July 2017 Newsletter from Elizabeth Minchilli
july 2017 newsletter
A few weeks ago there was an article in The Wall Street Journal. The article addressed the very real problem of how Italian cities could or should deal with the huge increase of tourism in recent years which is changing the very fabric of some of the best loved cities in Italy. And it's true. The problem is real. Even though the WSJ article focusses on rare and extreme incidences like tourists jumping into fountains, the daily strain of just more people in the limited spaces of ancient streets of Rome, Venice and Florence is changing the experience of visiting those places not only for the people who live there, but for the tourists as well. While cities discuss solutions like tourist taxes, limits to tour buses and cruise ships, my solution is a bit more radical.
Just don't go there.
Don't worry, I'm not suggesting you stay away from Italy altogether. And actually, I'm not even suggesting you avoid Rome, Florence and Venice. What I do advise, to almost anyone who will listen to me, is that if you are traveling in Italy - and even if you are traveling to one of the more touristy destinations - there are ways to avoid the road too trampled..
Which pretty much sums up the theme of my new book. I want you to come to Italy, but I want you to head away from the usual suspects. And since this is a book by me, the way I suggest you do this deep dive into the cultural unknown is through food. Eating My Way Through Italy: Heading Off the Main Roads to Discover the Hidden Treasures of the Italian Table are the stories of my own travels up and down Italy. I'm almost finished writing it (due date is a short 26 days from now, but who's counting?) As soon as I have a publishing date, you'll be the first to know. Sometime in 2018, I just don't know exactly when yet.
In the meantime I hope you've been enjoying my travels into the unknown by following me on Instagram and Facebook. Rest assured, all the delicious details are coming soon!!
what's new
Continuing on the same theme of getting to the smaller towns and lesser known regions of Italy, I've made some big changes to my app, Eat Italy. Eat Italy is a free app, and up until now, all of the guides located within that app have been available as in-app purchases. That means that to get my list of favorites, you had to pay anywhere from $1.99 to $3.99, depending on the size of the city. I started with Rome, Florence and Venice and those guides are the biggest and the most popular. But to encourage people to head off into places they've never been, I've decided to offer the rest of the cities, towns and regions for free! For now you'll find my picks for Torino, Milan, Umbria and Puglia already up and running. And I'll soon be adding my picks for Naples, Positano, Sicily, Parma and just about every place I've visited in the last year while researching my book. You can download the app here, and then as new guides come out, they will automatically (magically) appear. (I'm hoping to get an Android version up by 2018)
The response to the Week in Rome with Melissa Clark was huge and immediate. Thank you!! The trip took about 5 minutes to completely sell out. I'm very sorry if you were disappointed, but I'm sure we'll be doing another trip in the future (Melissa loves Italy!). And in the meantime? I still have spaces left for our other trips in 2018, to both Rome(November 2018) and Umbria (May and October 2018). Just send me an email if you'd like to receive the details.
And if you don't have time (or the endless appetite) for an entire week, Sophie and I have lots of fun Market Tours in Rome, and Day Tours out of Rome as well as Cooking Classes with our friend Domenico.
travels
I spent almost the entire month of June on the road, working on my books. FYI, since many of your ask, I usually travel with either Domenico or Sophie. So, thank you, but no, at the moment I don't need an assistant. ;)
Sophie and I spent an amazing 3 nights in Positano. We stayed at my favorite hotel, right on the beach. Besides having lunch at every beach restaurant on Fornillo beach, we also managed dinners at Bar Bruno, Da Vincenzo and Next2. The high light, though, was that we finally got to meet Nicki in person! I've been virtual friends with Nicki for a few years now, but this was the first time we managed to meet in real life. Not only did we eat and drink together, she also made this cute video. If you're not already following her on FB and YouTube you should be.
Domenico and I spent 4 perfect nights in Sicily. We based ourselves in Noto, staying at this darling apartment. We spent a day in Modica learning all about chocolate (and eating many many granitas) and another day in Ragusa visiting a new restaurant and watching artisans hand paint horse carts. I also managed a few meals in Noto and loved our meal at Crocefisso. The reason for basing ourselves in Noto, though, was simply to be able to fit in as many breakfasts as possible at Caffe Sicilia.
Even though I've seen pasta being made from Puglia to Venice, I'd never been to Gragnano, which is the birthplace of packaged, dried pasta as we know it today. I righted that wrong with a three day trip to visit two of my favorite producers, Faella and Gentile. Sophie and I stayed in nearly Castellamare, which was thankfully by the sea. Because you've never experienced real humid heat until you've visited a pasta making factory in the middle of summer. Dips in the sea in the shadow of Vesuvius cooled us down nicely. We also made it to nearby Vico to consume a half meter of pizza (it's actually sold by the meter).
Domenico and I drove up and down and all around Sardinia last week. We started in the south, landing in Cagliari, rented a car and traveled from the sand dunes of Piscinas to the old port town of Alghero. In between we visited with honey maker Luigi Manias, stayed on one of the most isolated and blissfully located agrtiurismos ever, and saw pasta being made in Nuoro.
This week: Venice and Torino, and then I'm sitting put in one place for the next two months while I finish both books.
what I'm reading
So many new books by friends to recommend. Rachel Roddy's Two Kitchens is the tale of her life in Italy split between Rome and Sicily. David Lebovitz's L'Appart tells the tale of renovating and moving into his new home in Paris. Rolando Beramendi (yes, the Rolando that is constantly popping up on my blog) has finally written down all his best recipes from years traveling through Italy. And my friend Alice Feiring looks at wine (as always) but this time from the ground up.
Don't you wish someone else would just come over and pack for you when you have to travel? At least this article will give you some good advice to tackle the chore that everyone hates.
Thank god, they've lifted the travel ban. At least the one on pesto.
Is your passport in good shape for getting you where you want to go?
A love letter to the beautifully imperfect city I call home.
Now there is absolutely no reason you can't afford to come to Italy. Norwegian air to the rescue.
Has it really been 20 years?
and finally....
Yet another pasta and zucchini recipe. (you can never have too many)
And yet 2 more zucchini recipes (it's that time of year. sorry. not sorry )
Man does not only live by pizza alone in Naples. There are also snacks.
What are your favorite zucchini recipes? Are you eating it as much as I am?
x,Elizabeth