…is upon us which means that I am often confronted by a table full of pea pods ready for shellers when passing through the cortile on my way out for some errand which gets distracted by the sirens of those bulging pods ready for that days soup, salad, gnocchi, risotto, pasta – and I find ..
Tag : Italy
…yesterday morning – which I was only made aware of a few days ago thanks to an illuminating International Herald Tribune story by design journalist friend Alice Rawsthorn – turned out to be the highlight of my short time in the city overrun by crass corporate Salone Internazionale del Mobile madness – from which my ..
…a collaboration between Catalan designer Martí Guixé and Finnish food visionary Antto Melasniemi (the two fellows I was in conversation with at yesterday’s Domus conversation on food for the Urban Futures series) – was SO lucky today with the intensely warm spring Milanese sun we had beating down on us, and cooking the food with ..
…is the first thing I am noticing all over the city – with all manner of plant life crawling, branching, hanging down and growing up the cliff-like facades on this springy Saturday – while in town for a talk and conversation at the Domus pavilion in Zona Tortona for their Urban Futures series ..
…is the hilltop Asciano-adjacent Tuscan Benedictine monastery dating from 1313 we are visiting today, which features a very cool 1553 fish pond that would feed the monks during periods when Benedictine rule forbade consumptio..
…(for strawberries?) are the cool shocking shiny surfaces wrapping parts of the rolling spring green surfaces of southern Tuscan landscapes as viewed from my very slow one car train gradually heading from Grosseto to Siena – making every little stop on the way – with each quiet sun-bathed stuccoed station seeming to feature a single ..
…was conducted this morning with Livia and Franco – who met when they were 14 and have been married for 53 years – in their cozy long-time quarters (inherited from previous generations) in the Colosseum adjacent neighborhood of Monti where he used to own the local newsstand, so it’s hard to walk with Franco more ..
…is the breaking news from the Roman rooftop garden this morning – having never grown the favas, I’ve waited until they are as big as those I’ve been seeing at the farmer’s market (which is BIG) before picking – and as far as that worm compost is concerned, I’ve been waiting all year to pull ..
…of 35 planned interviews with five generations of people living in Rome (about how they organize their homes and lives around food, their memories and current thoughts on Cucina Italiana/Romana, and how things are changing) was a fascinating two hour conversation with a distinguished 92 year old Italian film director who recounted amazing tales of ..
…is what I am always on the lookout for when landing in Rome – returning this morning on an early early flight from Istanbul – since I have this Italian farmhouse fantasy where I don’t have a car and can bike to th..
…I see side by side here in this wild majestic city which has been suffering from waste management issues ..
…or ‘beautiful vegetables’ is the apt nick-name of the local Praiano personaggio, or character, who grows his own food in perfectly composed and tended gardens, enclosed by beautifully laid retaining walls which he built with rocks from his modest piece of land, where he also bakes bread and pizza in his own wood burning oven, ..
…where I am staying for a few days (at a friend’s stunning collection of big farmed ocean view terraces accommodating a variety of little white houses dating from the 1600’s that have been in the family for generations, where she is now hosting a casual residency program for young cooks, farmers, and artists) on the ..
…is the 1984 book of musings (as recounted to and translated by Henry Martin) by Italian artist Gianfranco Baruchello (b. 1924) who in 1973 decamped to a modest piece of land north of Rome, near Formello, to begin a life of farming as art – and after years of carrying around this little book which ..
…is the tiny hill town an hour north of Rome near Poggio Mirteto where I am lucky enough to be at a friend’s place for the weekend – from which you can see Saint Peter’s as a distant tiny dot on the horizon – taking long walks through the farm land where I am luxuriating ..
…the roughly hewn stonework often used on the lower floors of palazzi as an expression of fortification and solidity – which I recall studying in college classes on Florentine Renaissance architecture – is something I have a new love for today (as I find myself back in Firenze, the city I lived just outside of ..
…are the unique pleasures of this city which you can traverse from one side to the other within the sheltering vaults and alongside the rhythm of the columns which are constantly changing style from one arcade to the next – and how super that the most superlative architectural space of city is comprised of almost ..
…comes out today – with an introduction to selected highlights of the Roman days from this Wikidiary describing my desire for a ‘crisi di mezz’età’ while living in Italy this year – in the magazine that is more than a magazine (co-founded & co-produced by genial childhood friends Francesco, Lorenzo, Luca, and Valerio – endlessly ..
…feels like coming home now (with Alitalia yesterday afternoon) – approaching from the north over fields and farms of Lazio is especially welcoming – making me want to play out my fantasies of a future urban/rural-commune/village-life next door to th..
…the Rome-based Italian artist (b. 1955) who is admired by all of my Italian artist friends, has an audio piece which I encountered today in a hallway gallery at MAXXI (making the most of the much appreciated Spring-like weather in Rome, I arrived by bicycle via the path along the Tiber River embankment – also ..
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