Italy: Part 5 – Trentino-Alto Adige and Home

Hello everybody,

If you’ve been following the posts, sorry about the wait, our laptop monitor has been acting silly lately, sooooo, we purchased a slave monitor for our laptop so we don’t have to deal with any funny stuff.

Well below is the last leg of our Italian journey.  As we headed north we took a nice drive on Northern Italy’s wine road, it’s really called that.  We saw fields beyond fields of wine, I mean grapes. I had trouble keeping my eyes off the fields and on the road, plus the smell of grapes was amazing.

As one drives through the wine road, you also go through smaller villages, each with their own type of wine.

If you would like to read about this regions wines go here: http://www.italianmade.com/wines/doc10030.cfm

The local grape variety that is used in this part of Italy is called, Lagrein. They also have two other grapes, but their names escape me at the moment.

 

 

 

 

Below are pictures of one of the places we stopped to try some wine and have a quick snack. 

 

As you can see L was quite excited to get in, plus I believe the Mitchell sisters were hungry and we all know what that means.

This vineyard was awesome we tried their Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.  We liked the wine so much that we purchased several bottles. If you track down the Young Man Yazzo, you too can try some of this delicious Italian wine, but I think he may have drank it already…next time.

    

Yup, just like I said, fields and fields of wine, I mean…grapes.

Below are pictures of our journey back home. I hope you liked the pictures and our adventure into Italy.

   

 

 

This was the view from our window in Vipiteno.

Now I’ll finish with a picture of me, doing what I like to do best…can anyone guess.

 

hugs,

M&L

Italy: Part 4 - Fontanellato

Hello everybody,

Fontanellato is a small province of Parma. Does it have something to do with gelato, no, but it did have good gelato and a really nice lady who helped us with our Italian diction.  The city  sits in the northern part of Italy near Parma, the River Po and is also near Piacenza and about 60 km from Milan.

It is a great small province. I believe we were the only tourists, perhaps because it’s late in the year and winter is quickly approaching, who knows, but it was nice to see the local people shopping and eating.

 

The town was built up around the 15th century. It has a castle which is fortified by a moat and owned by the Sanvitale family until 1951 when they sold it to the city. The castle is known as the Rocca Sanvitale.

 

The Yazzos wanted to see a castle and do some shopping, so after some research we all decided that Fontanellato provided both.  As you can see below the city was in full market mode when we arrived, which was close to siesta time as well. The market was wrapped around the castle’s moat and we walked around the market several times, when soon people started to pack up and rest up for the afternoon.

 

We found a small butcher where the Young Man Yazzo found some great culatello for his father. Culatello (little backside) is a refined prosciutto made from a heavier pig.  From what I’ve researched and read, this cut of meat is the unexercised part of the pigs hind leg and butt, thus making it quite tender. If you’re interested and have an internet translator, you can read about it here: http://www.consorziodelculatellodizibello.it/ita/consorzio.html

Purchasing several pieces of meat and cheese we later sat down for lunch. After lunch we headed back to Bologna for our last night.  We drove through some of the country side of Parma and Emilia – Romagna, before our NAV system gave up and got lost in the new road constructions of Modena, at which point we had to head back to the autobahn to make sure we were heading back to Bologna.

Below is a picture of the place where we found the cured ham.

 

Here are some pictures L took along our drive of the country side.

 

 

 

Ok, so below is a picture of a bridge, which I can’t remember the name of, but it was about this point in our travels that the NAV system started to say, “no” and ‘things’ began to repeat themselves. Thus, we felt trapped in some alternate play writing by Beckett, where we were doomed to repeat the same bridge and then thinking about it differently until we found a way to escape the circle of madness.  By the third time of being lured in by this bride’s siren call, L was able to take this great picture of ‘The Bridge of Perpetual Madness.’ Or at least that’s what I call it now.

 

Fontanellato was a great stop and I also recommend visiting this sleepy but vibrant province.

Next: Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Fields of Wine.

Hugs,

-M&L

and the Yazzos…but they’re home now…lucky.

Italy: Part 3 - Bologna

 

Bologna!!!

 

Bologna, known by the Italians as the heart of Italy cuisine, was founded in 1088 and is snuggled between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains.  Located in one of my favorite regions, Emilia – Romagna:  Parma ham, Parma cheese, Modena balsamic and another favorite mortadella.

 

Bologna also has one of the oldest universities in Italy, actually in all of Europe. The university is as old or older than mortadella.  The place has seen many thinkers walk through it’s halls, such as, Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Nicolaus Copernicus and Guglielmo Marconi just to name a few.  I’d bore you with who they are, but I bet you all know them.

 

We arrived late after noon, after being stuck in a traffic jam for about two hours. I guess Italy is famous for it’s traffic jams, well someone should have sent me a memo, because instead of exiting the autobahn when I had a chance, I drove us right into the thick of a stau(German word for traffic jam, which I like saying better than traffic jam…traffic jam, sounds like a really band eighties band).

 

I forgot to take pictures of the place we stayed at, don’t worry you’re not missing much. After meeting the owner of our place, although we were never quite sure if we dealt with the owner or a friend anyway, moving on, we walked in the evening to get a sense of the place .

Bologna also has it’s own leaning towers.

The following morning we walked into town taking in the sites and sounds of Bologna. 

Below you’ll see a statue of King Neptune, which was quite controversial when it was first built for having a rather large unident…get it. So he was down graded and apparently his left hand index finger is placed in a manner as to imply what once was.

  

Here we were walking through the university section of Bologna and if you haven’t noticed let, Bologna is also know for it’s porticoes.  Also Portland Oregon, is know as Bologna’s twin city or sister town. How do you like that!  

 

Looks like someone else was also looking for cured meats. (below)

 

Downtown shopping and searching for a cure.

The food shopping in Bologna was amazing. Fresh, yummy, tasty and did I mention yummy.

 

The Young Man Yazzo was highly intent on finding the best cured meats in Bologna for Yazzo Senior, which he found and the chuck is now resting in my kitchen.  Or should I say was resting, I’ve hidden it, hopefully he won’t notice it missing when he returns from Prague.

 

 

Here’s L admiring all the great olive oil at one of the many shops that line the streets of Bologna.

Cured pork leg anyone…anyone.

 

 

Food and more food.

We were told about this pizzeria by the owner of the place we were staying at. She was quite convinced that it was the best Bologna had to offer, as she said, is da best, better than the stuff in Napoli.  

So of course we had to try it, below is the best I could do for a picture of the pie.  The light in the place cast long shadows for that special mood.

 

 

Below was our favorite place to eat. We eat there when we arrived and then we eat there again on our last day.  We realized that the chef offered all the great local food, plus his cooking had that extra sparkle of Italian pizzazz. Earlier during the week we went out to a fancy Italian restaurant and while it was good, it wasn’t as good and inviting as this place.

Circolo Mazzini, if you find yourself in Bologna and want a place to have good local inspired food visit this place, it’s on Via Emilia Levante 6, and if I remember correctly it’s hidden from public eyes, one has to search for this place. It’s easy to find once you realize where it is, I’ll give you a hint it’s behind a big center where people buy groceries.

The Yazzos 

 

The Food

 

Pasta Perfecto, just ask the locals eating there, I’m sure they’ll let you know.

 

Bologna’s famous Bolognese

 

Kidney and Liver with tagliatelle. 

 

Gnocchi with Radicchio

 

  

Just in case you didn’t know, Italians reataurants don’t serve all your food on one plate, which is a tradition that started many years ago. Sooooo there is:

Aperitivo

Antipasto

Primo

Secondo

Contorno

Formaggio e frutta

Dolce

Café

Digestivo

All served and dressed by themselves. Think you can hang?

 

 

Searching for Bologna’s world famous gelato shop.

 

Don’t let the name fool you. I know it says Sorbetteria, but I think I only saw five sorbet flavors, the rest is all gelato all the time.  Words can’t describe their gelato…hold on pausing for the memories to rush back…yes, no words.  I don’t think I can give the place the right adjectives it deserves, you’ll just have to visit.

We were lucky that night, we arrived before a horde of about forty bikers moseyed on up to the gelato bar.  I didn’t quite capture how busy this place was.  But you can see some of the bikes and people lingering outside of the shop.

We had a great time in Bologna and similar to Lyon, where the French go for vacation and to eat good French food, Bologna is the same, Italians fill the streets and restaurants, it’s still one of those places where the locals aren’t put off by the tourist.

With that I’ll finish this post with a picture of the three stooges eating their gelato.

Next: Fontanellato near Parma.

hugs,

M&L

and the Yazzos