Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

Max, Wally and Lampredotto

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C’era una volta. . . once upon a time. . . Max (Massimo Melani) met Wally (Walter Sanders) in Firenze. Here’s the story in their own words.

The Basilica of Santa Croce holds priceless artistic and historic treasures.

Massimo
First, a few words about the Leather School: Workshop, Laboratory and Show Room of the finest leather goods situated in the old Franciscan monastery of the Santa Croce Basilica in Florence. It was a marvelous place, as were the splendid people working there.

It all started with the Patron Marcello Gori, the owner and director of the Leather School.

Those years in the early 1970s were characterized by a kind of elite tourism. And the Leather School attracted many of these well-traveled, wealthy tourists from around the world. Marcello Gori ensured that his sales and service personnel were first class as well. The staff was multilingual, elegantly dressed, rather good looking and with long experience abroad. I was one of those.

One day in 1972, the owner presented us a colleague, an American boy from Chicago—a certain Wally Sanders, very smiling person, who looked like a survivor from Woodstock or San Francisco–absolutely the first foreigner who was going to work with us.

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Offering of the Angels

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Treasures of Florence fly to Bucks County on the wings of angels.

Imagine possessing so many gems that there’s no more room in your jewelry case for a flawless gold and radiant-cut diamond necklace. You’re forced to stow it in a box in the attic.

No space, either, for the marquise-cut ruby bracelet. Upstairs it goes.

Those pear-shaped sapphire ear drops set in silver filigree? No spot for them in the case. A shame they’re out of sight.

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Botticelli Comes to Bucks County, PA

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Sandro Botticelli, (Florence 1445-1510), Madonna with Child (Madonna della loggia), circa 1466-1467, oil on panel, Collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

By Walter Sanders

So how, you might ask, did the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA manage to snag “Offering of the Angels,”one of the most prestigious exhibitions of the new millennium?

The triumph involves the Association of Museums Conference, an empty bus seat, and a fortuitous question.

Bruce Katsiff, the Director/CEO of the Michener related at the media launch event, at the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, how a chance meeting with a representative of Florence, Italy-based Contemporanea Progetti led to this exciting exhibit coming to Bucks County.

“There was one empty seat left on a bus going to a special event at the Getty Museum in LA three years ago,” said Katsiff. “I introduced myself to the woman next to me and we talked a little. I eventually learned that she was seeking four U.S. museums to host a spectacular exhibition of Italian art from the Uffizi in Florence. She told me that she had already booked three of the museums.”

“Does the exhibit include a Botticelli?” Katsiff asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

Katsiff jumped at the opportunity and the brilliant result is the Michener hosting the exhibit which will run from April 21 through August 10, 2012. This will be the only venue in the northeastern United States. (Look for a future post about the works in the exhibit after SimpleItaly attends the preview.)

From left, Bruce Katsiff, Director/CEO of the James A. Michener Art Museum, Dottore Luigi Scotto, Italian Consul General, Philadlephia, and Jerry Lepping, Executive Director of Visit Bucks County, announce the "Offering of the Angels" exhibit.

Renaissance Italian art lovers, rejoice! An incredible exhibit and value priced at $15 per ticket which includes the exhibit, an audio tour and parking.

IACP Culinary Expo

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At the recent International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Expo in Manhattan, I journeyed vicariously to some choice Italian destinations.

Sonia Di Centa (left) engaged attendees with information about the culinary program at the Dante Alighieri language school in Siena, Tuscany.

First stop was at Arte & Cucina, la scuola di cucina italiana in Siena, affiliated with the Dante Alighieri language school. Representative Sonia Di Centa welcomed me to sit and chat about the programs.

She shared photos of the spacious modern teaching kitchen, housed in a historic palazzo in the center of the lovely medieval city where the famous Palio horse race is held. The hands-on classes, taught in English, range from a single session to a four-month program. The curriculum in Tuscan and other Italian regional cooking styles emphasizes fresh seasonal ingredients. Several programs such as Siena Magnifica and Internships combine cooking and Italian language lessons.

The gentleman slicing the prosciutto was born in Palermo and has lived in the U.S. for 30 years.

The images of the food preparation and finished plates had me swooning and wondering if I could apply for a scholarship. As interested visitors crowded the table for information, I bid Sonia arrivederci and headed for a snack of prosciutto di Parma. The representatives of the Consorzio—a conference sponsor—offered samples of 18-month-aged ham and 36-month aged ham. The elder prosciutto was so delicate it had to be sliced by hand.

Elizabeth Wholey (left) promotes her culinary tourism business.

Next, I visited Elizabeth Wholey, a transplanted Californian who has lived and worked in Umbria for 18 years. After a career in art and graphics, she visited Italy and never looked back. She renovated the home in which she now lives and manages Altabella, a cluster of casa colonica guest villas on the border of Tuscany and Umbria. Elizabeth also teaches cooking classes and caters for Altabella guests through her Amore Sapore venture.
I continued my passeggiata and arrived at the illy coffee display. Illy was a conference sponsor and their pop-up caffés  seemed to be everywhere throughout the sessions which suited me just fine. At the Expo, the barista worked two sexy red Francis Francis espresso machines.

As I sampled a caffé made from Ethiopian beans, I noticed the sign that summed up my afternoon.

The Inner Italian Q & A: Lenora Spatafore Boyle

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One in an occasional series of interviews
with those who try to “live Italian” wherever they are.

Lenora Spatafore Boyle

Lenora Spatafore Boyle has worked as a Speaker, Life Coach, Option Method Mentor, and Workshop Leader for the past 20 years. Every September, she leads the Italy Retreat for Women to live la dolce vita on the Italian Riviera and Tuscany. She grew up in an Italian-American neighborhood in West Virginia surrounded by 34 first cousins. Married to an Italian-American, she is the mother of two adult children. She blogs at Italy Retreat for Women and Be Happy Life Coach.

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Q: Living “Italian”. . . Is it a good lifestyle or the best lifestyle? Why?
A: It’s the best lifestyle. In the DNA of those who live in Italy, even though there are troubles and challenges, they know how to enjoy the moments in a day.

In Italy, you experience the best life has to offer. You soar beyond the ordinary and there are always surprises: Like finding the local chefs cooking in the street one night, followed by a parade and dancing in the street. The flavors of Italy imprint indelible memories into your heart. The fragrance of pesto or tomato sauce, the sweetness of lemon trees, grapes, basil and other herbs fills the air. You can taste the fresh mountain air or the salty air of the Mediterranean. Air so fresh, like a new morning after a rain.

In Italy, your heart opens, mind expands, freed from too many ‘shoulds.’

Q: Where are you from in Italy?
A: My four Italian grandparents are from Calabria in Southern Italy. My two children and I have our dual citizenship with Italy, and have U.S. and E.U. passports.

Q: What does “living Italian” in the U.S. mean to you?
A: Living Italian is living la dolce vita, “the sweet life.” This is all about enjoying an enriched life and living a happier life. It is going on adventures, making life at home sweeter, having fun with friends and family, cooking together, walking together, learning together—all in the spirit of la dolce vita. ‘Living Italian’ is transforming. Cooking Italian food together with family and friends, with some Bocelli or other Italian music in the background, drinking a red wine, and sitting and eating together, is the best way to “live Italian” in the US.

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The Inner Italian Q & A: Linda Dini Jenkins

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One in an occasional series of conversations with those who try to “live Italian” wherever they are.

"La Principessa" in Perugia

Linda Dini Jenkins is a freelance travel writer and photographer and the author of Up at the Villa: Travels with my Husband (more later on how to win a free copy!). She also blogs regularly about travel and travel writing at Travel the Write Way and teaches creative writing and journaling. She enjoys taking small groups of friends, to explore what Italy has to offer beyond the Florence-Venice-Rome triumvirate, and she can pack her suitcase in 15 minutes.

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Q: Living “Italian”. . . Is it a great way to live or the greatest way to live?
A: Well, I think it’s the greatest way to live. When you take into account the slower pace of life (outside the big cities!), the immersion in history and art, the fantastic cuisine, the love of design and music, the respect for taking time out to enjoy the simple things . . . whether it’s Italian or Mediterranean or European, it’s how I want to live.

Q: Why?
A: Are you kidding? Start with the food, the design sensibilities, the language, the arts, the vino, the pausa, the passeggiata . . . need I go on?

Q: When did you discover your Inner Italian? What is your Inner Italian named?
A: I always knew about my Inner Italian but, like other children of first-generation Italian-Americans who desperately wanted to assimilate, “being Italian” was something that just happened and was never really encouraged. In fact, I’d heard stories growing up of how hard it was for my father to be Italian in a New York suburb in the 1930s and ‘40s; even being Italian in my first job in New York in the 1970s was something of a liability. And I was always a little ashamed after that of being part Italian (my mother’s side of the family was English/Irish/German) until I met my husband and he took me to Italy in 2000. Since then, I have been a proud and vocal Italian-American. If my Inner Italian has a name and it needs to be something other than Linda, I suppose it’s Principessa . . .

Q: What does “living Italian” mean to you?
A: My grandparents came over from Italy in the late 1890s and they were anything but rich. So for me, living Italian has to do with cooking and eating together, always having crusty bread and wrinkled olives and green olive oil on the flowered oilcloth-covered table. It means not being afraid to be emotional—even if that involves fists and things flying when you’re angry. It means loving music and feeling the arts very deeply. It means trying to have a sense of style—of la bella figura—even if the clothes or table settings come from Target. And it means being a storyteller and a traveler and something of an adventurer.

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