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Tanti Auguri di Buone Feste e Felice Anno Nuovo!
Warmest greetings of the season and all good things to you and yours in the New Year!
Sergio Franchi sings Buon Natale – Christmas time in Rome!
Archive for December, 2010
Buon Natale!
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010Photo of the Week – Firenze in White
Monday, December 20th, 2010 |
| From Firenze Snow |
Florence endured a significant snowfall over the weekend. Florence tour guide, Elvira Politi, was there with her camera and took these great pictures.
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| From Firenze Snow |
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The snow didn’t dampen the mood of these motorbikes!
Click here to see the full album of Elvira’s pictures.
Made any mistakes?
Friday, December 17th, 2010On a recent flight from New York to Frankfurt, Lufthansa showed episodes of Modern Family, a series I had never seen. I watched the 2009 Christmas episode, where Phil thinks his children are lying, punishes them by taking away Christmas, and then realizes that he was wrong and apologizes by explaining:
Let’s not get all worked up, I made a mistake….I made a mistake and people make mistakes….and they make up for those mistakes…by taking their family to ITALY!!
Of course Modern Family is now one of our favorite shows!
Fiddling around Cremona
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 |
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In listening to piles of Christmas music to make our recommendations of Italian songs and artists, our thoughts naturally turned to performing artists and musicians. But we can delve even deeper in acknowledging Italy’s contribution to music – the production of the instruments themselves! One of the most well known centers for violin making in the world is Cremona, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. Cremona has a long and exciting history, documented from 400 BC. While it is surrounded by agriculture production and is of course known for cured meats, sweet torrone and mostarda di Cremona (very spicy relishes to accompany cheese and fruit), this hill town is home to over 50 artisan violin makers and the Stradivarius Museum.
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In the 16th century, the Amati family began the tradition of violin making, with the first known violins of Andrea Amati dating to 1564. These violins created the groundwork later refined by Antonio Stradivari to create the gold standard for modern violins. Violin makers began flocking to Cremona to learn the craft from these masters, and as a result, Cremona became a violin capital of the world.
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One such artisan is Philippe Devanneaux, who came to Cremona from France as a very young man. Today, he has a shop in Cremona where he restores and makes new violins. Even if you don’t play the violin, it’s fascinating to see every aspect of his production, from selecting the trees and wood for the instruments, through the lengthy and intricate steps that lead to a finished instrument. When we bring interested travelers to his workshop, we finish the visit by having a professional violinist come in to demonstrate the instruments in the shop. You can also stop in at the Stradivarius Museum to see some of the antique violins there. A local music professor plays one or two of them daily for the public. A visit to Cremona can easily be included on an itinerary that might also feature Verona, Parma and Mantova.
Are you dreaming of a Bianco Natale?
Friday, December 10th, 2010If you’ve ventured outside at all since Thanksgiving, you may already be tired of Christmas music! Don’t despair – spice up your seasonal listening with some Italian singers and composers. There are plenty of charming Italian songs of all genres that aren’t well known outside of Italy, as well as Italian singers interpreting American classics in their native language.
For opera lovers, one of our favorite Christmas albums bar none is Sergio Franchi’s Cuore di Natale – virtuosic singing of beautiful classic holiday favorites, as well as the more popular Buon Natale, a song about Christmas in Italy sung in English – vino in the glasses, pasta on the platters/ people that you love that’s all that really matters – you get the drift, very charming.
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Adeste Fedeles and Tu scendi dalle stelle (You descend from the stars) have been recorded by both soprano Renata Tebaldi and Luciano Pavarotti and Mille cherubini in coro based on Shubert’s Wiegnelied is available by many different singers including Beniamino Gigli and Pavarotti.
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There is a whole slew of “rat packish” popular singers like Nilla Pizzi with Buon Natale and White Christmas first in Italian accented English and then Italian; Buon Natale a tutto il mondo by Domenico Modugno, the man who brought us Volare; Buon natale all’italiana by Nicola Arigliano or Gloria Christian; Buon Natale amore from Renato Carusone and Ninna, nanna picoletta by Renato Rascel. Tati Casoni singing Il valzer delle candele (Auld Lang Syne) is also a treat – doesn’t Walz of the candles just sound so much more… oh, just better!
Let us not forget the extraordinary Christmas albums of Frank Sinatra (of New Jersey with Sicilian father and Ligurian mother) or Dino Paul Crocetti of Steubenville, Ohio (otherwise known as Dean Martin whose parents were from Abruzzo) or Perry Como (Pittsburgh via parents from Abruzzo) and the great Mario Lanza (Philadelphia with parents from Abruzzo and Molise).
Finally, if you have kids or you’ve been hitting the eggnog a little hard, Dominick the Christmas Donkey by Lou Monte is an excellent choice. Santa may not need a Christmas donkey where you live but one comes in handy if you live in an Italian hilltown.
Buon Ascolto! (Happy listening)
A complete list of our recommendations (region of the artist’s birth):
Bianco Natale – Irene Grandi (Toscana) current Italian Pop/Rock star
Buon Natale – Nilla Pizzi (Emiglia-Romagna) there is also a recording of her singing White Christmas first in Italian accented English and then Italian.
Buon Natale – Sergio Franchi (Lombardia) – the whole album Cuore di Natale gets a lot of play in our house this time of year.
Buon Natale a tutto il mondo – Domenico Modugno (Puglia) from the man who brought us Volare.
Buon natale a all’italiana – Nicola Arigliano (Puglia) or Gloria Christian (Emiglia-Romana)
Natale mi portera’ - Nicola Arigliano
Buon natale amore – Renato Carusone (Campania)
Il valzer delle candele (auld lang syne) – Tati Casoni (Lombardia)
Ninna, nanna picoletta – Renato Rascel (Piemonte)
Adeste Fideles – the hymn may be of English origin but these Italians do it justice: Renata Tebaldi (Le Marche), Beniamo Gigli (Le Marche), Luciano Pavarotti (Emiglia-Romagna), or Franco Corelli (Le Marche)
Tu scendi dalle stelle – Renata Tebaldi, Pavarotti or also from the “I magi randagi” soundtrack/Ennio Morricone
Mille cherubini in coro based on Shubert’s Wiegnelied
Gesu’ Bambino – Pietro Yon (Piemonte) – look for Pavarotti with the Vienna Boys Choir
Astro del Ciel (Silent Night) – Andrea Bocelli (Toscana), he has a pleasant new Christmas album this year - just don’t call him an opera singer, please.
PS – Italians have been in the Christmas music business for hundreds of years. Below is a short list of Baroque and Renaissance compositions:
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (Lazio) – Motet - Hodie Christus natus est and Messa – Hodie Christus natus est
Arcangelo Corelli (Emiglia-Romana) – Concerto grosso in g minor “fatto per la notte di natale” (written for Christmas Eve)
Francesco Manfredini (Toscana) – Concerto in C Op. 3 N. 12 Christmas Concerto
Antonio Vivaldi (Veneto) - Concerto Il riposo, concerto per il Santissimo Natale
Alessandro Scarlatti (Sicilia) – Cantata pastorale per la nascita di Nostro Signore
Alessandro Stradella (Lazio) – Cantata per il Santissimo Natale
Giovanni Francesco Anerio (Umbria) – Nell’apparir del sempiterno sole
December Newsletter
Friday, December 10th, 2010Concierge in Umbria’s December Newsletter is available online.
Firenze e’ come un albero fiorito
Monday, December 6th, 2010 |
| From Italia! |
Maria Gabriella spent some time in Florence this fall and found it a great time to visit – everyone thinks so, just look around. The streets are teeming with Americans, Russians, French and Germans. The weather was spectacular, warm and sunny but not too hot, which makes getting to know Tuscany’s capital very pleasant. But if you’re thinking “basta!”after being jostled one time too many in the narrow streets and walkways, in the Uffizi Galleries or on the Ponte Vecchio, you can find quiet respite in Florence’s gardens.
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| From Italia! |
After having been closed and abandoned for 30 years, the recently opened Bardini Garden is a great place to start. The entrance is on Via dei Bardi 1 Rosso. You can buy different levels of entrance. The 10 euro ticket admits you to the Bardini Gardens and charming Porcelain Museum on the Bardini grounds, as well as the Boboli Gardens. Work is ongoing, but much of the Bardini is accessible, including the baroque section of the gardens with its dramatic stairway and the understated Canale del Drago. The coffee house is a good place to stop for some afternoon refreshment as you take in one of the many spectacular views over the city that the garden affords. As you exit the Bardini Gardens, continue on the path to one of Italy’s most famous gardens, the Boboli. More formal and majestic than the Bardini, the Boboli has so much to offer, you can easily send a couple of hours here. Highlights include the many ancient and modern statues strategically placed among the vegation, the Isolotto, a Baroque garden on water in the middle of a pool, the Forcone Pool, and the Cpyress Avenue. And don’t miss the grottoes, elegant Kaffehouse, and numerous ancient and modern statues, strategically placed among the vegetation by the various owners and artists who have worked in the garden since the early 17th century. You almost forget that you are in an urban center, except for those incredible city views. You’ll end up at the Pitti Palace – oh, and that entrance is covered by your ticket, too. It’s not too early to start planning for next fall!
BTW – the Italian quote in the title, Florence is like a flowering tree, is from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Brian is playing the role of Marco Donati in Theater Dortmund’s current production.
Pumpkin Ravioli with Brown Butter and Sage
Friday, December 3rd, 2010Thanksgiving 2010
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It was shame that had me rolling out dough for pasta while the turkey roasted away in the oven. I was ashamed because during a Skype video call to my parents the night before Thanksgiving, I found myself speaking to my father as he rolled out and cut the tagliatelle for Wednesday night’s pre-holiday dinner. He proudly told me it was the THIRD time he’s made pasta since he celebrated retirement with a visit to Italy that included a cooking class (organized by CIU, of course!). This from a guy whose only prior unsupervised culinary achievement was toast and a fried egg for breakfast every morning. I’ve attended and evaluated many cooking classes, cooked professionally in restaurants, and am a veteran cook of countless dinner parties but was convinced until recently that making and rolling out my own pasta was some sort of voodoo art that only the mothers and grandmothers of Italy are capable of practicing. Not anymore – if he can do it and I can do it, then you can do it too.
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Rolling out the dough on a dry, lightly floured wood surface. I got my tools in Italy but my father recommends Fantes Kitchen Wares Shop in the Italian market in Philadelphia. He used the 23″ wood rolling pin with knob handles, the wooden pastry board 28X22.5, and the wooden collapsible pasta drying rack for his tagliatelle.
Gabriella had roasted a medium sized pumpkin to make her pumpkin pie this year. In the past, she had always carted over a can of pumpkin from the US but with the new baggage weight and piece requirements, every kilogram counts and the cans of pumpkin didn’t make it this year. This yielded an overabundance of pumpkin puree that I spiced with nutmeg for the filling.
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To each dollop of pumpkin I added some fresh goat cheese, brushed egg between the dollop, and then folded the pasta sheet over to make the raviolis.
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I cut them with a round cookie cutter.
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After they came out of the water I tossed them in a pan with brown butter and fresh sage leaves. The wine for this course was an excellent Sauvignon from Vigna Traverso in Friuli.
To put together an itinerary that includes learning how to make pasta like an Italian – contact us: info@ciutravel.com
Ferragamo Museum in Florence
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010In addition to the biggies like the Uffizi and Accademia, Florence is home to so many wonderful small museums and points of interest. Today, I visited the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, the small museum opened by the Ferragamo family in 1995 in the basement of the flagship store on via Tornabuoni, almost at the bank of the Arno. Like many women, I love shoes, but I didn’t have extremely high hopes for this visit. I underestimated the Ferragamo family. The museum is tiny, but it is wonderful. Some biographical information about Salvatore Ferragamo and his rise from humble cobbler to shoemaker to the rich and famous is nicely presented in both Italian and English. Currently, the museum is hosting a Greta Garbo exhibit. Garbo was a loyal customer of Salvatore Ferragamo and the admiration was mutual. Although they only met a few times, she ordered dozens of shoes (one order was for 70 pair – all similar, varying only in color) over her lifetime and firmly resisted Ferragamo’s suggestion early in her career that she wear heels instead of flats. (Garbo was tall and had a long narrow foot – 9AA, and I can say from firsthand knowledge of my own sister’s quest for double and triple A Ferragamo’s that the firm continues to make these hard to come buy sizes and widths. ) There is a small exhibit of shoes made by Salvatore – most of which are so classic and timeless that they could easily be worn today, and there are historic photos of him fitting clients like Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. The Garbo family provided many items from Ms. Garbo’s private wardrobe and there is a nice video compilation of her in screen tests and roles. The Ferragamo Museum is a great short stop in a city of great stops.
