Childhood memories of a long journey down to Sicily

The clear water of the Stretto from the Sicilian coast (ph. credits Corrado Salvo)

Sicily again... last summer my not anymore little niece lived the same experience that it's a sweet memory of my childhood. She drove by car, with her dad, my brother and her grandma, my mother, to the family house in Sicily. Definitely for her it was not the adventurous journey that I remember and not even a daylong drive as I always lived with my family.

 My father side of the family is a mix between Romagna and Sicily, the most hot blood people among the great variety of Italians. My grandfather was born in the Northern part of Sicily, the area of Messina, the town close to the Stretto, that sea passage so full of legends: Scilla and Cariddi. 

I remember when I was a child, we used to drive down from Rome taking a whole day to reach Sicily, we always took the ferry late in the night and my brother and I woke up when the car entered the boat. Everything seemed a bit mysterious and scary, I remember we were looking forward to jumping out of the car and run to the top ferry deck, breathing in the warm breeze and looking down to the black sea imagining that Scilla or Cariddi would come and grab our feet to take us down in the dark waves. Jiggling at our fears, we arrived in Messina too soon, ready to fall asleep for the last 40 km before reaching the family home. The sweet smell of jasmine that were grown on the Sicilian coast for the production of the essence, used for making perfumes, was the last memory before falling asleep again. 

If I close my eyes I can still remember that smell that to me means the beauty of Sicily.

Do you have a sweet memory of your childhood that you keep always in your heart?

ML xx

Cantine Florio

Long time ago I promised I would have dedicated a post to Cantine Florio, eventually I kept my promise and here we are to talk about the visit of the famous cellars.

doors of the shop 

The visit of the Cantine Florio is a must do if you stop in Marsala, 10 euro well spent for the guided tour, there is also the opportunity to do it in English, our guide was Sarah, she is very good and jaunty, with a wide knowledge of wines and wine making.
The cellars are located in a huge baglio in front of the sea, on the outskirts of Marsala in an area where other cellars are located.
The cellars are enormous with packed-earth floor and lines of piled barriques that forms corridors  that went to America at the beginning of the XX century for an exhibition and few other stuff.

the cellar

where you walk through. Those cellars have been rebuilt after Second World War because they were severely damaged during the bombing of the area, unfortunately most of the Marsala production went lost, but they saved a huge barrel
The symbol of the Florio family - a sick lion in search of relief - refers to their main activity: they were chemists and they had the government permission for selling quinine to treat malaria a very common disease in the late XIX century in many areas of the South of Italy.
There are more memorabilia of Garibaldi and Mille's landing here rather than in the actual

the Florio family emblem

Garibaldi's museum in the town centre.
Going through we spotted a barrique filled the same day my husband was born, great coincidence!

a special barrique

Don't miss the tasting at the end of the tour: it's really emotional involving, I had shivers tasting those superb Marsala wines! Better to do in small groups as far as possible, you need silence to meditate those wines.

wine tasting

So don't wait any longer go and enjoy a glass of Marsala!
Cheers,
ML xx

Auditore - a little village on the boarder

Auditore Town Hall

If I'm back to posting on the blog I should really thank Lisa from Renovating Italy, her last post it's so emotionally powerful that really gave me the kick to get back and write something about my beloved Italy.

One day in early autumn I took my husband on a drive among those fantastic hills that are the border between Romagna and Marche, where my grand parents came from and where I used to go visiting older relatives or cemeteries with them at least once in the summer when I was I little child.
I don't remember the places but I absolutely cannot forget how my grand father got animated as soon as the car stopped in the village square and he jumped out and greeted the people who was coming to say hello to him. It was like being brought into the past and being a little observer who nobody took any notice of. I enjoyed that atmosphere which brought my child like being into an ancient past, I loved to hear their stories and I loved the smile on my grandfather face.

Anyway, going back to that famous trip with my husband, we didn't really plan to stop in Auditore, when I saw the edge of town sign on the road I immediately turned the car and stopped in front of the Town Hall (Comune). As I said, I really did not remember the place, but as I breathed the air every thing seemed  familiar.

the road up to the church belvedere

coloured houses 

We walked around the small streets of the tiny village, not coming across many people, but the noises from the houses kept us company. We arrived at the village bar (as far as I could remember just one in the main square under the church) and I loved the yellow curtain waiving in the breeze. We entered for a coffee but surprising nobody was there serving, two old men sitting at the table pretending to play cards but probably keeping an eye on the place, after we searched for somebody, eventually came in our help: "Go next door, you'll find someone". We exited the modern bar (what a pity they re-modern the old little bar osteria so full of colour, for an impersonal all granite and wood modern version of a bar) and entered a tiny little grocery and bakery with a wonderful smell of freshly cooked bread. First thing the man behind the counter told us, serving an old woman in front of him: "I'll be with you in a minute". How did he know we were in the bar craving for a coffee only a second ago? The two old men? a secret camera or bell informing him of any movement next door? No, there was no sign of technology in that little shop, he knew.

the bar and the bakery shop (the door with the yellow curtain on the side)

Eventually he made us a coffee which was at all memorable, in the mean time in the bakery we bought a slice of  spianata, an oily and flavorsome white pizza that is made locally with lots of lard (ahime'!). After our drink we both enjoyed the spianata sitting on the belvedere in front of the church, it tasted so good.

spianata with a view

Montefeltro hills

the village walls

a tiny window

buildings opposite the Town Hall

What did that unexpected stop leave in my memory and my heart? It brought back the stories my grandfather used to tell me about those places and his youth, which was nothing similar to mine. But it also made me enjoy fantastic views of
my beloved homeland.
Worthless to say, I'm in love with Italy. :)

Enjoy your journey in Italy every bit of that country is worth visiting regardless the bad propaganda the unhappy political situation of the moment can make.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Love,
ML xx

West of Sicily: Marsala

There are so many bits and bobs I've started to write down in the past months and haven't go time to finished...

As usual I'm celebrating my adored Sicily. Why mine? I can proudly say that a quarter of my blood is Sicilian.

Last September we spent a holiday in Sicily,  we visited the western part, landing in Trapani airport where we rent a car and traveled around. If you want to visit Sicily, unless you are staying in a big city, bear in mind that you need a car, distances are not so enormous but there are not good connections. Trapani airport is a small one, we queued for a while but not due to the personnel of the rent a car but due to disorganized customers. Coming back there were severe controls on the weight of the hand luggage, so be careful not to buy too many things, otherwise you have to leave them there. The civil airport shares the runway with the military one, recently quite busy, if there is a little delay the risk is that it takes longer due to closure of the flying zone.

Marsala Chiesa Madre from via Vaccari (B&B Il Profumo del Sale)

Firstly we stopped in Marsala for few days, I've been pleasantly surprised by that lively and elegant town, located in the extreme western bit of Sicily. In Marsala we stayed in a lovely B&B Il Profumo del Sale, right in the town centre, few steps away from the Cathedral square, near the "circolo" strictly for men only, where everyday I always spotted an elegant  and old man reading the newspaper. He looked like Il Gattopardo.
The owner of the B&B, Celsa is an active lady from the North of Italy who chose to live in Sicily, she used to run a restaurant so you will never be disappointed by the breakfast she prepares. Follow her precious suggestions for itineraries, she knows the area and what is worth visiting.

Marsala enoteca Sirena Ubriaca: the best aperitif

Marsala San Lorenzo Osteria

We tried all the nice restaurants in town, avoiding those that offer touristic menu,  worth to mention for a very good service and good food and very nice cosy atmosphere is San Lorenzo Osteria. If  you'd rather have an aperitif, stop at La Sirena Ubriaca try a tasting of Marsala wines and you won't be disappointed, meanwhile enjoy the "struscio" (a real ritual in that town!), much better that the more than packed Mercato del pesce, which is a proper fish market in the morning and in the evening becomes the heart of the local movida.

Marsala "struscio" at Porta Garibaldi

Marsala fish market by night

A must do visit is the Cantine Florio, a journey through the history of Sicily, of wine production and of a great family, the Florio. But this is a long story and I will talk about it in another post...

See you soon
ML

Marsala fish market during the day

Pinot Noir on Pesaro Hills

The first time I tasted the Focara wine, I've been completely blown away by that velvety, smooth translucent ruby drink and I thought "can wine be so good!". Yes it can, refined and delicate, with a strong personality Focara Pinot Noir doesn't need to scream its qualities, they are perceived at the first sip.
I don't like those strongly, muscular red wines that need to be chewed rather than drunk, I don't like to look at the glass which I can't see through. I won't ever be able to say I love Sangiovese, even if it's the grape variety mainly produced in Romagna, the area where I was born and where I came back to live after growing up in Rome.
I definitely love the pinot noir produced in the Fattoria Mancini, a few kilometers from the Marche and Romagna boundary, which as far as the landscape is concerned it is just an administrative whim that was fought over by the two warring families, the Montefeltro and Malatesta.

Fattoria Mancini is a family run winery located in the Natural Park of Monte San Bartolo, a pearl on the Adriatic coast that the tourists usually coming on the Riviera Romagnola never explore. At the beginning of XIX century that area was identified as ideal for growing Pinot Noir by the Napoleonic administration, who then occupied the Papal State for nearly a century. The Mancini family bought the land in the second half of the XIX century and preserved and reproduced the original Pinot Noir introduced during the French domination. Today that grape is recognized as D.O.C. (controlled origin denomination)

You arrive at a working winery and everything is as it should be, no posh structure or manicured gardens, a well preserved country house, where clearly the wine production is the core business as the several large wooden barrels lined up in state.
Inside the tasting room a coolness prevails above any other sensation, no pretentious and newly made smelling oak furniture, a mainly white empty space which gives room to the main character, the wine. Photos of the vineyards decorate the white walls, with a didactic purpose rather than pure complacency.

On our visit we were greeted by two perfect English speaking women (a rarity in that area), later we discover one was the owner's wife, a young and friendly New Zealand winemaker. They offered us to taste some wine, this is the first time I experienced a producer who really wanted to know what you think about their wine and not telling you what to think.

There is only one regret, during last year they changed the labels on some of their wines, it's true the new ones give figurative information of where the wine is produced and the history of that piece of land, but the old ones have got such a strong personality that really make you recognize their wine among thousands of bottles.

Which is your favorite wine?

Fiorenzuola di Focara

10 kilometers away from the over-crowded Riviera Romagnola there is the small village of Focara, perched on a rocky headland on the Adriatic coast in the Park of San Bartolo. The village is quiet with just a bar, a grocery store which sells everything and a restaurant, a little archway marks the entrance to the path that leads to the beach several metres below.
The name of Focara was added to a commonly spreaded Italian name Fiorenzuola,  which means flourishing, due to the tradition of lighting fires to signal to mariners.

the bell tower

It is a Roman settlement that has always had a strategic role due to its location, built between the X and XII centuries along with the castles of Casteldimezzo, Gradara and Granarola, was part of the defensive system in the border area between the Church of Ravenna and that of Pesaro and then, among the Malatesta possessions of Rimini and of Pesaro. In the XII century was built the church of St. Andrew, of which remains only the bell tower, in the church were present works of fine workmanship, but a violent earthquake in August 1916 destroyed it.
In the charming village there are architectural relics of the past, interesting the main door of the village is where there are the verses of Dante's Divina Comedia (Inferno, canto XXVIII) describing a dark betrayal that happened off in this sea.

passage to the beach, no signal directs you just a blue sea

Visit the lovely village of Fiorenzuola di Focara all over the year, in the summer if you fancy a swim in the unusually clear water of the Adriatic sea, walk down to the beach 500 metres away or take the shuttle (only in the morning), it's a steep road but worth doing it. The best period I would suggest for you to visit this village is in one of those clear and crispy early spring days, when the sky is pure blue and the wind still has the coolness of the snow on the mountains.

a door knob

the beach in the winter

timetable of the bus to the beach

Memories of Pantelleria - part 1

Pantelleria is a small volcanic island in the Mediterranean sea half way between Tunisia and Sicily, my husband and I spent summer holidays there twice and we fell in love of this fantastic spot in the middle of the sea.


Pantelleria really remains in our memory as one of the greatest places we ever been since now, where you feel detached from the rest of the world, where nature provides so much richness, from the green covered volcanic hills, planted with grapes, to the open bays with warm thermals from this naturally volcanic island.

The first time we stayed for a week in a dammuso (typical house of the isle) not far from the main village. Not worth renting a car, better a moped due to the roads, to reach the best spots most of them are small off roads. I will never forget the answer of an old man when we were in desperate search of a petrol station to refuel our empty moped while being on the wrong side of the island, he replied "don't worry the road is going down now" the only thing was we didn't know how far we still had to go to get to the only petrol pump, but that comment gave us the idea how relaxing the place was.

Everyday we would go out and discover new corners of the isle, we really fell in love with the island and each other. There are the ancient dammusi, or the perfectly conceived giardino pantesco, a real house built just to protect citrus trees from the strength of winter sea winds, creating a little oasis of peace from the constant sea breeze's on the isle of winds.

Only the other day and ten years later we opened a bottle of Moscato di Pantelleria that we brought back with us. After many years we tasted the same rich, sweet and dense flavors that struck us when we tasted it first in one of the very good restaurants we found on the island.

And that wine brought back to mind the work of hardworking men who cultivate the vineyard creating small crates around each plant, which is no more than the size of a small bush, and work every day to produce wines as valuable as what we drank after so many years but which preserves aroma and flavor of the sun in Pantelleria.

Learning Italian

Last night my husband showed me one of his notebooks of the period he worked in Rome, which is when we actually met, and I found something very funny, a sort of  Italian emergency manual that he wrote - with all the possible misspelled words - of his first days, all the words are related to small talk kind of conversation and - of course - food :D

Have you ever lived abroad without knowing the language of the country?

Colourful Autumn

earth

I've been back to Italy for the olive picking season. Small production but exceptional quality for this year's olive oil.

yellow tree

Walking around in the fields I took few shots of the marvellous colours in nature.

I just want to share this experience with you.

mushroom

other mushrooms

Pics were taken with my mobile, sorry for the poor quality, the colours were actually much better! :)

Enjoy colourful autumn in Italy
ML

red berries

pomegranates

pomegranate bush

Alex on an old apple tree

"volpina" pears

walnuts

La Siepe di Melograno

La casa lato ovest e il silos

Castelvecchio e' una vecchia casa di contadini sulle colline tra Pesaro e Rimini, che appartiene alla mia famiglia da tempo immemore. Il vialetto di ingresso dominato da due vecchissimi pini piantati dalla mia bisnonna Teresa, e' delimitato da una graziosa siepe di melograno, potata con alberelli che spuntano dal corpo centrale. La primavera scorsa mio marito ed io ci siamo cimentati nella potatura. Gran fatica, soprattutto perche' avevamo iniziato il lavoro con strumenti inadeguati, ma grandissima soddisfazione quando finalmente abbiamo finito il nostro lavoro.

work in progress

Spero di raccogliere melograne per fare la gelatina!

ML