Throughout October, the picturesque Umbrian hilltown of Trevi celebrates its renowned sedano nero (“black celery”) in a month-long array of cultural events. Celery is justly celebrated in Trevi: after all, celery is a key ingredient in many Umbrian recipes (and one follows at the end!)…
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Yesteday on my Rural LIfe Revisited tour, we tasted Peppa’s mosto (grape juice on its way to becoming wine). Sipping Peppa’s mosto brought back fond memories of our first (and last!) vendemmia (grape harvest) in 1975, the year we moved to the land here in Umbria.
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Yesterday when I visited Peppa, she was sitting on a bench outside of chicken coop, chopping walnuts open with a hammer. “Buonissime!”, she said happily as she munched the nutmeats. Her walnuts are tasty this year and will be perfect in the pasta dolce she’ll make for November 1st, All Saints’ Day and November 2nd, All Souls’ Day, two important feast days here in Italy. Here in Umbria, at the end of October the farmwomen start chopping the walnuts they have gathered in preparation for the traditional early November Umbrian sweet, la pasta dolce….
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San Francesco is not the patron saint of our Assisi: He is the patron saint of all Italy along with Catherine of Siena. Most Italians aren’t practicing Catholics. Let’s just call them “cultural Catholics”. Example: ask an Italian, “Sei cattolico?” “Certo!” will be the answer. Then ask about last Mass attended. A likely reply: “a Natale” (“for Christmas”). Catholic or not, you don’t mess with the name of San Francesco in this country. He is “Numero Uno” for the Italians. And Alessandro del Piero is only Numero Due (greatest Italian soccer player?)…
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“Center of the Adriatic, center of Italy, center of the heart,” reads a brochure at the Sirolo Tourist Office. Sirolo certainly has a place in our hearts. When we have a free summer weekend, Pino and I often set out on his moto Guzzi heading through the mountainous Marche region to Sirolo, “la Riviera dell’Adriatico”, as Italians call this rocky stretch of seacoast, just south of Ancona.
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More than anything, the island of Ustica evokes images of colors: bright intense colors, muted pastel colors. First of all the blues, the greens: The translucent acquamarine and emerald brilliance of the surrounding sea are highlighted by the black volcanic rock of this wondrous island, just off the northwestern coast of Sicily. Maritime pines, the pungent wild fennel, fig trees, date palms and caper vines crawling the lava-rock stone walls blend in varied shades of green.
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Arab influences are strong in Sicily, from the architecture to the sweets, from the underground Arab acqueducts of Palermo to the granulated-ice dessert, la granita. The Arabs brought their sherbert to Sicily, an iced drink flavored with fruit juices or rosewater. In the Middle Ages, the nevaroli – “ice-gatherers” – had the important task of conserving the snow of Mt. Etna and other mountain ranges in stone depositories built over grottoes, natural ones and man-made ones. The nobility bought the mounds of ice during the sizzling summer months, mixing in the juice of the island’s lemons with grated ice to make a perfect thirst-quencher – and thus the granita was born…
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“A blood relative or not, he’s my relative. Pasquale’s everybody’s relative: he’s “il nonno di Ustica.” Nonno Pasquale’s blue eyes – the same color as Ustica’s sea – twinkle at friend Gaetano’s affectionate words. A smile spreads ear-to-ear across his gentle face, pink cheeks still smooth with only a suggestion of wrinkles. Pasquale Palmisano will be a hundred next May.
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Fast food? Invented by the Palermitani centuries ago. Palermo’s streets have always teemed with the carts and kiosks of street vendors – the mensari – calling out their wares in Palmeritano dialect as they fry in great vats and then season the many delicacies of the cucina povera. Now called “street food”, the seeking out…
On a hot day, at the end of an Umbrian tour – after taking in the art and history of our medieval hilltown gems – I’ll often say to my tour guests, “Now I have to share with you some very important information: how to choose the best gelato.” Seems to me essential information for anyone touring in Italy in the warmer months. Thankfully, most of my tour guests agree…
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