Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

A Perfect Day

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Jessica Schlener

By Jessica Schlener

Guest Writer and Photographer

 

 

 

Last summer I decided to go on the adventure of a lifetime -– a 30-day tour of Europe with 48 people I’ve never met before. Nothing could have prepared me for the experience that was in store. We started in London and ended in Spain, but my heart will forever be in Italy.

The day began with a trip to the Leather Market in Florence. What a sensory overload. Beautiful handbags and coats were carefully hung throughout the market with that glorious fresh leather smell wafting through the air. I found myself falling in love with a caramel-colored briefcase.

My fingers blissfully explored the beautifully polished bag with its glossy finish and my heart knew this bag had to find its way back to the States. Something that fabulous just couldn’t be left on a stand. It needed to be shown off! I left the market, borderline skipping down the streets with pure joy, thrilled that this tiny piece of Italian perfection would be coming home with me.

The Arno River in Florence.

I met my friends back at our hotel for the next adventure of the day. We all hopped onto our bus and headed to the hills of Tuscany. The bus slowed as we became surrounded with rolling hills covered with luscious grapes ripening in the warm summer sun. Our group was welcomed into a family vineyard owned by an Italian count. At each table was a beautiful antipasto platter. Every few moments, the count’s mother entered holding a tray filled with a new sampling of their wine. Each sip seemed better than the last as the wine swirled through my mouth with flavors bursting on my very grateful tongue.

Handmade lasagna drizzled with white truffle oil.

Once we sipped and sampled several glasses of wine, the count’s grandmother came to say hello. With her she brought homemade lasagna drenched in white truffle oil made right there on the vineyard. With each bite this heavenly oil glided over my lips and onto my tongue. My eyes closed as I slipped into complete ecstasy. At this point, I was pretty sure I had found heaven.  Only in Italy do you bite into dinner and savor each individual flavor as it introduces itself to your taste buds. Eating is not just an activity, it is a sensory experience to be relished, enjoyed, and appreciated.

As we bid farewell to the count and his family the sun began to say goodnight. The bus set off for our final destination. I sat in my seat dreaming out the window of how life could not possibly get any more wonderful. However, God was not done impressing me with the beauty His world has to offer. We hopped off the bus excited to learn what our new location would bring. Our guide showed us to a gelateria on our way through the town of San Gimignano. Let me tell you, I could live and die sitting in this gelateria and be completely content with my life.

The sunset view from the medieval hill town of San Gimignano.

My flavor of choice was raspberry rosemary. I sat on this beautiful fortified hill, watching the sun kiss Tuscany goodnight, filling the summer sky with the beautiful colors of fire, enjoying each bit of my gelato as the fresh summer raspberries burst in my mouth. The sweet fruit coupled with the wonderful herbal rosemary was heavenly.

Again, I was convinced the day could not possibly get any sweeter. I called my parents when we arrived home to tell them about the most amazing day I had ever had in my young life. When my mom answered, her voice sounded like she had been crying. I asked her what was wrong.

You see, my 41-year-old Uncle John had been diagnosed with a brain tumor right before I left. Throughout my travels I had prayed for him at every church we visited. In Rome, I had a special rosary blessed in his honor. That evening I learned that my uncle’s tumor, diagnosed as untreatable, had significantly shrunk while I was away.

Tears of pure joy started streaming down my face. This unforgettable day ended with the news that I would be able to spend more time with one of the most beautiful, warm-hearted people who has ever graced this earth. I am convinced that my day in Tuscany will remain one of the best days I will ever experience. Each day I leave for work, I pick up my beautiful caramel-colored briefcase and think of how blessed I was to experience Italy in all of its splendor. This hills of Tuscany and the town of San Gimignano will always hold a special place in my heart. My next trip to Italy will be more of a welcoming home of a long-lost friend.

Jessica dedicates this article to her uncle, John Klucsarits, Jr. “You are the man with a loving heart who taught me to see the beauty and good in everything. I love you!”

 

 

Colossal Effort

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We had fun with our tongue-in-cheek commentary Colosseum ‘Naming Rights’ about the Italian government’s plea for private funding to restore this seminal landmark. Now, we’re eating some of our words.

Diego Della Valle, owner of the wildly successful Tod’s luxury shoe and accessories company, based in Le Marche, has pledged €25 million (approximately $33 million) to the project. The motivation appears to be noble. Della Valle is quoted in the Wall Street Journal, “You won’t find a Tod’s shoe or bag hanging from the Colosseum’s walls. It’s an undertaking with great cultural relevance and that’s enough. We are ambassadors of Italy’s life style and it’s really our duty to give off a strong symbol.”

Meanwhile, the stunning results of a just completed $1.4 million restoration of the Colosseum’s hypogeum (the levels lying below the ground) are the subject of a fascinating article in this month’s Smithsonian. Heinz-Jürgen Beste of the German Archaeological Institute in Rome, led a team of German and Italian archeologists in a 14-year project deciphering the functions of the hypogeum. This subterranean nerve center housed elaborate mechanisms for storing—and raising to stage level—the scenery, equipment and wild beasts employed in the lavish, gruesome spectacles.

The Colosseum flourished from the first to sixth centuries AD. After the empire crumbled, the massive structure successively became a stone quarry, a dump, and shopping center. All the while, natural decay took its course eventually burying the hypogeum under 40 feet of soil. During Benito Mussolini’s glorification of ancient Rome in the 1930s, crews excavated the earth hiding the hypogeum but the inner workings remained a mystery.

Thanks to the contributions of Tod’s and the scholarship of Beste and other archeologists, the Colosseum will continue to reveal its wonders. But what about the Italian sites (nearly 40 in all) on the World Monuments Fund Watch Sight? This a list that calls attention to endangered cultural locations.  Pompeii has been on the list since 1996 and is recently in the news because of the increasing rate in which structures there are collapsing.

Pompeii's Temple of Venus

The future of these sites is indeed uncertain.  Newsweek reports in The Ruined Ruins that the 2011 budget of the Italian cultural ministry, which finances most preservation, is $340 million, down from $603 million in 2008. You can learn more about efforts to save Italy’s treasures at the culture watchdog and education group Italia Nostra site.

Tell us what you think about saving Italy’s archeological treasures.

Who should pay for it? Is it worth the cost?

Brides of Amalfi

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Love was in the air during my visit to the Amalfi Coast.

I couldn’t go anywhere without running into a couple of married newbies.

Our first bride is pretty in parasol, descending the stairs in Ravello.

The Amalfi Coast does a big business in destination weddings although I sensed that at least one couple, possibly two, were locals.  Either way, to be married in Italy is a blessing forever.

Our second bride after exiting the bronze doors of Il Duomo di Ravello.

I realize “Brides of Amalfi” doesn’t do justice to the grooms involved (auguri, guys!) but I  couldn’t imagine entitling this post otherwise.

Our third bride is high-stepping it through Piazza Duomo in Amalfi.

Blame it on those gowns! Seeing a lovely woman frothed in a neck-to-toe meringue is a site you simply cannot ignore.

Our fourth bride on the red carpet at Chiesa Santa Maria Assunta in Positano.

Were you married in Italy or attended a wedding there? What was the experience like? Share your story here.

Pasticceria Sal de Riso

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Pastry Chef Salvatore de Riso is as big a celebrity in Italy as Emeril LaGasse is in the U.S. He is a regular on the popular RAI Uno cooking contest program Prova del Cuoco and has authored several cookbooks.

De Riso’s principal pasticceria is on the main square of Minori on the Amalfi Coast. Pleased to find myself in Minori recently, I visited the De Riso shop in hopes of meeting the great chef. Sadly, he wasn’t there—but his signature Ricotta e Pere (ricotta and pears) torta was. My sweet consolation was whipped sweetened local ricotta with cubes of Williams pears encased in a hazelnut crumb cake. Sublime!

I did meet Salvatore’s brother Alessandro who told me that he and Sal grew up in a family of gelato makers in Minori. As a young chef, Sal apprenticed in some fine hotel kitchens on the Coast before opening his first pastry shop in 2000. His success was rapid and phenomenal.

De Riso operates a production center in Tramonti, in the hills above the coast, and other retail shops in the Campania region, Rome and, improbably, St. Petersburg, Russia.

The 44-year-old de Riso has seemingly more awards and commendations than Italy has churches. Among them: He was the first pasticciere from southern Italy to be admitted to the Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italinai and, just this month, the group named him Best Pastry Chef of the Year, during its XVII Symposium in Brescia.

Next time you find yourself in Minori, sample la dolce vita with de Riso.

Alessandro de Riso is an ambassador for the sweet life.

Pasticceria De Riso

Piazza Cantilena 1

Minori

(39) 089 853618

Mozzarella di Bufala

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An antipasto plate from Salerno province features fresh mozzarella di buffalo at 12 noon on the plate.

I think I know the reason that production of mozzarella di bufala increased by more than 11 percent in the first half of this year (according to the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP consortium).

The bump in output coincided with my visit to Salerno Province—a major producer of mozzarella di bufala—where I savored the heavenly fresh cheese at every opportunity.

I learned that until you eat DOP (“protected designation of origin” zone) mozzarella on the day it is produced, you haven’t eaten true mozzarella. The milk of water buffalos is higher in fat (about 9 percent) than cow’s milk (about 4 percent) and fat = flavor + mouth feel. Tangy and supple mozzarella di bufala is simply divine.

Our group of travel professionals was invited to watch the artisans at the Fattoria del Casaro in Paestum making mozzarella. As we entered the spotless production room, we were cautioned to tread carefully. The tile floor was slick from dissolved milk fat splashing out of vats filled with steaming water and walnut-sized cheese curds.

Fresh curds of mozzarella form when water buffalo milk is mixed with naturally soured mozzarella whey and rennet.

The mozzarella men pulled the curds with a long stick to create skeins of cheese. Prior to the scalding stretch fest, the curds relaxed  in warm water for about four hours. The name mozzarella comes from the verb mozzare, meaning “to cut.” The stretched curds are pinched by hand  into varying sized balls or braids.

At Fattoria del Casaro in Paestum, artisans work the mozzarella curd.

In the U.S., fresh mozzarella di bufala is available in big city shops but is very expensive. A good alternative is cow’s milk mozzarella, called fior di latte “flower of milk.” Since freshness is its calling card, overcooking mozzarella is a big no-no. Melting it atop pizza is about as much cooking as it can take.

Fresh mozzarella shaped into una treccia, a braid.

In summer, a classic way to savor fresh mozzarella is in insalata caprese, named for the island of Capri. The dish is prepared by placing alternating slices of mozzarella and ripe tomatoes on a plate and drizzling with extra-virgin olive oil, fresh basil, salt and pepper.  New York-based cookbook author Arthur Schwartz, who teaches cooking classes in Paestum, writes in Naples at Table that vinegar is never used in a caprese. Also, he recommends cooks outside of Italy select ripe Big Boy tomatoes as a good stand in for the Caprese pomodori cuore di bue.

Here is a recipe from Naples at Table for a wonderful pasta dish made with fresh mozzarella.

Spaghetti con Melanzane e Mozzarella

(Spaghetti with Eggplant and Mozzarella)

1 pound eggplant, peeled or unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Salt

Oil for frying

2 large cloves garlic, lightly smashed

1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 pint (1 pound) cherry tomatoes, cut in halves or quarters

12 to 14 ounces spaghetti

2 tablespoons finely cut basil or parsley

8 ounces fresh or several-days-old mozzarella, cut into1/4-inch cubes

Grated Pecorino or ricotta salata

  1. Salt the eggplant and let it drain in a colander for 30 minutes or longer. Dry it well with paper towels, pressing the eggplant to remove moisture.
  2. In a skillet, heat about 1/2 inch of oil and fry the eggplant until it is soft and lightly browned. Remove the eggplant with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper.
  3. Pour out (and discard) all but about 2 tablespoons of the frying oil. Add the garlic and the pepper flakes and place over low heat. Cook the garlic, pressing it into the oil a couple of times to release its flavor, until it barely begins to color on both sides. Remove the garlic.
  4. Add the tomatoes, immediately cover the pan, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook the tomatoes until they fall apart and become saucy, about 8 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti until al dente in plenty of salted boiling water.
  6. Just before the pasta id done, add the eggplant cubes to the tomato sauce, lower the heat, and cook gently, still covered, for another minute or so.
  7. Drain the spaghetti and turn it into a well-warmed serving bowl. Add the eggplant and tomato sauce, plus the finely cut herb. Toss well. Add the mozzarella and toss again.
  8. Serve immediately. Garnish with some grated Pecorino or ricotta salata if desired.

La Fattoria del Casaro packages mozzarella di bufala for airplane carry-on.  You can also purchase fresh mozzarella di bufala from Fattorie Garofalo which has a shop in Naples Capodichino Airport.