A Very Tasty Trebbiano

A Very Tasty Trebbiano

Many of us are conscious of the ties that bind Italy and the United States. Sometimes this awareness is limited to the effects of movies like The Godfather – however, of course, the truth is very different and in many ways more fascinating. Just the figures...
Fizzing With Pinot Nero…

Fizzing With Pinot Nero…

Places speak to their visitors in different ways. The ancient conical stone huts of the coastal plains of Puglia murmur in an archaic tongue that few now understand of the transumanza – that ancient seasonal migration of sheep from the freezing mountains of...
The Orphan of Franciacorta

The Orphan of Franciacorta

Franciacorta is an area on the edge of the Alps, just south of Lake Iseo, and here there is a 60-year-old tradition of making spumante or foaming wines. In Italy they differentiate between frizzante wine, which has an internal pressure of less than 2.5 bar –...
The Golden Glow of Erbaluce

The Golden Glow of Erbaluce

As committed Italophiles, Vinnie and I travel all over this beautiful country but I have to admit there are some areas that are less interesting than others. Travelling across the plain of the River Po, as flat as the proverbial billiard table, it is sometimes...
A Lesson in Lessini Durello

A Lesson in Lessini Durello

Vinnie and I were traveling through the countryside between Vicenza and Verona when we took a short detour to visit a small commemorative obelisk preserving the memory of the events of the 8th April, 1848. After the downfall of Napoleon, in 1815 the Congress of Vienna...