Italy

It’s been a few days since I got back from Italy, and I’m having a hard time getting back to the grind after all the fun I’ve had. Italy was everything I dreamed of, and more. It was astonishingly beautiful (despite all the grey!) and I went into a tizzy photographing the beautiful windows and doors.

If I had to name two things that blew my mind in Italy they would have to by olive oil and tomatoes. Oh, my goodness. Now, finally, I get the fuss about them. The first time I had the extra virgin olive oil at a restaurant in Verona, my first reaction was ‘Dear God! What I’ve been having back home is nothing short of dog p*ss!’ The fruity, grassy oil had me reach for more helping than I should have. Sopping bread in oil never tasted this good. Monini Granfruttato, please come to India. Until then, I’m going to be very judicious with my bottle of the signature Zefferino Monini non filtrato oil, and each time I douse it over my bread, I’m going to think of my meal in his fairytale home in Spoleto.

And the tomatoes – juicy, tangy and full of flavour, when baked on a focaccia the flavour concentrates and sweetens even more, and with one bite, you get an explosion of tomato juices in your mouth. I’m so glad we skipped the boring hotel breakfast for a kilo of assorted focaccia on our second morning in Spoleto.

As a part of the program we travelled to different parts of Italy – Verona, Cremona, Parma, Spoleto, and finally ended with a day in Rome. Snapshots from the trip:

Of warm welcomes and hearty food

Of inviting stores and tattoria

Of quaint markets and friendly people

Of wineries and wine barons

Of 1000s of bottles of red, red wine

Of rosemary needles tall and slender

Of wrecked yellow scooters on cobbled streets

Of freshly carved meat at la pizzicheria

Of intense dinner discussions, banter, and giggles

Of chalk-board menus and bicycles

Of pastaccheria love and Chiacchiere cookies

Of dining amidst 1000s of cookbooks, vintage and new

Of tiny lanes and opulent  lamp posts

Of heaps and heaps of Parma ham

Of olive fields and olive oil

Of cream filled Spoleto speciality

Of cooking classes and litres of bubbly

Of wheels of cheese and painting them pretty