This will be short, but please check out Kimberly Scott’s blog post about a cheese from Basilicata. It may have you drooling on your computer! Kimberly blogs here about wine and cheese, along with a couple of other blogs with different topics.
My mouth is watering for tiella!
This week I confirmed that I will visit Gaeta in August and have some of their famous tiella. The photo above, from a Flavor of Italy blog, shows a few of the widely varied fillings used in tiella.
I found a recipe for tiella on Lidia’s Italy website, and it looks yummy! The recipe calls for escarole–something use more often in salads than in cooked dishes, which makes this recipe all the more intriguing to me.
When I go to Gaeta, I’ll be meeting Nicola Tarallo (aka Nico Rosso), author of the ebook Mangia Tiella! We’ve corresponded on Facebook before, and I’m looking forward to learning more about Gaeta from him, as well as trying some tiella at last.
Have any of you readers made, or eaten, tiella before? Please share!!
Buona Pasqua, amichi!
Today I’m sharing the Sons of Italy blog post about the differences between Easter celebrations in Italy and the U.S. I enjoyed it, and hope you will too.
And the illustration in that blog post, of the delighted child opening a Kinder Egg, prompts me to add this article about the recent decision to allow an ‘adapted’ form of Kinder Egg to be sold in America.
A Sicilian Festival
Here’s a link to an interesting festival in Sicily–enjoy the story and colorful photos from Italian Notebook.
Public Art in Naples
Ancient, medieval, modern–Naples is full of art history! Here are some examples from my own photos:
Detail of the 1470 triumphal arch entry to Castel Nuovo, the 13th century fortress on Naples’ waterfront.
Modern art with a practical application?
Mythical figures flank an entryway.
A late medieval shrine.
Mt. Etna’s first big blast of 2013
Take a look at this impressive YouTube video of Mt. Etna erupting this morning:
Visualizing Lecce, with thanks to Kelly Britton
I discovered a wonderful set of photos of the city of Lecce in Apulia on Kelly Britton’s blog, Slave to Taste. She has kindly given me permission to share it with my readers, and I hope you enjoy them as I did!
http://brittonandreini.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/apulia-i-left-my-heart-in-lecce/
Elders, here and there
Regular readers (and those who read the sidebar) will note that this is the week for a travel post, and last week should have been a food post. Ah, well. Vern and I have been kept very busy during recent weeks with our family elders. Between us, we are the nearest relatives to two mothers, one father, and one aunt, aged 78 to 96 years old, and all within a mile of us. Two of them moved into assisted living this week. Two of them have dementia, and two are legally blind from macular degeneration. One no longer knows who we are. So this week I’m sharing an image (Public Domain) from Wikimedia Commons of an old Italian postcard. I hope Vern and I still have the tenderness in later years that this couple has! Vern’s parents have been married almost 70 years, and we will celebrate 37 years together on Valentine’s Day. Here’s to lovers of any age! I hope to be back to my blogging routine by the end of this month.
World Championship In-line skating: Sulmona 2004
We arrived in Sulmona in the fall of 2004 to a scene of celebration. Teams of athletes from countries around the world were gathered there to compete in the summer version of speed-skating, with in-line skates, and we were there for opening night!
A banner announces “World Championships” with Sulmona’s iconic medieval aqueduct in the background.
We had no idea this event was happening when we planned our visit. Piazza Garibaldi, Sulmona’s enormous main square, was transformed into a racetrack surrounded by bleachers and vendors’ booths.
A parade of nations entering the arena.
The teams paraded along Corso Ovidio and into the arena in alphabetical order by country (a little trickier in Italian!).
Team USA passing the fountain in Piazza Garibaldi.
We found the American team and wished them well.
A young fan cheers his favorites.
Here are a few photos we snapped while watching the events.
Medics help after a nasty fall.
It wouldn’t be Italy without fireworks!
Planning for (not just dreaming of) a visit to Italy. Please help!
I’m one of those travelers who likes to imagine traveling footloose, but really wants the security of reservations and an itinerary. Hubby is happy to let me make the plans without too much of his opinion, and fortunately our likes are alike enough for that. But I’m a bit overwhelmed with planning this trip–we have a lot going on the home front, soooo…
My readers, can you help me? We will be spending two weeks in Italy this August, with the first six days committed to Venice and surroundings. We will then fly to Rome or Naples, and rent a car. Any suggestions about car rental? We are hoping my brother will join us about this point, so need a car that will suit three adults with light to moderate luggage. And I’m not familiar with the European car types being offered for rent. Lancia? Fiat? Would it be easy to find diesel if we rented a Mercedes?
We will drive to Caserta to spend that night, and plan to visit the palace the next morning. Any recommendations for hotel or palace visit?
After seeing the palace (is three hours enough time to allow?) we will drive to Cosenza for a night or two. The next morning we’ll look around Cosenza and the area. Is there a good hotel with car parking? And what sightseeing do you recommend in the area? Maybe we should just go to the beach! (But more of that later.)
We’re planning to spend August 13-16 in my ancestral village, Scigliano, so will celebrate Ferragosto there–hopefully with my Italian cugini. What kind of celebration might we expect for Ferragosto?
For the next three days we will be “touring the toe”. If you had three days there, how would you spend it? I’d love to hear about your favorite beach, favorite museum, favorite castle–and not just tourist experiences. Is there a great place to hear Calabrian music? Farm visits? Hiking? I doubt we will stay in a beachfront hotel–but who knows? We’d like to have a look at both coasts of the toe.
On August 19 we’ll turn in our car and fly out of Lamezia Terme to London, so will want to spend the night of the 18th close to there. Recommendations?
I am so looking forward to your suggestions. And hope you are looking forward to coming along via the blog later in the year.
*All images on this post are from Wikimedia Commons.
The Italian South 