Benvenuti alla Sala Italiana - Welcome to the Italian Room
Apr 3, 2018, 11:01 am
#136
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Venice's-Veporetti to go green
From April-October, purified cooking oil will be used as fuel in the vaporett
Venice's vaporetti to run on purified cooking oil as part of 7-month experiment - ABC News
Venice's vaporetti to run on purified cooking oil as part of 7-month experiment - ABC News
Oct 15, 2018, 1:08 am
#137
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There was an interesting article in an Italian gourmet magazine ranking nine cities for food in Italy. It's a long article written in very sophisticated Italian, with a lot of regional and local words, but cutting and pasting into Google Translate (which has a difficult job translating this article) will reveal most of it, and in every city there are some restaurant recommendations..
https://www.dissapore.com/mangiare-f...-e-chi-scende/
Some translated excerpts.
1. Rome. I'm serious about enthusiasm for dining, but I don't mind writing things that get me scathed on blogs, but Rome has the full mythology of modern restaurants. It has a large anthology of Roman dishes such as cacio e pepe, wine bars, pizzerias. Rome is gastronomically mature like few other cities in the world. (As an aside, Rome also has some of the worst Italian food in the world, because they cater to tourists. This magazine is for foodies who can generally figure out how to avoid tourist traps.).
2. Torino. Sweet breakfasts, great coffee, great gelato. Some newer fancy restaurants are struggling, and we will have to see if Eataly will be enough to reawaken things. (The food in Torino when I lived there was great because there are hardly any tourists).
3. Naples. This is because of the virtuosity of the average Napolitano. Food conditions are non-negotiable to a Napolitano eater. Then there is the pizza, and great street food. Food that people in other Italian cities think is really good will just be passable to a Napolitano. And the the main driver of the dining scene here is all of the young chefs who have opened restaurant in dirty suburbs on the outskirts of the city.
4. Venice. Venice's reputation for disgusting food passed off to enormous crowds of tourists, restaurants closing at nine because all of the day trippers on cruise ships who pay no attention to what they eat, are back on the ship, is now debunked. Resist the scammer restaurants designed for tourists that will sell anything up to giving you food poisoning. There are great bars and restaurants with top food at great prices. (Like Rome, Venice is overrun by tourists, so you find some of the worst Italian food in the world here too. But if you know how to avoid them, the food is sublime.).
5. Florence. Until a few years ago, talking about how stale and ordinary Florentine restaurants are wasn't hyperbole. The food was so outdated it was like traveling back in time when eating in Florence. The only thing that experts could recommend eating in Florence was a lampredotto sandwich at the San Lorenzo Market. Cannelini beans, black cabbage, steak, ribollito, and potatoes with tomato sauce were about the only things you could eat. Was there anything else? Now, things are slowly changing about how typical restaurants in Tuscany just steamroll the food. There are actually now a few small places where you can even find good food near the Uffizi, and there are a few places now where you can actually find decent gelato.
6. Senigallia. Naive people wonder how a trivial town on the Adriatic Coast can have some of the best food in Italy. It happened because two super chefs arrived, and forced everyone to up their game. Now it's a town with outstanding restaurants, wine bars, taverns, even pizzerie.
7. Milan. It is said that if you think the food is good, you must have frozen taste buds. Many think so. Its poor food reputation is because it did not take the path of Rome, with international influences, experimentation, so after your 10th risotto, ossobucco, or ribs, you finally have to just go to a very fancy, expensive Michelin star place to get a decent meal.
8. Palermo. Known as street-food-opoli, you don't need 6,000 degrees of food sophistication to find good food. Cooks who have relaxed relationships with ingredients can make the most appealing food. Palermo's food has benefited from the gods, with its overwhelming share of great deserts.
9. Bologna. The prestigious Bolognese newspaper evaluated Tamburini's (famous restaurant/deli) tortellini, and concluded that even the most famous restaurants in Bologna are beyond salvation. Alternatives can be found if you hunt for them, but good food has been missing for years, if not decades. That Bologna opened a reduced version of Eataly is not enough to revive the culinary fate of the city, which was once delightful.
https://www.dissapore.com/mangiare-f...-e-chi-scende/
Some translated excerpts.
1. Rome. I'm serious about enthusiasm for dining, but I don't mind writing things that get me scathed on blogs, but Rome has the full mythology of modern restaurants. It has a large anthology of Roman dishes such as cacio e pepe, wine bars, pizzerias. Rome is gastronomically mature like few other cities in the world. (As an aside, Rome also has some of the worst Italian food in the world, because they cater to tourists. This magazine is for foodies who can generally figure out how to avoid tourist traps.).
2. Torino. Sweet breakfasts, great coffee, great gelato. Some newer fancy restaurants are struggling, and we will have to see if Eataly will be enough to reawaken things. (The food in Torino when I lived there was great because there are hardly any tourists).
3. Naples. This is because of the virtuosity of the average Napolitano. Food conditions are non-negotiable to a Napolitano eater. Then there is the pizza, and great street food. Food that people in other Italian cities think is really good will just be passable to a Napolitano. And the the main driver of the dining scene here is all of the young chefs who have opened restaurant in dirty suburbs on the outskirts of the city.
4. Venice. Venice's reputation for disgusting food passed off to enormous crowds of tourists, restaurants closing at nine because all of the day trippers on cruise ships who pay no attention to what they eat, are back on the ship, is now debunked. Resist the scammer restaurants designed for tourists that will sell anything up to giving you food poisoning. There are great bars and restaurants with top food at great prices. (Like Rome, Venice is overrun by tourists, so you find some of the worst Italian food in the world here too. But if you know how to avoid them, the food is sublime.).
5. Florence. Until a few years ago, talking about how stale and ordinary Florentine restaurants are wasn't hyperbole. The food was so outdated it was like traveling back in time when eating in Florence. The only thing that experts could recommend eating in Florence was a lampredotto sandwich at the San Lorenzo Market. Cannelini beans, black cabbage, steak, ribollito, and potatoes with tomato sauce were about the only things you could eat. Was there anything else? Now, things are slowly changing about how typical restaurants in Tuscany just steamroll the food. There are actually now a few small places where you can even find good food near the Uffizi, and there are a few places now where you can actually find decent gelato.
6. Senigallia. Naive people wonder how a trivial town on the Adriatic Coast can have some of the best food in Italy. It happened because two super chefs arrived, and forced everyone to up their game. Now it's a town with outstanding restaurants, wine bars, taverns, even pizzerie.
7. Milan. It is said that if you think the food is good, you must have frozen taste buds. Many think so. Its poor food reputation is because it did not take the path of Rome, with international influences, experimentation, so after your 10th risotto, ossobucco, or ribs, you finally have to just go to a very fancy, expensive Michelin star place to get a decent meal.
8. Palermo. Known as street-food-opoli, you don't need 6,000 degrees of food sophistication to find good food. Cooks who have relaxed relationships with ingredients can make the most appealing food. Palermo's food has benefited from the gods, with its overwhelming share of great deserts.
9. Bologna. The prestigious Bolognese newspaper evaluated Tamburini's (famous restaurant/deli) tortellini, and concluded that even the most famous restaurants in Bologna are beyond salvation. Alternatives can be found if you hunt for them, but good food has been missing for years, if not decades. That Bologna opened a reduced version of Eataly is not enough to revive the culinary fate of the city, which was once delightful.
Oct 15, 2018, 10:20 am
#140
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One can never know, but the arrows pointing up or down indicate whether or not the trend is getting better or worse for that city. Some of the specific restaurant names my not be accurate any more because property can change hands over 7 years, but I think the article represents the general historical hierarchy of a city. It's hard to believe the long history of bad food in Tuscany has been corrected in 7 years, but the article indicates the trend is up. Since downtown Florence is inundated with shish kabob and fast food restaurants, so many that thy had to ban any new ones from opening up recently, it's hard to believe it's now a place for great food, although of course, there will be some restaurants that are good. They had to pass a law recently that 70% of the food served in Tuscan restaurants now had to be from Tuscany, because no one could tell where it was coming from. So while the trend is up, Tuscany has never been known for great food. The others seem to make sense too, but one could always quibble about specific rankings, if someplace should be a position or two higher or lower, but it does have some useful information about the history of the food in those cities.
Dec 23, 2018, 12:49 pm
#141
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In case one hasn't heard, Rome has been full of tour buses. Hope on-Hop off, and the like. All tourist buses have now been banned from the center of Rome. You'll have to go on foot, train, cab, whatever. The pollution, the crowding, the vibrations on the street, have all added up to too much stress on the cities ancient structure. Most people will be very happy that tour buses are no longer allowed in Central Rome, except for those going now. All of the buses now being put out of business are holding a protest. They all drove to the area around Piazza Venezia, the Forum, the Colosseum, to snarl things up in protest. Italy sets up its annual Christmas tree in Piazza Venezia. It's always a disaster, one of the worst trees in the world, and this year is no different. But right now you can barely see it, which is not a bad thing, because it's surrounded by protesting now unusable tour buses.
Last year the main tree in Piazza Venezia, Rome, similar to the main tree at Rockefeller Center in NYC, was nicknamed Spelacchio. Pela means skin. It was called the ugliest Christmas tree in the world, because it was all skin, few branches. I saw this year's one a few weeks ago, and people are debating which one is worse. This years one is nicknamed spezzachio by locals. Spezzare means broken or split, and it looks like that. Rome has the worst Christmas trees in the world, or so it seems, for two years running. I didn't even recognize it was a Christmas tree. I was looking for a tram and I went into a store and asked where the stop was the guy said up the street from Spezaccchio.
Last year the main tree in Piazza Venezia, Rome, similar to the main tree at Rockefeller Center in NYC, was nicknamed Spelacchio. Pela means skin. It was called the ugliest Christmas tree in the world, because it was all skin, few branches. I saw this year's one a few weeks ago, and people are debating which one is worse. This years one is nicknamed spezzachio by locals. Spezzare means broken or split, and it looks like that. Rome has the worst Christmas trees in the world, or so it seems, for two years running. I didn't even recognize it was a Christmas tree. I was looking for a tram and I went into a store and asked where the stop was the guy said up the street from Spezaccchio.
Jan 1, 2019, 8:27 pm
#142
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New Years
Capodanno (head of the year) New Years Day, wasnt always January 1st in Italy. It used to depend on where you live (New Years Eve is called Festa di San Silvestro, not New Years Eve.).
Untill after Mussolini tried to impose order by declaring the New New Years Day was October 29th (when the Fascists came to power). He banned any newspaper from referring to January 1st as Nee Years Day. He had all calendars removed and replaced with one where the year began on October 29th.
before that it really depended on where you lived. For example, in Tuscany New Years Day was March 25th because that the day the Virgin Mary was told she was going to be the mothers of Jesus.
In Venice Capodanno was celebrated on March 1st, the start of Spting.
In Southern Italy New Years Day was September 1st, because it signified the start of Harvest.
Fortunately after Mussolinis failed attemp Italy, a very young country when Mussolini took over, got together and agreed to choose January 1st as Capodanno, or New Years Day.
Im not aware of there being a New Years Eve. Its just San Silvestro, unlike Christmas, which does have an Eve, but its not called Christmas Eve. Its called Vigilia, which means something like attempting to be patient while waiting for something important to happen.
Untill after Mussolini tried to impose order by declaring the New New Years Day was October 29th (when the Fascists came to power). He banned any newspaper from referring to January 1st as Nee Years Day. He had all calendars removed and replaced with one where the year began on October 29th.
before that it really depended on where you lived. For example, in Tuscany New Years Day was March 25th because that the day the Virgin Mary was told she was going to be the mothers of Jesus.
In Venice Capodanno was celebrated on March 1st, the start of Spting.
In Southern Italy New Years Day was September 1st, because it signified the start of Harvest.
Fortunately after Mussolinis failed attemp Italy, a very young country when Mussolini took over, got together and agreed to choose January 1st as Capodanno, or New Years Day.
Im not aware of there being a New Years Eve. Its just San Silvestro, unlike Christmas, which does have an Eve, but its not called Christmas Eve. Its called Vigilia, which means something like attempting to be patient while waiting for something important to happen.
Jan 2, 2019, 9:40 am
#143
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I'm an American who did some of my growing up in Italy, and Italian friends said "l'ultimo dell'anno" for New Year's Eve. I have a dictionary with Italian definitions: for vigilia the first definition is sleepless night; the third is "by extension" : "giorno che precede un fatto di qualche riliievo" : the day before something of importance, similar to English "eve."
Jan 2, 2019, 11:31 am
#144
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I'm an American who did some of my growing up in Italy, and Italian friends said "l'ultimo dell'anno" for New Year's Eve. I have a dictionary with Italian definitions: for vigilia the first definition is sleepless night; the third is "by extension" : "giorno che precede un fatto di qualche riliievo" : the day before something of importance, similar to English "eve."
Christmas Eve does have a name, called Vigilia, which means waiting for something important. For example, if a mother has a sick child with a fever she'll stay up all night at his bedside, trying to comfort him or her and keep the fever down. That's called a vigil. Christmas Eve is called Vigilia because people wait up for Jesus to be born. Notte di San Silvestro is New Years Eve.
-Cosa fai a Natale? (What do you do on Christmas?
-Mangio. (Eat.)
-A Santo Stefano? (What do you do on Santo Stefano? New Years Eve)
-Mangio. (Eat)
-A Capodanno? (What do you do on New Years Day?)
-Mangio. (Eat)
-Per la Befana? (Similar to Santa, but is a witch. Gives presents on January 5th).
-Il botto. (hard to translate. it means pop or bang)
Last edited by Perche; Jan 2, 2019 at 1:22 pm
Jan 2, 2019, 11:49 am
#145
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Sure, l'ultimo dell'anno means the last day of the year. You can say, l'ultimo di Febbraio to say last day of February. That doesn't make it a holiday. The name of New Years Even is Notte di San Silvestro. Of course you can call it the last day of the year, last day of the month, last day of the week, but the first day of the year wasn't even January 1st until about 100 years ago.
Christmas Eve does have a name, called Vigilia, which means waiting for something important. For example, if a mother has a sick child with a fever she'll stay up all night at his bedside, trying to comfort him or her and keep the fever down. That's called a vigil. Christmas Eve is called Vigilia because people wait up for Jesus to be born. Festa di San Silvestro is New Years Eve.
-Cosa fai a Natale? (What do you do on Christmas?
-Mangio. (Eat.)
-A Santo Stefano? (What do you do on Santo Stefano? New Years Eve)
-Mangio. (Eat)
-A Capodanno? (What do you do on New Years Day?)
-Mangio. (Eat)
-Per la Befana? (Similar to Santa, but is a witch. Gives presents on January 5th).
-Il botto. (hard to translate. it means pop or bang)
Christmas Eve does have a name, called Vigilia, which means waiting for something important. For example, if a mother has a sick child with a fever she'll stay up all night at his bedside, trying to comfort him or her and keep the fever down. That's called a vigil. Christmas Eve is called Vigilia because people wait up for Jesus to be born. Festa di San Silvestro is New Years Eve.
-Cosa fai a Natale? (What do you do on Christmas?
-Mangio. (Eat.)
-A Santo Stefano? (What do you do on Santo Stefano? New Years Eve)
-Mangio. (Eat)
-A Capodanno? (What do you do on New Years Day?)
-Mangio. (Eat)
-Per la Befana? (Similar to Santa, but is a witch. Gives presents on January 5th).
-Il botto. (hard to translate. it means pop or bang)
Jan 2, 2019, 5:50 pm
#146
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And I bet I know what she would cook. La Vigilia is called Festa dei Sette Pesci, or Festival of 7 fishes. It is traditional to avoid something rich like meat for such an occasion, so typically there is a long evening of seven courses of fish, but it doesnt have to be as complicated as it sounds.
Some just make a stew and throw in 7 different types of fish and crustaceans. Or, it can be an appetizer plate with baked clams, shrimp, calamari, fried bacala, a small plate of linguini alle vongole, maybe throw in a few mussels, and right there you have 6 of them out of the way. Then a branzino or something after a pause for the main course.
Last edited by Perche; Jan 2, 2019 at 9:26 pm