Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

The Hill Towns of Molise

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Actor Robert De Niro’s great-grandparents emigrated from the Molisan hill town of Ferrazzano.

Even a casual observer of mass Italian tourism reads and hears the commentary.

Tuscany is overrun with outsiders.

Venice is sinking under hordes of cruise line passengers.

Rome is deluged with foreigners.

The Cinque Terre is so crowded that’s it has lost its once-remote allure.

Capri is a tourist trap.

These magnificent places attract multitudes who come to experience the magnificent art, history, cuisines, cultures, and natural beauty.

While it’s the job of the government, tourism industry, and local communities to sort out the long-term future of mass tourism in Italy, it’s my good fortune to offer a plan for right now.

Simply get off the tourism conveyor belt. Each time Walter and I travel to Italy, we choose to explore places that are new to us. Like the region of Molise. We wander, dine, learn, and laugh surrounded by Italians instead of English, German, or Chinese-language speakers.

And isn’t that the reason we all want to experience Italy?

Oratino, Molise

During our recent sojourn in the city of Campobasso, our B&B host Luciano Viola, urged us to drive up to Oratino for lunch at Ristorante Olmicello. He seemed so intent on the prospect that we began to wonder if he was a shareholder in the business. Turns out, Luciano was just the best at promoting some of his area’s finest.

As dramatic spring clouds scuttled across a brilliant blue sky, we made the 15-minute drive northwest of Campobasso to Oratino. In the small park and overlook, we soaked in a verdant vista.

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Fior di Latte Cheese

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During our stay in Campobasso, the capital of Molise, our B&B host Luciano Viola treated us to some local food specialties, including a fresh cheese ball that resembled mozzarella di bufala but was called fior di latte (flower of milk). It tasted sweet and pure — like gently solidified fresh milk.

We were intrigued, so Luciano offered to take us to the cheese producer the following morning.

Walter (right) with our host Luciano Viola of Bed & Breakfast Luciano and Son in Campobasso.

It’s a good thing Luciano guided us. Although the shop was close to the B&B, it was located in a courtyard with no business signage whatsoever. Guess if you don’t know where Zio Pasquale cheese shop is located, you’re out of luck.

Luciano introduced us to owner Antonio Tromba who has worked in dairy and cheese production since the age of 10. At the age of 81, he had arisen that morning at 5 a.m.

One half of the operation was devoted to production space; the other half to retail.

As Tromba and his two assistants worked the cheese vats, he explained fior di latte.

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In the Mood for Molise, Italy

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The village of San Giuliano del Sannio in Molise.

My love affair with Italy started in Tuscany a long time ago but has expanded to other regions since then. The more I traveled and reported throughout the peninsula, the more I discovered new ingredients and cooking styles, dialects that didn’t sound like Dante’s Tuscan Italian, myriad cultural heritages, new-to-me wines, and more Saints Feast Days than I can recount. Maybe, I thought, there’s no such thing as “Italian culture” but rather “Italian cultures.”

The boulevards in Turin, Piedmont, looked more to me like Paris than Rome.

The white city of Ostuni, Puglia, resembled a sun-bleached Greek island instead of a hilltown floating in a silver-green sea of olive trees.

Ponte de Legno in Alpine Lombardy seemed Swiss while the architecture of Modica in southern Sicily appeared Spanish. Yet, all these places and more are the vibrant threads in the glorious tapestry of Italy.

Intrigued by all of these Italys, I’ve promised myself to spend quality time in each of the nation’s 20 regions, roughly the equivalent of a US state.

These are the regions I’ve explored:
Toscana
Umbria
Lazio
Emilia-Romagna
Veneto
Piemonte
Lombardia
Abruzzo
Puglia
Basilicata
Le Marche
Campania

On a trip from March-June this year, Walter and I checked out Liguria, Sardinia, Sicilia, and Molise.

Molise has been on my radar screen for the last year or so. Travel media have begun promoting it as “undiscovered,” “unspoiled,” and “not touristy.” Can calling it “the next Tuscany” be far off?

What You Won’t Find in Molise: Tourists

Hilltowns dot the countryside of Molise.

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Silk from the Sea in Sardinia

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Saturday morning on the island of Sant’Antioco, off the southwest coast of the island of Sardinia. Walter and I are in the breakfast room at Bed and Breakfast Le Terrazze in the main port town of Sant’Antioco. The group of taciturn Italian surfers have cleared out to hit their boards.

What shall we do today?

We scan a tourist brochure in Italian and find a listing for the Museo del Bisso (Bisso Museum). “What’s bisso?” we ask simultaneously.

Our host, the mellow Nello, clearing plates and cappuccino cups, offers an explanation in Italian. We don’t quite grasp what bisso (byssus) is even though we’ve had no problem understanding Nello up until now. (Our here-to-fore comprehension is almost entirely due to Nello’s patient and measured delivery.)

He says the proprietor of the museum, Chiara Vigo, is an old friend and that she’s famous for her work. He thinks we’ll find it interesting and offers to phone Vigo to check if the museum is open. He reaches Chiara and she gives us the green light.

The “Museo” is not even a five-minute walk and turns out to be a storefront workshop just a bit down the hill from the Basilica of Sant’Antioco.

A flyer inside the front window announces a crowdsourced fundraiser to finance a new space for the Museo del Bisso. A hand-lettered notice states La Fretta Non Abita Qui (in-a-hurry doesn’t live here); another announces Qui Non Si Vende Niente (here, we don’t sell anything).

We walk past a loom, displays of needlework crafted with golden thread, framed memorabilia, and press clips of Vigo. Seated toward the back of the room at her worktable, Vigo greets us warmly in her husky voice. It’s as if she’s been waiting her entire life for us to show up. Her comfy attire is gray sweats and knit sweater adorned with a jaunty lacquered fruit pin. Her pepper-and-salt hair is pulled back from her striking face.

A Sea Witch’s Tale

Vigo spins the yarn of her life-long vocation to bisso, the brown filament excretions of the Mediterranean bivalve Pinna nobilis — known as noble pen shell or fan mussel — as she holds up a translucent half shell on which her nonno had painted a scene. Accustomed to diminutive bivalves like edible mussels, we gape at the length of the Pinna nobilis shell. It is at least 2-feet tall. Some grow as long as 4 feet.

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Driving a Ferrari Spider

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By Walter Sanders

We almost made it to the Enzo Ferrari House and Museum in Modena, Italy. The founder of the legendary automobile brand was from this prosperous town in Emilia-Romagna.

The museum was open. We were well within visiting hours. We had the money to enter.

But I got distracted.

A young woman standing on the sidewalk outside the museum entrance was handing out flyers. She was promoting Ferrari test drives.

And what a perfect spot for that offer! Passers-by arriving there have already self-selected their interest in Ferrari and the museum.

We talked for a bit. She explained that there were a couple of cars — a pair of Ferraris — just down the street available for driving. I could take a short spin for 150 Euro.

“That’s a lot of money. But at least we could have a fun photo opp with a car.” I said to Sharon.

Then Sharon said, “Hmmm, let’s take a look.” I interpreted that as maybe, just maybe, tacit approval.

Driving Reward?

This was our last full day of a ten-week adventure in Italy. I had logged just shy of 4,900 kilometers from Milan through Sardinia, Sicily, Molise and back again on a more-than-adequate Peugeot 308 station wagon.

It was sporty enough with six forward gears and had shapely lines for a middle-of-the-road passenger automobile. But a thrill to drive? No.

So perhaps Sharon encouraging this Ferrari flirtation with me was some sort of payback for handling the unique opportunities and challenges that define driving in Italy. I’ll never know. I didn’t ask and Sharon isn’t talking.

But as we headed down the street, I was getting excited. [Read more…]

Driving in Italy

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Taking the road less traveled–like this country lane in Molise–is a big part of the adventure when you drive yourself in Italy.

By Walter Sanders

Few things are as exciting … and daunting … as getting behind the wheel and driving in Italy.
I’ve been doing it since the early 1970s and have racked up tens of thousands of accident-free kilometers while living in or visiting Italy. The vast majority have been exhilarating and carefree.

I relish driving in Italy. I’m a confident driver. I like the unique opportunities that driving in Italy give me to explore areas that would be otherwise inaccessible given normal public transportation or group travel.

Of course, driving in Italy is different than driving in North America: the language, some streets that you might consider lanes or alleys, a highway system that is both luxurious and rearview-mirror-terrifying at times.

But most of all, the drivers are different. At the risk of generalizing, I have found Italian drivers to be skilled, resourceful, creative and, at times, aggressive. We could all learn from Italian drivers.

My theory is that the vast majority of Italian automobile drivers have graduated from the motor scooter ranks. The two wheel experience makes them situationally aware, clever for opportunities, and gives them the survival skills to stay safe.

So, are you itching to drive in Italy? Read on.

Cost of Driving in Italy

Renting a car in Italy can be expensive. Daily and weekly rates are high, and you would be well advised to work with a reputable provider that clearly presents costs and options and minimizes the risk of unpleasant surprises at return time.

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