Tante Belle Cose - October in Italy

picture from Shakespeare's Den

This past month in Italy events revealed the depths of the daring dichotomy of all things Italian:  
Where we stand, Italians are worried about the fact that Italy might go the way of Greece but then again, Berlusconi might be the collateral damage (not that the Left would do any better).  
We had a march on the government but our moment of populist activism was over-shadowed by the hoodlums in hoodies smashing windows and lighting cars on fire.
We heard that Carla Bruni had a baby girl which might put a dent in her singing career, while Berlusconi put off his own record release given the seriousness of the financial crisis he's clearly been too busy penning tunes in order to resolve.
They've added a countdown clock for the opening of Rome's third subway line, but it looks like it won't be ready for when and if Rome wins the hosting of the Olympics. 
I have discovered that the next-to-impossible website selling tickets to Rome's magnificent Auditorium offers a 10% discount if you use your American Express Card.  This is an absolute first, seeing that most establishments don't accept the Amex let alone one with a discount.  Now, if they would just post signs telling us how to get there and go home again, it'd be perfect.
And, some of the best news yet:  
- Italy is now the no. 1 wine producing country on earth (and, Dutch scientists have discovered that red wine has even more benefits including reducing diabetes risk and increasing metabolisms).
- And Rome's Senior Citizen housing and hospitals are now allowing dogs in for Pet Therapy.  I have seen the benefits that my little Trevor used to bring and can attest that dogs are not only a senior's best friend, they're often their only friend.

Tante Belle Cose: April in Rome & Italy

March may herald in gorgeous spring weather, but the best part about March is the preview it gives us on April events across the boot. March means we are treated to an onslaught of information about what’s in store once the trees are in full bloom and the wisteria & jasmine scents make you feel as though you're in a lovely perfume shop.  But once you've gotten your head out of the clouds and around the mis-marketing of those events, and maybe figure out how – if ever – to reserve a place online, you’re really good to get there, if not good to go in and enjoy them firsthand.

In Rome, April truly kicks off the tourist season – especially with so many making their pilgrimage to Vatican City for Easter. This month, a whole host of events surrounding Pope John Paul II’s ‘Santo Subito’ Sainthood – on May 1st are planned.  And, to make things easier, they’ve even devised a ‘Pope Pass’.  Fittingly called the PJPII PASS (and not the Italian, PGP...) it entitles you to unlimited transport on buses, a city tour on the ORP's yellow guided tour bus (just ignore the crummy audio) and other treats. Check out http://www.jpiibeatus.org/it/site/specialPass for more information.*

April 4-10 marks the ‘We’ve Named it in English so it Must be Good’ Week…or rather, ‘Restaurant Week’ [actually, I've been informed that it's an int'l organization thus the name]. You can enjoy 3-course gourmet meals provided by select restaurants for a fraction of the cost.  You can find info on participating ristoranti – errrr restaurants  – make that dining establishments at www.diningcity.com or www.restaurantweek.it .

**But, since I spent 40 minutes trying to make a reservation on DiningCity.com, save yourself the time&energy, & and simply follow my instructions-for-use posted in the comments below.

April is also the month we get a Week of Culture at Italy’s State-Owned Museums (usually, the Biggies – like the Colosseum or the Uffizi). Enjoy Free Entrance to the – WTF?! – most popular museums April 7-10th – A welcome event, sure, but one of those obtuse non-marketing practices whereby we don’t get enticed to discover the treasure troves of the little-known places filled with great works, but rather get to join the already-obscene crowds at the mobbed-on-a-slow-day-in-midwinter mass market houses of art.

As for me, I’ll try my luck taking in Agri-Culture that same week at the Fiera dei Cavalli, a showcase of thousands of horses, equestrian events, and all things ippo-related…Note to self: take an anti-histamine before leaving the house!

April wraps up with Rome's Birthday Celebrations (April 21st) and the Nation's Liberation Day festivities (April 25th) - see my blog entry about the tempest in a tatsa over this now-controversial festa.

But as for Belle Cose this past March, we were treated to Chocolate Festivals across the country. Hard to explain this right smack dab during lent, when probably everyone you know (well, at least women) has given it up. Yet another indication of the marketing prowess of my paesani. It's just one more sign from above as to how far astray the flock has in fact, strayed.
And so this March we were treated to the Cioccolatò Festival in Torino, featuring an entire country of monuments created in pure dark ambrosia, and in the spirit of equal time, another in the South – held in Vulcano Buono di Nola. And for those (most likely men) who gave up alcohol for lent, never fear – the devil awaits to tempt you at the 45th edition of Verona’s VinItaly held before Easter as well.

Perhaps it’s actually some sort of test of your willpower or a way to pay for indulgences – As for me, as I indulge in my umpteenth chocolate truffle, it certainly makes me think of the Divine...


* And for those of you daring enough to descend on Vatican City this April, don't forget to download my Audioguide narrated by the inimitable Art Historian Nun, Sister Wendy Beckett - for a complete tour of St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel  www.touringtracks.com

Life in Italy: from Wine to Florence to Fiat to Telecom

What do you get when you mix the Vatican, FIAT, and Rose' Wine?  A terrific cocktail on wheels...

This month the Vatican Museums announced their evening opening hours. Aside from giving us all a cooler experience (in many ways), so you're not in the infernal lines in the scorching sun, perhaps it will alleviate the crowds.
Of course, it could mean that visitors will just double in numbers, too! But, either way, it's a very good thing.

FIAT, with their wonderfully designed cutsie cars, has reported an uptick in sales over 13%. That should be good news for a lot of people.
(I'm a fan of the design, not the repair record).
The Mayor of Florence, in a HUGE move to finally side with the citizens, has decreed that they will no longer be going after the populace, issuing tickets right, left and center for parking and traffic violations. And I quote: "The City coffers shouldn't be dependent for income on fines."
While this is great news for the locals, once they finally allow the rental car companies to issue cars that would allow tourists to arrive at their hotels - without paying the hidden tourist tax (tickets for driving in the city center where all those tourists are headed), then we'll really be onto something.

Due to negative growth, it looks like inflation actually went down in a few cities.
Of course, that was reported on Page 3 of the newspaper. Turn to page 7, and another article said it was up in those same cities. I'll place my bets on the first scenario.

The EU has declared that making rosè 'wine' by mixing reds and whites of dubious origins does not a wine make.
Maybe they can just call it 'wine spritzer', and we can call it a giorno.

And, drumroll please...

The best news ever, the Death Star that is Telecom's TIM (their mobile phone division), has reported subscribers down 628.000 this month alone! Italians flocking in droves to the competition.
Maybe they'll finally stop preying on their customers and instead provide services...Until then, hope the hemorrhaging continues...

Tante Belle Cose - May 09

This month I take a look at some wonderful updates from past events...

The best news is that today’s a day off for many of us as we celebrate La Festa della Repubblica! Reinstated in 2000, it all started in 1946 on the day in which Italians voted for the kind of government they wished to have (although they still seem to be working on it, with Berlusconi seeking improvements on their very constitution). Needless to say, they voted OUT the monarchy, who were unceremoniously showed the door, and a DO NOT ENTER sign posted for any male heirs at the border.
Fifty years on, they were allowed to return to Italy apparently to serve as fodder for reality and talk shows while running prostitution rings between Switzerland and Italy.

Of course, their return is not without controversy (and I'm not talking about the above!). First, Victor Emanuel refused to say on TV (actually, he emphatically shook his head ‘No!’) that he would uphold the constitution if allowed back in. Then, the family asked for their money back on their bad investment (to the tune of 260 million euro), as if they had nothing to do with WWII to begin with.
It’s as if they had merely asked the newly formed Republic to hold onto their stuff in a sort of safe deposit box in the shape of a boot until they came back from a long holiday in the Maldives. In any case, the Italian government countered with a lawsuit of their very own, asking for damages…In my opinion, they’re lucky they weren’t strung up in the piazza like Mussolini.

America’s National Italian American Foundation has started a fund for the Abruzzi Earthquake victims. They take pains to underscore that EVERY euro cent will go straight to the victims. The event was kicked off in none other than the world’s most renowned ruin, the Colosseum, with a concert by Andrea Boccelli.
Now, if perhaps some of the funds could be devolved toward its restoration…

First the tourists are banned, now the street peddlers. In its effort to make Italy a living museum sans life, all commercial activity has been banned across all of Rome’s piazzas, except for the annual Christmas market in Piazza Navona.
This will clean up the counterfeit vendors, but, hey, where will I get my roasted chestnuts each winter?

This isn’t new, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a fabulous ad on Vanity Fair trying to tell the truth about Prosecco and so-called American Champagne. The Italians (and French in Champagne) are busy attacking copycatters, or in the very least, getting people to think twice and buy the real McCoy (or real Maccheroni, so to speak).
A recent ruling by the WTO in the U.S. looks set to perhaps fly in the face of this overt protectionism…perhaps leaving it to palates versus publicity to make a difference in choice of potables.

They do have a point here. I mean, those of us who grew up on gummy mozzarella cheese and tuna helper pasta have (hopefully) by now graduated to burrata and DeCecco…

Making Oranges out of Orangeaid

I remember back in the day when I taught nursery school, and each year, we’d ask the kids, ‘Where does orange juice come from?’ And we were invariably met with, ‘A Can. The Freezer,’ or some other variant [ask ‘em where money comes from…and you’ll always get, ‘A Machine.’]. We’d then proceed to make fresh squeezed o.j. with them. In Italy, where bottled fruit juices are the next best thing to drinking the actual fruit with a pour spout inserted, you know exactly where your juice comes from. Nothing comes closer to ambrosia than this.

So, it is not without some controversy that Italy’s government decided that orange or lemon drinks (aranciata) no longer has to include the actual fruit juice. As a staunch capitalist, I think this is wise. But, as someone who loves the pure juices without having them tainted with sugar, corn syrup and all of the other insidious ingredients which creep into American beverages, well, it’s a travesty. And the outcry has been huge.

One of my favorite columns, Lapis in fibula, from Epolis, penned by a satirist who calls himself Chicco Gallus weighed in on the subject. Here’s his take:

It’s just like an Aranciata – with Oranges

It is about to be permitted to sell orange flavored beverages without oranges, or rosé wines by simply mixing red and white wines together. It’s one of those curious laws that reenter into laws that everyone was happily living without.
I’ve never come across someone who was left horrified after having drunk an aranciata, only to be overcome with the horrible suspicion that inside, there might have been a trace of fresh squeezed something or other.
Foods proudly produced in order to avoid affecting those suffering from food allergies usually write, in bold letters, NO SALT!, Contains no glutens!, or Without fill in the blank. And obviously, they make you pay more for them.
Here we have instead the exact opposite taking affect:
It's up to the consumer to discover whether or not that which they just gulped is in some way related to what they perhaps originally wanted in the first place.
With the wine debacle, the issue is even more subversive; because, to make a rosé wine, you need an elaborate and costly system; cultivating the red grapes in a particular way. Mixing red and white wines together simply takes a split second.
In reality, however, this new way of making rosé even works in our favor: After all, up 'til now, to make a nice rosy wine out of your reds, all we needed to do was add a little tap water.
So now, we have to look forward to new permits of creative manufacturing, like, orange wine with no oranges, or fake aranciata rosé wine (all it takes is removing the fake yellow out of the fake arancione).
Heck – it could even turn into a new profession: not producing inventive beverages but, getting someone to drink them.

Centro Isterico

I just came back from a quick jaunt to Puglia. Having traveled the entire swathe of the boot these 20-odd years, I can honestly affirm (and at the risk of causing great controversy amongst my readers), that Puglia boasts the best cuisine in all of Italy.

Certainly, it’s a hard choice: I am the proud owner of a Piedmontese cookbook, I can’t wait for forays into Florence, I love those sweet red onions of Tropea, Ligurian pesto, and truffles on even old shoes will taste terrific. My favorite foods on earth come from Sicily.
But, if the way to a person’s heart is through the stomach, Puglia wins my affection hands down.
This could also be due to the ‘comfort food’ factor of Pugliese cooking. Although my relatives did not hail from this part of the country, their food always tastes like ‘granma used to make’. The baked ziti, the fava beans, the ham in the ragù, the unbelievable bread.

But, I think the food tasted better too, due to the fact that you were finally settling in to be treated with unlimited hospitality and a fantastic bottle of Primitivo, in order to calm, no, numb those nerves from the drive in and around the City Center (the Centro Storico) trying to find the darn ristorante.

There were one way routing systems that went up only (we had to go downhill). Most streets, even major thoroughfares, were without names, cars darted into traffic, blatantly ignoring the stop signs, 420 cars vied for 12 spots. My British friend and rattled driver (whom, I might add, was also driving on the wrong side – at least from his point of view -- adding to our collective angst), kept muttering that he felt like he was in India. I tried pointing out that there were far fewer people and no bony cows roaming down the middle of the streets, but, couldn’t get that out, as at that moment he’d be swerving to miss our 19th stray dog walking down the middle of the street.

Our GPS navigator whom my nephews had christened Lizzy, threw an absolute tizzy-and just gave out. It was the modern day equivalent of “If you don’t slow down/stop and ask directions/find the right turn I’m getting out and walking!!”
My father always quipped that 'Hunger was the Best Sauce'. After a trip to Puglia, I think it’s Road Rage that makes for excellent three course meals, wine included.