June 2024 news from Elizabeth
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about lists of restaurants. Messages asking me ‘where should I eat in [insert city name]’ pop into my inbox daily. And I’ve always been very happy to reply. For years, I wrote for magazines like Food & Wine and Bon Appetit about where to eat in Florence, Venice, and Rome. Then there was my blog where many of my lists still live on. I also wrote books like Eating Rome and Eating My Way Through Italy. And for years I published my app Eat Italy, which I retired two years ago. These days, both Sophie and I share info daily on places like Instagram, TikTok, and Thatch, and, of course, this newsletter.
But the main thing that ties all of these various lists and posts and opinions together is that they are extremely personal and also extremely narrow. For instance it would be easy to list 20 restaurants in Parma, but all you really just want are the ones that I would actually eat at, right? There is no ‘best’ list because I don’t really believe there is a ‘best of’ kind of list. Our lists are simply what Sophie or I think is good. I truly believe that the most useful types of lists are the ones that reflect one’s very personal viewpoint.
Which leads me to the recent article in the New York Times. While I wrote a few of the entries to places I know and love, and it was a fun project to work on and I really appreciate that they asked me to participate, I had no role in actually choosing the restaurants that were featured. The title of the piece was 25 Essential Pastas to Eat in Italy. And here I just have to wonder what that even means. Essential to who? As it turns out, the list was chosen by a committee of five, and it’s hard to think that a committee can agree on something so personal and objective. But also, what does ‘essential’ imply? That if you come to Italy, you must try these pasta dishes? Is that the kind of food tourism that needs promoting? For instance there is one dish featured in the article that is the most famous pasta dish in Puglia. Yes, you should definitely have it if you are visiting Puglia. But should you make an effort to try it in the restaurant that is suggested in this article, which is in Milan? Even if the chef is Pugliese and the dish is very good, it’s the type of dish that if you are an American visiting Italy (and if you are reading the New York Times, you probably are), you should have in a simple trattoria in the back streets of Lecce, not in a fancy restaurant in Milan. And it should definitely not be the one dish you seek out in Milan when there are so many local dishes to try.
All to say that this is no reflection on the choices of each of the participants in the committee. In fact I know who they are and would really love to hear each of their individual choices (you can find Emiko’s list here). Because they would all be completely different and each really interesting. It’s the process of having a committee do the choosing that I have issues with. At the end of the day, you like what you like. I truly think that the best lists are the ones that are extremely personal and subjective.
This leads me to the following recommendations. I’m definitely reading some of the best travel advice on Substack these days. Here are a few very personal lists of very specific places to get you started. These are the substacks I turn to when I’m planning a trip. Let me know if you have any great resources you’d like to share in the comments below.
WHAT’S NEW
It’s hard to believe we are already winding up our tours for this season. We have one more tour next week in Umbria, and then that’s that until September. Many of you have asked why we don’t do more tours in the summer months. And I realize that many people are restricted by school or work schedules and can only travel in the summer. But from our point of view (eating mostly), it’s just too hot: too hot to lead food-focused tours and too hot to schlep around during the day to many of the small villages and farms we visit. That’s why we plan tours in the off-season, when the weather may be iffy but is certainly cooler. I’ll take drizzle over sizzle any day.
I’m just back from Parma and had a blast with our group. After doing this tour for the last few years, you’d think I would get tired of the same routine. First of all: no. But second of all, our tours are always changing a bit every time we do them. So even if we only tweak one small thing from tour to tour, after a few years, it turns into a completely new tour. Some of these changes I plan, but others are happy surprises. For instance, at a restaurant whose menu I know by heart, they served us Cherry Tortelli. Who knew? The chef usually makes pumpkin stuffed tortelli during pumpkin season and was looking for a spring version. They were brilliant! The pink dough was tinged with beets, but the inside was full of ricotta, Parmigiano, and the spring cherries this region is known for.
Often, the surprises have nothing to do with food. For instance, last year, when Sophie was wandering through the small town of Galatina on her way to introduce our group to the birthplace of the pasticciotto (a kind of pastry), an older man was standing in front of a shop which was usually closed. He beckoned Sophie and the group through the open doorway and it turned out it was his father’s shoe shop that hadn’t been changed one bit since the 1960’s. Including the complete inventory of boxes and boxes of vintage shoes. Everyone started trying on vintage pumps and hearing stories about how this used to be the only shoe shop in the area. Not only can you not make this stuff up, but you also can’t plan for it. It’s just the happy kind of event that you can stumble upon when you leave the bigger touristy destinations for the kind of slow life that still exists in places like this.
We will start up our tours again in the fall and we still have a few spaces left on many of our tours. Sophie will be leading three tours to Puglia in the fall, all of them a bit different:
Salento and Central Puglia | September 15-21, 2024
This week is divided between two of our favorite towns, baroque Lecce and seaside Monopoli. Since it’s September, going for a late afternoon swim in Monopoli is definitely on the agenda.
Puglia & Basilicata | September 30 - October 5
This is our shortest tour, just five nights. Based in Bari, the days are spent exploring the farmland and port towns of central Puglia, as well as a day trip to Matera in Basilicata. And since you are based in Bari, the capital of Puglia, you’ll have a chance to explore this vibrant town during time on your own. Also, since this is our shortest tour, it costs a bit less and allows you to plan some adventures on your own, either before or after.
Puglia & Matera | November 3-9, 2024
We are so excited about this new tour! We’ve taken the best of our Bari tour and added two nights in the cave town of Matera. This allows us not only to explore the northern part of Puglia but also you’ll get the chance to sleep in the famously luxurious cave hotel.
You can find our full schedule here
WHAT I’M READING
Am I the last person in the world to discover The Thursday Murder Club? Very British, very light, and just the thing for summer reading. Evidently, it’s part of a series, so I guess I have my pool reads set.
Cilento is one of those places in Italy that no one really knows about (Sophie is actually working on a new tour there).
I always agree with Rick Steves, but especially in this article where he advises everyone to JUST PACK LIGHT!
Congratulations to my friend Kacie Rose who just published her first book You Deserve Good Gelato yesterday and which is on the NYTimes bestseller list today!
WHAT I’M EATING
This year, we sadly have no cherries at our house in Umbria. I guess it was the weirdly warm March weather followed by a blast of cold in April, but we have not one little fruit. But the fruit gods decided it was the perfect weather for mulberries. Not only are they plentiful, they are HUGE. I’ve been trying to pick as many as possible and freezing them. They will go on top of yogurt, but also in muffins, on Pavlova, in pies and especially on the Ricotta Cake.
I found a new use for my freezer full of Arugula Pesto: this recipe from Dan Pelosi for Chicken Pesto Meatballs.
Remember when I said I couldn’t wait for zucchini season? Like every year, we went from zero to a zillion in about two days. I’ll definitely be making this rustic tart. If you want to be prepared in advance of any zucchini onslaught that may be coming your way, here is my personal zucchini archives.
WHAT I’M DRINKING
If you know me you have probably heard that I am no fan of limoncello. Blame it on a long-ago press trip to the Amalfi coast when I overdid it. Or blame it on bad limoncello (of which there is too much in this world). But recently, I have become a fan of cocktails that have just a little bit of limoncello in them. I am not talking to you about Limoncello Spritz. I am talking about drinks like La Salvia, a cocktail I drank and loved during a trip to Venice last summer. So I decided to actually make limoncello. And once my limoncello is finished infusing, I’ll be ready to make La Salvia (although I might not be willing to wait that long). You can see part one of the limoncello making here, and I’ll share the video I made of La Salvia below, along with the ingredients
La Salvia
(from La Sagra Bar, JW Marriott, Venice)
Fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons apricot jam
1.5 oz Rye
1 oz Limoncello
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
AND FINALLY
May was a pretty busy month, press-wise. The New York Times T Magazine dedicated an issue to Pasta and I helped to write a few of the reviews (as I mentioned in the intro). And it was super fun to chat with my old friend Frank Bruni about the tradition of Sunday Lunch in Italy. A local paper even wrote about the piece in Italian.
I was very happy to be interviewed about where to get the best pizza al taglio in Rome (definitely bookmark this for your next trip).
You can listen to Sophie, and two other women talk about their time working as butchers on this podcast.
Remember the underwear shop I featured on this Instagram post? Sophie went back to interview the owner.
Hope you have a good start to your summer! I’m up in Umbria for the entire month of June and very much looking forward to tending the vegetable garden, taking long walks and taking my first swim of the season.
x, Elizabeth
In Bevagna in the fall we walked by a garage many times hearing bird sounds from within. One time we happened upon the older man with the door open who proudly showed us his uccelli, and the ribbons they had won. A chance encounter, my favorite kind.
We’re new subscribers and found your Cicchetti In Venice & Eat Italy-Venice essential during our recent trip. Three days was not enough to explore more of your recs before we joined a tour heading towards Croatia. We look forward to trying one of your tours.
I’ve tried to scan the history of your posts, looking for suggestions for Christmas in Italy. Most articles I found assume tourism, but from a locals perspective, where are the best places to be? We still have time to plan for this year.