares to the villagers. At it's peak, San Gimignano had 12,000 residents. In 1329, the black plague struck, and the population was reduced to 4000. At that point, the town went to ruin and many of the towers collapsed or went into disrepair. They sure knew had to have some tragic endings in the middle ages! I hope I haven't put you to sleep, but I thought the history was interesting. I also feel we should remain mindful of how important vaccines and antibiotics are to our survival!

We ended the day with a wine tasting and olive oil tasting at Poderi. They make both chardonnay and chianti as well as extra virgin olive oil. We are hoping to go to a more in-depth vineyard experience in the next few days. A small anti paste plate with salami, cheese, prosciutto, etc and a little of the archangeo chianti (no flava beans for you silence of the lamb movie buffs) was our light dinner. Such is life "under the Tuscan sun."

Capri & Anacapri: A perfect ending for the Amalfi Coast

September 5, 2011
Yesterday was our last day in Sorrento. As good vacationers, we spent it with a fury of touring and sightseeing. Actually, in comparison to Saturday it was quite a casual pace. We began with a boat ride from Sorrento to Capri. As a group we had decided NOT to do the Blue Grotto, primarily because of the crowds and based on the recommendation of Paolo (who toured us on Saturday.) Capri is a beautiful island that used to be a get away for the rich and famous, now it's full of tourists looking for the rich and famous! The boat dropped us off in Marina Grande, at which point we took 2 busses..one to Capri and then a second to Anacapri. We chose the latter because we wanted to take the chairlift ride up the mountain recommended by both Paolo and Rick Steves. If I haven't mentioned it, other than our personal tour guides throughout the trip, Rick Steves the travel writer has been pretty spot-on regarding his descriptions and recommendations.

Once in Anacapri, we had lunch at a little trattoria. I'd like to mention here that we've been eating great food regularly without pigging out. Usually, Tami orders the mozzarella with tomatoes while I have a green salad (sometimes with tuna or other veggies). There is a reason for doing this, and that is to save room for two staples in Italy: bread and gelato! I have yet to meet a slice of bread that I don't like it Italy. Tami has yet to pass by a gelato stand (just kidding, she passes by at least 3 per day).  We've been walking so much we hope to come home a few pounds lighter! (That's enough laughing everyone).

So, back to Anacapri...after lunch we made our way to the Seggiovia Monte Solaro. This is a chair lift up the side of the mountain and one of the best ways to view Capri and Anacapri. Now, many of you might not know this, but I am somewhat afraid of heights. When we got closer, I realized that the lift was single seat (not what I thought) and the angle of the lift was what seemed to me to be 70 degrees of incline. Let's say my panic mode set in and my immediate thought was to run. I did not run however! I thought to myself-how often will you have chance to ride up the side of a mountain in Italy? After watching Tami gleefully hop on, I stood and waited for my chair to come behind me so I could sit and go! The man put the bar down (a metal bar that did NOT lock) and then I had no choice but to to commit!  OMG! Danny, if your out there reading this, picture my airplane face when we hit turbulence! Tami was turning in her seat 50 feet in front of me encouraging me to look around at the gorgeous view. All I could think was..."don't move...HELP...I'm going to die!!!!" There is a reason they're called IRRATIONAL fears people! Halfway up I decided to let go of the fear (never letting go of the arms of the chair of course-do you think I'm nuts?) I then relaxed enough to breathe in the sights and a little oxygen as well! I did fine on the way down (i prefer landing over take off). Ironically we passed a gal in her late teens starting up the hill crying ("mama.....") with her family laughing at her. I felt so bad for her, had we not been passing in mid-air I would have reassured her. Honestly I also felt a little like giggling at both she and myself...fearful faces are somehow amusing (I have a picture to share with MY face looking funny). Ann, there is one thing I failed to mention. Capri is pronounced like "kah-pri" with the emphasis on the kah, not like Capri pants. Just wanted to help you sound like a local!

After our return to Sorrento, we picked up a few snacks (AKA wine) and enjoyed the pool area at our hotel as a little siesta (are you proud of me my HE-DPT friends?) For dinner, we walked down to the Marina by our hotel (down a mountain) and ate at trattoria d'emilia. Mama Mia, it was delicious! Tami and Nicole had Mama's Gnocchi,Sally the fresh fish (very fresh!) and I had the spaghetti with clams (shells and all). Simply prepared foods that were so delicious. On the way home we stopped for....gelato!  What a perfect evening to end our stay in the Amalfi coast-off to Tuscany tomorrow where I  will surely have lots of wine and more stories to share.