From mid October we spent a couple of months cruising around Italy in our trusty Mazda 121. As you can imagine it was a food lovers dream trip, going from the Piedmont region in the north west, right down to Sicily and then back up through Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. We ate ourselves silly, sometimes eating pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No joke. Things were pretty extreme in the eating department. “When in Rome” was used on more than one occasion when ordering that extra course of dessert or popping another bottle of Lambrusco.
What really surprised us was the diversity between the regions within Italy. Especially in Sicily, where food has been heavily influenced by Northern Africa. Another surprise, there are at least 12 aisles dedicated to every shaped pasta you could possibly think of and that’s just in the mini-marts! We love Italy, the people, the food, it’s “tutto bene”.
Piemonte
Home of the slow food movement, white truffles and Barolo – this place screams let’s NEVER leave. Yet, we were chasing the sun down south so had to move pretty quickly through this region. We did stop for lunch at Trattoria I Bologna to get a fix of all the good stuff. We could see Nona making our pasta to order, we tried a donkey chop – not too bad and veal tartare. The boss brought out his pride and joy – a white truffle wrapped in tissues for us to smell – and just like that Wax had a plate of pasta with freshly shaved truffles.
Liguria
Our first taste of the Italian coast was gorgeous. We stayed in Camogli – a small town where we based ourselves to access the Portofino National Park or in Italian Parco Naturale Regionale de Portofino. The hiking was great, the cheesy focaccia sensational and the spritz’s poured generously.
Our next stop in Liguria was The Cinque Terre – you may have heard of it?! We stayed at the little village Montaretto. We hiked from Levanto to Monterosso al Mare, caught the train to Riomaggiore and then hiked back along one of the more challenging trails to Vernazza. It was one sweaty hike and this was in October, doing the same walk in Summer would be an absolute killer. Wax insisted on wearing thongs, which sparked many conservations with fellow hikers – some of which were decked out as if they were going to Base Camp. It was beautiful walking through the vineyards, olive groves and small farms that are built on some serious terracing.
Campania
The land of Mozzarella di Bufala and the ever impressive Amalfi Coast. We hit the absolute jackpot with our accommodation in Praiano – Calante Luna. A little self contained apartment with views along the coast to Positano, there was even a spa with sunset views to die for. We also discovered a magnificent little treat called torta ricotta e pera, it’s heavenly. Our first taste of this deliciousness was at Agriturismo Villa Maria – just above Minori. We had an ‘elastic pants wearing is a must’ lunch there, which was just fab. They grew all the food they served us, from prosciutto to limoncello – they did it all. They also have accommodation – some friends stayed there recently and they gave it the thumbs up. We did some great hiking from Maiori to Cetara and of course the Walk of the Gods. We had a great lunch in Nocelle at Santa Croce, just before walking down the 1700 steps to Positano. Another recommendation would have to be going to Le Sirenuse for an apertivo at sunset. Their Aperol Spritz is on point and the snacks you get are all class, you might find yourself ordering a bottle of prosecco and staying long into the night.
Lo Scoglio
Seafood feasting at this over the water restaurant is a must if you’re around this way. It’s a short drive from Sorrento, or in Summer you can get a water taxi from Positano. Another family run gem, they do the fishing, the daughter dives for the sea urchin and the rest of the fam bam work in the restaurant. Again, just fresh and simple dishes that were spot on. We were lucky enough to be sitting next to a Japanese TV crew filming some exciting content – lots of squealing and excitement was going into it!
Praiano and Positano
Sicilia
This island is the biggest region in Italy and one of the greatest places to explore. Nestled between Italy and Northern Africa it’s a treasure trove of flavours. We started in Taormina with severe storms for Chase’s birthday weekend – which is perfection when you’re staying at a 5* hotel with the most delicious breakfast spread and unlimited prosecco. From here we went to Siracusa, a fantastic little town on the sea in the south-east. The market here is one of the most spectacular we have seen and so cheap. Wax was in his element. It was here we discovered the greatest sandwich maker/entertainer that ever lived. Granted, it took at least 30 tantalising minutes to get our sandwich made, but the entertainment this Italian sandwich king gave us was well worth the wait. During the process he was feeding us cheeses, meats, olives and pickled vegetables – by the time we got our hands on the giant sanga I was already stuffed. The sandwich was made up of herbs that had been chopped after he had smeared a clove of garlic on the board, fresh olives, ricotta, honey, sundried tomatoes, scamorza, smoked mozzarella, ham, mortadella, radicchio, pickled eggplant and a whole lot of love. All this for 5€. Absolute bargain.
The vibe at the market is just so good, everybody is very friendly and eager to fill you with local delicacies of every description. From here we went back up the coast a bit toward Catania where we had hired a pretty killer clifftop villa for 5 nights, some mates from London joined us. We ate, drank, ate, did some bombs off the cliffs, ate, drank, swam. We had a great view of Mount Etna, unfortunately were about 3 weeks early from seeing quite a good eruption.
Connie, Wax’s sister joined us in big red for 2 weeks of exploring and mainly eating around Sicily. Highlights in those weeks were eating chocolate and cannoli at Dolceria Bonajuto in Modica. Lunching at La Locanda del Colonello, Modica. Eating truffled ice cream at Duomo in Ragusa. Wax getting an excellent short back and sides at the finest barber in Sciacca. Discovering a super little wine bar, also in Sciacca – Non Solo Vino – where we drank some of Sicily’s finest wines and ate lardo on toast and mortadella sandwiches. Lunching at Ristorante da Vittorio in Menfi, a definite lunch stop if you’re in the area. We ate a lot – top mentions go to the sweetest raw gamberi rosso, fritto misto, grilled calamari and the spaghetti with John Dory eggs – we rolled out of that joint. Walking in the Reserve Naturale della Zingaro was gorgeous. We finished up in Palermo. We did a street food tour to experience some of the more notorious street foods. The arancini were great, the spleen and lung sandwich that Connie and Chase bravely kept down didn’t sit so well with Wax – he turned grey, the Cannoli were to die for. We ate twice at Osteria Dei Vespri – in winter it’s homestyle Sicilian cooking at it’s absolute best – think slow cooked squid and beans, pork hock, a whole plate of grilled cheese and a litre of wine for 5€. All sensational – a perfect ending for our time in Sicilia.
Tuscany
After being on the coast for almost 6 weeks we were keen as to get inland and eat some more pasta and some meat.
Before Tuscany Big Red had some miles to to eat. Across the bottom of the boot and up the east coast. We had a couple nights staying in a farmhouse in the Parco Nacionale del Gargano. A small peninsula in the north of Puglia. This place was great, really rugged and quiet. It felt like it had seen a lot less of the effects of tourism, compared to the rest of Italy. We could have stayed longer but the north was calling and time was running thin.
Wax has a family friend living at Castiglione del Lago. So he was our first stop for a few nights on the border of Umbria and Tuscany. It was a great base to explore from and we made the most of it. We were walking through the gorgeous Montepulciano around midday and a noticed a group of people outside a restaurant. When we got home a bit of internet research convinced us that it was most definitely a good idea to book a table there the following evening to experience the finest Bistecca Fiorentina in the area. We rolled up the next night for this legendary steak and it was out of this world. The place was full, they had two long tables either side of the room with just enough aisle space to carry gigantic plates of steak. Pride of place in the kitchen were 2 huge joints of Chianina beef, T-Bone or sirloin sitting atop a very solid wooden table. Behind it was a blazing hot wood oven with a cast iron grill stand inside. The waiters came to the table asked what cut you would like and how many kilos (minimum order 1.3) and what sides you desired. The boss then cut off your steak, had the waiter show it to you and then it was charred briefly in the searing hot fire. It was phenomenal, very rare but warmed right through from hours of sitting out at room temperature (this is a very important part of meat cookery, meat needs to be at least at room temperature when you cook it, unless you want it well done… then it doesn’t matter). For sides we had dandelion salad, roast fennel and truffled creamed potatoes. Dessert consisted of roast pecorino with pears and roast pecorino with truffles. Are you hungry?
After a few days of wandering around the hilltop towns on the border of Tuscany and Umbria it was off to Bologna.
Emilia Romagna
Just when we thought Italy couldn’t tempt us any further we arrived in Emilia Romagna. The home of Mortadella, Culatello, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiana Reggiano, balsamic vinegar of Modena, lambrusco, the best restaurant in the world and many other gastronomic delights. First stop Bologna – a bustling student city. The markets and the Salumerias (cured meat shops) here kept us well occupied when we weren’t halfway through a bottle of fizzy red wine. Lambrusco often conjures up foul images of a sickly sweet, fizzy red wine to most and it did for us to begin with. This was different. It was delicious, refreshing and cheap. One of the specialities of the region is Tortellini en Brodo – kind of like chicken noodle soup, but instead of noodles there are tiny tortellini filled with ham, mortadella and veal. The soup is then garnished with a mountain of fresh Parmigiana Reggiano – it’s fantastic. The No. 1 rated restaurant in the world, Osteria Francescana is in nearby Modena and we had a long awaited (3 months) lunch date there. A late celebration of Chase’s birthday and well, another fine meal. We caught the train to Modena a bit early and had a wander round this beautiful city to make some room for lunch. It was out of this world good. Every. Single. Course. was so special and perfectly executed. The service was insanely cohesive. The guys and girls there are on top of the game in every way. It was a lunch that will be remembered forever. We rolled out of there overly satisfied and for a time, not eager to eat anything else.
That didn’t last long. The next day we were off to Parma. A very nice little town that was draped in mist the entire time we were there. We spent most of our time here in a great little wine shop we found that had ham and cheese flowing steadily over the counter and wine out of the bottles. It was rammed the whole time and a great place to sample the local nosh.
