Author: Italian Tours

07 Oct TEN YEARS OF ITALIAN MEMORIES

Posted at 06:20h in Destinations by Italian Tours

This year Luca and I are celebrating ten years of Italian Tours. Like so many people do, we’re asking ourselves where on earth that time has gone.

We ran our very first tour in September 2007. Luca was teaching Italian language at a Sydney college. He always tells his students that the only way to become truly fluent is to spend time in Italy practising the language with the locals. When a group of his students got together and asked him if he could organise a tour to Italy that combined sightseeing with opportunities to practise the language, the idea for Italian Tours was born. A group of eight people joined us for a two-week tour and the rest, as they say, is history.

Over the past ten years we’ve accumulated a host of travellers’ tales, some hilarious, some very special experiences shared with our guests…. and some just crazy!

Lots of our stories revolve around lost property and yes, the occasional lost guest! Fortunately, we are good retrievers. In Puglia recently we were exploring an olive oil estate with some of the oldest trees in Italy when our bus driver realised he’d dropped his keys somewhere on the estate. While our guests were tasting the very special olive oils in the courtyard, they were blithely unaware that Luca was missing in action as he and the bus driver frantically scoured the area for the keys so we could get to our next destination. The olive oil fairy had obviously been at work: they discovered the keys near the base of the oldest tree on the estate, a close to 3,000 year-old tree that continues to produce olive oil to this day.

On another occasion, we were exploring the beautiful hill town of Montepulciano. We dropped our guests at the top of the steep hill so that they could wander down through the enchanting small streets and meet us at the bottom. Imagine our reaction when one of our guests stopped us en route to say that her husband had disappeared. After an anxious search, we discovered our independently-minded guest – he’d joined another group and was happily sitting in a cantina enjoying their wine tasting!

Unsurprisingly many of our fondest memories revolve around food and the generosity of the restaurant owners and staff we’ve met over the years. On one trip we contacted a small restaurant that was normally closed on the day we were passing through. Not only did they readily agree to open up for our group of twelve diners, but they also brought in a local signora who specialised in regional cooking. We were staggered – but delighted – when they presented us with a six-course degustation menu based on the local specialty, the meat and cheese from the Italian water buffalo species: bresaola di bufala, mozzarella di bufala, pappardelle with ragu of bufala, bufala steak and more.

Many of our clients, especially the women but sometimes even the men, have enjoyed some fantastic shopping over the years. As a regular and dedicated Italian shopper, I’ve a number of favourite shops that I loves sharing with our guests: a specialty shoe shop in Milan that makes ballerina flats in every colour under the sun, a scarf stall in the leather market in Florence where the owner not only sells the scarves but teaches new ways to tie them, and a handbag shop in Parma that sells extraordinarily beautiful items. One guest bought six handbags for his daughters, daughters-in-law, secretary and other lucky women friends.

Even we make discoveries while we’re on tour. One day in a little hill town in Tuscany we were exploring a tiny medieval church. The local lady who was the custodian of the church walked us through and then paused in front of a side altar and pulled out a drawer. Resting serenely inside was the remains of a local saint, obviously loved and revered by his flock.

Perhaps our most enduring memory though was an evening we spent in an agriturismo in Arezzo. Our group was having dinner in the agriturismo’s medieval chapel, now used as a dining hall. Inspired by this magical location, one of our guests was moved to recite a lovely piece about St Francis of Assisi, whose basilica we had visited that day. It was a very special moment for us all.

We love the places we find to visit and often return there ourselves, so our friends and family we not surprised that two years later we returned to the same agriturismo for our wedding!

We also love the work we do. We know how fortunate we are to travel to the places we love, to make new friends with our guests, and to be able to share our knowledge and love of Italy with them. We have six more tours running in spring and autumn of 2018 and look forward to sharing them with you.

25 Jul 5 REASONS TO VISIT TURIN

Posted at 09:04h in Destinations, Food and Wine by Italian Tours

Turin was the first capital of a united Italy in the nineteenth century and it has the feel of an important city, regal in its nature and set out to impress. The Roman town was founded in 28BC and although it became an important centre in the empire, it was never as important as Aosta up the road. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Turin was forgotten and existed as a large agricultural borough. It wasn’t until 1563 when Duke Emanuele Filiberto chose it as his capital that it was really put on the map.

Turin doesn’t have the same crowds of tourists as Rome, Florence and Milan, and that’s what makes it a great city to visit if you want to get off the beaten track!

1. The urban architecture
The ruling Savoy family wanted a capital city that was fit for their Duchy and in the 1700s, court architect Filippo Juvarra’s vision was turned into an urban environment to rival the more established European capitals. The Renaissance had already finished, so the period of refurbishment coincided with the Mannerist and Baroque period, which the town made its own — Turin is known as the baroque capital of Northern Italy. Think elegant piazze, splendid palaces and lovely churches.

The historic centre is very pleasant to wander around, well ordered and on a manageable scale. Don’t miss Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Madama on Piazza Castello and make sure you sit for an aperitivo at one of the cafes on the elegant Piazza San Carlo

2. The Mole Antonelliana and the Cinema Museum
The Mole Antonelliana is one of the enduring symbols of Turin, an oddly shaped building that was conceived as a synagogue, taken over by the Savoys as a museum of the Risorgimento and today houses the fascinating museum of cinema.

Most people know that Italians have a history and a fascination with cinema, but not many know that it all started here in Turin. It was here that the country’s first studios were set up and where the first feature length movie was produced in 1914.

If you’re a cinema buff, the museum is a must-see, if you’re not, the building itself is still worth a visit. The roof has the best vantage point of the city and on a clear day the views out towards the Alps are breathtaking.

3. The Lingotto
At the beginning of the 1900s, Fiat, Italy’s largest automotive industry, was growing and it needed a new plant. In 1916, in an area that was still farmland, they opened the Lingotto. It was considered innovative and modern and had the whole world watching. After more than 60 years of operation the plant was closed in the 1980s and the famous architect Renzo Piano was invited to convert the factory into a multipurpose centre. It’s possible to see the famous roof-top test track (as featured in the original 1969 version of The Italian Job) and the Giovanni and Marella Agnelli Art Gallery, which houses the couple’s exquisite private collection, with works by Canaletto, Tiepolo, Canova, Manet, Renoir, Matisse, Picasso and Modigliani.

Finally, the Lingotto is the home to the flagship Eataly store – the chain of upmarket providores that has taken Italy, and the world by storm. Which brings me to reason #4 …

4. The food
Food is especially important in Piedmont and the capital Turin will have foodies at its mercy. The people of Turin love their food and many follow the philosophy of the Slow Food Movement which has its headquarters just outside in the small town of Bra. The number of quality restaurants in the city and the enormous Porta Palazzo food markets are further evidence of the city’s love of food. It’s well worth spending a morning wandering through the markets and marvelling at the fresh produce — piles of aubergines, ripe tomatoes and porcini mushrooms, meat, fish, cheeses, herbs and spices and much more!

Lastly, we need to mention the Torinese obsession with both chocolate and coffee, which they have combined masterfully in the classic local drink Il Bicerin – a delicious, layered concoction of chocolate, coffee and hot milk, not to be shaken – or stirred! Try it at the historical Il Bicerin cafe where it was invented and where they have been making it since 1763.

5. The Egyptian museum
Most people haven’t heard of it, but the Museo Egizio is the second largest collection of Egyptian archaeology, anthropology and artefacts in the world, only surpassed by the museum in Cairo. It was re-opened after an extensive renovation in 2015, and now displays the collection in chronological order, from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century AD. There are numerous highlights in the collection including a spectacular tomb from 3500BC and an extensive Papyrus collection. If you’re an Egyptophile, it’s a must see and even if you’re only mildly interested in Egypt, it’s still a fascinating and well curated collection.

We adore Turin and have included it as our first base in our Tastes Tour of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta. Contact us today!

08 Jul UNDISCOVERED TREASURES OF PUGLIA – MAY 2017

Posted at 07:51h in Destinations by Italian Tours

What a wonderful and still undiscovered area Puglia is, and our May tour this year began in the most beautiful of Pugliese towns, Lecce. We spent our first, perfect day walking with our local guide Simona, a passionate Leccese who has the ability to bring to life the stories and characters of the city she loves so much.

One of the unusual stops we made was at a workshop where they construct and restore carta pesta, the Leccese version of papier-mâché. This construction method has always been used to make religious statues. It’s popular not only because there is no marble in the area but also because they are extremely light and can be carried through the streets for processions or mounted in churches without causing structural damage. Some are up to 400 years old and need constant care and restoration. Others are made new, including smaller models for personal use in people’s homes.

We could really visualise the layers of civilisation in the city when we visited a museum that began as a plumbing exercise. Attempting to fix leaky pipes, the building owners began to dig underground only to discover an archeological treasure trove just centimetres beneath their feet. While the actual artefacts have been surrendered to the authorities who oversee national treasures, the building is open for exploration and we were able to wander though the different layers of Leccese civilisation from the Messapians to the Greeks, Romans and beyond.

Our visit to Otranto, a town south of Lecce, introduced us to a small but famous walled seaport from which crusading knights departed for the Holy Land. We strolled the walls, admiring the blue bay and enjoying weather so clear that we could see as far as Albania on the other side of the Adriatic.

We were also lucky enough to see the Tree of Life, one of the largest early medieval mosaics in Europe that is still in place in the cathedral. It covers the entire floor of the cathedral and depicts the connections of all forms of creation, with creatures as the base and God at the apex and the immaculate state of humanity free from corruption and sin. Figures to the side illustrate ways of behaviour that will help a good person avoid falling into this sinful state, a lesson for us all!

We also stopped into Galatina, a small farming town to see an exquisite complete Renaissance fresco cycle depicting the life of St Catherine of Alexandria, not only beautiful but also unusual in that Renaissance art is rarely seen in this part of Italy. From the religious to the culinary, we called in to a pasticceria to sample pasticciotto, a uniquely local concoction of short pastry filled with custard that in Galatina is still produced by the seventh generation of the pastry cooks who invented it.

Finally we moved on to Gallipoli on the other side of the peninsula overlooking the Ionian Sea. This fishing port is a popular holiday destination for Italians seeking its lovely sandy beaches; two of our intrepid travellers took to the water for a quick dip. Seated along the sea wall, we dined on fresh local seafood before our return to Lecce.

After inspecting the olive trees and presses we had to taste the oil!

Leaving Lecce on our way into the Valle d’Itria we stopped at a masseria, one of the traditional fortified farmhouses that have now been restored and are used for wine production. Our charming hostess Alessia took us on a tour to learn about Puglian wines. We wandered through the vineyards, where a crew of local women from the village were pruning the vines, and learned about the masseria’s vine growing technique. The alberello technique dates back to Roman times and allows the vines to grow as small trees rather than on a trellis.

Alessia organised one of the local village ladies to come in to cook us a typical meal, simple but absolutely wonderful: we feasted on fresh fennel, homemade local ricotta, orecchiette with a light vegetable sauce and a delicious tart, all washed down with lashings of the masseria’s wine.

For the next four nights we stayed in a country retreat near Martina Franca, a beautifully restored farmhouse. The breakfast room is built within three trulli, the typical round white buildings with their conical slate roofs for which this area is famous. Alberobello is the centre of the trulli region and our visit there provided guests with some great photo opportunities. We were also fascinated to explore an abandoned trullo that our driver knew of and see how these now mostly restored buildings would have functioned in their original state.

We also visited an ancient olive grove, with one of the most ancient olive trees in Puglia that is believed to be somewhere between 2500 and 3000 years old and still bearing fruit. The owners took us through their underground olive presses where we could see a pre-Roman, a Roman and a medieval olive press that are still intact. We did of course try the oil from the ancient trees which was very good.

On one of our days here we drove down towards Taranto to visit the MARTA, an exceptional archeological museum housing an enormous collection of artefacts from the area. The collection goes as far back as the Bronze Age, and includes items from the area when it was occupied as a Spartan colony and later roman artefacts. There are fabulous grave goods including intricate gold jewellery of inestimable value, decorated Greek pottery, fine Roman glassware and an actual tomb of one of the athletes from the Olympic Games and his winnings: four huge urns of olive oil!

Looking down on the ravines in Matera

We headed towards our next base at Trani via Bari, where we stopped to explore the rabbit warren of the medieval centre with our local guide and to visit the Basilica of St Nicholas, where we mingled with the pilgrims who come from all over the world to visit his tomb. Although this is a Catholic Church, St Nicholas is revered by Greek, Russian and Romanian Orthodox Christians, who are encouraged to pray over his relics at least once during their lifetimes. Interestingly, to facilitate this the Catholic Pope had just sponsored the loan of one of his bones to the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.

Back on the coast in Trani and we stayed in a lovely hotel overlooking the fishing port; from the terrace we sipped aperitivi and watched the sun go down. What bliss!

The unquestionable highlight of this part of the trip was our visit to Matera, where for centuries people built their dwellings into the rock faces of the ravines. In fact, this city is the third oldest continually occupied urban space in the world. It was originally settled by pre-historic local tribes and remained inhabited until the 1950s, when a slum clearance program removed the inhabitants. Our guide Antonio grew up with grandparents who lived in one of these fascinating dwellings and shared his memories of life during that time. Today the Matera is undergoing a resurgence and the dwellings are now filled with boutique hotels, bars and shops, as well as some local residents who are returning to live there.

Our final base was on the Gargano peninsula in gorgeous accommodation overlooking the Bay of Mattinata, so called because it is bathed in morning sunlight. This is area of spectacular natural beauty, with limestone cliffs rising up from water so clear that you can see right to the bottom.

The land rises steeply from the coast to a cooler, greener agricultural landscape, with beautiful forests and cream Podolica cattle, wearing collars and bells around their necks. The pilgrim site of St Michael is located here in an underground cave that is entered through a church above. We descended the steep steps to the grotto beneath, sharing the moment with dozens of visiting pilgrims. Driving back down to the coast again, we finished the day at an old fishing outpost called a trabucco where we had dinner by the waterside as the sun set.

On the last day of the tour, we took a private boat trip along the coast looking at the limestone cliffs, chatting with local fishermen, exploring caves, and arriving finally at a pebbly beach where we had a private picnic lunch overlooking the symbols of Puglia, white limestone outcrops that form islands in the blue bay, the ‘faraglioni.’ We could not have asked for a more perfect way to end our tour.

Our September 2017 trip to Puglia is booked out, but we will be running the tour again in May 2018, so start planning your next holiday in Italy now!

14 – 28 May 2018 – click here for the full itinerary!

10 Jun GORGEOUS GARDENS … AND MUCH, MUCH MORE

Posted at 13:04h in Destinations, Gardens by Italian Tours

Spring in Rome is just about perfect weather for exploring gardens, and this year our group of nine travellers saw Rome at its best.

We spent our time in Rome with our fantastic local guide Sara, an art historian who took us to the little town of Tivoli to explore its two landmark attractions: Villa d’Este and Villa Adriana. These are serious historical sites. Villa d’Este and its completely over the top gardens with their famous fountains, were the creation of a troublesome cardinal who was relegated to this Roman outpost to keep him from interfering in the politics of the Vatican at the time. It’s a real statement of his wealth and power. Villa Adriana was the summer palace of the well-travelled emperor Hadrian, an accomplished architect and art lover. Sara brought the whole landscape to life with her stories of these ancient sites.

May 1 is a national holiday in Italy and the streets of Rome were thronged with people and parades. Sara joined us again to explore some of the major sites of the Eternal City, including a brief but miraculous interlude when we were almost the only people in the normally overcrowded Pantheon. It was a special day mingling with the locals on Piazza Navona and exploring the back streets of Rome with a Roman insider.

A third great highlight was our visit to the Vatican Gardens, only accessible by tour and a welcome escape from the crowds of people queuing outside the Vatican Museums. We found ourselves wandering through peaceful gardens, so quiet that we could hear birdsong, and enjoying the rose gardens that contain flowers of particular significance to the Catholic faith, including one variety chosen by Pope Francis himself.

That afternoon we travelled to Giardino di Ninfa, south of Rome, an abandoned medieval village that is tucked underneath a mountain range and has developed its own microclimate.

On our way to Florence we stopped in at a castle in a medieval town called Vignanello, known for its historic box hedge garden. We visited the castle and rubbed shoulders with Italian aristocracy: the utterly charming princess who owns the castle showed us around!

We had a lovely lunch at a little restaurant that’s been in business since the 1500s, and were introduced to cucina povera, the traditional food of the common people. The verdict? The common people ate well: we had an outstanding meal including a delicious bean stew that formed the staple diet of the local people.

We always love going to Florence because it gives us a chance to spend time with an old friend, Lior, who is one of the city’s best guides. Lior is always keen to tailor our walking tour to the interests of the group, and this group was interested in the history of Italian art. Lior was delighted: his special interest is in Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque art. He explained the differences between these fascinating art periods and took us to Santa Trinita in the centre of Florence where we learned to look at paintings by artists such as Monaco and Ghirlandaio in a completely new light.

Despite the influx of tourists, Florence retains plenty of unique gems, such as the pietre dure workshops that Lior took us to visit and, some of the group would say, the absolutely world class shopping that many of us indulged in during the free hours we had!

There are several wonderful villas and their associated gardens in and around Florence, and during our time there we visited several of them: the Torrigiani, the largest private garden within a European city, where the marquis himself took us on tour and regaled us with family stories; the Bardini garden high above the city where you feel as if you can reach out and touch the rooftops; Castello, where Cosimo de Medici grew up and where our group was charmed by the high school students who were practising their English by guiding visitors around the gardens; and Villa Gamberaia, beautiful even in the rain!

On the way to Verona we stopped in at a traditional acetaia outside of Modena, where we learned how Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is made, sampled some of the goods and contributed to Italy’s gross domestic product with our purchases.

We arrived in Verona to rain and more rain but this did nothing to dampen the group’s spirits. Brandishing umbrellas, our intrepid travellers set off to explore the cityscape with its fabulous urban architecture, glorious red marble pavements peppered with fossils, its central Roman arena and its piazze buzzing with street life.

Of all the cities we visited this had to be the group’s big favourite. And the city rewarded us: on our second day the sun came out. What better way to see Giardino Giusti, a little marvel hidden away in the centre of Verona, with is maze, low box hedges, lines of cypresses that were planted by the original owner to remind him of his Tuscan origins. We climbed the hill for the gorgeous view back to the city. From Verona we took a day trip to Villa Pisani, the fabulous Palladian inspired Veneto villa, which truly took our collective breath away. Our keen gardeners found unusual specimens in the gardens, including an English wood complete with wild flowers; we were also fascinated to learn about the lifestyle of the Venetians during the period in which these villas were built and how the architecture functioned.

The final stage of our tour took us north to the lakes, to Bellagio on Lake Como, where we enjoyed its spectacular scenery, visited the gardens at Villa Carlotta and took a day trip to Lake Maggiore to visit what might have been the favourite garden of the trip, Isola Bella. This fantastic and arguably over the top Baroque garden, complete with white peacocks strutting the paths, was built by the Borromean family on an island in the middle of the lake.

Lake Como turned on the most beautiful weather for the last day of our tour, and we departed Bellagio and Lake Como on a glorious sunny day. The group had discovered not only the beauty of Italian gardens, but the joys of Italian wine and food as well – as one member of the group said in parting, ‘It was much, much more than the gardens!’

We’re running our Great Gardens of Italy tour again in the Italian Spring of 2018 when we’ll be including Castel Gandolfo, the location of the Pope’s summer palace, for the first time.

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01 May AND WHAT DO TRULLI HAVE TO DO WITH TAXES?

Posted at 02:03h in Architecture, Destinations by Italian Tours

When people think of Puglia, one of the first images that springs to mind is a vision of quaint whitewashed, dome-roofed, round houses called trulli.

While the trulli architectural style dates back to pre-history, many believe that the passion for more modern trulli construction developed as an early and sophisticated means of tax avoidance. During the middle ages, landlords instructed the farmers to build the dry stones roofs of the trulli with a removable keystone in the middle and the walls without mortar. When the tax inspectors appeared the farmers would pull the keystone out, collapsing the building – thus allowing the landowners to avoid paying any taxes in what some would describe as an enduring Italian tradition!

The largest concentration of these pretty buildings is in Alberobello, but they are also common across the whole of the Valle d’Itria area, a region of farming and agriculture. In their simplest form they are used as farming sheds and are dotted amongst the fields.

The town of Alberobello is undeniably a tourist magnet but with good reason and well worth a visit. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has hundreds of trulli, many of which are original.

Today the charming rounded shapes and conical stone roofs of the Pugliese trulli are so appealing that many of them are used as restaurants and visitor accommodation.

On our The Road Less Travelled tour of Puglia we not only visit Alberobello, but stay in a beautiful hotel in the Valle d’Itria, Masseria Fumarola, where some of our lucky guests get to sleep under these typical conical roofs!

We’re running our Puglia tour later this year in September and again in 2018:

14 – 28 September 2017
14 – 28 May 2018

12 Apr 5 REASONS TO VISIT THE VALLE D’AOSTA

Posted at 06:19h in Destinations, Food and Wine by Italian Tours

Valle d’Aosta is the most mountainous region in Italy and is tucked away in the northwest corner of the country. Its capital is Aosta, known as the Rome of the Alps because of its archaeological heritage, and it lies midway between the Italian city of Turin and the Swiss city of Lausanne on Lake Leman. The area has become a glamorous ski resort in winter and an unparalleled walking destination in summer.

This beautiful area is off the beaten track for most tourists, however, we feel it’s certainly a region that bears some serious investigation for a number of reasons:

1. Roman ruins
Aosta was once a principal town on the main Roman trade route between the Italian peninsula and northern Europe. Wagons bearing cereals, wine and olive oil moved northwards while precious metals, marble and other building materials travelled south. The roads and bridges that the Romans constructed are still visible today.

Aosta itself was founded in the 1st century BC and retains an archaeological treasure trove from that time including its Roman theatre, the Arch of Augustus and a recently excavated cryptoportico (a covered portico or passageway). The bridge at Pont-Saint-Martin in the valley below was built in the same period and used for traffic right up until the 19th century. Visitors can still walk across this beautiful structure.

2. The Gran Paradiso National Park.
This was Italy’s first national park, established in 1922 on land donated by King Victor Emmanuel III that was originally part of his hunting preserve. The park measures 703 square kilometers and provides a protected area for the alpine ibex, which can sometimes be seen grazing on the lower reaches of the mountains, big-horned sheep, marmot, chamois, and the occasional rare bird such as the golden eagle.

With fifty-seven glaciers, dense forests and lovely alpine meadows, the park also offers visitors beautiful alpine scenery and excellent remote, high altitude walking with the opportunity to witness an abundance of wildlife. A small section is still used for agriculture and pasture and can also be extremely picturesque.

Combined with the neighbouring French Vanoise National Park, it represents the largest protected area in Western Europe.

3. Castles, castles, castles!
A stupendous eighty-two fortresses line the main road from the entrance of the valley at Port-Saint-Martin to Courmayeur in the far northwest at the foot of Monte Bianco – or Mont Blanc depending on where you are looking from! Many of these fortresses and castles are open to visitors and provide an insight into the lives of the aristocratic families who once controlled the territory.

Two particularly interesting sites are Fénis Castle, a mediaeval building dating back to 1242 and built by the Viscounts of Aosta, and Issogne Castle, a Renaissance castle built by different generations of the same family. Visitors can hire a car and a tour guide to visit these sites.

4. Monte Bianco/Mont Blanc
This is the highest peak in Europe and not to be missed, especially on a clear day when the views are utterly spectacular into France, Switzerland and Italy. From Courmayeur it’s possible to take a brand new cable car up through various stages to close to the summit. Adventurers can even alight and walk down onto the glacier.

5. The wines of Valle d’Aosta
There are more than twenty varieties of grapes native to the Valle d’Aosta and the real challenge is to find and sample the wine from them all! Travellers can visit dozens of small family run vineyards to sample their products and of course enjoy the unique taste of Valle d’Aosta wines at lunch and dinner. Our favourites are the Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle and the Valle d’Aosta Petite Arvine.

We spend 3 wonderful days exploring all the highlights of the Valle d’Aosta in our Tastes Tour which runs from the 1st to the 15th October 2017. The tour also takes in Turin, the Langhe wine region and beautiful Lake Maggiore. We still have a couple of places available for 2017 – enquire now!

07 Feb TIME, TRADITION & PASSION – WHAT’S IN YOUR BOTTLE OF BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Posted at 03:41h in Food and Wine by Italian Tours

A passion for balsamic vinegar is nothing new – in 1046 the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III was presented with a silver bottle of this precious nectar on the way to his coronation!

While these days balsamic is a lot more accessible, it continues to be a rare and wonderful condiment. Proper balsamic can only be made in the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and its production is the result of techniques passed down through generations of balsamic-making families. Every lot must be submitted to a Consortium for tasting and approval before it can be sold and it must then be bottled in the approved 100ml uniquely shaped bottles, labeled Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena DOP.

So how is this very special liquid made? Well, you won’t find a factory churning out litres of traditional balsamic vinegar.

The process begins with the juice of the white Trebbiano grapes or the red Lambrusco grapes. The producer boils the juice of these grapes in large vats over an open fire for 24 hours before starting the process of natural fermentation and maturation that lasts a minimum of 12 years!

While this sounds straightforward, the process is actually much more complicated, time consuming and highly regulated. The fermentation takes place in a battery (or series) of five to eight barrels of diminishing sizes, the smallest usually being about 15 litres. These barrels can only be made of one of six types of wood: oak, chestnut, mulberry, cherry, juniper or ash. The barrels have a small opening on the top, allowing some evaporation and are kept in the loft where they are subject to the highs and lows of temperature that are essential for a good final product.

Davide explaining the production process at Villa San Donino

Davide Lonardi explaining the production process at Villa San Donnino

Once a year, usually in winter, the producer completes the complicated process of topping up and transferring liquid between the barrels. Starting with the smallest barrel in the battery, the producer tops up the liquid that has evaporated throughout the year with liquid taken from the second smallest barrel. Then in turn, the liquid that has been lost from that barrel (via evaporation and transfer to the first barrel) is replaced with liquid from the third barrel and so on. Finally, the largest barrel in the battery is topped up with the boiled grape juice of that year’s harvest.

Only after the battery has been in operation for a minimum of twelve years is the producer allowed to take just one tenth of the very smallest barrel in each battery to the Consortium for tasting and approval. A medium producer might expect to produce about 350 litres of balsamic a year.

There are two grades of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena: tradizionale that is aged for a minimum of twelve years and extra vecchio that is aged for a minimum of twenty five years.

You won’t find Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena at your local supermarket nor is it normally used as a salad dressing; to appreciate the taste of this very special condiment try it drizzled over meat, Parmesan cheese, fruit or – Philippa’s favourite – vanilla gelato!

We visit third generation balsamic vinegar producer Davide Lonardi at Villa San Donnino just outside Modena as part of our Milan and the Italian Lakes tour. In 2017 the Milan and the Italian Lakes tour runs from 2-16 June and we still have a couple of places available!

20 Jan RECIPE – ORECCHIETTE E PISELLI

Posted at 03:41h in Cooking by Italian Tours

One of the advantages of having our office at home is that Luca sometimes whips up a delicious lunch using what we have in the cupboard or fridge.
Today it was frozen peas and some lovely orecchiette!

1 x onion – finely chopped
1 x clove of garlic – halved
250g frozen peas
200ml vegetable stock
180g orecchiette

Fry the onion and garlic very slowly in some olive oil for 5-10minutes
Add the frozen peas and vegetable stock and cook, covered over a very low heat
Cook the orecchiette in a large saucepan of salted water
As required add a little water from the pasta pot to the peas if they are drying out
Remove the garlic pieces (if you can find them!) and roughly mash some of the pea mixture with a potato masher or the back of wooden spoon
Cook the orecchiette for 5 minutes less than the recommended cooking time on the packet, remove it from the salted water with a slotted spoon and add to the pea mixture
Continue cooking the orecchiette in the pea mixture (adding some pasta cooking water as required, similar to how you would cook a risotto) until it is cooked to your liking – al dente I hope!
Remove from the heat, stir through some grated grana padano or parmigiano reggiano and serve

Buon appetito!

Visit bari in Puglia with this food tour

Orecchiette is a typical pasta from the Puglia region in southern Italy and still today, particularly in Bari, you can see groups of women sitting out on the narrow medieval streets hand-making the local specialty. The pasta dough is rolled out into a long snake, cut and flattened in one seamless movement whilst the women chat with each other and passers-by!

The name orecchiette basically means “little ears” and the pasta takes its name from its distinctive shape. Orecchiette, like much of the pasta from southern Italy, is made without eggs, using just flour and water.

Visit Puglia with Italian Tours in May 2017 or September 2017

07 Jan SPRING IS THE TIME TO VISIT ITALY

Posted at 04:23h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

Springtime is a great time to visit la bella Italia – and here are five good reasons why.

Fewer tourists and temperate weather
With around 46 million people visiting Italy each year (it’s the fifth most visited country in the world), the timing of your visit can be vitally important. The vast majority of visitors to Italy come from other European countries and the peak season for their travel is July and August. You’ll find an April/May/June visit quieter, with smaller crowds and shorter queues. And the weather is warmer but without those searing summer extremes.

Good deals on airfares
Take advantage of the great value airfares that major airlines are releasing right now. For instance, Emirates is offering a spring sale this week that finishes 23 January, and other airlines including Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Qatar all have great offers for European fares.

La bella vita!
After the short days and cold weather of winter, Italians respond to the arrival of spring with what can only be described as euphoria! Almost overnight the piazze come alive as Italians emerge from their winter hibernation. It’s time for the passegiata in gorgeous new clothes, for aperitivi, for gelato and for mingling and laughter and gossip on the streets.

Fabulous festivals
All over Italy, spring is the time for a range of fascinating festivals and celebrations. If you’re joining our Milan and the Lakes tour this year for instance, why not add in some time in Milan to experience the Sagra di San Cristofero, the feast of the patron saint of travelers, that take place on the third Sunday in June? Or bookend your tour with a performance of Don Giovanni or La Boheme at La Scala?

Gorgeous spring gardens
Italy comes alive in a blaze of spring flowers – gorgeous clematis, stunning irises, luscious peony roses and vibrant azaleas, just to name a few. And you’ll see them not only in the gardens but also in planters lining the streets, tumbling out of window boxes and cascading out of the flower stalls and markets as you wander through the city streets. Just breathe in that perfume!

We have three fantastic tours that take advantage of the joys of an Italian spring, so why don’t you think about booking with us now?

The Great Gardens of Italy – 29 April – 13 May 2017
The Road Less Travelled – Puglia – 16 – 30 May 2017
Milan and the Italian Lakes – 2-16 June 2017

20 Nov CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT DA VINCI’S LAST SUPPER

Posted at 04:37h in Art by Italian Tours

Most visitors to Milan will make the pilgrimage to see Leonard da Vinci’s Last Supper in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This massive painting covered the back wall of the dining hall, inspiring silent reflection among the inhabitants. Most people are also familiar with the subject: the moment at the Last Supper when Jesus announces that one of those present will betray him.

However, there are other aspects to this painting that may well surprise you.

1. The Last Supper is not a fresco: it’s a mural using a technique known as fresco secco. Unlike normal fresco, where painters work on wet plaster so that the pigments become part of the wall, fresco secco mixes pigments with a binding agent, which is applied to a dry wall. The colours are bolder and brighter but, unfortunately, less durable. Within twenty years of its completion the Last Supper began to flake and had almost entirely disappeared a hundred years later.

2. The painting has survived many different violations. In 1625 the monks, believing the painting to be of no further value, cut a doorway through the painting, destroying Jesus feet and part of the table.
– In 1796, Napoleon’s troops used the space as a stable and amused themselves by throwing clay at the Apostles’ faces.
– In 1800 the building was flooded and the painting covered with green mould.
– Many of the seven documented attempts to restore the painting did more harm than good. In the 19^th century restorers, using alcohol and cotton swabs, removed an entire layer of paint.
– In 1943 Allied bombers destroyed the entire monastery. Despite sandbagging, the painting still suffered damage.

3. The most recent restoration was completed in 1999, a 22 year, 50,000 hour project. The project was controversial, with criticism of the type water colour paint and the intensity of colour used. It is estimated that some seventeen per cent of the surface has been completely lost and that less than half of the surface currently visible was actually painted by Da Vinci.

4. This painting continues to excite the imagination with speculation about the recurrence of the number three; the meaning of the spilled salt in front of Judas and the leavened bread; the theory that Da Vinci himself is represented in the figure of St James the Lesser (second Apostle from the left).[/vc_column_text]

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And if you’re interested in more, thriller writer Dan Browne has gone to town with all kinds of mysterious and mystical references in his book The Da Vinci Code.

To visit The Last Supper, you’ll need to book online some months in advance. The convent admits only small groups of about twenty people, for about twenty minutes at a time. Book at the official website to avoid the many scalpers and resellers and their ridiculous fees.

We always visit the Last Supper as part of our Milan and the Italian Lakes tour, next scheduled for June 2017.