torta al testo, the umbrian flatbread

© Enogastronomia in Umbria

during my weekend in Umbria i had the chance to deepen my knowledge on the (delicious) local cuisine, thanks to a workshop which aimed to introduce Enogastronomia in Umbria {ita | eng}, an application to promote tourism and gastronomy of the region, through its food and wine specialities.

sunrise in the Dolomites. August, Saturday 10th

Morning is due to all —

To some — the Night —

To an imperial few —

The Auroral light.

{Emily Dickinson}

Malga Preghena di Sotto, Val di Non. h 5.30 AM

i am an earlybird. i love the morning light, the silence, the chill, the expectations, to peacefully plan my day sipping coffee on the couch. but i usually don't get up so early to see the sun rise. i did it in a cold and clear August morning, after a stormy night, and i saw the mountains waking up with me.

our alarm clock rang at five, it was still dark, too dark for pictures, we had a quick sip of coffee and run out to see the cows, who were loudly coming back from the pastures for the morning milking.
where and why did i do that?

we were hosted at Malga Preghena, in Trentino Alto Adige region. cows usually spend the summer in the mountain pastures, from the end of may to the end of september. during these months, the herders live in a mountain hut with a stable and a dairy. this place it's called malga. in the past, a malga's only purpose was to be a place where a family and their cows live, but now most of them are also a good place to eat and buy fresh products.

this summer, some malghe in Trentino offered the possibility to spend the night there, wake up with the family and watch their daily work. a chance to get closer to a lesser known reality. this project was called albe in malga: sunrise in malga.
this was not my first malga experience, but i had the chance to get a better look to the hard work of the family that runs the place.

oh, and the golden light that slowly came from the surrounding mountains to reach us? totally made ​​me forget the ungodly hour at which we woke up. (together with the crazy delicious breakfast we had after the milking!)

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)

polaroids from vinitaly. April, Tuesday 9th

do you remember the street food recipe i did for Quota 101? 
they decided print a small cookbook, with it and other 17 recipes invented by very talented food bloggers. the book was presented during Vinitaly, the biggest italian wine fair, held in Verona. 

for the occasion, i visited the fair with Marco, and a polaroid 600 extreme. i thought it would be plenty of professional cameras to properly capture bottles and labels, so why do not bring some instant fun?
it really was fun, my first time with an instant camera. you can see i'm a newbie!

we toasted at the Quota 101 stand, tasting the street food that won the contest: Neroncini by Briciole in Cucina.
then my uncle Paolo (grazie ♥!), who works in wine sector, show us the fair, so we had the chance to visit the stands of some heavenly good wineries.

we started at Cantina Villa, which produces some divine Franciacorta we learned to know through time. we tasted Satèn, Emozione, Solomille, and the sublime Selezione 2004 Brut.
luckily, there were two special cheeses {slow food ark of taste products} to taste with the wines:  a 25 months old Bagòss, and Fatulì, made in Val Camonica with goat milk, smoked with juniper.

Marco fell in love with the Mason Pinot Nero from Manincor, a biodynamic winery in  Alto Adige, a couple of years ago. so, we said hello to them, too, and tasted their Moscato Giallo and Sauvignon. we'd love to have the chance to visit their wonderful organic wine estate, someday.

then, it was the time of Sicilia, another italian region that i particulary love, for some sweet memories. the Destro winery has its vineyards on Mount Etna, an active volcano. their red Sciarakè has a lava flow drawn on the label. the white Nausìca, so rich of scents, and the sweet Anuar were my favourite Destro wines.

from the very south, back to the north: Trentino Alto Adige, again. D'Isera winery's Trentodoc was already a friend of mine, i have a soft spot for its bubbles. i was very happy to visit the D'Isera stand, and to get the chance to try another of their wines: the aromatic Müller Thurgau.

Toscana is the most famous italian wine region, i suppose. we saved a classic for the finale: Chianti! we tasted three of Dievole's red Chianti, a winery near Siena. too bad we didn't have a steak to eat with them.

{polaroid 600 extreme + px 680 color protection}
for more detailed pics of the wines, visit my twitter profile.


all the details about these special wineries:

Villa Franciacorta
25040 Motnicelli Brusati (BS)
www.villafranciacorta.it @cantinavilla

Manincor
39052 Kaltern | Caldaro
St Josef am See 4
www.manincor.com

Destro - Azienda Vitivinicola
Montelaguardia - Randazzo (CT)
www.destrovini.com

D'Isera
via al Ponte, 1 3860 Isera (Trento)
www.cantinaisera.it

Dievole
Loc. Vagliagli
53019 Castelnuovo Berardenga (Siena)
www.dievole.it

Quota 101
via Malterreno 12 Torreglia (PD)
www.quota101.com

Going East. April, Saturday 28th

on saturday morning, there were just 75 km between us and the Far East.

following a beautiful shining sun, we rode towards Udine, to enjoy the last day of the Far East film festival, the biggest european festival of popular east asian cinema.

the first part of the journey seemed kind of boring, cause it was all across the main road: straight and full of traffic {not to mention the traffic lights}. but with a Lambretta you don’t even have the chance to be bored… after the first 10 km she had already turned off twice. 

crossed the Tagliamento river, we finally took a more interesting side road, which ran through several tiny friulian towns. the road signs began to being bilingual: Italian (of course), and friulian dialect.  

 

with the festival, Udine only confirms his position as a major center of multiculturalism. 

red market stalls displaying bonsai, kokeshi dolls, cupcakes, handmade bags, teas. ethnic restaurants offering ad hoc menus, asian girls hanging around hand in hand giggling while eating gelato, cosplayers sitting down the loggia, the big panda {which is the symbol of the festival fourteenth edition} peeping at every street corner…

the tavern Al Cappello {The Hat} is our must in Udine. the owners put together in an unique spot their four great passions: for hats, cats, good food and good wine. coincidentally, they are also four of our greatest passions. we are addicted to their tartine, and the cold tocai {a white local wine} is the perfect companion. 

after a movie {we saw the papanese comedy “Mitsuko Delivers” by Ishii Yuya, original title Hara ga Kore Nande}  we were ready to go back home, but the lambretta wasn’t on the same page. 
it took a lot to turn her on and, as always, that attracted some old men willing to dispense good advices. lambrettas were really popular in italy during the fifties and the sixties, so the “original owners”, who are now in their seventies or eighties are always happy, nostalgic and fond of seeing someone with a lambretta, and they often stop to have a little chat with us about the pro and cons of having a scooter like that {fifty years and still the same problems, as, indeed, the ignition}.

mister Mario, who was there to see a kendo show, helped M. out with the spark plug {is not that M. was not capable, but we were glad to get help and chat with him} and talk about his old lambretta and his work as a mechanic. 

wonderful day. 

info
Al Cappello
via Paolo Sarpi, 5  
33100 Udine
www.osteriaalcappello.it 

April, Friday 6th

My beloved friends gave me this book for my birthday. It’s a guidebook by Slowfood to the best Italian taverns. I think it’s going to be so useful for idiaridellalambretta! Thank you guys!

The invitations and some decorations for my b.day party were made by the talented Yee Von and Mr Fox {you can find their Etsy shop here}. 

I managed to spare a foxy sticker in the end, that found its place on the Lambretta. 

Nice, ah?

it melts in your mouth. San Daniele del Friuli. March, Sunday 25th

it melts in your mouth. literally. you don’t know what these words mean until you taste some prosciutto in San Daniele {a pdo product}.

the last sunday of every month there is a flea market in San Daniele del Friuli, and the weather was so nice in these days that we decided to take the chance to go and eat some  really good prosciutto.

it’s about 60 km from home and the journey took about 1 hour and 20'. the lambretta had some problems in the beginning (still don’t know why) but then she did just fine.

we met a lot of other vintage scooters along the road, the temperature was perfect.

our favorite place to eat in San Daniele is a restaurant called Ai Bintars: the food is mouthwatering and the prices are good (with 15-20 euro you’ll come back home as full as an egg).

we had some prosciutto crudo, two slices of fresh goat cheese with olive oil and pepper, and a small dish of mushrooms in oil. 

info
Ai Bintars
viale Trento e Trieste, 63

San Daniele del Friuli (UD)

{pictures taken with diana F+ and iPhone 4}