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Italy
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Val di Funes, Italy - by Samantha Degrassi
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“Bacco, tabacco e Venere riducono l'uomo in cenere. (Wine, tobacco and women are a man’s downfall.)”
— Italian Proverb
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“First of all, let’s get one thing straight. Your Italy and our Italia are not the same thing. Italy is a soft drug peddled in predictable packages, such as hills in the sunset, olive groves, lemon trees, white wine, and raven-haired girls. Italia, on the other hand, is a maze. It’s alluring, but complicated. It’s the kind of place that can have you fuming and then purring in the space of a hundred meters, or in the course of ten minutes. Italy is the only workshop in the world that can turn out both Botticellis and Berlusconis.”
― Beppe Severgnini, La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
Bars and Cafes in Italy - the BEVERAGES
The foreign custom of ‘going out for a drink’ isn’t particularly popular in Italy, where most people consume alcohol only with meals. Nevertheless, bars and cafés are plentiful and they're an essential part of daily life.
There’s an ever-increasing range of bars and ‘pubs’ springing up throughout the country; in Rome alone, there are many hundreds. Most bars are similar in appearance – a pristine chrome bar, bright lights and a photograph (or two) of the local football team on the wall – they serve snacks and ice cream as well as drinks all day. When you enter a bar, your first decision is whether to stand or sit; once you’ve chosen, there’s no going back! Table (tavola) or terrace (terrazzo) service is usually 2x as expensive as standing – a tariff list (listino prezzi) must, by law, be posted behind the bar. If you choose to stand, you order from the cashier (cassa), who gives you a receipt (scontrino) that you present to the bartender, although in smaller bars you may be able to order first and pay when you leave. If you decide to sit, you will wait to be served. It isn’t done to order from the cashier and then sit down; if you do, the waiter will have his suspicions about your nationality confirmed instantly!
Hot Drinks
Coffee (caffè) is an institution in Italy and is served in many ways. Among the most common are:
Espresso – a small, very strong black coffee;
Caffè lungo – also small and black, but weaker;
Corretto – black mixed with a liqueur, usually grappa;
Macchiato – black with a spoonful of milk ‘foam’ on top;
Caffè latte – large with lots of milk;
Cappuccino or cappuccio – with cream and chocolate on top, often served lukewarm and drunk only for breakfast or between meals (only foreigners insist on it being served after dinner!).
A Decaffeinato usually consists of a sachet of decaffeinated coffee and a cup of warm milk (decaf isn’t popular in Italy). Some names for coffee vary from region to region, although none have much in common with the pale imitations dished up in many other countries. An espresso costs around €0.80 and a cappuccino around €1.25.
Italians aren’t great tea drinkers and, if you ask for tea, you should be prepared to receive a glass of lukewarm water with a teabag beside it. If you want proper tea, ask for boiling water (molto caldo/bollente) and bring your own teabag! Other hot drinks include chocolate (cioccolata), which is thick enough to eat with a spoon.
Beer & Wine
Beer is popular with Italians, particularly among the younger generation; British and Irish-style pubs have mushroomed in recent years. Italian beers include Moretti, Frost and Peroni, which are served in bottles or on draught (alla spina). Prices average around €1.50 for a small (piccola, 20cl) beer, €2 for a medium (media, 40cl) beer, €2.75 for a large (grande, 66cl) – although prices depend very much on establishment and whether you sit or stand - you may pay up to €5. Beers from a wide range of other countries are also widely available.
Wine (vino) is served by the glass and around €1-€1.50, although you can pay up to €12 for a glass of vintage wine in a wine bar.
Other Drinks
Non-alcoholic drinks include granita, an ideal summer drink made with fresh lemon or other fruit juice and crushed ice. Carbonised drinks are also popular throughout Italy, where bars and cafés are obliged (by law) to provide a free glass of tap water for anyone who wants it, irrespective of whether you buy anything else.
Food
Bars usually serve a wide range of snacks, from sandwiches to basic hot meals. Snack bars (paninoteche) specialise in made-to-order sandwiches with a vast choice of fillings, which are usually displayed behind the counter. The different sandwiches available include:
Tramezzino – thin white sandwich bread cut into triangles;
Panini – crusty, French-style bread stick;
Schiaccitta schiacciata – large, round salted cracker which, when filled, is cut into portions;
Toste toast or tost – a toasted sandwich, which in bars is usually limited to cheese and/or ham.
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Toscana
Source: flickr.com
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Breakfast Rolls in South Tyrol
Source: flic.kr
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Venezia
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Fresh Pasta
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Chianti Grapes
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Serralunga d’Alba and its vineyards in the Province of Cuneo, Piedmont, 60 km southeast of Turin and 45 km northeast of Cuneo. The Langhe is a hilly area to the south and east of the river Tanaro, famous for its wines, cheeses, and truffles - particularly the white truffles of Alba. The countryside as it was in the first half of the 20th Century features prominently in the writings of Beppe Fenoglio and Cesare Pavese, who was born there, in Santo Stefano Belbo.
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Orzo (“barley”), also known as Risoni (“big rice”), is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. It can be served on its own, with soup, as part of a salad or pilaf (cooked in broth), as giouvetsi (baked) or in a casserole. Orzo is similar to κριθαράκι (kritharáki, “little barley”) in Greek cuisine, Arpa şehriye in Turkish cooking, and lisān al-`uṣfūr (“songbird tongue”) in Arabic cooking. It’s often boiled in Italian soups, like minestrone. It’s also boiled and lightly fried to resemble risotto.
Other pasta shapes and dishes here:
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Recipe: Sicilian Salt-Cod and Orange Salad
INSALATA DI BACCALA E ARANCIE
Makes 6-8 first course servings.
2 blood oranges - 1/3 cup pitted, coarsely chopped black olives - 1 small red onion, thinly sliced - 1 small fresh red or green chili pepper, roasted, seeded, thinly sliced - ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil - 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar - 1 cup shredded soaked salt cod - Pinch of oregano - salad greens such as escarole or frisee (optional)
Peel blood oranges and cut away all the pithy membrane that surrounds them. Slice flesh into small chunks - you should have about 1 cup of orange chunks. Combine them in a bowl with olives, onion, chili, oil, vinegar, salt cod, and oregano. Toss to mix well. Set aside, covered, for at least 1 hour to meld flavors. To serve, arrange the greens, if using, on a serving platter and mound salad on top.
„This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism.”
—Thomas Mann
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Almond Panna Cotta with Red Wine-poached Pear Puree
Panna Cotta (“cooked cream”) is a dessert made by simmering together cream, milk, and sugar, mixing it with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. Originally from Piedmont in the North, it is eaten all over Italy, served with berries, caramel, chocolate sauce, or fruit. It’s unknown exactly how or when it first appeared, but theories suggest that cream, for which mountainous Northern Italy is famous, was historically eaten plain or sweetened with fruit or hazelnuts. After years, this treat evolved into what is now: a dessert, flavored with vanilla and topped with fruit or spices, served chilled. Similar desserts can be found in Greece, France, and Finland.
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Toscana. Chianti is a red Italian wine produced in Tuscany. The first definition of a wine-area called Chianti was made in 1716. The earliest documentation of a Chianti wine dates back to the 13th century when viticulture was known to flourish in the Chianti Mountains around Florence.
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Garlic Bread stems from bruschetta, which appeared in Italy around the 15th century, and can be traced back to Ancient Rome.