Sardoncini (big anchovies), bombolini (sea snails), trufelli (calamaretti spillo, baby squids), calcinelli (a peculiar kind of clams know as telline), cannelli (known as canolicchi or cappelunghe), nocchie (known as canocchie), moscioli (mussels), folpi (octopus), furbi (baby octopus) garagoi or crocette (murici, another kind of sea snails), anguilla (eel), aringa (herring), baccala (salted codfish), stoccafisso (stockfish), sarde (sardines), sgombri (mackerel), suri (sugarless, horse mackerel), beccacce (woodcock), cinghiale (boar), fagiano (pheasant), lepre (hare), quaglie (quails), starne (partridge), tordo (thrush), tacchino (turkey), agnello (lamb), pecora (sheep), quinto quarto (offal), lumache (ground snails), rane (frogs). Continue Reading…
We could write an endless number of pages about Italian paradoxes.
As there’s a bunch of incredible Italian chefs who come from places unknown to the most, my personal challenge for the day is to talk about an epic challenge… but this is just the edge of the iceberg, as I’ll have some more of the kind to talk about… Continue Reading…
“Su prangiu de oi” (today’s lunch) is a poem where “is tres beccisceddus” (three little old men) talk about… Continue Reading…
Sardinia offers an incredible range of experiences: hiking, speleology, mountain bikes and kayaking, just to say some. Continue Reading…
It’s a shame we all know too little about what we should (and often too much about useless stuff). Continue Reading…
Food rules in the med basin. It’s everywhere. When you sip, say, a vermouth in Barcelona, a spritz in Venice, a silky Chablis in Cannes, a minted lemonade in Beirut, there’ll always be some food for you. Cheap food, humble food, tasty food. Continue Reading…
We mediterraneans tend to be lazy, gadfly, (some say) not that committed to rules, but we can’t hold from being warm and generous. We all have been snot-nosed children, our mothers a kind of sacred molochs and the indisputable queens at mastering pans, pots and food. Religion keeps having a say in our habits and way of being. Continue Reading…
Sicily is a universe by itself. The rich and the humble, the noble and the neglected, display and misery, all the ingredients of a play where you’ll never know until the end who’s the winner, if there’s ever one. An intense, inextricable, charming, harsh universe. That’s what baroque is about. Continue Reading…
Raw ingredients and cooking techniques work harmoniously as an orchestra: sweet-and-sour, fresh and dried spices, chocolate in salty preparations – as in the middle ages -, wild veggies join offal, rabbits, the well-known Nebrodi black pig, the fat piquancy of cheese. Continue Reading…
If you ever think about visiting Eolian Islands I’d be for early Autumn (though late Spring seems another great option). Summer bedlam and peak hot are gone, while all the plus are there to stay longer: warm temperatures, great food, exceptional wines, welcoming people. Yes, the enemy of beauty is tourism (think about Venice…), a peculiar paradox where money feeds and kills at the same time. Continue Reading…