It’s not just for the “aria fina” (“good air”) that you stop at the Agriturismo Aria Fina in the mountains on the Basilicata/Calabria border near the mountain town of Mormanno. Although we…
When you’re ready for the best in “farm-to-table” eating (called “kilometro zero” in Italian), head to the medieval hilltown gem of Scheggino on the Nera River for dinner at Osteria Baciafemmine where…
It’s been a good year for wild asparagus, a springtime delicacy which transforms a frittata, risotto or pasta sauce into a regal feast. Pino and I had good luck foraging in early…
The north Casentino valley tortelli di patate aren’t made with just any potato: the key ingredient is the Chetica potato, a red-skinned round tuber of rosy-toned white flesh, cultivated at 500 m.…
If you look up as you stroll the narrow back alleyways of Naples, you might see an elderly lady leaning out of a window, lowering a basket or a plastic bucket to…
You know you’ve found Ristorante/Pizzeria Marino near the Naples waterfront if you spot chef Salvatore crumbling bread crusts for the pigeons out front. (They flock near the front door after lunchtime for…
Just below Assisi, in Santa Maria degli Angeli, the guild of St. Anthony (Compagnia di Sant’Antonio) was formed at the time of the construction of the seventeenth century Basilica, built over the…
The milling of the just-picked olives calls for a celebration. Pino called up Peppa as soon as the mill confirmed a date for the pressing of our olives: “Portiamo l’olio per la…
We were on our way to Peppa’s for castagne e vino novello (roasted chestnuts with the new wine) when Pino’s phone rang: our turn coming up, pressing of our olives within the…
It was a race against time this year. We’d hoped to get our olives picked before the predicted rainstorms arrived. I was up early on Saturday to make an olive harvest lunch…