Category Archives: Italy

Mona’s Birthday Weekend Part I – Ninfa

Mona’s birthday weekend, which coincides with Easter, began with a wonderful picnic trip to Ninfa Gardens.  We had delicious chicken sammies, pasta, desserts, cheeses, salamis, and all the other makings of a grand picnic feast.  The other Italian visitors were very impressed if not a bit appalled at our preparedness (and giant lexan use).

The garden itself is incredibly beautiful and is home to ancient ruins that are overgrown with beautiful flowering vines and trees.  To visit the orange grove we had to purchase an extra ticket for 2 euro.  It is definitely worth it.  My favorite room in the world is in the back of the grove.  It’s hard to describe, you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself.

On the way back we stopped in Monti for some drinks on a very nice terrazzo.  Perfect way to end the day!

 

The Beatification: an Excuse to go to Pizzarium

The beatification of Pope John Paul II was a few days ago so we decided to wade through the throngs of pilgrims and check it out…. and then get Pizzarium. The streets were a mess, there were people everywhere singing, chanting, crying. The trash layer was inches thick. It made the pizza that much more worth it.

It was also a special day because Bonci happened to be there and Miles asked if he could work there…. and he did for 4 or 5 whole days.  Pretty cool.  I hear they got along.  How couldn’t they.

So, anyway, at Pizzarium, we had bacala with fava puree and artichoke.  I also had the classic potato filler.  Just to be sure I could make it back to the Academy without having to stop for a snack.

Pizzarium
Via della Meloria, 43
00136 Roma, Italy
06 39745416

Galileo 400 at the AAR

I had a great time at the Galileo event, eating Chris’s special porchetta sammies, watching videos projected on walls and listening to our talented musical fellows perform out in the garden.   Loved the candle constellation in grass too.

I took a little video of Paul Rudy performing as well.  So cool in the rain.

Bologna and AMERIGO

Recently I was fortunate enough to go to Bologna and eat at Amerigo with the RSFP.  It was a great weekend and we had one of the best meals I’ve ever had in Italy.

The weekend began in Bologna, where we quickly parked and walked through the old center of town.  We first found Cafe Terzi where I had one of the most interesting cups of coffee I’ve ever had: Papua New Guinea Espresso.  Also the most expensive: 3 euro!

Next, we made our way over to Tamburini and had the biggest meat and cheese platter I’ve ever seen, and a bottle of wine.  The meat platter included mortadella, head cheese, prosciutto, three kinds of salami, bresola, pancetta, grana, some kind of goat cheese……  it was overwhelming and perfect.

We walked off our lunch and explored a bit.  We walked through a huge antique fair and into a few old churches.  Almost every main street in Bologna is lined with amazing, beautiful porticoes.  I’ve never seen anything like it… and I do like it a lot.

We picked up the rest of the gang and headed to Amerigo, where we were also booked to stay the night.  The meal was amazing.  I split all my dishes with Miles so as to have the opportunity to sample as many different dishes as possible.  It turned out to be a great idea because he chose way better dishes than I chose.  Here we go:

Our Antipasti included duck and incredible sweet breads.  They tasted almost rendered, fried slowly.  They were heavenly.

For our Primi we ordered Risotto con Fave e Tartufo and Tagliatelle al Ragu.  Again, both were pretty darn tasty.  We also tried the Caramelle, which should have been both of our choices.

For Secondi we had the Venicen and Beef Cheeks.  We also tried some of the Egg, two ways with tartuffo which was a wild dish and tasted pretty ridiculous.  Definitely never had anything like it before.

Next we had a little palette cleanser: wine granita.  Also, wow.

And then finally, dessert: Crema Gelato, Gelato con Balsamico, Pistachio Semifredo, and pear with some other stuff which, by the time I got to was deliriously full and content.

We finished with Fernet, Nocino, and China.  All house made, all very low in sugar, all perfect.

The next morning we wandered through the antique fair in the city where Amerigo is located, Monteveglio.  We also had some delicious chestnut flour cookies.

We returned to Bologna for lunch and ate a great college style beer bar called Trattoria del Orso.  Loud, fun, picnic tables…. beer on tap.

 

We finished off our trip with some gelato on a stick, dipped in chocolate and pistachios.  Mine was just plain mango.  Yummy.

Another Pizza Inspired Weekend to Napoli and Capri + Scooters

We finally made it back!  It was worth the wait.  The problem is, there are still 3 or 4 other pizza spots I haven’t yet sampled.  So, Napoli, I’ll be back soon.  Most or all of the places we stopped at in Napoli can be found on my Napoli Map!

We started out at Da Michele.  Straight from the train station we got there at around 11 just as they were firing the second round of pizzas.  It was the perfect time to come because there was no line and the oven was hot.  The pizza was pretty perfect by Napoli standards: Crisp outer crust with a soft inside, oily, cheesy topping with a gooey delicious center.  I could just eat gooey Da Michele pizza middles all day.  We at below the picture of Julia Roberts eating pizza there.  Haunting.



On our walk to our Hotel, Il Convento, we stumbled upon some awesome, classic Fascist Architecture.  Oh, and the hotel was very nice, great bathroom, poor water pressure, good location.

and some trash –> art studies in the streets, and a crazily painted garage.


Later in the day we headed up to Capodimonte for a walk in the park and to take in the view.

We went back to Ristorante Mattozzi Europeo for dinner.  It was fantastic.  We started out with some buffalo mozzarella, octopus and some little teeny tiny white fish that were raw and dressed.  Crazy texture, I loved them.


Next we had a Margherita Pizza and a Marinara Pizza, bot delicious.


Our pasta was the best pasta I’ve had in Italy so far.  Calamarata with clams, shrimp, squid and a fish sauce that was ridiculous.  I could have had a bowl of the fish stock as a soup with a piece of bread.  It was thick, saffrony and just blew my taste buds away.

We finished up with a mixed grill plate that was also, pretty pretty good: squid, white fish, shrimp.  I was pretty pleased with our meal, to say the least.


Sunday Morning we headed to Cafe Gambrinus for a little sfogliatelle and cafe.  It was only our 4th time in 24 hours.

And then to Capri!  We rented awesome little scooters at the port and started zoomed around the island.  Here I am with an awesome Mary statue.

This is the ridiculous line of boats waiting to take people into the Blue Grotto or Grotta Azzurra.  What a trip.  You definitely didn’t have to lay that low.  Smuggler scarzo.



Next stop on our scooters: The Piccola Marina for some beach access and a dip.  The water was cold but refreshing in the 80 degree + weather.  Working on a nice tan.  We had pizzas at the cafe above the beach, something D’Oro.  It was alright, they let us park our scooters out front so we had to do it.  Still, better than most pizza Napoletana in rome.



We took a little hike around the less touristy part of the island before heading home.




I definitely recommend renting scooters.  It was a great way to see the entire island.  I’m not so sure how fun it would be during the height of tourist season but at this time of year, it was perfect.

Da Michele
Via Cesare Sersale, 1
80139 Naples, Italy
081 5539204

Hotel Il Convento
Via Speranzella, 137
80132 Naples, Italy
081 403977

Ristorante Mattozzi Europeo
Via Campodisola Marchese, 4
80133 Naples, Italy
081 552 1323

Gran Cafe Gambrinus
Via Chiaia, 1
80132 Naples, Italy

A Sunday at the Necropoli Della Banditaccia

I went to the Necropoli Della Banditaccia with Gio and his family a few weekends ago.  It’s an awesome place to go, especially with kids because they can just run around all over the ruins and explore.  I did a little running around and exploring of my own.  There are ancient Etruscan tombs everywhere.  It’s almost alien.  It is alien.  They were aliens. We also had a picnic.









Necropoli Della Banditaccia