Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

Cucina Povera

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Pomodori, Fagioli, e Cipolline (Roasted Tomatoes, Beans, and Onions) Photograph by Andrea Wyner

As cultural tourists, who among us isn’t dazzled by the Tuscan sun? We see ourselves feasting beneath its rays: Platters laden with antipasti, pasta, bistecca all fiorentina, Sangiovese wine, and sweets . . . la dolce vita.

But Tuscans in their 70s, 80s, and 90s tell a story of a different table.

These old kitchen hands are the witnesses who inform Pamela Sheldon Johns’ latest cookbook Cucina Povera: Tuscan Peasant Cooking (Andrews McMeel). Johns, an American cookbook author who owns Poggio Etrusco, an organic agritourismo near Montepulciano, has written a cultural and culinary history of a by-gone world. [Read more…]

Risotto alla Monzese

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Delicately seasoned luganega sausage and robust red wine are the flavor keys to this rice dish.

Photos make fine souvenirs but you can’t have them for dinner.

From now on, when I want to recall my visit to Monza last June, I can  reminisce over a plate of steaming risotto alla monzese (Monza Style Risotto) like the one  I sampled there.

The recipe comes courtesy of Guidarte guide and architect Laura Radaelli who escorted our media group around the charming medieval city.

In the course of exchanging e-mails to fact check my “Off the Beaten Track in Monza” article for Dream of Italy newsletter, I learned that Laura is an enthusiastic home cook. She shared some lore about the town’s signature dish along with the preparation method. [Read more…]

Sara Jenkins Respects Italian Food

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Regional Italian dishes rely on specialized ingredients like superfino rice to make a characteristically creamy risotto.

Chef Sara Jenkins, of NYC’s Porchetta and Porsena, writes in Atlantic magazine that Italian cooking has too often been shoved in the back seat behind haute French cuisine and even nouvelle Spanish.

She works to change that perception and hits upon two essential points.

First, there is no such thing as Italian cuisine. There are many Italian regional cuisines.

Second, the reverence for fine food in Italy is democratic. The plumber and the professor both appreciate and know good cooking.

Grazie, Sara.

Here’s her article.

Sofia Coppola è Sposata

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Speak softly, love, but carry a big stick.

As an admirer of Academy-Award nominated director Sofia Coppola, I wish her tanti auguri on her marriage to Phoenix front man Thomas Mars. The fairy tale ceremony was held on Saturday at the Coppola family estate in Bernalda, in the arch of the Italian heel, in the region of Basilicata.

The New York Daily News reports, “Coppola’s famous father, director Francis Ford Coppola walked his 40-year-old daughter–clad in a custom-made lavender Azzadine Alaia gown–down the aisle.”

Good thing art (in the form of Papa Coppola’s original Godfather film) isn’t imitating life (21st Century style) on this nuptial.

Imagine if Don Vito Corleone’s only daughter Connie were finally to marry boyfriend Carlo Rizzi after being with him for six years and bearing two daughters, as the real-life Sofia has done. Forget the over-the-top wedding scene opening the film. More likely, Connie’s Mom, clad all in black, would be weeping, begging Don Vito to quit saying, “Connie’s dead to me now.”

And what about son Michael’s sun-kissed Sicilian nuptials with the luscious Apollonia?

It was a nice diversion from the blood and gore but we all know how badly that ended. All we have left from that union is the saccharine “Speak Softly Love” theme. Composer Nino Rota may be a musical genius but we all know he phoned in that one for the money.

So, Sofia. We applaud your independent spirit.

Perhaps this is sweet payback for Dad casting you in The Godfather III?

Pranzo di Ferragosto

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This is one lunch you won't want to miss.

August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, is a national holiday in Italy. Like many other Christian celebrations, it is built upon the crumbled foundation of ancient traditions.

In modern times, Ferragosto is the jumping off day for Italians to escape stifling apartments and head for holiday al mare or in montagna—the sea or the mountains.

August is the worst time for foreigners to explore Italian cities because mostly they’ll encounter overheated, testy tourists like themselves. The living spirit of the cities has been drained out like the color from a faded photograph. [Read more…]

Villa del Balbianello

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Just knowing that a place like Villa del Balbianello exists makes me happy.

But visiting Villa del Balbianello makes me even happier.

Courtesy of Province of Como Tourism

Perched on a cliff on the western shore of the southwest leg of Lake Como, Villa del Balbianello can be accessed by boat—an approach that sets the mood of romance right from the start.

Villa del Balbianello's private marina.

My group of travel agents and journalists, on a fam trip sponsored by New Jersey-based Central Holidays, disembarked at the private marina and entered the gates to paradise. Climbing up the steep gravel path, my memory flashed back to the exquisite Villa Cimbrone in Ravello. (Note to Como Tourist Board: Don’t be offended by the comparison. If I had been to Balbianello first, the evaluation could easily be reversed.)

The chapel facade marked by two distinctive bell towers is all that remains of the convent of an order of Capuchin monks.

Twin Capuchin Towers.

The present Villa and Loggia were constructed in the late 1700s by Cardinal Durini who wanted a quiet summer place to read books. After the Cardinal died, the property passed through several owners and was abandoned for nearly 40 years around the late 19th and early  20th Century.

Enter American soldier and statesman Butler Ames of Massachusetts who purchased and restored the property. The next owner Guido Monzino was a prominent Milanese businessman and avid explorer (he climbed Mount Everest in 1973.) He converted part of the Villa into a private museum filled with his collection of rare art pieces and souvenirs.

Hydrangeas and Cypress.

Fortunately for all of us, Monzino willed Villa del Balbianello to FAI, Fondo Ambiente Italiano, a private not-for-profit organization devoted to preserving Italy’s artistic and natural treasures. That’s how a lucky person like me—or you—can tour the grounds for 6€  (there’s an additional fee to enter the museum). There’s even a convenient public ferry from the town of Como up to the Villa stop (the town of Lenno).

For those with bigger bucks, the Villa is available for booking. Private weddings take place here and movies are made: the Bond film Casino Royale and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones to name two.

The Villa's hilltop loggia.

 

If you can’t get to Villa del Balbianello right away, don’t fret. You can visit via this delightful video that was taped in early spring. The plants are bare, just coming out of dormancy, but you get a wonderful perspective on the majesty of the Villa and grounds.

What spot would you nominate for one of the most beautiful in Italy?

 

View looking south from Villa del Balbianello's terrace.