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Alba
e Bruce's Degustazione d' Italia
2001
This
month we were in Italy to celebrate 15 years together since our first
date on May 10, 1986. Of course, besides its magnificent history, art
and artifacts, Italy is best-known for its cuisine. Several 'degustazione'
(tasting) menus and 7 lbs. later, I'm back in the States to give you my
own 'taste' of Italy with this 'elenco' (menu) of pictures. Buon apetito!
Antipasti—Hotels
May
29-31 Roma’s Atlanté Star…with binoculars from this
terrace every morning, we could see if the Pope had his Wheaties
today.
June
1-3 Pardini´s
Hermitage (here's their site)
on the Isle
of Giglio, run by Ghigo
and Barbara Pardini and a very friendly
staff…This lovely, very
secluded hotel must be reached by boat.
Then, bags are hauled
up the mountain to your room. They make their own cheese, honey,
bacon,
and even a real
ass can get a room with a view! The “beach”
is dramatic and provides the perfect place to do watercolors
or rockclimb in your new
bikini. The full
meal plan here is excellent!
June
4-6 Santa Chiara in San Gimignano, comfortable and lovely, but
not particularly photogenic, except for this nice
pool overlooking the Tuscan
countryside.
June
7-8 Locanda dell’Amorosa in Sinalunga at the end of a typically
Tuscan Strada
Bianca (white road). Probably the most beautiful
and charming
hotel I’ve ever stayed in. With its private
chapel to its infinity
pool…its enoteca
(wine bar) to its parking
lot...Yes! That's even attractive! The bedroom
had this view…the
bathroom
had this…and
the living
room overlooked the dramatic front
gate.
June
9-11 Torre
di Bellosguardo in Florence. Built by
Dante’s best
friend in the 14th century, this place blows the young
American mind. Be sure to request Room
1, but bring
a friend, it takes four hands to close and lock your
door. In the morning, you’ll take this
staircase to the breakfast terrace. After rushing around
Florence all day, it’s relaxing to lie at the base of the Torre,
by the pool and look out over Florence below. The atrium
is a nice place to have tea or a cocktail, and the lobby
(originally a ballroom) is spectacular.
June 12
Hotel Farnese in Rome. We said our goodbyes, made a last shopping
run and packed here.
Primi
Piatti—Nature
We were
lucky to arrive in Italy at the height of the poppy season. The artemisia
on the Isle of Giglio was stunning as were all the wildflowers on
a hike straight up a very rocky, sometimes wet, and uneven path to Giglio
Castello. Giglio is so remote that the trails to Giglio Castello,
Giglio Campese and Giglio Porto are not marked.
Before we started out, the staff at Pardini’s Hermitage just
encouraged us to ‘follow the donkey shit’. I was never so happy to
step in animal doo-doo in my life! This was the easiest part
of
the hike…about the last 10 minutes out of 2 hours!
In the
Chianti region, we visited Sant’Anna in Camprena. You probably
recognize this monastery from “The English Patient”. Remember when
Willem Dafoe was looking for morphine in this kitchen? Or when
Juliette Binoche walked in this hall outside Ralph Fiennes room? The
grounds are breathtaking, yet slightly eerie. (Or maybe I was just
hyperventilating from the excitement of breathing in the same space as
such acting greats…) Here, Bruce sweeps the strada bianca from the
movie for mines in our rented Opel Vectra.
Secondi
Piatti—Cities (Still have an appetite? This is the heaviest plate.)
Roma…We
had cocktails and sandwiches right next to the Pantheon upon arrival.
Check out my flying goggles. The most exciting moment came
the next morning with our very close encounter with Il Papa
on the way from his
home to his Wed. AM “mass” mass. But, my favorite place
was not Vatican City or St. Peter’s, with its
Pope’s tomb marked by a golden skeleton draped in marble, or
the Papal Gardens, or Piazza Venezia, or the
Spanish
Steps or the Trevi Fountain, but the Forum and the Colosseum.
Check out L’Arco di Settemio Severo, L'Arco di Costantino,
L’Arco di Tito (celebrating the recapture of Jerusalem with
this menorah), Via Sacra…and in the Colosseum, I
couldn’t quit starring into a REAL Gladiator cage.
Porto
Santo Stefano...From
Rome we drove here to catch the ferry to Giglio Porto (burp back to the
Primi Piatti to retaste those pics).
San
Gimignano...the Hong Kong of the Middle Ages. They had 72
skyscrapers back in the day…now only 14 remain. They also have a view
of Tuscany that looks like a Hollywood backdrop. They also
have the best leather shopping in Italy (the prices are better here than
in Florence). I got this swell red leather jacket. If you go,
don’t miss having dinner at Dorandó, part of the Slow Food
Movement. Here's their site.
Volterra…The
alabaster capital of Italy. We bought a few things from this nice
artisano. They have three Etruscan heads from 300 BC to
welcome you at this gate. After I took this picture, my head exploded.
Pisa…A
totally charming university town where we saw more bicycles than
cars. And, besides the typical leaning tower, (which this man
was working to straighten with cables), there is also a stunning duomo,
a battistero with beautiful acoustics (ask any of the guards to
yodel for you), and a fascinating campo santo, if you’re into
poking around ancient graves.
Lucca…Where Caesar, Pompei and Crassus decided to rule
Rome as a triumvirate. If you go, don’t miss Caniparoli (the best
cookie/chocolate shop in Italy)…get a bag of the “brutti
ma buoni” (literally “ugly but good”): oatmeal cookies
with pistachio nuts! They also have a liquor called Biadina served over
pine nuts. Great after a shot of the “daily
goop”
(our nickname for our espresso addiction).
Siena…Here,
we ate in the smallest restaurant in the world, while
looking at one of the most impressive medieval city halls…and
the hi-jinx of a street clown who was making it rain on
bald men’s heads, measuring girls’ chests, and squirting water up
people’s shorts, among other tricks. Candid camera, without a script
or even any technology! They also have an incredible black/white
stripped duomo with the fickle finger and skull of
St. Catherine (1380) on display! (A German couple had just gotten
married when we walked by.) Siena also is home to an enoteca with
over 400 Italian wines! Doesn’t Bruce look nice in his new Prada
loafers? He got them at Bagaglio.
Perugia…famous
for its Baci (chocolate kisses) made by chocolatier Perugina, this
view is probably one of the most romantic I saw.
(Don´t miss Il Birraio for lunch! Via
delle Prome 18)
Cortona…This
was probably once very enchanting, but the success of the Frances Mayes´
books on how she bought a house here has filled it with totally annoying
American tourists who march through the streets singing things like ´´Don´t
Fence Me In´´. (I kid you not!)
Firenze…We
liked our hotel grounds better than the city (let that Torre di
Bellosguardo antipasti gurgle back up in your throat…see what I
mean?), but there was still a lot to see…like Piazza Signoria
where you can order a spremuta (fresh squeezed orange juice and
sparkling soda) and gaze at David and Neptuno, Santa
Croce (where Michelangelo, Galileo & Machiavelli are buried), Galleria
degli Uffizi, Dante’s house…it’s pretty big, the
Synagogue, the MAJOR duomo, Ponte
Vecchio, and the statues
and sun worshippers along the Arno River. When the sun
sets, the night life is pretty good, too. We became members
of the Montecarla Club. As the guidebook said,
“If your grandmother was a transvestite, she’d have
been the founder of this club.”
Venice…I
ran out of disks here. Casanova’s house, Marco
Polo’s house, a gondola ride along the Grand Canal,
under the Rialto Bridge, and under the not so rialto. Charming,
encantadora, affascinante! Our gondoliere
has been on the job for 52 years, he tells us. These yield signs are
definitely unique to Venice!
Dolci—The
Sweetest, Saved for Last
Out of
600 pictures taken on the trip…these are my favorites: The Window
Seat, Colonnade
of Poppies, Bat in the
Belfry, Moon
Over Vernaccia Winery.
Dining
"Al Fresco"—frescoes
There
are frescoes everywhere in Italy, besides the Sistine Chapel.
Even over your bed at night. (These are from the 16th
C. in Room 1 at Torre di Bellosguardo.) They’re on the hotel lobby
ceiling and in the battistero. I think they may have been the
big screen entertainment of their day. Check out Trionfo della Morte
(“Triumph of Death”) from the 1300s in Pisa. The artists were
Jeroldo Bruckheimer and Don Simpsoni. (ha-ha) This is the Nicole
Kidman part. Then, the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll kick
in…Here’s some 14th C. T&A, or as Adam Sandler
would say, “I’ve got a snake, man!” Then, how ‘bout this for an
action sequence? The devil pulls your soul out of your dead,
gaping maw of a mouth.
Complimentary
after dinner mint:
I want
to thank the country of Italy and all Italians for their tremendous joie
de vivre (oops! That’s French.) From the hoteliers to the
restaurateurs to the shopkeepers to the typical man on the street,
everyone was friendly, helpful, open, humorous and well-meaning. We also
got a lot of nice free drinks and extra attenzione when I used my three
years of college Italian. Grazie! Well, a picture is worth a
thousand words and thank-yous.
Oh!
One last bit of gas to pass! There is Italian festival news on Mini!
We’ve been accepted into festivals in Rome for December, Fano (on the
Adriatic Sea) for October, and at A Corto di Cinema in Lucca on 6/21, we
were nominated Best Foreign Short! Also, we’re in the 17th
Annual Sacramento Film & Music Festival in August! Of course,
Sacramento is the capital of CA, but doesn’t it sound Italian?
Get
the check & Fade to July...
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