We celebrated my birthday in Sicily this past summer, too. What memories of a “volcanic” birthday in Sicily years ago. Here is the note I wrote then: Sicily: Volcanic Adventures September 2006 I’ve been celebrating my end-of-August birthdays on volcanoes recently – “explosive” moments! For many years, my birthday has landed me in proximity to…
At first site of the aquamarine waters of the island of Lampedusa, you’ll wonder if you’ve landed in the tropics or the Caribbean. Only eleven kilometers long, this rocky Mediterranean island – southern-most point in Europe – is now refuge point for immigrants coming from North Africa, fleeing poverty, hunger and conflicts in their own…
La passione – certainly in the Italian DNA – takes over at a young age. In early May during Assisi’s Calendimaggio, the town’s medieval history, poetry, music, theater is recreated with passione by all – from young to the elderly. Announcing the festivities, young drummers beat out their passione with a fury. Teen-agers in medieval dress…
Pino and I enjoyed another memorable visit to Siclly this summer, spending time in Palermo and reveling in the beauty of the island of Lampedusa for a week. Following a family tradition, I celebrated my late-August-birthday with all Pino’s family: we always gather all together for sfincioni, pizza and mignon di gelato from the nearby Bar Gardenia.
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“Don Matteo”, the Italian TV show about an insightful priest who often aids the local carabinieri in crime-solving, has switched locations: episodes are now being filmed in Spoleto, rather than in Gubbio (much to the chagrin of the Eugubini). Scaffolded for years during anti-seismic restoration following the 1997 earthquake, Spoleto’s Roman (the 1st c. AD theater), medieval (the Duomo, the aqueduct, the Papal fortress) and Renaissance (Fra Lippo Lippi’s frescoes) glories once more attract the tourists and – now – film crews.
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Even Italians photographing their friends urge them to say “Cheese”! (After all, with the word “cheese”, your mouth widens to a smile; saying “formaggio” forms a downward curve like a frown). One June Sunday in the Nera Valley, “formaggio” was on the lips of everyone (literally, figuratively): “Formaggio di pecora qui!” “Prova il nostro formaggio con tartufo, Signora?” “Che buono, questo formaggio!” “Signore, assaggi questa bruschetta al formaggio!”…
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Pine nuts are the leitmotif of this dinner, “architect Nicola affirmed as he served us his tasty first course: tagliolini (small tagliatelle) seasoned delicately with a tidbit of garlic, a fistful of wild fennel (“picked just a few hours ago”) and a handful of pine nuts. After a private visit to the Etruscan collection of tiny Petroio with Nicola (he’d designed the museum interior), we had followed him and engineer, Claudio, through the windy backstreets of this tiny southern Tuscany town to Nicola’s home, passing the towering chimney of the town kiln enroute. Known for its terra-cotta craftsmanship, terra-cotta works adorned the Petroio fountain, many a home – and Nicola’s garden.
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You’ll probably overlook Meldola in the region of Emilia Romagna. Unless you’re out to explore the network of feudal castles in the province of Cesena: our target one spring weekend. Meldola boasts una rocca – now in ruins but spanning centuries of bellicose history, from the first millennium until the earthquake devastation of 1870.
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Our last trip to the northern Tuscany Mugello Valley was on a gray day but the sun comes out as you enter the Ristorante Sergio in Dicomano, bustling with activity, huge bistecche alla fiorentina spitting on the grill in the open fireplace. Gianni flips the bistecche – and sizzling pork chops or lamb chops – with a fork and in the pass-through window to your right, you’ll see his sister Gabriela and beloved helper (“like family”) Elena, topping bruschetta with wild mushrooms or ladling wild boar sauce onto fettuccine.
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The island of Lampedusa, southern-most point in Europe, is where Africa meets Europe, where the West picks up subtle influences of the Middle East. Closer to Africa (just over one-hundred-fifty kilometers from Tunis) than to Sicily (two hundred kilometers to the north), Arab and Christian sailors crossed paths on this island for centuries, praying to their own gods in adjacent grottoes. Near those grottoes today is the Santuario della Madonna del Porto Salvo (Sanctuary of the Madonna of Safe Haven) where the lampedusani often stop in to a whisper a prayer to their venerated Madonna, after reverently touching her cloak.
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