flowers and candlelight: Rosa Rosae, magical inn in Veneto countryside | places to ♥ #2

an old mill, careffully restored and tastefully furnished. a building with the typical features of venetian rural tradition on the outside, a magical inn on the inside. I had dinner with my family at Rosa Rosae last weekend, and beautiful things have to be shared.

harvest time in the Prosecco hills

homemade cableway to carry the grapes | Combai | VSCOcam 

even if you don't work in the wine sector, when you live in a wine region, harvest time affects you.
you run late cause you've been stuck behind a tractor while driving to work. everyone at your local bar is talking about sugar levels, acidity, weather. you see people dressed up like scarecrows on their way to the vineyard. and the grape is shimmering, it tries to catch your eye in any way, all puffed up and proud.

July, Friday 17th. a dance with the honey bees

Andrea Paternoster, beekeper, and the honey bees of Borgoluce apiary

their flight is a dance, their voice is vibrant, they are hard workers, skilled in the art of good taste, they are gourmand and love flowers, they are team players, they are the best example of girl power, they vouch for an intact natural environment.

I spent a morning with the honeybees.

Sunday, April 12th. discovering silk farming in Vittorio Veneto

the silkworm museum - Museo del Baco da Seta in Vittorio Veneto

Monday, June 1st. the handmade amusement park in the forest

osteria ai pioppi by lambretta | vscocam

sometimes the most incredible places are the closest  to home. for us, this is definitively one of the cases.

the biggest slide of the park | vscocam

a weekend away, in the green. September, 27th-28th

sometimes you just need to go away for a couple of days. embrace the road. enjoy the shades of greens. smell the autumn. feel the mountain. discover new textures of the nature. soak in the quiet. 

via Caprera festival

May, Tuesday 20th

i'm having some busy and tough days lately.
but, looking at the bright things, yesterday i saw the entrance door of my dreams. took a picture for you, isn't it pretty?

{for italian readers: i'm very proud of being a small part of a beautiful project called say yep, a digital magazine on wedding and diy. the 4th issue we are family is out today. take a look!}

vintage market in Portobuffolè. April, Sunday 13th

Portobuffolè is the smallest town in Treviso province. just 800 people are living there. however, it's a charming little corner, with a quite important artistic and historical value, in spite of the small dimensions.
in 1300, a noblewoman called Gaia da Camino received the town as a wedding gift from her husband (what a nice gift, a town!) an it seems that made its beauty and importance grow in the following years. now we still can see elegant buildings from XIV-XVI sec.

Casarsa and Pier Paolo Pasolini's steps. March, Sunday 23rd

places tell stories. i've said and written that over and over. some days ago marco and i visited Casarsa della Delizia, a little village in Friuli Venezia Giulia, to hear some stories about the time Pier Paolo Pasolini lived there. you may have never heard about him, but he was one of the finest, still controversial, and most famous intellectual in postwar Italy. a poet, writer, journalist, filmmaker.

he was born in Bologna in 1922 and died in Rome in 1975, but he spent some meaningful years in Casarsa, where his mother came from. he used to spend his childhood summers there, and during the war and postwar years he moved with her from Bologna, to be safe. he lived in Casarsa for seven years, working as a teacher, before being forced to move to Rome, when a scandal about his homosexuality came out.

Transilvania roadtrip. January, 18-20th

after a day in Bucharest, our romanian journey continued with a roadtrip to Transilvania, kindly organized by Anna {green holiday italy} and Dario, who hosted us in Romania.
like everyone i suppose, i had some images of Transilvania on my mind: the land of vampires, with castles, mysterious aura, spooky landcapes.. well, i cannot say it is actually like that, but, as in every legend, there is a grain of truth.

pinza and blackbirds

in italy, the last three days of january (29, 30 and 31) are called the days of the blackbird {i giorni della merla}, and they are traditionally considered the coldest days of the year. and i hope they will be freezing cold, because it is also said that if the days of the blackbird are as cold as they should be, then a fine spring is around the corner, but if they are warm, it means that spring will arrive later than usual. 

with such a weather, staying indoors and baking are the best thing. a typical winter cake in veneto, friuli and some trentino's valleys is called pinza. there is no recipe of the pinza. it  varies from location to location, from family to family, with some basic general features. the ingredients are simple, typical of the rural tradition: white flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, eggs, pumpkin, candied fruit, dried figs, raisins and fennel seeds.

the very special occasion to eat pinza is usually the panevin, when families gather togheter, and you can taste all the different pinza recipes they made! 

this is how i do it. 

ingredients
200 g cornmeal
200 g wheat flour
120 g softned butter
1 egg
130 g sugar
raisins* 
dried figs*
almond*
250 ml milk
a coffee cup** of grappa {grape spirit}
a coffee cup** of sweet wine
baking powder 
1 orange
salt to taste

* quantity as you like
** i mean espresso

method
put the raisins to soak in the grappa. knead the flours, butter, baking powder, egg, zest and juice from the orange, salt. add raisins with grappa, sweet wine, figs and almonds. add warm milk. the dough will have a quite liquid consistency. pur on a cake pan, bake for 1 hour at 170°. 

better served with hot wine, friends and the best stories from last year. 

strawberry tree forever

"o verde albero italico, il tuo maggio

è nella bruma: s'anche tutto muora,

tu il giovanile gonfalon selvaggio

spieghi alla bora" 

Giovanni Pascoli

strawberry tree, arbutus unedo, corbezzolo. this tree colors the autumn with its bright red berries. as the Pascoli's poem i quoted says, its May is in the mist. 

we greeted November harvesting juicy sweetness. we have a big strawberry tree in the garden, now dotted in red. my grandma says it is a symbol of warm welcoming, and that's why it has been planted near the entrance gate.

have a lovely weekend ♥
{nikon em + fuji superia 200}

osmize in Carso. August, Thursday 15th

for august short break marco and i decided to take a 4 days roadtrip by lambretta. it was our very first trip by lambretta headed abroad, to our neighbor Slovenia. anyway, our first stop was still in Italy, very close to the state line. the Karst Plateau {Carso, in italian} is a plateau area extending in both Italy and Slovenia. 

for a very long time, the first thing that pop up in my mind when it came to Carso was First World War and its memory and legacy still very linked to the territory. but, since last year when a friend introduced me to that, i have a new (and better) feature to think about -and love- about this place: osmize. 

an osmiza (or osmica) is a restaurant opened temporarily from a farm to sell its products. it's typical of Trieste's surroundings and all the Carso area. originally, the opening period was eight days, which in slovenian is said osem, so they're called osmize, even if the opening time is longer nowadays. 

for me, the most fascinating thing about osmize is that they're not easy to find. they're mostly located in the backyards of the farmers homes in tiny villages, and a result of their temporary opening is that you're never sure if they're open until you go there. 

{websites like osmize.net and osmize.com, which host an updated calendar, are an huge help!}

the bright side is that there are so many osmize that if you're wandering around Carso sooner or later you will see an arrow hanging above a bunch of leafy branches: it's a frasca, it indicates that an osmiza is near you.

a frasca, which indicates a near osmiza

it's like entering a secret garden, but full of delicious food. the atmosphere is the same you feel when you're at a family lunch: informal, intimate.
many kinds of salami and cheese are usually the main dishes on the menu, with a side of hard boiled eggs, pickled vegetables, olives and, of course, local wines.

simple food, very (very) cheap price.

osmiza Gabrovec - Prepotto

hard boiled eggs 

visiting Carso again, looking at the bright gold of its summer landscapes, relaxing in a couple of osmize was just the perfect beginning for our roadtrip.

osmiza's tables in a home courtyard

ready to continue our journey towards Ljubljana

{nikon f-801 + fuji superia 200}

i know i've been slow in posting lately, september has been crazy!
i didn't stay out of the web writing completely, though. you can find these photos and more info about osmize on my post for Cosebelle Mag here (italian only), and i did a guest post on Green Holiday Italy, a lovely blog about responsible travel in Italy (in english!). thanks again for the opportunity, dear anna.

the Raganello Valley

our days in Calabria were intense. a endless stream of new words, flavours, skylines, gestures.
we explored a valley located in the biggest italian national park {Parco Nazionale del Pollino}, the Raganello Valley. Raganello is a stubborn stream that carved its way out of high limestone rocks, so the valley's landscape is a mosaic composed by vertiginous rock walls,  great reddish promontories, five small villages {Civita, San Lorenzo Bellizzi, Cerchiara, Francavilla Marittima and Alessandria del Carretto} and the fierce and cold watercourse.

Civita and the timpe. "timpa" is the local word for the hilly rock formations

as my senses were wide open and almost overwhelmed, i want to try to tell you what i experienced through sensations, hoping that from many small details you could catch a glimpse of the whole life and traditions of this little piece of Calabria, still untouched by the mass tourism.

a list of nice sounds

Albanian flag in Civita

- arbëresh language and songs. arbëreshë people are a linguistic minority that settled in some southern Italy villages in 15th century, after the ottoman turk conquest of Albania. i think it's amazing that they still are able to speak their native language, cook the dishes of their own gastronomy, know how to dance and sing their traditional songs and keep their ethnic spirit alive. preserving customs for so long in a different country with such a strong identity and long history it's hard. in Civita there is an ethnic museum, bilingual signs and Albanian flags are everywhere. arbëreshë families still speak arbëresh language at home. 

popular Calabria melodies, played with the accordion, are frequently mixed up with arbëreshë songs. 

a shot from our popular music night 

 - the roaring water stream. it seems that the name Raganello comes from the latin word ragare, which means to drag. when it rains it is said that you can hear noises  in the river gorge, similar to those that make barrels when they roll along a cobbled street downhill.

Raganello's lower gorge, in San Lorenzo Bellizzi

- the silence at the Porta del Pollino. after we hiked in the national park's woods for a couple of hours, we reached a plateau with a wonderful panorama on the surrounding timpe. the silence was made solemn by the presence of  bosnian pines {pinus heldreichii}. the majestic trees watched over the horizon. some of them were dead, and just lied there like great sculptures, or oversized fossils.

bosnian pines in Pollino national park

a list of nice tastes and smells 

short premise: we ate way too much. be prepared if you go there.
- goat milk and goat ricotta. okay, i was an easy target, i love goat cheese. and cheese in general. and milk. but these were insanely good. the goats that graze on the timpe eat lots of aromatic herbs which makes their milk and cheese so rich in flavors.
drinking a glass of warm milk at breakfast made me feel like i was lying on a meadow, with herbs, flowers and a stunning landscape.

ricotta making at Azienda Agrituristica La Grotta, San Lorenzo Bellizzi

- real homemade traditional meals. from tagliatelle to the amazing salami, i loved that everything was local, made at home or in small farms. prosciutto, capocollo, soppressata... and you're still wondering why i said that i ate too much?

making pasta at Azienda Agrituristica Grampollina, San Lorenzo Bellizzi

- spice up your life. small, hot, red peppers are kings. as an ingredient, like inside the nduja {a spicy sausage}, or served by itself as a side dish, you'll meet it at any meal.

hot peppers in a small shop

- smell of oregano. walking on the timpe, we could smell it everywhere. fresh, fragrant oregano. we harvested two big bunches, and used it to make an infusion in the evening. it was relaxing and really helped our overstressed stomach. {thanks to Anna from green holiday italy for having this brilliant idea!}

a list of nice sights

- frank and proud faces. usually, it's the people we meet that make our travels special. even if we barely know them and just exchange a few words.

an old lady, an agriturismo owner, a view of a small square in San Lorenzo Bellizzi. the old lady talked to me in a very incomprehensible Calabria dialect, but i understood that she told me it was going to rain soon (i was very proud of myself). guess if she was right.

- small details of a simple faith. i like when faith is showed in a humble way. i could catch some details that can testimony the spirituality of the places we visited. a bell and a madonna icon in Santa Maria dell'Armi sanctuary; a crucifix in a bakery {did i mention that the bread was delicious, too? try the Cerchiara bread!}; a stone church surrounded by mountains.

- moving landscapes. here my favorite landscape shot of this trip. it was about to rain, just like the old lady  had said.

the view from Sant'Anna

meet the Rossos

during my weekend in the Langa Astigiana, i stayed at the agriturismo Cascina Rosso. it was such a special place that i want to share it and its story with you.

Cascina Rosso is an organic farm and bed&breakfast, owned and nurtured by Adriano and Judith Rosso.

it's located in Roccaverano, in the middle of 12 hectares of fields, trees, gardens. a narrow street between the hazel trees leads to the Cascina, and while you're passing through you can say goodbye to traffic, noises, cellphones (they don't work here!) and worries. 

it's a quiet natural balcony over hills and Alps, but what makes it special is the roaring personality (i swear, this is the perfect adjective!) of its owners.

Adriano in his organic garden

Adriano is a former airplane pilot. he was born in my beloved Veneto, but he has lived for a long time in Miami, with his wife Judith.
Judith is from Chicago. she worked in writing, producing and directing documentary television programs in North America. when she saw Italy for the first time in 1984 she knew that it was the place where she'd love to live. talking to her is to dive in her funny and delightful mix of english, italian, and italian dialects.

about 10 years ago, they decided to change their life: quit their jobs, moved to Italy, bought a farm.
now, he grows organic vegetables and fruits. she cooks delicious breakfasts to their guests (like frittata with robiola cheese!), and teaches english, reiki and EFT.

Judith making blueberry crepes for breakfast

i loved the atmosphere, the silence, the energy. when i woke up, (and barely awake) i went down to the garden and ate raspberries. before coffee (this is an important detail: i usually do nothing before coffe), picking the reddest from the plants, looking at the Alps. they tasted like sun. a sweet sweet sun.

info 

Cascina Rosso

Reg. Caramello Piandonne, 26

Roccaverano (Asti)

where to eat near Cascina Rosso (with their organic products!)

Osteria del Bramante

piazza Barbero, 6

Roccaverano (Asti)

Ristorante della Posta

via Roma, 4

Olmo Gentile (Asti)

an ancient hamlet. Borgo Malanotte

on our way to Asolo, we stopped by an ancient hamlet called Borgo Malanotte.

it's very close to home but we had only seen it from the road before, and never stopped. that day, our attention was caught by some people who were setting up a town festival. 

i'm glad we stopped. the place is graceful like a poem, with a shade of proud decadence.

there is a bunker from the first world war open to visit {Borgo Malanotte was an headquarter for the artillery units, this is the reason why the place was particulary protected}, but i was more interested in colors, details, people working for the fair. 

{olympus om10 + fuji superia 200}

June, Sunday 2nd

© Giacomo Cipolato

a shot of the two of us, taken by our friend giacomo after a day we spent eating and laughing.

strolling at donkey's pace. May, Sunday 26th

have you ever done a donkey trekking? i've heard it's a trend in walking holidays.

on a sunny sunday morning, the last day of our blog tour in Vicenza's lands, we walked skin to coat with a female donkey named Silvana, along a path that vanished among the olive trees.

donkeys are nice companion to walk with. not too slow, not too fast, they give you time to look around when they stop to taste that tempting tuft of grass. also, they could take your backpack if the hike is too hard for you, and they have that shaggy coat which is so soft on the ears and nose! they make you smile and distract you from the effort and the heat, when they want to play stubborn and refuse to cross a water trickle. 

Martino with the donkey | San Bernardino cave facade

our hike's destination was a cave name after St. Bernardino, where we had a brief refresher on the prehistoric period. i felt like a third grade girl listening to Martino, our guide, who talked about the Neanderthal man traces left here, one of which is a fireplace of 170000 years ago. {seriously, 170000! i had to write it down, cause so many zeros confuse me}

now i want to buy a donkey.

{olympus om10 + fuji superia 200}

colli Berici. May, Saturday 25th

in the first part of our trip in Vicenza province, we breathed the mountain peace of the Altopiano di Asiago. then, with the Vicenza's historic center behind us, our eyes got the power of wander on the lavishly green hills surrounding us. we were ready for the last part, an exploration of the Colli Berici, gentle hills south of Vicenza.

Berici hills map and local products

a roadtrip on the Berici hills {colli Berici} is a journey through the local taste and products. in my mind, now that i'm recollecting those memories, voices and flavours cross each other, to tell the same story, of simplicity and care.
we visited some organic farms, slept in agriturismi with homely atmosphere, drove up and down the narrow streets, looking at the little towns life through the car windows.

i've selected three particular memories, to summarize my experience in the Berici hills. 
the first image that impressed me was the gray sight of the incompiuta, in Brendola. incompiuta means unfinished, and this church is the proof that the crisis was a matter in the past centuries, too: the client did not finish paying for it, and when he died, the work was suspended and never started again. so, the unfinished church still lies there, grim and fascinating, home for crows.

incompiuta di Brendola

the second memory is a feeling. you've seen the map above, where i draw all the local products that are made in the Berici; among those, there are two i like the most: sopressa {aged salami made with the best pig cuts}, and grappa {alcoholic beverage, a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy}. the two rooms, in two different places, where i've seen the sopressa aging, and the distillery equipment, gave me the same feeling. the light and the smell were different, of course, but they were both dark and muffled, chilly and aromatic. and, first of all, the two rooms have the same atmosphere, the one you can feel in places that are rich in traditions handed down from father to son, manual labor, trade secrets. i love this kind of places.

the salami aging room in Agriturismo Monterosso - the Brunello distillery

the third and last memory is a gesture. at the olive oil tasting, and while Marianna was making the goat cheese, the starting gesture was the same: they draw a cross. with the spoon on the cheese, with the oil on the salad. a gesure of blessing.


info
Brunello distillery
via G.Roi, 51 - Montegalda (VI)
@grappabrunello

Agriturismo Monterosso
Via Monte Rosso, 18 - Brendola (VI)