My partner is obsessed with Italian food. He worked in an Italian
restaurant, and even though there is a tendency to fall out of love with things
you work with all the time, I think this must have just reinforced his passion.
Sometimes I wonder if he is with me because of my Italian grandmothers cooking.
He says its just a perk, but I wonder… He is truly in culinary heaven in Italy.
Our tour of Italian cuisine started in Florence. We had some incredible pasta and pizza, and our hostel had great meals (3 portions of rice and a full small chicken for 7 euro!) on the cheap. The real prize of Florence cuisine for me was the wine. Particularly, Chianti. The first time we had it, it was a warm night on the patio, which I have already stated already makes everything taste better. Although we had a red wine, it was chilled, which made it refreshing after a hot day. Sometimes after you walk 30 kms in a day, you just want something cold to drink, and since I don’t drink beer, wine doesn’t really fit the bill for me either. But this Chianti certainly did. It had a full flavour, but was very light. Definitely have a new favourite wine. I can’t bring the Tuscan hills home with me, but hopefully every time I drink Chianti it will be a nice reminder.
The next stop on our Italian itinerary was in Rome, which was sort of underwhelming in terms of food. More expensive for less quantity. After two subpar dinners around the tourist areas, we decided to follow the locals across the river to Trastavere. Here we found a slight decrease in the expense and a definite increase in the quantity of the food. We found many family owned restaurants right near the river and sat on the patio, because I have to sit on the patio unless its cold or raining. For drinks, we made our way to Campo di Fiori, a short walk from Piazza Navona. In the mornings, Campo di Fiori is a square that is filled with market stalls. In the early afternoons, all the stalls are cleaned up and tucked away, and the square turns into a giant open air pub. On our last night, we went for dinner with our two flat mates from Rome at a favourite place of theirs called Cesars very close to ruins. It was a family owned place, and our flatmates had become regulars throughout their stay in Rome. We had bruschetta, pasta, panna cotta and tiramisu for 12 euro per person! We also indulged in three bottles of wine and stayed at the restaurant until after 1 am… Time flies when youre having fun.
Naples was all about the pizza. The birthplace of pizza is reknowned for doing it right. And did they ever. The prices of everything in Naples were extremely cheap because the city was literally drowning in trash and unbelievable sketchy. I literally mean unbelievably. It is still a shock to me. But more on that in another post at another time. The one positive perk of this was that I had the best pizza of my life for 5 euro. I had a pizza with blue cheese, spinach, and walnuts, and it was incredible. My Italian food loving companion combined his passion for pasta and pizza by selecting a pizza with mozzarella cheese covered with Bolognese sauce and soft ricotta like cheese on top. I’m not going to lie, his was definitely better.
On the last leg of our tour in Italy, we stopped in the small town called Rutigliano (near Bari—close to the heel of the boot) where my grandparents are from. We stayed with family there, and we got to truly experience what a day eating in Italy is like. For breakfast, or la collazione, you generally eat a croissant, or a croissant like pastry filled with chocolate, or cream. This can be accompanied by a collection of cookies and/or cakes, and is certainly accompanied by espresso. Luckily my aunt knows that I am a pansy and made me a cappuccino instead. Breakfast of champions. The main meal of the day is pranzo, around 2 in the afternoon, when everyone leaves work or school for an hour or two. Pranzo consists of a primo piatto (a first plate) of a pasta dish, a second dish of carne (meat or fish) followed by salad, and peppered throughout with lots of bocconcini, a type of mozzarella cheese and focaccia, a thick oily bread covered with tomatoes, or onions and cheese. Dinner or cena is a much later meal in the evening after 8 or 9, and unfortunately I did not get an accurate representation of this because I had another massive feast for my little cousins birthday party. I hear that cena is usually a smaller meal, but we had so much food at the party that it don’t believe it could be smaller than pranzo. On a day trip, we went to some of the surrounding areas, including Monopoli, Arberobello, and Polignano, where we had a granita: a cup with pane (or whipped cream) on the bottom, coffee flavoured ice, and topped off with more pane.
Now its time to walk it all off in Greece…
Our tour of Italian cuisine started in Florence. We had some incredible pasta and pizza, and our hostel had great meals (3 portions of rice and a full small chicken for 7 euro!) on the cheap. The real prize of Florence cuisine for me was the wine. Particularly, Chianti. The first time we had it, it was a warm night on the patio, which I have already stated already makes everything taste better. Although we had a red wine, it was chilled, which made it refreshing after a hot day. Sometimes after you walk 30 kms in a day, you just want something cold to drink, and since I don’t drink beer, wine doesn’t really fit the bill for me either. But this Chianti certainly did. It had a full flavour, but was very light. Definitely have a new favourite wine. I can’t bring the Tuscan hills home with me, but hopefully every time I drink Chianti it will be a nice reminder.
The next stop on our Italian itinerary was in Rome, which was sort of underwhelming in terms of food. More expensive for less quantity. After two subpar dinners around the tourist areas, we decided to follow the locals across the river to Trastavere. Here we found a slight decrease in the expense and a definite increase in the quantity of the food. We found many family owned restaurants right near the river and sat on the patio, because I have to sit on the patio unless its cold or raining. For drinks, we made our way to Campo di Fiori, a short walk from Piazza Navona. In the mornings, Campo di Fiori is a square that is filled with market stalls. In the early afternoons, all the stalls are cleaned up and tucked away, and the square turns into a giant open air pub. On our last night, we went for dinner with our two flat mates from Rome at a favourite place of theirs called Cesars very close to ruins. It was a family owned place, and our flatmates had become regulars throughout their stay in Rome. We had bruschetta, pasta, panna cotta and tiramisu for 12 euro per person! We also indulged in three bottles of wine and stayed at the restaurant until after 1 am… Time flies when youre having fun.
Naples was all about the pizza. The birthplace of pizza is reknowned for doing it right. And did they ever. The prices of everything in Naples were extremely cheap because the city was literally drowning in trash and unbelievable sketchy. I literally mean unbelievably. It is still a shock to me. But more on that in another post at another time. The one positive perk of this was that I had the best pizza of my life for 5 euro. I had a pizza with blue cheese, spinach, and walnuts, and it was incredible. My Italian food loving companion combined his passion for pasta and pizza by selecting a pizza with mozzarella cheese covered with Bolognese sauce and soft ricotta like cheese on top. I’m not going to lie, his was definitely better.
On the last leg of our tour in Italy, we stopped in the small town called Rutigliano (near Bari—close to the heel of the boot) where my grandparents are from. We stayed with family there, and we got to truly experience what a day eating in Italy is like. For breakfast, or la collazione, you generally eat a croissant, or a croissant like pastry filled with chocolate, or cream. This can be accompanied by a collection of cookies and/or cakes, and is certainly accompanied by espresso. Luckily my aunt knows that I am a pansy and made me a cappuccino instead. Breakfast of champions. The main meal of the day is pranzo, around 2 in the afternoon, when everyone leaves work or school for an hour or two. Pranzo consists of a primo piatto (a first plate) of a pasta dish, a second dish of carne (meat or fish) followed by salad, and peppered throughout with lots of bocconcini, a type of mozzarella cheese and focaccia, a thick oily bread covered with tomatoes, or onions and cheese. Dinner or cena is a much later meal in the evening after 8 or 9, and unfortunately I did not get an accurate representation of this because I had another massive feast for my little cousins birthday party. I hear that cena is usually a smaller meal, but we had so much food at the party that it don’t believe it could be smaller than pranzo. On a day trip, we went to some of the surrounding areas, including Monopoli, Arberobello, and Polignano, where we had a granita: a cup with pane (or whipped cream) on the bottom, coffee flavoured ice, and topped off with more pane.
Now its time to walk it all off in Greece…
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