Little eggplant and tomato towers

Italy has only had so-called celebrity chefs for about a generation. Here is one I've just now discovered, and intend to follow.

His name is Guerrino (isn't that cute?) Maculan, and he has a world of experience, being a gentleman of a certain age, who started cooking very young and comes from a family of cooks. Although he is from the Veneto in Northern Italy, he has convincingly embraced national and even international influences. He has a TV show called Guerrino consiglia (Guerrino recommends.) Many videos from the show are on YouTube.

You can probably follow this recipe even if you don't know Italian. But here are a few pointers, just in case.

Ungere- literally, anoint. He says to barely cover the pan bottom with olive oil.

Extra-vergine- he uses extra-virgin olive oil.

Salare- Guerrino pre-salted the eggplant to remove the amaro (bitterness), but he reminds us that very fresh eggplant need not be pre-treated (there is considerable controversy on this important matter.)

Spessore- thickness. The eggplant slices should be a little over one centimeter (half an inch).

Girare- turn.

Sciogliere- to melt- the towers are grilled only long enough for the mozzarella to melt.

Also look for these food-related words as he's speaking:

padella, cuocere, tagliare, antipasto, vegetariano, primo, secondo, stuzzichino, fette, piatto, forno, goccino, sale, pepe, forno, grill.

I'll be featuring other videos from Guerrino, which I'll comment on and for which I'll provide some help for your Italian comprehension.

The real, live Guerrino can be found cooking at his restaurant near Vicenza, which you can virtually visit here. Ah, I'd like to be there right now (even though I just had lunch.)

Italian restaurant cheat sheet, part II

(part I is here)

Pasta

Riso rice

Risotto

Zuppa/minestra soup

La carne meat

Bistecca steak

Manzo beef

Il maiale pork

Pollo chicken

Vitello veal

Fegato liver

Prosciutto ham

Prosciutto crudo prosciutto

Affettati/salumi cold cuts

Il pesce (fish)

Tonno tuna

Gamberi shrimp

Scampi scampi

Sogliola sole

Trota trout

Branzino European sea bass (UK:bass)

Granchio (grahn-KYOH) crab

Aragosta/astice lobster

Vongole clams

Cozze mussels

Dolci desserts

Torta cake

Crostata pie

Macedonia fruit cocktail/fruit salad

Budino pudding

Verdure/contorni (vegetables/side dishes)

Funghi (foon-GHEE) mushrooms

Melanzane eggplant (UK: aubergine)

Asparagi asparagus

Patate potatoes

Pomodori tomatoes

Insalata salad

Cipolla onion

Aglio garlic

Carciofi artichokes

Spinaci (spee-NAH-chee) spinach

Peperoni bell peppers

Zucchine zucchini (UK: courgette)

Carote carrots

Finocchi fennel

Olive olives

Frutta fruit

Mela apple

Banana

Pera pear

Arancia orange

Pesca peach

Ciliegie (chee-LYEH-jeh) cherries

Fragole strawberries

Noci (NO-chee) nuts

Metodi di cottura cooking methods

Fritto fried

Saltato sauteed

Al vapore steamed

Al forno baked

Alla griglia, alla brace, ai ferri grilled

Bollito boiled

Arrosto roast; roasted

Altro other

Sale salt

Pepe pepper

Zucchero sugar

Olio oil

Burro butter

Aceto (ah-CHEH-toh) vinegar

Salsa sauce

Formaggio cheese

Italian restaurant cheat sheet , part I

La colazione breakfast

Pranzo lunch

Cena dinner

La prenotazione reservation

Ho/abbiamo prenotato I/we have a reservation

Siamo in [number] there are [number] of us

Sono solo/a I'm alone

Sono allergico/a a I'm allergic to

Sono vegetariano/a I'm a vegetarian

Il cameriere, la cameriera waiter/waitress

Vorrei I'd like

Mi porti please bring me

Va bene it's fine

Non va bene it's not all right

Il bicchiere glass

Bottiglia (boh-TEE-llyah) bottle

Tazza cup

Piatto plate, dish

Coltello knife

Cucchiaio (cook-KYAH-yoh) spoon

Forchetta (for-KET-tah) fork

Tovagliolo (toh-vah-LLYOH-loh) napkin

Tavolo table

Sedia chair

Antipasto starter, appetizer

Primo pasta/rice/soup course

Secondo meat/fish course

Contorno side dish

Il dolce/il dessert (des-SEHR) dessert

Il menu' menu

Lista/carta dei vini wine list

Conto bill

Le sagre

One of my favorite things in Italy was going to a sagra. This is a sort of county fair/feast/festival, usually in quite humble, local circumstances, and usually in a rural or small town setting. I can't remember ever seeing a foreign tourist at one of these. In fact, you rarely see outsiders at all.

As you can imagine, the star of the sagra is food (sometimes wine, which in Italy is seen as a food, or sorta.) Lots and lots of food at low, low prices. Specifically, a food or dish that is typical of the place, or at least very highly regarded by the populace, and locally produced. So you won't be seeing a Lobsterfest in the Alps, for example. You will see things like a pistachio festival in Bronte, Sicily (known for its yummy nuts) or feasts celebrating white asparagus in the North-East. Sometimes the sagra becomes the means by which you discover a little gem, as when I found the hidden valley of Schievenin (not far from Cortina), with its tiny village (in the photo), because of the August Trout Festival. Plenty of cool white wine and grilled polenta, too. Oh, and trout, which I love.

These events will necessarily be off the ole beaten track. Ask around (the locals), notice posted signs, or go to a site such as sagre.it or sagreinitalia.it, which are organized by region (but are in Italian only.) The sites' listings are by no means exhaustive.

Eyjafjallajökull!

Just think how pissed off the Italians must be that with two of the most famous volcanoes ever, Etna and Vesuvius, they have to put up with the bad behavior of this faraway Icelandic upstart, whose ash is now clogging the airspace of North-Central Italy as far south as Pisa and Florence.

I've been a Scandinavian buff since becoming smitten with the work of Ingmar Bergman as a mere whippersnapper, but now they've gone too far. Nobody can pronounce its name, I had to copy and paste the spelling from Wikipedia just to be sure, and nobody knows when it's going to calm down and stop spewing ashes all over the damn place.

Not the best time to fly into Italy. Keep a close watch on whatchamacallit.

Update, 4/20/10- as of this writing, the skies of Northern Italy are ashless enough to fly around in. But no one knows what the unfortunately-named volcano will do next. The Icelanders, instead of apologizing as they should and making it behave, are making fun of people's pronunciation of the unspeakable troublemaker.

'nother update, 4/20/10- the New York Times comes to our aid and informs us that what is euphemistically being referred to as the "Iceland volcano" should be pronounced something like "Hey, ya fergot La Yogurt," showing why it is the world's most authoritative newspaper.

La pasticceria

One of the great attractions of Italy, after restaurants, wine and art, are the pasticcerie. We might translate with "bakery," but Italians mostly separate bread products from pastries. So a bakery (non-sweet) will be called a panettiere/panetteria. Alas, the latter are increasingly rare, what with the Italians going to supermarkets and not wanting to be bakers. Not that you won't find some mixture in both places. But the pasticceria is going strong.

A pastry in Italian is una pasta, just like the word for the savory dish, but it will usually be found in the plural, le paste. I find that Italian pastries and cakes are superior to American ones, but pies aren't. An excellent idea when you're in Italy is to skip the dessert and coffee at the restaurant and go to a pasticceria after your meal. You're likely to save, too, and have more of a choice.

Frugal airfares

Sometimes I just have to defer to the knowledge of others. Having spent almost all of my time in Italy living there, I never had to bother much with the pesky details of getting there and back.

Fortunately the New York Times comes to our aid with a thorough rundown on finding the best fares online. See it here.

Islands of Venice

Here is an article in today's Guardian about the islands near Venice, written by a resident.

The world of the Venice lagoon is far more complex than this, and he seems to have some rather strange priorities. Venice itself has so much to offer that you will necessarily have limited time to explore the islands. He places a strange emphasis on Chioggia (KYOH-jah), which I have never particularly liked- it's a sort of ugly, poor version of Venice. The Italians would say a brutta copia (rough draft). It is also accessible by the mainland and you can get there by car.

I do like the Lido (especially Alberoni) and Pellestrina. But with limited time you should choose wisely between San Giorgio, Torcello, Murano, Burano, San Francesco del Deserto, and San Lazzaro degli Armeni (in the photo) before these. Make a careful study of relative attractions and logistics. I highly recommend at least a day trip to one or more islands to complete your Venice experience.

Italian eateries: vocabulary

We all aspire to eating in Italy, or to eat there again, or to continue eating there if we are in Italy now. Here's a mini-guide to the names of food-associated places in Italian.

I'm listing them in loose order of formality/expense. However, nowadays the unassuming names of trattoria or osteria may well be given to more costly establishments. Also, there are combinations of the categories, notably ristorante pizzeria. Outside of Italy, these names are often given inaccurately or randomly, just to have a fashionable Italian name. Note that in Italy there are no liquor licenses- almost all places serving food or drink will serve alcohol, including fast food places. Exceptions may be small storefront operations like a pizza-by-the-slice joint (pizzeria da asporto).

Ristorante- a restaurant with tablecloths and service and all that good stuff.

Locanda- this literally indicates an inn, and historically was an inn serving food. Technically a locanda should have rooms, and they should not be expensive. Technically. The Locanda Cipriani in Torcello (an island near Venice proper) is expensive and has rooms which are also expensive.

Trattoria- a more informal venue, with a simpler and more limited menu, often of comfort food (or the local intepretation thereof)

Osteria- historically, a place dedicated to the worthy pursuit of imbibing wine; now, another name for less formal restaurant. May in fact have a counter with people imbibing along with tables of people eating (and imbibing). Sometimes given the old-fashioned spelling ostaria or even hostaria, which fill me with indignation and make me suspect inflated prices.

Enoteca- a relatively recent addition, a wine bar dedicated to sampling different wines. May or may not have food. The word is along the lines of biblioteca (library) and pinacoteca (picture gallery), suggesting a cultural or educational experience. As opposed to just imbibing.

Pizzeria- what the Italians call a pizzeria.

Birreria- an informal eatery where the emphasis is on beer rather than wine. Thus the food will be food that goes more with beer than wine. Like hot dogs (yes Italians eat hot dogs).

Tavola calda- practically defunct as terminology. Means they have hot dishes, minimal fuss. Inexpensive.

Rosticceria- Neglected by Americans in Italy. A sort of take out with things like lasagna, mozzarella in carrozza, arancini, roast chicken and other fun things.

Paninoteca- another recent addition. Specializing in sandwiches, with a great variety of same.

Pasticceria- pastries, some desserts. Can save money by not having dessert in restaurant but going to one of these later. Will often have coffee.

Bar- central to Italian life. Is not like an American bar. Previously discussed here.

Agriturismo- not all have an eatery. In theory, should be attached to a farm or at least be in a rural location. The best will serve good, fresh local food, often grown on their estate. I like them a lot. The authentic ones should not be expensive. Many also have accommodations and all sorts of amenities.

(in the photo, the enoteca/agriturismo Bacco e Arianna near Padua in the Veneto)

Restaurants in Italy- some consumer tips

One of the main attractions of a trip to Italy is restaurant dining.

But the experience is potentially fraught with danger (to your wallet). And not only for foreign tourists- the Italian consumers' association Adiconsum has issued a list of tips to prevent fraud and overcharging.

Perhaps the most important is that you should demand a written menu (which should also be posted outside), with prices. Avoid verbal orders. This is the law. Be careful about wine prices, too. The cover and service charge can be set independently by each business, but it must be stated on the menu. In Lazio (where Rome is), a cover charge is no longer legal. No tip is ever mandatory in Italy beyond the included service. I never give extra tips in Italy. Frozen foods should be clearly indicated on the menu. Ask for the receipt (preferably itemized).

In case of suspected irregularity, you can go the vigili urbani (the local municipal police). A young Japanese couple was charged nearly 700 euros at a Rome restaurant this summer- they reported them, and the restaurant was even closed for violations.

(In the photo, the picturesque Locanda Montin in Venice)

L'Espresso Best Restaurants Italy 2010

The new edition of the guide to Italian restaurants published by L'Espresso is out. At the top of its ratings are Le Calandre (near Padua), L'Osteria Francescana (Modena), and Casa Vissani, in Baschi (photo) in Southern Umbria. Each attained near-perfection at 19.5 out of a possible 20.

To see a clickable map with the best restaurants by region, go here. The information provided below the listing is extensive, including contact, Website address, and opening days/hours.

Details are in Italian but with an online dictionary you can make out the brief but important wording. Average price is also given- none of the restaurants are inexpensive.

Off-season travel to Italy

Summer is over, or haven't you noticed? At least for those of us in the Northern hemisphere.

What are some good destinations for Fall/Winter travel to Italy? Here are a few ideas.

There was a man for all seasons, and there is a city for all seasons. That would be Venice. I love it all the time. Be aware that in autumn/winter it can be quite gloomy/humid/rainy/foggy. And the days will be shorter. But since there is so much to see indoors and the distances are short, you can hop around from museums to churches to restaurants to shops. Be advised that "low season" is relative for Venice- there are always tourists. Just not sweaty hordes. What about the acqua alta? The pesky potential for preposterous precipitation is always present this time of year, but you would be surprised how little this stops the Venetians. You would do well to get accomodations not near St. Mark's, which will also suit your budget better.

Starting right now, Alto-Adige/Suedtirol is wonderful. October in particular is fine, with good weather and interesting foliage (but not as interesting as New England). Merano, one of my favorite places, is a spa town with lovely porticoes, including those along the river. There are all sorts of winter sports in the region; very many hotels, big and small, have indoor pools. And good, plentiful food. And wine.

Sicily. I actually lived in Naples four years as a child, and I can tell you that from Rome to most of Southern Italy, the weather is not so good from November on. It is not balmy. Sicily, being southernmost, is a good option, especially since there is so much to see that it would warrant its own vacation. But again, don't think that it will be ideal weather in winter, even that far south.

Finally, microclimates. There are oodles of these all over the peninsula, where particular features of terrain and climate create a small environment relatively protected from the surrounding nastiness. One example: Arqua' Petrarca (in the photo) in the Euganean Hills near Padua, which despite being so far north produces its own olive oil and enjoys a sunnier, drier climate.

The Venetians are watching you

I've come upon a really authentic site about Venice called Venessia.com. It's almost entirely in Italian, unfortunately. But what really got me was a page that was a little compendium from their Venetian readers about encounters of the worst kind with tourists, including other Italians.

Here are some of my favorites:

Italian lady asks Venetian: do you always speak Spanish here or do you also know Italian? (Venetian dialect sounds a lot like Spanish)

Various tourists: where is St. Peter's?

Foreign lady: where is the Ponte Vecchio? Venetian answer: in Florence.

Tourist from Ohio looking at city map: Excuse me, I can't find the airport on this.

American tourist: The city is great, but why did you build it near all those factories I saw coming in from the mainland?

Tourist from Florence: I don't want to be like everybody else and take a gondola ride. Do you have horse-drawn carriage tours?

Italian father lecturing wife and kids: "Because the King of Venice..." (Venice had a Doge, and was the longest-lasting republic in history)

Germans: Do you have electricity and running water?

American couple: Why do you have so many lion statues here?

My favorite: American lady asks how to get to Bye Bye One. Venetian thinks it must be a disco or eatery he doesn't know about, asks another Venetian. He gives lady directions to the seaside resort of Bibione (bee-bee-OWN-eh), which she pronounced phonetically in English. First Venetian asks second, astonished: how did you know that's what she was saying? Second Venetian: you don't think she's the first, do you?

(In the picture above, painting by Pietro Longhi of social gathering of Venetians, probably making fun of outsiders)

Word of the week- esodo

Our word of the week is very timely- esodo (EH-zoh-doh). Its literal sense is "Exodus," from the Old Testament book. The derived meaning refers to any mass movement of people. It is most often used in the Italian media for the extremely heavy traffic occurring toward the end of July and beginning of August. The congestion which takes place when vacations are over toward the end of the month is called the contro-esodo. Nobody can really cope with these, not even Charlton Heston/Moses.

For years the Italians have tried to promote the concept of "smart departures," whereby vacations and travel time are staggered. This has met with limited success due mostly to the conformity of the population which absolutely believes that you shouldn't be caught dead in town in mid-August. As a result of this, many things are closed in this period. In all my years in Italy, I never took a vacation in August. Avoid it if you can; if you can't, plan carefully.

Even the new Venice/Mestre bypass has run into trouble. This past weekend there were lines of 20+ miles (over 30 kilometers). There is now talk of a class action by those whose not-so-smart departure was further ruined.

66th Venice Film Festival

This year's 66th annual Venice Film Festival was announced today. It will take place September 2nd-12th on the Lido, a residential island within an easy ferry ride to Venice proper. The jury will be headed by director Ang Lee.

I've always liked the Lido and wouldn't mind living there. The central part, as you can see in the photo, is built up and worldly. But the outlying areas on the tips, such as Alberoni, are sparsely populated and quite different. They have cars and busses on the Lido. Water quality isn't great but you can definitely swim; I've done so many times. The water will be warmish and not choppy in early September and the depth is shallow for a good while, thus very suitable for children. There is a public beach and in fact the Venetians consider the Lido their city beach, which is what lido means. Also remember that by law the part of any beach in Italy (including those of exclusive hotels) which is closest to the water is open to the public. Although Italians will not expect foreign tourists to know this and may challenge your presence.

Here is today's article on the Festival from the Huffington Post.

And here is the line-up from the Festival's site.

Donatello's David has been restored

You can lea-eave your hat on... you can leave your hat on!

And this uninhibited lad most certainly did, way back before the song came out.

He was probably sick and tired through the centuries of being upstaged by the other David, the hatless, larger, and more aggressive sculpture by Michelangelo. So this production of the bodacious Tuscan Donatello had some work done in order to compete in the world of masculine beauty. Where he is certainly a strong contender, if I may say so myself.

The recently restored bronze boy is showing his stuff at the Bargello Museum in Florence until November 23rd of this year.

Word of the week-ghetto

The word "ghetto" is of Italian origin, and was first used to refer to the segregated neighborhood for Jews set up in the Venetian sestiere of Cannaregio. This is the area almost everyone passes through on foot after they have arrived at the train station and are headed toward Rialto and Saint Mark's. It's on the left as you are walking toward the Rialto (photo).

Jews were tolerated (what an ugly concept) in Venice, but were in fact confined for a period to this neighborhood in the sixteenth century, which has some of the tallest buildings in Venice due to the fact that they could not expand outside its confines and had to develop vertically.

There are various explanations for the origin of the word. The most popular is that the area was close to a foundry- getar being the word for "to cast (metal)". Another possibility is that it is an abbreviation for borghetto, small village. Yet another is that it comes from a Hebrew word meaning "separation."

Like practically everyone else in the world, Venice's ghetto has its own site, right here.

Best luxury hotels in Italy

Forbes magazine has come up with its listing of the 400 best (luxury) hotels in the whole wide world.

After our fair country, the second for number of listings is Italy. And the number one of all is Villa D'Este in Cernobbio, on Lake Como.

Now I have always believed that Lake Garda is more beautiful than Lake Como. Featured in the pages of Forbes is the recently renovated Villa Feltrinelli in Gargnano (in the photo above). Not only is it beautiful, it is chock full of history, Italian and international. Starting with the fascinating Feltrinelli family, which made its fortune in lumber, starting in the nineteenth century. And continuing to the present with its distinguished publishing house and chain of bookstores throughout Italy.

The road from Castagneto to Bolgheri

This has got to be my favorite road in the whole world, if we don't count the Grand Canal as a road- that wouldn't be fair. It connects the two small towns of Castagneto Carducci and Bolgheri, south of Livorno in Tuscany. The area is known as Maremma and has long been one of my favorites.


The road and its trees is the subject of a poem known to most Italians, in which Nobel prize-winner Giosue' Carducci looks back lovingly at his childhood haunts, which of course were better than his adult haunts. This wasn't just his idea but is due, as I have suggested, to the objective fact that it doesn't get much better than this. Carducci personifies the trees as tall, straight youths running to meet him.


But the beautiful cypresses have been in trouble some time now due to the unpoetic American fungus seridium cardinale. Some were destroyed and cloned, and the clones did well. But the problem persists and threatens The Most Beautiful Road. The Italians have therefore implanted microchips (or, as they say, i microchip) in the trunks to monitor the trees' health.


I'd like to see Carducci write a poem about that.

Best Italian beaches 2009

Every year a list of the best Italian beaches is published- the best according to various criteria, primarily environmental. This year there are 227 listings, and the best regions are Tuscany, Marche and Liguria. Surprisingly, expensive Sardinia, known for its beach vacations, is low on the list.

The entire list, organized by region in alpha order, can be found here.

(Left, my beloved Castagneto Carducci, south of Livorno on the coast of Tuscany, which has made the list for many years)