I missed the Festa di Scienza e Filosofia in Foligno this year. Here’s a note I wrote on that “only-in-Italy!” event the first time I attended: Where else can you join a Saturday night…
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A gem of a tiny hilltown overlooking the Piano Grande (“Great Plain”), Castelluccio di Norcia, is a forlorn mass of rubble now. Devastated by the earthquake of October 30, 2016, the town is now…
Years ago, Salvatore, dear friend from Naples, cooked me this pasta dish and it was always a hit in my U.S. cooking classes. Salvatore made his salsa with the famous walnuts of Sorrento (said…
Originating in Asia since pre-history, the eggplant arrived in the Mediterranean area with the Arabs in the Middle Ages. In thirteenth-century Italian folklore, Ia melanzana was said to be a cause of insanity.…
Showcased in minestrone, a vegetable medley is tasty in another way: baked. Not long ago, our friend Simonetta brought us a savory dish of oven-baked vegetables; today, Pino and I tried…
At lunchtime the other day and I knew those ripe and luscious tomatoes and huge bell peppers had to unite in a pasta dish. The color red was there and white (onion)…
Zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes and bell peppers take the stage in Italy’s August cuisine. Today for lunch, roasted peppers with garlic, basil, capers and toasty bread crumbs was our side dish. And here’s…
August is the month to fete tomatoes. They’re red and luscious now, an enticement at any fruit and vegetable stand. All over Italy now, families are putting up tomato sauce for winter.…
Diffuse in the Mediterranean world – and not only – along mountainsides, roadsides and bordering fields and woods, wild fennel towers stately, gently waving in our late August breezes. The fluffy green barba…
“Mangia con noi” (“Eat with us”), Chiarina urged. “Today, lunch will be simple as it’s too hot to cook,” she added as she sautéed gently their sausage in their olive oil. (Husband…