JUST SOME PRETTY PICTURES FROM LAGO DI COMO

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We just want to let everyone know that we've started our very excellent adventure to Northern Italy and Southern France. As you can see, it's a little windy in Como (nice hair, Bill). While we're visiting friends and family we'll try to post but, as always, it will spend on he availability and quality of our Vodafone wireless service.

Stay tuned for more...

SO MANY FLAVORS...SO LITTLE TIME

I’ve posted about the great food (coglioni di mulo notwithstanding), aperitivos, digestivos, wine and grappe but I have somehow managed to overlook Italy’s second greatest gift to humanity…GELATI (Italian Ice Cream)! I’m not talking about the commercially packaged supermarket stuff or the stuff made from industrial mixes sold to the unwashed masses. Nope, I’m talking about the artisan “made-from-scratch”, frozen orgasmic gelati that only true aficionados know and love. Italians are as loyal and fanatical about their favorite local gelato makers as they are about their beloved soccer teams…perhaps more so.

Our search for the ultimate gelato experience is an ongoing quest. Everywhere we go, we sample, compare and debate the merits of each gelato vender’s product…many are noteworthy but none have as yet transported us to gelato Nirvana. So the search continues.

Beyond assessing the quality of each gelato is an equally daunting challenge of choosing the right combination of flavors. At any given time there are dozens of flavors to choose from which makes selecting the right combination all the more difficult. So, being a linear thinker and analyst, I have developed the following gelato theory:

• Time of Day - Like ordering cappuccino only before 11:00 AM, certain gelati are “morning” combinations; others should only be consumed between 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM; and, others eaten after dinner (late into the night). I am very curious if other gelato fanatics share my theory.

• Morning Flavors (Before 11:00 AM) – Any combination of fruit flavors (fragola, pesca, melone, fruiti di bosco, etc.) with plain vanilla or cream (panne) flavor); Caffe and/or cappucino are also fine. No Chocolate, nuts or “complex” flavors.

• Midday Flavors (11:00 AM to 7:00 PM) – Any combination of chocolate or hazelnut with caffe or vanilla; fruit with vanilla; or a single “complex” flavor. A note of caution…some of the complex flavors will seem strange, so ask for a small taste before tackling a whole cup.

• After Dinner Flavors (After 9:00 PM) – Anything goes…but if you can’t handle caffeine at night, stay away from the caffe and cappuccino gelati.

Now it’s quiz time. Raise your hand if you’re old enough to remember:

“Sometimes you feel like a nut…sometimes you don’t!”

That’s an old TV commercial for Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars;. Mentioned by another American tourist recently, she inspired me to try something new. Next time out, I’m going for the Mounds gelati combo (chocolate and coconut) or, if almond gelato is available, the Almond Joy combo (chocolate, coconut and almond). Of course, I may exercise a little Italian artistic license substituting nocciola (chocolate hazelnut; a.k.a. Nutella) for chocolate with coconut…but only after 7:00 PM. Rules are rules…but in Italy, rules are made to be broken.

P.S. – Please don’t make the same embarrassing mistake I made a few years back. Don’t confuse pesca (peach) with pesce (fish)…you might be served anchovy flavored gelato.

HOW WE DISCOVERED SORIANO

Although the final decision to begin our year in Italy last March was made very quickly, it was the result of many years of wishful planning. During those years, we connected via internet with Americans who live in Italy. They were always amazingly kind and generous with their insights and advice about living here. Two internet sites were also invaluable. Expats-in-Italy (www.expatsinitaly.com) is a place where non-Italians living in Italy have established a community of support, advice and resources for making the move. SlowTravel (www.slowtravel.com) is a virtual network of travelers who share their experiences about taking the road less traveled.

So in January 2010, I zeroed in on Viterbo, a city of about 60,000 people in Alto (northern) Lazio, bordering Tuscany and Umbria. It is just about dead-center on the "boot", making travel north and south equally accessible. According to TrenItalia, the state-run rail system, Viterbo has train service to all the places we might want to go...Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, with connecting commuter service to smaller towns. We were considering the possibility of city living without a car.

I posted a query on the Expats and SlowTravel forums, asking if anyone lived in Viterbo or knew about furnished apartments, train service etc. Two people responded and I began corresponding with Michael and Larry.

Larry and his wife, Heather, lived in the Centro Storico (historic center) of Viterbo. They rented a small furnished apartment and managed quite well without a car. Larry even mailed me a map of the city to help me get familiar with the neighborhoods.
(Oh, did I mention that Larry and Heather are serious cyclists who walked or rode everywhere? (www.cycleitalia.com))

Michael and his wife, Paola, live in Soriano nel Cimino. Michael is passionate about Soriano and suggested we consider this jewel of a town as our home for a year. He advised that life without a car would be truly miserable because there are too many magnificent little hill towns and amazing lesser known destinations that are simply inaccessible without a car. And he would know. Michael and Paola are the owners of Culture Discovery Vacations (www.culturediscovery.com) Furthermore, Michael assured me that we'd be able to find an apartment easily in Soriano. And he had connections. (in Italy, "connections" is the magic word...the Open-Sesame" to the good life). Having already been to Soriano on a day-trip two years ago, we knew it was a charming place. We decided to try it for a month. If we liked it, we'd stay.

So we stayed...and stayed...and stayed...and we're still here. Not only that. Michael and Paola have given us extraordinary access to this beautiful part of Italy. They have included us in their Culture Discovery family, inviting us to join their guests on some of the most amazing and unique day tours imaginable. We have discovered Vino Nobile in Montepulciano, Brunello in Montalcino and visited private cellars and olive mills, where lunch was prepared and served in the exquisite outdoor setting. We have cooked Tuscan chicken, panna cotta and papparadelli in their gorgeous teaching kitchen and baked tozzetti and made Limoncello Crema and Tiramisu. We've heard Gregorian Chants at an Abbey once visited by Charlemagne and seen the Basilica of St. Frances of Assisi. We've decended deep underground into one of the oldest wine cellars and climbed a 300 meter land bridge to the Dying City of Civita' di Bagnoregio. We have become well acquainted with Sumo the Pig, who is slated to become next year's proscuitto. But best of all, we are learning from Michael and Paola how to truly live all'Italiane...which is exactly why we came here in the first place.

And THAT is why we chose to live in Soriano! I mean, how lucky can you get?

THINGS THAT ITALIANS EAT: PART 3…NO JOKE

Some Americans think Italians eat some pretty weird (or disgusting) things…calamari (squid; a.k.a. bait), black pasta made with squid ink, whole pigs (porchetta, the ultimate pork experience), “capuzzel” (dialect for roasted sheep’s head), etc. Having grown up around Italian immigrants I thought I had seen it all…WRONG!

Last week we were touring around the Umbrian hill town of Norcia, renowned for its fresh and cured meats, sheep’s cheese (Pecorino) and wild truffles. Nothing in the world compares to or tastes like the local pecorino cheese, salami di cinghiale di Norcia (Norcia’s cured wild boar sausage), homemade fresh fettuccini with ragu di cinghiale (wild board sauce) and chilled Orvieto wine. Absolute heaven!

We came upon a Norcineria (a butcher shop specializing in Norcia meats) with a display that I thought was a joke. For the price of €3.50 (that’s about $4.40 USD) the shop sold coglioni di mulo (cured salami made from mule’s testicles). Now I know that there’s an Italian tradition of not wasting anything…but eating mule’s testicles is just wrong! Of course, there are “Rocky Mountain Oysters” but I’ve never met anyone who can honestly say they enjoy eating them.

I’ve always said, “I’ll try anything once”, so maybe I’ll give coglioni di mulo a try…after a couple of well chilled bottles of the vino bianco di casa.

Buon appetito.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

During a recent visit to Tenuta Crocedimezzo, a family winery, we made another incredible (aren’t they all?) discovery. After sampling their Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino and Crociato Nero wines, we were served a very, very unique grappa…Rosolio.

Rosolio is distilled from the grape mash. After the grapes are pressed to produce the musk (grape juice) that’s used to make the Brunello wine, the mash is distilled into grappa. Most grappas are either crystal clear or slightly yellow. Rosolio, on the other hand, looks and tastes very different. It is flavored with the petals of locally grown red roses resulting in a transparent light pink color. Some may find the rose aroma and flavor a little off-putting; I found it captivating. According to the winery’s owners, Barbara and Roberto Nannetti, Rosolio was a popular digestivo (after-dinner drink) in the early 1900s and has regained its popularity among grappa fans.

Apparently roses and vineyards have an interesting relationship that dates back to ancient times. I was told that roses are planted at the end of the rows of grape vines for two reasons. The roses will react to soil and air-borne blights before they appear on the vines - giving the grower an opportunity to take corrective action before the vines and fruit are damaged. The growers also plant different color roses to indicate where the rows of different grape varieties start and stop…a simple color coding system for the grape pickers to follow.

So here I sit, sipping a dram of Rosolio, looking up at the Monti Cimini…life is good.

SHOES

Just because I don't wear them doesn't mean I don't crave them. I love shoes; pretty, strappy, sexy hi-heeled shoes. Italian shoes are a special temptation.



They are bizaare, fabulous, ridiculous and totally frivolous. Instead of wearing them, I treat them like an object d'art...I photograph them.

WAY more comfortable.

On a recent day trip to Roma, I enjoyed the wonderful, fanciful window displays of the shoe boutiques. Here is a sampling of the amazing footwear that was displayed on a summer afternoon in Roma.

The Geneology of Sumo the Pig

With all the attention he is receiving from Michael and Paola’s guests at Culture Discovery Vacations, I felt compelled to investigate Sumo’s past and research his geneology. So, one night I snuck into his pen, swabbed the inside of his snout and sent his DNA (along with €2,000 in cash) off to the Office of Italian Pig Ancestry in Rome. Here are the results.

Around the year 78 A.D. Sumo’s ancestor, Porcus Sumius, was the imperial stud in the pig harem for Roman Emperor Vespasian. Upon Vespasian’s death in 79 A.D., Porcus was exiled to Pompeii where he died during the eruption of Vesuvius. A plaster casting of his remains is part of a permanent exhibit at the National Museum in Naples.

There is some evidence that Porcus Sumius’ descendants lived under the protection of Emperor Constantine. Built around 315 A.D. in Rome, Constantine’s Arch includes a carved image of a large male pig with the inscription “Porcus Sumius Maximus”. Scholars believe Sumius’ descendants moved with Emperor Constantine and helped establish Constantinople in what is today Istanbul, Turkey. With the Islamic conversion of Constantinople in later years, that branch of the family was lost to the ages.

Surviving the invasion of Italy by the Ostrogoths and later the Lombards, Sumo’s ancestors enjoyed the protection of Pope Gregory beginning in the year 598 A.D. The family name changed to Porco di Papa and for the next 600 years, the family’s power and influence expanded throughout Italy. In 1059 under the Norman knight, Robert Guiscard, Sumo’s ancestors established themselves throughout Apulia, Calabria and Sicily. In 1082, family members allied themselves with both sides of the war between Florence and Siena. Between 1147 and 1149, they accompanied the knights to the Holy Lands for the Second Crusade.

In 1257, Sumo’s direct ancestors arrived in Viterbo with Pope Alexander IV. The family split during the disputes over the election of the popes and in 1283, some members fled to the nearby Cimini Mountains never to be heard from again. Local folklore includes a story about Sumo’s bandit ancestors - wild pigs (chinghiale) who roam the Faggeta to this day.

There are few available facts about Sumo’s family between the mid 13^th and mid 19^th centuries. One family legend claims members posed for portraits by Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Giotto; others say that the families retreated to monasteries and convents throughout Lazio where they lived long, saintly lives.

Over the years the family name changed to Porcopapa with many descendents having variations of Sumo’s first name – Sumona, Sumino, Sumottino, Sumonucci, Sumatto, Sumonachi, and Sumonissimo. In 1860, a young Sumoculo Porcopapa sailed with Garibaldi and his thousand red shirted volunteers to capture Sicliy and fight their way up the peninsula to establish the first unified Italian nation since the Roman Empire.

The family name also appears in the original librettos for Verdi’s Otello (1887) and Puccini’s Tosca (1900). In both instances the characters were dropped from the operas due to the lack of classically trained pigs with strong tenor vocal ranges.

From 1940 through 1945, Sumo’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and granduncles were communist resistance fighters against the Fascists throughout Italy. Several were captured, tortured by Axis forces, and turned into winerschnizel and schwinehachen (fried pork cutlets and roasted pork shanks). In 1954 they were posthumously awarded Italy’s highest pig honor, the Stella D’Oro di Porchetta.

To this day their descendants continue to contribute to the social, political, and gastronomical fabric of life in Soriano, the Viterbo Province and Italy. In January 2011 Sumo will join his ancestors, making the supreme sacrifice for the production of next year’s prosciutto. On that day, we will raise our glasses in thankful remembrance of a beloved pig.

Until then…live well, dear friend.

In the Clouds

Notice: This post is just a filler, because we've been a little busy and have not had much time to write. All I can say for now is that, never in our wildest imaginings did we expect to be so delightfully engaged here in Soriano...details will follow later this week.....promise :)