Gastronomica Italia...Carbing our way around Italy

One week has gone by since the hubby  and I commenced our vacanza in Italia. We've covered some ground in the past 10 days. Treviso, Venezia, Lake Garda, Cinque Terre,Pisa, Siena, Firenze, Assisi, and now Roma.


Con's first visit to Italy and he is delighted with the Italian diet, ordering varieties of pizza and Italian beer (birra) on every occasion possible. Between pizza, beer, gelato, and tiramisu; he believes he is presently in food heaven, and has taken to giving reviews of which town or city has the best Malaga (rum & raisin) gelato.  So far Sienna is streaking ahead in the Malaga stakes.

My good friend Elena in Treviso advised that her strategy for critiquing gelato was to order pistachio & ciocolato gelato in every town and city, in order to pick the nuances in flavour.. I've adopted this strategy, & I'm amazed at the subtle differences in the pistachio flavour from town to town. My favourite town thus far has been Corniglia in the Cinque Terre, following a Acuighe (anchovy) pizza, and a small jug of the local cinque terre white wine.

Con is also greatly enjoying the  italian breakfast of cornetti (croissants) and cappuccino. Some of the cornetti are custard filled, whilst others are chocolate,or marmellata.There also is the prolific availability of nutella for smearing on cornetti or bread.


Many a day we lament the delicious carb intensive  Pranzo (lunch), pizza glossy with pomodoro passata and mozzarella, pasta with ragu, ravioli, and of course a bottle of the regional vino. Consequently we have " waddled, fatty bombalada style" (or at least it felt like waddling) around cobbled streets site seeing for many hours, by which time we have digested our lunch and skipped dinner with the exception of a possible gelato, glass  of prosecco in the piazza,  or some local biscotti to nibble on back in our room to tide us over until morning. Thank goodness for the miles of walking up hills and over cobblestone streets for some times hours on end under the Italian sun. This somewhat compensates for the current daily gastronomic indulgence.

My favourite meals thus far have been: Pappadelle con Ragu (Venezia), Fried polenta, atichokes, Spaghetti Marinara and Tiramisu (Firenze),  Spaghetti con Noci, Panna Spagna (Assisi), and today in Rome delicious Finochi filled  with ricotta pear and that cream walnut sauce, rocket parmesan salad, and  pear and chocolate crosstata with a shared bottle of Pinto Grigio from the Veneto.

Yet  despite the delicious daily fare,  the meal I enjoyed most of all was after a day of intensive hiking between the Cinque Terre 5 villages under the heat of the summer sun. Upon arriving back at our hotel overlooking the Mediteranean, I put together  a simple salad of lettuce,  cherry tomatos, cucumber, good quality olives, olive  oil and balsamic vinegar, and some prosciutto; with chunks of bread to dip in the olive oil and spread wth soft cheese. Ripe peaches for dessert, washed down with sparkling water. I don't know whether it was just that we were ravenous and exhausted after a day of up hill climbing, or the view of the sun descending into the Ligurian Sea, but it was certainly a meal that induced a feeling of perfect contentment.