Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

The Donati Family

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This article first appeared in the October 2012 issue
 of the award-winning subscription travel newsletter Dream of Italy

By Walter Sanders

Montestigliano is a compound of historic villas.

Montestigliano is a compound of historic villas and farm houses.

I felt at home in Villa Pipistrelli. That feeling of comfort was not an accident.

“It’s simple. We want our guests to feel like part of the family,” says Luisa Donati, marketing manager for the family’s Pipistrelli, Montestigliano, and Palazzo Donati Mercatello (in Le Marche) properties.

To feel like part of this family would be an honor. Signore Giancarlo Donati, the patriarch who’s in his 80s, is a talented business man with a big personality. Sixty some years ago, he learned to fly and bought a small plane. On one of his first flights he shocked the citizens of Mercatello by bombing the town with ripe peaches.

Virginia, the eldest child, is an architect, fearless singer, and animated dancer.

Massimo Donati discusses the olives that are raised to produce the family's signature olio d'olive.

Massimo Donati discusses the olives that are raised to produce the family’s signature extra vergine olio d’oliva.

Massimo is the farmer who manages the olive oil production, as well as the family’s efforts in sustainable energy from BioGas methane transfer. He’s also the leader in solar energy capture on the properties.

Damiano is the family accountant, a spirited singer, and master griller.

Marta provides administrative support for the business.

Together, the family has integrated its dream of sustainability, tourism, and a unique Tuscan experience into a business model that revolves around Agriturismo. (An Agriturismo is a government designation for an operating farm that rents lodging and provides food from its own production.)

The Big Cena at the Montestigliano Property

Once a week, guests from the Pipistrelli and Montestigliano properties are invited to a dinner hosted by the Donati family in the spacious top floor of the old granary. The food is prepared by Anna, the talented young Polish chef, who has been with the family for nearly ten years.

All the food is procured from local suppliers. The olives for the extra virgin oil are grown on the property. Luisa introduced me to a cheese maker named Fiametta whose four different pecorino cheeses were featured. Luisa told Fiametta that she would have the opportunity to address the 60 guests and speak briefly about her cheese, and that Luisa would translate. Fiametta looked very nervous about the prospect but we both encouraged her to try.

By the end of the evening, after Fiametta had taken several orders for cheese purchases, she said to Luisa, “That was great fun, I want to do it again sometime soon!” Ah, a celebrity is born.

Luisa and Massimo make everyone feel like family around their dining table.

Luisa and Massimo make everyone feel like family around their dining table.

I mixed with some of the guests who were staying at the Montestigliano property. Many of them told me that they had been visiting for decades with friends and relatives (some multi-generational) in tow.

The meal was excellent. All five Donati siblings  mingled with the guests. After dessert Damiano grabbed the karaoke microphone and kicked off an hour of singing and dancing.

To be continued:

Palazzo Donati Mercatello and nearby attractions

Making Fresh Pasta in Tuscany

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This article first appeared in the October 2012 issue
 of the award-winning subscription travel newsletter Dream of Italy

By Walter Sanders

Flour and egg transformed into gossamer sheets of fresh pasta.

Flour and egg transformed into gossamer sheets of fresh pasta.

While staying at Villa Pipistrelli just south of Siena, our group visited nearby Stigliano. We were on a mission: to learn how make fresh pasta from scratch. Our teachers were two older women from the village. They were beautiful, gracious and patient. Pasta-making rookies began combining ingredients, and our enthusiasm was evident despite beaten eggs leaking from collapsed flour walls.

With the help of our lovely mentors, everyone finished their dough and formed it into a ball. All the balls were kneaded together, then rolled flat, cut, stuffed, trimmed and transformed into ravioli.

The site was La Bottega di Stigliano, a combination retail shop—specializing in locally produced agricultural products—and a restaurant. The building was a former casa del popolo, a people’s house where in olden times farm workers would meet to sell products. The casa also served as a social center. It was, in a sense, a one-stop shop where people could fill their baskets with food and make social connections. [Read more…]

Is Cinta Senese the World’s Tastiest Pork?

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This article first appeared in the October 2012 issue
 of the award-winning subscription travel newsletter Dream of Italy

By Walter Sanders

Daniele Baruffaldi is a man’s man: bald, barrel-chested and strong. He’s as quick to laugh as he is to roar. Daniele is one of only 60 farmers certified to breed and raise the famed cinta Senese pigs. Cinta refers to the white “belt” marking around the shoulders of their otherwise black bodies. Senese means from Siena. This noble breed has deep roots. It is identifiable in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s 1348 fresco “Effects of Good Government in the Country” still viewable in Siena’s Palazzo Communale.

Daniele Baruffaldi proudly shows off his heritage breed hogs.

Daniele Baruffaldi and his cinta Senese hogs.

The breed became nearly extinct over the last 40 years when Italian farmers imported the large white breed from the United Kingdom. These hogs grew to maturity quicker and produced leaner meat which was in marketing vogue at the time. The large white was crossbred with the cinta Senese to produce the grigio Senese. It made economic sense: faster growing meant less feed, quicker to market, leaner. “But it doesn’t have the flavor of cinta Senese,” declared Daniele.

Before long, the global population of pure-bred cinta Senese had been, according to Daniele, reduced to only two males and 20 females.

[Read more…]

Biscotti Bambini

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Baby biscotti–ready for dunking.

In the grand American tradition of Bigger is Better, commercial biscottiare sometimes the size of Little League bats with a durable texture to match.

In Italy, biscotti are more diminutive—about the size of a fat thumb. Valued as “good keepers,” these crisp cookies can hang out for a long time in the larder. They stand ready to be plunked into a cup of cappuccino, tea or even a glass of wine. The dip moistens the biscotti and further flavors them.

Biscotti attain their crunchy demeanor by two sojourns in the oven. “Bis” means “twice” and “cotti” means cooked. I’ve found that home-baked biscotti, while still crumbly, are not the tooth breakers that the manufactured ones can be.

Because bite-sized foods are so charming, I recently prepared some biscotti bambini—biscottini—as a hostess gift. I love that you don’t have to make a career out of eating one. [Read more…]

Pizza Aglio e Olio Recipe

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Slivered garlic, olive oil and oregano create a wonderful change from the classic tomato sauced pizza.

Pizza with garlic and olive oil is kitchen magic.

When the cupboard seems bare, you can whip up this satisfying supper or snack with basic foodstuffs—olive oil, garlic, oregano, flour, and dry yeast—that most likely are in your pantry.

This pizza is a fine accompaniment to insalata caprese, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes.

If you’re the advance-planning type, you can pull a pre-made crust out of your freezer.

Pizza Aglio e Olio Recipe

Makes one 14-to-16-inch pizza

Basic Pizza Dough Recipe
1 tablespoon semolina or cornmeal
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup thinly-sliced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
Pepper

Prepare the Basic Pizza Dough and set aside to rise. Coat a 14-to-16-inch round pizza pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle semolina or cornmeal evenly over the pan surface.

Punch down the dough and place on a lightly floured work surface and let stand for 5 minutes. With lightly floured hands or rolling pin, pat or roll from the center outward into a 14- or 16-inch circle. Transfer to the prepared pan. Fold the edges to make a rounded border. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for about 15 minutes, or until slightly risen.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over the crust. Spread with the back of a spoon. Evenly scatter the garlic, oregano, and salt over the crust. Season to taste with pepper. Drizzle on the remaining 1 tablespoon oil.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Remove and let stand for 5 minutes. Brush any pooled oil over the border of the crust.

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.

[Read more…]