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Tokuyoshi: restaurant blending Italy with Japan beyond their traditions in Milan

The culinary scene in Milan was stirred about three years ago by Tokuyoshi’s Italy meets Japan innovative cooking. The wisely-stridden Japanese chef Yoji Tokuyoshi opened his first solo restaurant fittingly in the most international Italian city. His formative culinary youth at the three-stared Osteria Francescana in Modena do not shy away, yet he also authentically imprints his Nippon soul, life experiences and even his wife into the Italian ingredients enhanced by his sensitive Japanese touch. This is Cucina contaminata.

Re-tasting his culinary experiments with a poise for its entire life-span, I concluded that like at Francescana here taste is superior to fancy and soulless renditions of traditional food. The presentation is creative, even artsy in Tokuyoshi’s mentor Massimo Bottura strokes. Since he worked at his three star Osteria as a sous-chef, the plating’s origins remain an unresolved conundrum. Always with a pencil snuck behind his ear, the young Yoji is set to jot any sudden flow of ideas down. The plate is like a dress made to measure since the stark plating is not the drive, the food idea comes first. Return, and you will watch and taste his whims of creativity. In an interview for the Art of Plating he confessed: “I try to fully experience each action, giving full attention to the gesture and the moment. This state of mind, I believe, is the best breeding ground for a new concept.” A man of integrity, the chef has visited the grounds of the farms he sources from to assure that they adhered to responsible stewardship of the land. The broths he pairs with each course were conceived not just to add flavour but also to win over your focus, to slow you down and to enjoy the meal mindfully. This slow preparation also means that our lunch was more precise than the dinners at Tokuyoshi.
In the back of the emerald dining room a green sprout, an art piece by Marcantonio Raimondi Malerba, is the Tokuyoshi logo representative of “a new beginning, a new adventure ready to grow”.

Tokuyoshi is a seasoned chef, who participated on Cook it Raw chefs’ gathering in the Ishikawa province together with Rene Redzepi, Alex Atala, Daniel Patterson, Mauro Colagreco and other worldly chefs. Exchanging ideas with the best in the profession has surely impacted him, but he is inspired more by the ingredients he has on hand. In his restaurant, off-the-menu specialities can flush out an impeccable soft-shell crab, deep fried to a crunchy claw to tail perfection. We double ordered this treat.
Welcomed by a bun-round loaf with butter sets you in the Northern territory of Lombardy, while the small nibbles with an aperitif have readied our taste buds for more gourmandise. A broth from all of the vegetable leftovers, delectable food waste reducer, warms you up for the meal ahead. The unique broths are paired with almost every dish.
The Foamy Salad #tokuyoshi was inspired by the chef’s Italian wife, and used to be served with wooden thongs before the foamy dollop of cheese was added recently. Flower petals, pickled cucumber, seasonal greens and a side pea green broth with it. Starters like this are larger than Tokuyoshi’s “snacks” which can mostly be eaten in two or three bites. The signature Bread, Butter and Anchovies steamed as a bao stuffed with an anchovy dice and sprouts is not my favourite dish but a must try once, while in the charcoal-coated shrimp tempura, simply spit on a rosemary branch is an excellent aperitif snack.

Tokuyoshi: challenging conventional textures with recognisably traditional flavours

The “Grandma Lucia’s Tart cannot rival the best on the Italian markets: Aubergine, tomato, parmesan, all was inside the pastry; the challenge is to outdo someone baking the one damn thing daily for most of her life.
In Liquid Pizza “alla Marinara” enjoyed with a spoon, the flavours were totally there, naturally gluten-free since the doughy part was omitted. I am not in the juicing tribe, but I liked the liquified pizza idea. There is also an ultra-thin crust pizza rendering that might disappoint though. Being served in a proper pizza box, you open it and stare at the tiny cracker topped with fresh petals, minimal shavings of cheese, worse even – the olive green broth served along does not patch the freshly slit wound. Now I really craved the real pizza. To our relief, following the Italian fashion, the menu offers pasta, the real thing, or a rice course. I was genuinely impressed by the Tribute to Noto Spaghetti with almond milk, clams, and pistachios, a very Sicilian flare. Poured over the light pasta dish is Frappato grappa scented with capers by an excellent Sicilian wine producer Arianna Occhipinti. Never mind, my husband was more smitten by the Tagliatelle with Wagyu Ragout, the fatty Japanese beef melted in decadently. Better than the typical thing, but I bet the Italians will not say to their nonnas, but I can.

Thanks to the custom made plates by “Project Arita for Tokuyoshi”, the Gyotaku Mackerel was reformed into an edible sculpture with ash. Gyotaku is an ancient Japanese painting technique transforming a real fish into a canvas. To memorise eating this fish, the chef imprinted it on the serving plate. It was deliciously simple. My last main course at Tokuyoshi was less successful though. The Scrapetta of mixed daily catch was overpainted with intensely hued sauces (mussels & nettles; broccoli & anchovies; shrimps & squid ink; bell pepper & lemon; tomatoes with clams & oregano) and served with a side of double-decker toasts. This hodge-podge was so confusing that I had no idea what the artist meant by that. My palate was overwhelmed.
The signature fat-bursting Suckling Pig in the Forest comes from the semi-wild raised “Cinta Senese” breed butchered by Macelleria Zivieri Massimo, a Slow Food member committed to high standards of animal welfare and traditional, artificial additives-free production and organic farming practices. Still, my husband was not fooled and did not enjoy this plate.

There are two tasting menus for dinner at Tokuyoshi. Italy meets Japan showcases his “cucina contaminata“, but there is also an “omakase” tasting akin to the chef’s table picks from the best ingredients on that day. Even though some dishes perennially persist on the menu, their visual presentation and even slight ingredient tweaks may surprise you. Trying a number of Tokuyoshi’s signature plates across different seasons, I noticed the momental emotions entering some plates. The superb Calamari Full of Himself were once served stuffed whole-bodied (as in the leading image in this critique), while more often their white corpses were slid in halves like nigiri sushi and spiked with knife. The hedgehog lid covered their seasoned tentacles minced with anchovies and tomatoes. Italian flavours, while the technique was distinctively Japanese. Paired with Olives and Green Tomatoes juice completing the dish in Tokuyshi style.

Deservedly, the Michelin guide awarded one star for his creative flare. The difference between his and Boturra’s artisan smoldering on the plates being not only in the visual elegance better achieved by the three stared team at the Osteria Francescana, but also in the finer balance of taste. Tokuyoshi’s food is yummy, but with some plates he can tame his effort to do less than is necessary to impress. Like in Modena, he carefully sources his ingredients, often from environmentally sustainable organic farms like Hombre, that has for decades revelled in closed production cycle organic dairy farming in the Parmigiano Reggiano area.
From the desserts I was taken by the Concrete & Earth charcoal meringue, a grey like the Seventies cement roofing covering a scoop of artichoke gelato, mascarpone and herbs on a salty almond a cocoa biscuit. Next to the complimentary morsels served at the finale, this was less sugary like the typical Japanese sweets.
Completing the restaurant circle, the wine waiter is also very open and each time surprised us with authentic,some beyond the Italian borders unseen local wines like Traminer Aromatico from Sicily. Not from the North-eastern corner of Italy as I would expect and perfectly suitable for the intense flavours in Tokuyoshi’s food. Previously a deep Etna Bianco, Fiano di Avelino, and other rotating by the glass selections of the maître d’ cum sommelier whetted our appetites for more of Tokuyoshi’s food. By the bottle we ordered the new Tuscan Bordeaux blend by Paleo that we found a much better value than the pricy Ornellaia. Being fairly adjusted to great wines, the first time I sipped on Paleo was in its birth region of Maremma at a lunch break between the wine tastings at Tenuta San Guido (Sassicaia) and Ornellaia.

The contemporary, by Italian lights and marble driven interior design of the intimate restaurant (five tables, plus a long counter), with a massive, sleek wood topped and comfortable counter seating hints at the culinary marriage to Japan. In the capital of Italian fashion and design Tokuyoshi’s rendering of the east meets west cuisine opens up the gates for more to come. Recently opening his first restaurant in Asia, Table by Yoji Tokuyoshi inside the once tallest building in the world in Taipei, the chef still remains faithful to his Michelin stared baby in Milano. While Tokuyoshi is not the front row type, he pops out from the hive of his back kitchen attending personally to his regular guests. The humble Nippon talent leaves the spotlight to his assistants behind the counter seating, but our experience proved that he is the star keeping it excellent.
Tokuyoshi,Via S. Calocero, 3, 20123 Milano
+39 2 8425 4626
Lunch only on Sundays; Dinner Tue-Sun 7-10:30pm

Ristorante Del Cambio: Italy united at a table in Turin

Curiously zooming on the classy Torinese and the indulgent Piedmontese feasting at the Michelin stared Ristorante Del Cambio you feel Turin’s regal and politically charged past. There are tourists too, but they melt into the local majority. Since 1757 the frescoed restaurant has sealed its majesty in using only the finest Italian ingredients with the permeating Savoyard heritage.

Turin is the “city where Italy was created”. At Ristorante Del Cambio Garibaldi, Cavour and Mazzini over heaping plates of tagliolini, literally united Northern and Southern Italy in the 18th century (Risorgimento movement). The first Italian parliament faces the restaurant, and the table of honour overlooking Palazzo Carignano where Cavour – one of the fathers of the nation – regularly dined, is highly desired.
Del Cambio is still the place to be seen in Turin. Its velvet clad chairs, crystal chandeliers, the historical importance and the location are strong assets also for the local chic society. Turin-born Carla Bruni was reportedly a big fan. The pomp suggests that dressing up is imperative, but not wearing a jacket is acceptable. Tourists and millennials – no shorts and sneakers, please.

Cashing on its reputation, Del Cambio could serve average dishes, but it chose to treat you with an excellent quality of culinary savoire faire, some borrowed from its fine past, with an added contemporary luxury. The crisp grissini, hand rolled bread sticks, wrapped in a white cloth and served to each table herald the tasty morsels to come.

Thoughtful updates of the regional classics by the ambitious chef Matteo Baronetto elevated the dining experience at Del Cambio recently. The young chef freshened up the menu with more technical, yet delicious touches. “Reflected improvisation”, the gastronomic journey in six or nine courses revisits some Piedmontese classics, but also introduces the new vision of the chef.

Award-winning pastry savoured casually at Farmacia café

Chirping over an aperitif of Champagne, Italian spumante, Franciacorta made by the champenoise method or starting with the bright acidity, honeyed and nutty with age, local indigenous white variety Timorasso by the glass will land also a gratuity of changing finger snacks and a basket of irresistible colourful rice crackers. Naturally gluten-free, tinted and flavoured with squid ink, vegetables and spices like turmeric, the crisps move your appetite to high-octane gourmandising. You can buy them in the adjoining gourmet café, the Farmacia, named after the previous business, the room now tempts with award-winning pastries of Del Cambio’s pastry chef Fabrizio Galla, who polished his craft in America before returning back the “chocolate capital of the Alps“. His glazed, layered dark chocolate cake Jessica, with an indulgent strip of Tiramisu cream, caramel and exotic fruits, Piedmontese hazelnut Gianduja and the I.G.P. Piedmont hazelnuts crunch in croccantino, won the gold medal at the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie Lyon in 2007. You can enjoy its miniature with breakfast on the Café’s pavement of Piazza Carignano.

Michelin cuisine a la “Cucina Alta” at Del Cambio

Chef Baronetto’s “Cucina Alta” borrowed from his long tenure at the Michelin-awarded Cracco in Milan and the three Michelin stared Ristorante Duomo in the nearby Alba. Like in the superb Salad Piemontese-style that in the hands at Del Cambio in spring included mostly local vegetables and pulses (asparagus, beans, peas, peppers, radishes,…) but also exotic Japanese shiso leaf and sea vegetables, Parmesan cheese, marinated Amarena cherries, toasted hazelnuts, edible flowers and shoots, bread crust or sticks, house mayonnaise and more. An envelope with the approximate list of ingredients (can change daily due to availability of some ingredients) can guide each bite. In the fall, everything remained the same, but marinated mushrooms, turnips and beets replaced the green peas and spring asparagus tips.

Matteo Baronetto’s tasting menu (€ 110,00 – € 145,00) “shall be ordered for the entire table”. You can eat it casually at the private chef’s table set on the kitchen counter. But even if you go a la carte, you will be treated to little palate teasers such as hazelnut crusted foie gras biscuit, seasonal broth, an intriguing cocoa and traditional white bread or hazelnut crusted leaf-shaped cracker sandwiching green shoots, tonnato sauce and pickles.

From the traditional Starters I love the Vitello tonnato – slices of veal with creamy egg yolk and tuna sauce seasoned with capers. The velvety textured pink veal was more thick, cooked sous vide and served atop the sauce instead of underneath as it is more typically done. Showing off the veal rather than hiding it, generous yet delicate, the sauce rich as it should be. More contemporary appetisers like variables of Red shrimps, hazelnuts and persimmon with passion fruit, or Codfish with pumpkin and saffron change slightly each season.

Another classic, the ‘Del Cambio’ home-made fresh egg tagliolini, the thin egg pasta locally labelled as tajarin, with butter and the optional but highly advisable truffle shaving are a must for pasta lovers. During the white truffle season (November – January) you can add this edible gem from Alba to scrambled eggs, cheese, pasta, the Del Cambio risotto or some simpler meat plates. In the First Courses the Milk ravioli with anchovies and cauliflower are one of the more contemporary dishes.

In the city where the new mayor boosts to make Turin vegan friendly, Del Cambio is not the place even for vegetarians, unless you pick from the limited options in the first courses and starters or beg the chef to create something purely plant-based.

The Mediterranean coast is only about a two-hour drive so the red mullet, sea bass, sole and turbot, all prepared with the chef’s original touch, are good main course options.

For dinner went more local for the occasional treat of the Piedmont veal. My medium cooked, juicy Roasted veal fillet was tender in its jus with a wrath-like company of chicory heart, chestnut puree, asparagus and rosemary. My husband enjoyed the simple breaded Veal ribs Milanese-style on the bone with salt flakes and a side of roasted potatoes, artichokes and Jerusalem artichokes. For adventurous carnivores the nose-to-tail eating is embodied in ‘Del Cambio’ finanziera, the Middle-Ages classic Piedmontese offal (left-over parts from poultry such as cockerel crest and cattle’s innards). There is also chicken, pigeon or dear in season on the menu, reminding of the nearby regions.

The cheese trolley is all Italian including many local cheeses from small artisanal purveyors. Tallegio and Robiola are my tips. Even if you do not order desserts a sweet assemble of mignardises accompanied by in chocolate covered hazelnuts, sugar dusted almonds, paper-thin dehydrated fruits like orange, apple and pineapple, will be served free of charge after the meal.

Accept the sommelier’s invitation to the old underground cellar (known in Italy as cantina). As you descend to its stone cavity, the generously stocked sparkling wine room hints at the locals’ penchant for Champagne. Barolo used to produce sparkling wines, therefore bubbles were imprinted into the Piedmontese DNA. The sommelier, Davide Buongiorno had a different explanation though: “Here in Piedmont, we drink sparkling wine to refresh our palate after the dry tannins of the local reds”.

The sommelier was honest so we trusted his choice and went for a pricier Piedmontese bottle than usually (nearby Enoteca Tre Galli offers better deals on wine). We were smitten by the Nebbiolo-based Barbaresco by Roagna in the promising 2006 vintage. The elegant, and constantly evolving wine with a minimal use of sulphites and never seeing pesticides kept our heads fresh the following morning. Del Cambio charges more for wine than most consumer-friendly Italian restaurants, but their cellar is fantastic. There are some more affordable, great bottles like the Montestefano from our favourite family winery RivellaSerafino in Barbaresco (€ 90). Occasional wine tastings are organised at the long table inside the cellar.

I dined at Del Cambio in November 2012, March and late October 2017 and the culinary transition to the new chef felt smooth. The chef keeps serving some traditional plates, while inviting to the new millennium with his more creative, high cuisine experiments. The crème de la crème of the Italian upper class still gathers at Del Cambio. It is a special treat, but if you are passionate about history and great gastronomy Del Cambio delivers. On sunny days while passers-by watching, casually lounging on the pavement in front of the Farmacia, you can enjoy the local hot chocolate speciality Bicerin, where espresso and cream melt so indulgently. Cappucino is of course made perfectly, and house baked almond cantucci biscuits and cocoa cookies will be served with any hot beverage.
Piazza Carignano 2, 10123 Turin, Italy
+39 011 54 66 90; email: cambio@thi.it

Dolceaqua: organic farmers market on Monet's canvas

Dolceaqua is a charming fortified medieval village tucked in the Alpine valley off Mediterranean coast. In winter, the snow hats of the peaks glitter in the background as you approach the village from the seaside Ventimiglia. Pinned in Italy’s Liguria, famous for its basil, pesto and olives, the somnolent commune is awaken every last Sunday of the month by a picture-perfect organic farmers market. In the setting of Monet’s painting, feet tapping on its old cobbled pavement, you can dive into local specialties like cheese, mountain sausages, stone-ground flours, the taggiasca olives and olive oil, fresh and dried herbs, wild greens, honey, artichokes, lemons, oranges, the rare Pigna beans, persimmons, red peppers and other vegetables attuned to their seasonability.
The celebrated French painter, impressed by the arch of its stone bridge, created two artworks of Dolceaqua. The architectural rainbow of the structure connects the oldest part dominated by the Doria’s castle at the foot of the Mount Rebuffao with the new town. Ushered by the lemon painted catholic chapel, an antique market is regularly set on the roadside square. The cobbled carpet lining the bushy trees of the original settlement rolls out its hospitable promenade to the monthly food market.

Produce on the Dolceaqua organic market

In the hills surrounding Dolceaqua taggiasca olives thrive. They are sold at the market either fresh, preserved or pressed into extra-virgin olive oil. Di Paola produces superb, pure, stone-pressed Olio Extravirgine di Oliva. Infused extra-virgin olive oils come from Elements with “lemons treated solely with love”, rosemary, sage and other herbs, also sold fresh or in remedies made by the lady of Elements. She also has pure white Galline Felici eggs and seasonal fruits like soft, ripe persimmons in winter.
Healthy foods are focus of signora Gabriella Girello. Whole grains, lentils, chestnuts, chickpeas, black, red and carnaoli risotto rice, but also stone-ground nutrient rich flours from Langhe (milled by Mulino Marino), sugar-free marmalades and herbal sirups and natural potions to improve any health concern.
There are always fresh greens and seasonal vegetables at a number of stands worth exploring. Jerusalem artichokes (topinambur), flowering zucchini, flavorful semi-wild (spicy touch) kale, radicchio, bitter liver cleansing dandelion greens, even Japanese mizuna grown in Apricale, a perched mountain village with superb microclimate. Clean mountain water irrigates the gardens, while good humidity is favoured by the plants planted there. It’s extremely challenging to get there by even a small car so the organic nature of the produce cannot get more pure.

We always stop at the honey producer Apicultura Civalleri. The sufficiently english-speaking Italian beekeeper offers a wide variety of honey from the area of Monte Abellio. Try and find the natural floral aroma that most flatters your palate. Next to the almost translucent accaccia, also a pure deep chestnut (castagna), citruses (agrumi), coriander (coriandolo), eucalyptus (eucalypto), ivy (edera), and sunflower (girasol) honeys are sold. Blends of Millefiori, multi-flower, and the more amber-hued Melata di Bosco, a forest blend, like a well-blended wine express the location in balance.
Vivi Piccante grows more than 100 varieties of peppers in San Remo and offers curiosities like Pink Tiger, Black Panther, Sepia Serpente, Jay’s Peach, Kraken and other hot peppers. Fresh, powdered or blended with salt they shine in all their brightness next to all shades of green and red apple in crates.
For antibiotics and pesticides-free dairy go to Eu Barlet. Their taste buds-blowing raw and creamy yoghurt and an assortment of cheese from goat and the rare Frabosana-Roaschina sheep’s milk can be tasted before purchase. Unlike most of the other cheese vendors on the market, their naked cheese is properly covered under a glass vitrine. You can see the produce, but no bugs in your cheese! I can highly recommend the Seirass sheep’s ricotta as well as the creamy yogurt.
Home bakers proudly display their rustic and wholesome tarts and pies. The most interesting is the bread specialist Pachamama. Freshly-ground ancient grains (kamut, rye, spelt) are naturally fermented (natural yeast = water + wheat + time), and the loaves are then baked in a wood fired oven just before the market opens. Various sizes, some made from plain white wheat (Grano Tenero), durum wheat (Grano Duro) or whole-wheat (Integrale), but also from rye (Segale), corn (Mais) and more obscure cereals such as spelt (farro), and kamut.
If you want to bake your own, then stock on the stone-ground flours at L’Amaranto based in La Morra. Like most top quality grain growers in Piedmont they stone mill their crops at nearby Mulino Sobrino. Ancient grains like kamut, but also amaranth, spelt, toasted Piedmont hazelnuts, also in biscuits, wholesome polenta, lentils, black-eyed beans and luscious sweet red apples in the fall and winter.
The ultra rare pearls amongst beans “Fagiolo Bianco di Pigna” are probably the most expensive beans you buy, but they are worth the splurge. Cook the Pigna beans simply and serve with fresh olive oil, salt and herbs, impeccable!

Anything CBD

For a sweet snack, the local pastry specialty La Michetta, sipped with the indigenous local red varietal – the Rosesse wine are indulgent treats typical for the area. Both are sold on and off the market at the little pastry and wine shops. As a healthier treat, there are preserved gingers – pure, with stevia or cinnamon, all low GI. Sustainably sourced spirulina, even a medicinal cannabis stand (CBD oil, dried various strains and snacks like lollipops with the hip plant).
There are many more edible treasures at the Dolceaqua organic farmers market, the vendors change from time to time as do the seasonal plants and even the cheese (fresh sheep’s milk is for example best in winter).

The best restaurants near Dolceaqua, Italy

If you want to dine in the village, than forget anything, except for Casa e Bottega trattoria. Reservations are essential on Sundays, it’s always packed. Get one of the three menus (vegetarian, sea, land) or the best Italian ham, pasta or rabbit a la carte.

For even better, grand all you can eat superb local feast for €30 person, a glass of sparkling wine, plus a simple Italian bottle including, drive up to Rocchetta Nervina. Ristorante da U Gentile is a family affair that feeds you as a granny would!

Unlike at most of the nearby Ventimiglia market, in Dolceaqua you buy from the producers directly. You will not find Sicilian pistachios, Spanish oranges or Peruvian avocados here! The downside is that the veggies selection is limited when compared to the artisanal produce offered at the seaside market. The vastest selection in Northern Italy can be found at the Turin market.
Stocking your pantry with organic, natural produce is more healthy not just for you, the producer, but also the land [read more in Organic Lifestyle]. Buying directly from the farmers is more profitable for them, and allows you to talk face-to-face about what you are buying.

Ventimiglia market: buying Italian bounty of Liguria and Piedmont

Savvy gourmands from Côte d’Azur, demanding Monaco clientele including, travel to the farmers markets of Italy. The indulgent voyage can be swished through the Franco-Italian highway by car, but the Ventimiglia market allows for a more sustainable trip by the coastal train stopping just steps away from the food market building. The superb, mostly local produce costs less than in France, and draws some terroir-aware chefs from nearby. Mauro Collagreco of Mirazur in Menton used to frequent the Ventimiglia market and so did Alain Ducasse from his base in Monaco. There are different parts of the market, therefore it is essential to know from whom to buy. I tapped the well of its secret source of the best and honest farmers, and here are my tips.

Boosting with the Italian pride of its extraordinary ingredients, weekly from Tuesday till Saturday, the covered Ventimiglia market tantalises foodies’ senses. Rugged in an authentic carefree gusto, Ventimiglia is not an attractive town on the first sight, but the local gastronomic movement is the magnet for anyone within a 5o km radius, so parking can be challenging. Leaving your car in a legal spot often turns into an adventure. Imagine the Italian drivers stocking their Fiats over each other, blocking other cars. Well, you might have to climb into your vehicle through the roof as I did. This chaos spikes on Fridays and weekends.

Eco market basket

Liguria and Piedmont specialities at Ventimiglia market:

The mild, coastal climate is ideal for growing olives, the essential ingredient of the Ligurian cuisine. You will find them crushed in homemade tapenades (dips), marinated in jars and pressed into an olive oil on the market. I buy the pitted (perfect for cooking) or whole (for snacking) Taggiasche olives from Tenuta Agricola “1 Panegai” grown nearby around Imperia. Their stone-pressed and never filtered olive oil is also superb. Its cloudiness betrays the pure nature of this wholesome oil. To profit from its virtues, olive oil should be consumed within its harvest year.
The fertile, mountains-meet-sea, land is planted with basil, grapevines, vegetables like artichoke, flowering trumpet pumpkin, rocket greens but also fruits like avocado and the Hayward kiwi. Pesto, the ubiquitous Italian condiment in which olive oil, basil, pine nuts (other nuts are also used), garlic (can be without), sea salt and a handful of Parmigiano Reggiano (Grana Padano in the cheaper versions, no cheese in vegan pestos) are ground into a green paste so handy in anyone’s cupboard.
Local pasta such as trenette, troffie (an ideal team with pesto), pansotti, piagge and corzetti can be found inside the market, but also in the gourmet speciality stores dotted around the town. Many offer freshly-made pasta only, while some are stocked just with the long-lasting dried, yet still artisan, small batch pasta.

Nested on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, Ventimiglia fishermen have plenty to catch. Each season the local waters still attract diverse seafood species. The most popular on the local plates are: sea bream (orata), sea bass (branzino), tuna (tonno) as well as the sweet delicate shrimps (gamberetti) of the nearby San Remo and the larger prawns (scampi). The fish department is separated from the plants, so the sea odour does not fool your nose while sniffing the lemon skins and other fragrant plant produce sold together with the flowers on the main market floor. Once purchased, your fish can be cleaned of scales, deboned and even filleted by the skilled vendors.

Look at the “wildest” row in the middle, off to the right. The tiny stands scattered in this row are the farmers themselves selling their own seasonal and some unusual, rare produce, no imports!
In spring, you will find: artichoke, asparagus (bitter wild as well as the fancy polished sweet and matcha tinted cultivated varieties), bitter chard (Fr. blette) and dandelion leafs, black and white radishes of all shapes (Fr. navette), borage flowers and leafs (to make the superb herb butter of the three Michelin star La Vague d’Or in St. Tropez), celery, pulses such as the ultra Italian beans (fagioli), red endive, Treviso raddichio, and many chlorophyl-rich beauties. Wild flowering spinach (farinello) is an outlier worth trying (great in cheese and egg pies). Cherries, geranium, lemon, oranges, and strawberries (not as sweet as the French ones though) arrive in May before the melons of various colours and shapes.
Of the locally distinctive provenance are the sugar striped beets from Chioggia; purple haze and golden next to the typical orange carrots. Rarities to savour include saltwort (known also as agretti; barba di frate; scientifically: Salsola soda) that with its mineral taste reminds of a seaweed crossed with spinach. Like at the Turin farmers markets, often I find fruits and vegetables that I have never seen before in my life. As a true adventurer I always buy them, question the vendor in my meagre Italian on how to eat or prepare them, and then spend hours on the internet searching for their official identity. Often, a serious investigation not yielding a clue to what I am actually eating! A Slow Food Italian Food guide in my library proved to be more reliable than search engines.
In summer also the reddish brown peanut-size Borlotti beans start to appear on the stands, next to the mountain grown blueberries, pears, and raspberries. Pepper of Carmagnola, the rare Gobo di Nizza Monferrato thistles, rutabaga (Cavolo Navone) and topinambur are highly sought after locally.
In fall and winter from the Ligurian orchards come the Hayward kiwi, Piedmont hazelnuts (Tonda Gentile delle Langhe variety) and castagne (chestnuts). All arrive from the nearby Cuneo that devours Piedmont into its ravenous provincial belly.

Italy from the heel to the Northern rim in cheese

Not just the Italian bounty of Liguria, the narrow coastal region bordering the Mediterranean Alps along the north, the French Riviera in the west and both Emilia-Romagna with Tuscany in its eastern tail, but also mostly from other parts of Italy. The sharp cheese sellers lined along the western side of the market sell anything milk related produced within Italy. From the humble Grana Padano, more astute Pecorino Romano, its drier brother Pecorino Sardo, the mouth-clipping ultra creamy Ricotta from Sicily and Piedmont, Burrata from around Naples, smoked Provolone to various goat cheeses. In the front of my favourite third row reserved to farmers themselves is a cheese stand worth exploring. You can taste all!
I enjoy comparing the Parmiggiano in three different stages of ageing. At the stand number 22 you can get the young six month-novice, the proper 18-months and extra old 24-months veteran. The later is not ideal for cooking for its drier texture and ultra intense but less savoury taste (the umami has dissipated at this stage of ageing).

Intriguing vendors off the market

Small scale produce is the king in Ventimiglia. Free-range farm eggs by Casetta Marco in Monta d’Alba are sold in a small store, about a minute stroll north of the market. Inside also the Azienda Bernardi installs itself from Thursday till Saturday. The sustainable family farm from the Cuneo grows superb cherries, olives, zucchini, berries, apples and other mountain altitude loving produce (625m above the sea) .

Practical details to ease your food shopping in Ventimiglia

If you don’t speak Italian, French comes handy, since most of the merchants are generally cognisant of the French names of their produce. Unless you relish in the rare or lesser known fruits and vegetables as I do, you will find all ingredients for your seasonally themed recipe.

Although most farmers there do not use chemical treatments on their produce, the only certified organic farmer so far is Patrizia Peverello of Agriturismo La Ciapeleta. Her lemons and strawberries (dirty dozen) in particular are appreciated for their pesticide-free nature.
Beware, some stands display Peruvian avocados, African bananas and other faraway treasures. Yet, at the Ventimiglia market, the sun-kissed fruits from Sicily, tomatoes and basil from the coast of Liguria and seasonal rarities plucked from the minuscule gardens of the small producers (all in the least orderly row) are worth the journey. Leaving with a basket full of superb and well-priced ingredients, cheese, pasta, seafood and meat pleases any nearby French or Monegasque resident. Mangiare!

The secrets of the island charms on Capri

Capri’s mountains and discreet beaches charmed once the Roman emperors, and still inspire its natural peace craving artists, writers, and a seclusion seeking movie stars. Jetting from Positano on the Amalfi Coast, the volcanic island of Ischia or from the Naples’ port, the rocky mass spiking from the Tyrrhenian sea was once an exclusive destination also for the European aristocrats. Now, that almost anyone can transfer here quite cheaply, the summers get very crowded and the place’s charm hides itself behind the veil of this colony of visitors.
You can lunch, as everyone does, at La Fontelina by the rocky horns of the postcards adorning Faraglioni. Naturally erected from the sea, the Faraglioni together with adventure and mystery exciting sea caves around the coast are the main draws for tourists. You can also soak the sun rays or hide under a striped blue-white umbrella on La Fontelina’s rocky beach.
But if you are a traveller, not a tourist, and really do not want to miss the real beauty of the island, then take a sunset or a sunrise hike up to its highest peak, the almost 600 meters (±2000feet) reaching Monte Solaro. The views are more than magical, as if climbing the Himalayas you may remain breath-less for a mindful moment, stunned by the might of the God of nature. The Roman Emperor Augustus himself, in his carved stone embodiment, welcomes you atop. On a perfectly clear day, bellow his statue deep down in the sea, dwell peacefully the Fargalioni. The fog can cover them with its hazy cloak, but the in-the-moment brief revelation is perhaps more exciting than the perfect blue plate of beauty served in front of you.

Capri is often enrobed in a mythical cloak of hanging clouds that float bellow certain elevation and you can be caught in this fluffy bed of cotton candy entertainment created in the sky on most days. Its dramatic setting, mountaineous, rocky surface, surrounded by choppy Mediterranean waters off the Italian Amalfi coast, they all contribute to the moody climate as well as to the diverse flora (reportedly over 900 species) growing spontaneously on its land. The flowers are pretty, they smell marvellously, but the beefy red tomatoes are utterly delectable!
You can take a chairlift for a lazy ride up the peak (a long waiting line almost guaranteed), for a broader and more meditative experience employ your legs in the labor they were naturally gifted with – walk. If the soles of your shoes have had enough after swishing downhill, right in the Anacapri town there are plenty of excellent Italian leather sandal makers who will customise each pair to your liking. Antonio Viva has opened his store near the stately Capri Palace hotel over a half century ago and still his “sandali caprese” last for years after your purchase. Even the occasional, bipolar shoppers like me succumb to their charms. A pair of these beauties fits like a second sole to anyone measured in-store. The Palace Hotel has remained a retreat of choice for celebrities. Their spa and the world-famous leg school alleviates any soreness after the island hikes.

Whether you seek solitude, a romantic walk in a couple, or a family exploration of nature, the hike up to the Monte Solaro will glue firmly in your memory. It can rain during the spring and fall on some days, but the hiking paths are almost deserted. Devoted Christians can also pray as they pass through the Cavalry route. To massage your sporadically athletic buildup ahead of the trip, the hike is far from being as strenuous as over 2000 years ago was Jesus’s journey with the Cross on his shoulders.
Tune your soul and breath the purity of nature’s character, the journey up the Sun Mountain begins now.

sunset vista from the peak of Monte Solaro

Address book
Antonio Viva sandal shop:
Via Giuseppe Orlandi 75, Anacapri
Capri Palace hotel:
Address: Via Capodimonte, 14, 80071 Anacapri, Isola di Capri NA, Italy
Contact:+39 081 978 0111
La Fontelina restaurant:
Address:Località Faraglioni (taxi and boat drivers know)
Contact:+39 081 837 0845
Open from mid April till mid October only for long lunch from 12:30 - 4:30pm.
Travel: Naples airport, taxi to the port and hydroplane boat to the Island.

Ornellaia: liquid modern Italian icon immortalised through art

Tenuta dell’Ornellaia makes one of the iconic Super Tuscan wines made from the French – typically Bordeaux grape varietals – in the Italian region of Maremma. This corner of Tuscany stretches alongside the sandy Tyrrhenian sea coast, celebrated for its natural beauty as well as stable climate.
Eschewing the for Tuscany traditional Sangiovese, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab. Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot is incorporated into the flagship Ornellaia DOC Bolgheri, and a pure Merlot for its distinctively high-end Masseto. The later can only be labeled as an IGT, since it is made just from a single grape varietal, and is planned to be totally separated from the Tenuta dell’Ornellaia in the near future. Sangiovese is planted on the estate though, but it is used in a blend of the more affordable Le Volte label.
The first vintage of Ornellaia was released by the Marchese Ludovico Antinori in 1985. A nephew of the Marchese Incissa della Rocchetta, and a brother to Pierro Antinori who oversaw marketing of Sassiccaia and now shields another icon of his extensive wine stable – the Guado Al Tasso (since 1990) in the same area, Ludovico built on the success of his related family with the Sasiccaia. The ownership is under the Marchesi De’Frescobaldi holding.

The estate of olives, vines and art

The entrance to Ornellaia intersects the two hemming lines of camouflaged soldiers posing as an army of green cypress trees of the road that splits the estate to two parts – the closer one to the sea known as Bellaria is more stony. Standing straight up, alongside the Aurelia, an ancient Roman coastal road, the grand Viale Dei Cipressi, announces the serious operations inside the properties that branched out its trunk.
Despite the original nineteenth century farm house being closer to the road, the winemaking itself today takes place further up the hills closer to the soil-diverse vineyards in a super-modern low-built edifice. By no way small, the estate has 99 hectares under vines, separated by the road as well as tall cork trees and about two thousand over 100 years-old olive groves. The later produces a delicate and smooth ‘Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva Italiano’ blended from local varietals. Unlike most of the characteristically spicy and bold Tuscan olive oils, it is rather smooth and soft in the mouth.

The Bogheri microclimate with its maritime mild winters and by the sea cooled summers, protected from wind by the hilly range in the background, has been recognized after more than fifty years of Cabernet cultivation by Tenuta San Guido, the parent of the much admired Sassicaia, as one of the most suitable areas in the world for the Bordeaux varietals.
Ornellaia is quite young for an Italian winery, yet in a short time it managed to establish itself as one of the leaders in its country. Merlot is for Masseto what Cabernet is for Sassiccaia, but Cabernet is the backbone of the blend in Ornellaia despite varying in concentration from a vintage to vintage. The estate’s premium priced Massetto is a pure selection from a single clay and stonier vineyard in the Western corner of the property, that became so distinct and successful, that it is planned to be separated from the Ornellaia brand.
For seven consecutive years Ornellaia has been releasing limited edition art bottles on its magnums, imperials and the unique super-sized nine-litre Salmanazar. Each year, an international contemporary artist has been invited to the estate to create his/her interpretation of the content inside the bottle. Michelangelo Pistoletto ‘artified’ the 2012, Rodney Graham in 2011, Zhang Huan 2009, Rebecca Horn 2008, Ghada Amer 2007 and the first artist vintage, according to the wine production team the “exuberant” 2006, was envisioned by the Italian sculptor Luigi Ontani. He erected four gold-painted columns serving also as fountains, capturing the annual natural seasons (picture bellow).

Each year since then, an art piece such as sculpture, an installation or a painting, was placed in the winery and featured in the series of 111 large format bottles. Signed by the artist, a selection from these has been sold mostly through art-supporting charity auctions.
With the current release of the 2012 vintage, the ‘Ornellaia Vendimia d’Artista’ became more accessible. Now, anyone who purchases a six-bottle case of Ornellaia, will receive one limited edition art bottle in the wooden box. “L’Incanto” 2012 vintage is full bodied, rich, fruity, spicy and expressive and that is why the winery chose the word “enchantment” to describe it. A Swiss artist John Armleder enrobed the spirit of this wine on the top part of the bottle titled ‘Splash’. The showy clear glass sculptures, each one unique due to the artisanal techniques used to create them, have been created with a different finish for each format. Iridescent top coat for the 100 double magnums, chrome for the 10 imperials and gold leaf for the rare Salmanazar. It cannot get more opulent than that.

Not as elegant and smooth as the same vintage of Sassiccaia I tasted just a couple of hours after our visit, the 2012 was bold, powerful and eloquent and the tannins harsher. This youngster has many years ahead though and might surpass my expectations as the tannins soften and the desired harmony unveils its charming equilibrium.
The winemaker of Ornellaia Axel Heinz, directs the modern technology utilizing winemaking. The world’s most powerful press to date, the German-made JB press that I’ve rarely seen at wineries except for the hyper-exclusive project such as the Napa Vally Reserve in California, is used, as well as the best quality of French barriques and temperature precisely controlled stainless steel vats. Hand harvesting and careful sorting by women are the most direct human touches that the grapes obtain, but then it is all in the powers of the winemaker, his sampling of the vats as they mature before he decides which will be blended for each label.

Wines produced by Tenuta dell’Ornellaia:

Ornellaia is selected each year from the 60‐65 “base wines” developed during the first in wood vats. When blended the winemakers has to respect two primary criteria: to express the distinct style of Ornellaia, while upholding the context of the style of the vintage. Then aged inFrench oak barriques for 18 months, 12 months of bottle aging follows. The 1998 vintage was declared Wine Spectator’s Wine of the year as did the 2006. Each single vintage between the 2006-2011, the wine constantly mesmerized the raters giving it overwhelmingly top scores.
Another top scorer, but a very different wine by the Tenuta is Masseto. I’ve had the pleasure to try this pure rare Merlot once, but the international craze after this wine caused the prices to climb so high that I will unlikely be able to repeat it any time soon. The 2005 vintage I shared with my husband was balanced, youthful yet complex and promising. It was not the best wine I have had to date, but enjoyable and stirring curiosity of how it would age.
Le Serre Nuove is the Italian adaptation of the Bordeaux ‘second wine’. Made mainly from younger vines or the vats that do not make it into the flagship Ornellaia blend. With the grapes from the younger vines in the blend it is more approachable in its youth and also more affordable.
Le Volte is the Tuscan brother of the other wines as its blend includes the local lively Sangiovese varietal next to the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The winery also produces a less successful white wine Poggio alle Gazze mostly from Sauvignon Blanc. I tried this wine at the wonderful Enoteca Tognoni in Bolgheri, and was not impressed by its ripe but incoherent firmness. Although a very limited production (2 ha of Sauvignon planted), it is not yet a good value for money as the bottle costed about €50. Perhaps the future vintages will be more refined and worth your hardly earned sallary.
Ornus dell’ Ornellaia is another extremely limited production. This late harvest sweet wine from the 1 hectare of Petit Manseng captivates an entire palate with its sappy richness. The name as Ornus is the Latin name for the Manna tree, truly nourishing.
The winery does not stop here, as the Tucan wine spirit known as grappa is also bottled. The Eligo dell’Ornellaia Grapa Riserva is distilled from the pomace of the red varietals grown on the sprawling estate.
To book your paid visit at Ornellaia call or send an e-mail:
Ornellaia e Masseto società agricola s.r.l.
+39 0565 718242
info@ornellaia.it
The tour and tasting take about two hours and include the tasting of the current vintage of each of the estate’s wines (excluding Masseto), the olive oil and their grappa.

Tenuta San Guido: setting new elite game for Tuscan wines with Sassicaia

Sassicaia has sparked a revolution Italy with its Cabernet-based Vino de Tavola (table wine) made in up-to-that-time-yet-unexplored Maremma region of coastal Tuscany. Today, this is perhaps the country’s most wanted wine for the well-off collectors.
Where once thrived peaches and strawberries, now dwell Italy’s most praised grape vines – mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and a little of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Sangiovese. All that surrounded by sustainable farmland and protected wildlife reserve. The microclimate of Bolgheri is blessed with moderating natural forces like the air cooling sea on its shores and from the wind protecting hills safeguarding its back.

Sassicaia: History of producing French varietals in Italy

The birth of Sassicaia, to date recognized as the most age-worthy wine in Italy, that continues to coat with its cashmere-like softness the impeccable palates of top wine critiques such as Robert Parker and the Wine Spectator’s James Suckling, was first and foremost a child of passion and love. The enamored was an adventurous and for Bordeaux passionate Italian nobleman the Marchese Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted part of his family farm Tenuta San Guido with about a hectare of Cabernet in the 1940s. It was not just a coincidence that part of this farm in the hands of the Rocchetta family consisted of a similar soil as the rocky Graves in Bordeaux, as the experienced wine lover and fearless nature-respecting farmer recognized this and even named his wine a “stony place”, which is a translation of Sassicaia from Italian.
Some experiments encourage others and the Marchese, after successfully making a barrel-aged Pinot Noir in Northern Italy, ventured further South to plant Cabernet that he found more suitable for Central Italy. During the first decades of its production the wines were only consumed within the family and friends, but aging them in a cellar unveiled the wine’s shocking potential for aging gracefully. After its tannin structure lets go, a silky mouth with complex berry fruit and herbal aromas (lavender, mint), cedar wood, and a lasting impression long after swallowing, charms the wine connoisseurs that are patient enough. The 1985 vintage rated with the maximum of 100 points by the US publication the Wine Spectator started the global craze for this exceptional wine. It is indeed a shame that so much of this gem is drunk too early, before its beauty can bloom with its colorful spectrum of floral petals accompanied by refreshing minerality from the soil.
The success of Sassicaia launched a new DOC appellation, Sassicaia Bolgheri DOC, the only single estate DOC in Italy to date. The area became the magnet for other, mostly Italian wine producers, like Angelo Gaja from Piedmont and the other members of the Antinori family originating from Florence. In 1985 a nephew of Rocchetta, Lodovico Antinori founded another well-aging bomb Ornellaia southwest from Tenuta San Guido. His brother Piero was responsible for marketing Sassicaia, but later he also planted Guado Al Tasso with Cabernet and Merlot to produce a Bogheri DOC wine starting in the 1990s. Gaja established Ca’Markanda, a super modern winery blending humbly with its environment. Today, stretching further South, there are many others making either a blend of Bolgheri DOC or a single varietal Tuscany IGT (including the rare Masseto of Ornellaia), some selling their wines for astronomic sums, while others like Biserno and Grattamacco offering better bargains. You can try many of them, including Sassicaia by the glass at Enoteca Tognoni in the heart of the medieval Bolgheri village.

Sustainable farm cherishing its environment

The property is the beacon of a truly sustainable farming. The farm includes next to the exceptional 77 hectares of Sassicaia vineyards,
a wildlife reserve (the first in Italy) where migrating aquatic birds find a refuge,
a forest,
olive groves supporting the soil in more challenging parts of the Tenuta San Guido,
and then a farm producing crops to feed the animals (horses and cattle), for eating and crop rotation as well as for the wild animals.
Most of the 8000 olive groves scattered across yield a blended olive oil, while some serve just as a shade for the crops and the wild animals.
About a half of the farm produces Durum Wheat (farro, emmer), barley, oats for the livestock feed, and rape for biofuel and as a snack for the wild geese hopping around happy flipping their feathers. The other 200 hectares are reserved for forage crops, soil rotation and as supportive food for the wild animals inhabiting the reserve.
The Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta and his wife shared an admiration for horses and together with a renowned breeder created a special breed of The Dormello Olgiata racing horse. One of them named Ribot, became the most famous italian gallop race horse ever. The stables are inseparable from the estate.
Today, the son of Mario, Nicolò continues in the nature preserving cultivation at Tenuta San Guido.

Wines produced by Tenuta San Guido

There are three wines produced solely from the grapes planted on the property.
The flagship Sassicaia was first produced purely from Cabernet Sauvignon varietal, but later a small quantity of Cabernet Franc (about 15%) has been added. It was commercially sold since the 1968 vintage. Today, Aaging for two years in small French oak barriques (Yugoslavian oak was also used in the past), and six months in the bottle prior to its release, every single vintage is built to age for many years, so keep it in your cellar or look for older vintages to drink now. For this reason two vintages – 1969 and 1973 were not produced as they were not considered age-worthy. Drinking it too young, under five years after its harvest should be considered disrespectful of its potential. As if you had a talented child playing superbly tennis and instead forced it to become a mathematician instead.
Best vintages: 1985, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009.
Guidalberto is more approachable in its youth. The IGT Tuscany blend of Cabernet and Merlot was released in 2000 and is aged for about 15 months in mostly French barriques and a small amount in the American oak barrels. Three months in the bottle before anyone can get a hold of it outside the estate guarantees its readiness for drinking.
The most affordable and easy drinking Le Difese was released in 2002, not long after its predecessor, as another IGT Tuscany wine of the property. It is closest to its Tuscan heritage since a 30% of Sangiovese is added to the Cabernet.
The winery co-operates with another wine grover and producer in Sardinia, the Agricola Punica, making Barrua and Montessu red wines mostly from the locally grown carignan. These wines for me lack the elegance of Bolgheri though.
As a honored member of Primum Familie Vini, an invitation only international association of the leading wine producing families in the world including the Antinori, Rotschields of Mouton, Egon Muller, Miguel Torres and others, Sassicaia upholds the highest standards of family businesses in the wine industry today. If you can afford it, you must try this iconic Italian wine.

Ravello: Pearl of the Amalfi coast in Italy

The Amalfi coast is named after an ancient, stone-built town of Amalfi, that in its full colour spectrum like by precious stones covered buckle nests on the front ankle of the boot of Italy. Welcoming visitors arriving by sea, from the nearby Naples, Capri or further away, the villages and small towns carved into the steep coastal cliffs, like the mythical sirens lure in with their photogenic songs.
As these coastal treasures just escaped from the disastrous erruption of Vessuvius, that centuries ago ashed down Pompeii, their scenery remains untouched by the cruel whims of nature.

As attractive as in the past, the drama of the rocky ascents tamed by an aerial tranquility, is still seducing Italian actors, singers and other mostly European elite holidaymakers with its mythical charm.

Classical beauty for the ears

Cultural hedonism is another reason to visit the area and its hill-topping village of Ravello.
The annual Ravello Music Festival is world-famous for its vertigenous stage at the majestic Villa Rufolo. Here series of live classical music concerts are held on its spectacular terrace reaching towards the Mediterranean horizon.
Taking advantage of a surreal atmosphere at such a breathtaking venue is natural, but the Italians have a knack for adding an extra pinch of la dolce vita.

Not just the sea view setting with a fluff of cotton candy clouds hanging in the void space, but also the fame of the musicians performing here make the festival a must-visit (and hear) event. Especially in mid-August, when the sunrise is celebrated by a 4am concert. You can listen to the tones composed by Wagner, who as well as movie stars like Greta Garbo and Sophia Loren loved to hide away in Ravello.
They all weren’t discouraged by its challenging access by road. Since, like them, you can avoid the zig-zagged ride through the protected mountains that form the rocky headboard of the Amalfi coast. Just take a boat instead. Either hire a private cabin cruiser, a yacht or take a ferry from Naples. The sea route rewards with a breathtaking scenery of one of the most lauded Mediterranean coasts.

Italian villas

The exquisite Villa Rufolo as well as the nearby Villa Cimbrone are considered to be the finest houses in Italy. Explore the stunning garden at Villa Cimbrone. On its steep edge the “Terrace of Infinity” hosts the insiders with a magnificient views of the Gulf of Salerno. According to Homer’s mythology, here was located an archipelago titled “Li Galli”, where Sirens lived and committed a suicide after Odysseus resisted their enchanting song.

Natural bounty

Ravello itself is known for its spectacular blooming gardens, omnipresent olive and lemon groves, and steady lines of vineyards – whenever you turn there is something to pamper your eyes. The gigantic lemons produce one of the tastiest limoncelos in all of Italy. The once ‘secret’ recipe of making this delicious and potent licqueur is now acquired at Mamma Agatha Cooking School (+39 089 857 019). Signora Agatha will also teach you how to prepare Ravello-style dishes from her home-grown ingredients. Inspired by the sea as well as the land, the local cuisine is based on its legendary sweet lemons, plump and sweet tomatoes, Mediterranean fish, seafood as well as milk. The last is not sipped on tables with pasta or a grilled seabass, but skillfully cultured, curdled and moulded into butter, ricotta or mozarella.
Southern Italy is the birth place of mozzarella, and still recognised as its most delicious incarnation being made here. You can taste the fresh cheese at most local restaurants. It makes for a more memorable experience though to visit one of the local mozzarella artisans. In Scala, the cheese producing family will introduce the production process step by step. It might all be in Italian, but once you lick the fresh butter from the spoon, the still warm ricotta or their smoky “mozza”, you forget about needing words for it. Just enjoy as you will not likely get it anywhere fresher than here.

Crafts for memories at your home

Medieval tradition and moorish influence on the region remain alive in the local ceramics. Colorful patterns, fruit motives and voluptuous shapes are typical. While strolling the click-snatch-and-release (in the case of high-heels worn) cobbled streets of the coastal towns you cannot miss the countless local handicrafts shops, where the choice from plates, vases, jars, cups and bowls won’t leave your shopaholic demons untempted.
Piazza Vescovado, the main square of Ravello and the best people watching scenes, is surrounded by cafés serving snowcapped cappuccino as well as local Southern-Italian cuisine. From here, you can also enjoy the view on a remarkable medieval cathedral dated back to the 11th century. It is captivating mainly for its bronze massive door.

The most luxurious accomodation is at the two five-star hotels: Caruso and Palazzo Sasso.While staying at the elegant Hotel Caruso you can learn the tricks of botanical and flower painting from experienced artists, swim in an azure pool with an unparalled scenery of the Tyrrhenian Sea that contrasts the rocky backdroping mountains, or just relax in its flowery gardens. The hotel has its own speedboat so trips to the nearby towns such as the colourful cliff-hanging, although always by raucuous herds of tourists besieged, Positano, can be arranged.
If you wish to see more and enjoy the less crowded coves hidden under the cliffs, then renting a boat is ideal. Gorgeous islands like the Capri, Ischia or the history-exhaling city of Naples and the remains of Pompeii are just a boat-ride away!

L’Andana: shrine of natural calm in coastal Tuscany

A pressing desire to get away from urban stress, an urgent need to fill up your lungs with fresh air, and a thirst for an inspiring landscape might fly you away to the precious grounds of L’Andana hotel in the Western Tuscany.

Even more alluring though are the fresh ingredients expressing themselves in the local Tuscan cuisine. You can savour them here as each season goes by while sipping on the liquified fruits of the generation-old robust vine stocks planted on the sprawling rural property.
Active seductions such as focus-enhancing round of golf, improving your tennis game, equestrian skills and visiting the hill-topping medieval villages, may all-in-all persuade you to spend the next holidays at L’Andana. Families are welcome and there is a separate pool and kid’s activities to keep the calm for adults undisturbed by their frolics.

As the breeze gently caresses the lines of your face like a soft silk scarf, you realise how this Tuscan jewel liberates the mind and recharges depleted energy. Just feed your senses with this natural beauty and forget all the burdens of life, through cooking, walking, cycling, and simply adoring nature from the brisk sunrise to the balmy sunset.
The elegant hotel is set in the skilfully tended vineyards stretching over the coastal plains of Maremma (also the land of Sassicaia). Reaching towards the shores washed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, the climate is often shuffled by the maritime influences, often painting the sky with Raphaelite ceilings. Like in the artist’s Triumph of Galatea, the clouds make you want to soar like the angels on his canvas.

L’Andana is is not far from the more touristy Grosseto. Instead, a short trip to Castiglione della Pescaia, a small fishing village on the coast, rewards not just with a fantastic mamma cuisine (the casual Da Anna is excellent), but also with a more authentic laid-back lifestyle of the locals. For any city dweller this is an awakening experience balancing the spirit in one’s self.

To get here, either fly to Florence, rent a car and race the up-and-down curves for about three hours. Such a stomach-turning ride through the rough Tuscan mountains passes by dozens remote medieval villages, where as if time once stopped, you find solace for your overloaded suffering.
Another option is flying to Rome, hop on a train to savour the coastal vistas all the way North to Grosseto. From there, only 14 miles away, welcomes you at first a stately lane of pine trees, that turns into verdant olive groves and endless vineyards. In the midst of all that landscape hides the pearl grown up as L’Andana.

This former hunting lodge of Leopold II, once the Grand Duke of Tuscany is unique not just for being a refuge from the social and work commitments, but also for the gastronomic cuisine currently directed by Enrico Bartolini of the three Michelin starred restaurant at MUDEC in Milano. His one Michelin starred Trattoria here serves typical Tuscan produce in a contemporary way.
Although the dining room’s interior is casual, the food and its presentation upgrades the meal there to a fine dining experience.

Learning how to prepare delicious meals from local Tuscan ingredients can reset your overworked mind. Cooking classes can be arranged upon request, an ideal opportunity to engage in a lot of hands-on fun. Vegetarian and classes for children are also available. We learned how to fillet fish and made outstanding seafood ragout, partially trapped into the large tubes of paccheri, making these pasta the ideal shape. Sipping a local white Vermentino in between our manoeuvres with the knives injected more joy to the precise cooking instructions.

The lush estate produces its own Tenuta La Badiola wine, olives and olive oil, as well as the superb beef from the local long-horned and in antique silver shades coated Maremmana cows. All these fresh Tuscan staples are served at the farm-to-table hotel trattoria and the Michelin stared restaurant. The property is also a suitable base for additional exploration of the famous Tuscan wines. Montalcino and Chianti are within reach.
As a five-star hotel L’Andana spoils you in the warmly decorated luxury rooms and suites. Some even with their own fireplace. Let the romance warm up your evenings or just roll it all out as there is a small chapel with charming landscape views on the property. On Sundays the bells chime around noon reminding of the country’s catholic devotion. The spacious rooms are tastefully furnished with classic and curvy romantic furniture.

Aromatherapy and other natural treatments are provided by ESPA, a globally established luxurious hotel spa chain. The extensive wellbeing area is sustainably built as the ESPA eco-conscious philosophy prescribes. Accompanied by uplifting facilities like sauna, indoor and outdoor swimming pool and a well-equipped gym with views of the exuberant mountains, the premises set you for a rejuvenating experience after the indulgent Italian meals and the wine tastings.
Athletic guests as well as the play-loving are entertained by a nine-hole golf course or the outdoor tennis court convertible into a football field. If you like running, you will love jogging along the dirt paths lining the vineyards sunflower and barley fields as I did. Moving in nature invigorates not just your body but also by the city drained mind.
The best time to visit is from March until November when all the outdoor activities are still blessed by pleasant temperatures.

Staying in the midst of fertile Tuscan countryside is a genuine escape to simplicity, at L’Andana elevated by its noble history and a luxurious touch thoughtfully designed for the most demanding life connoisseurs.
Enrich your life with learning experiences that make you feel and be better.

Osteria Francescana: contemporary Italian storytelling featuring Modena's best ingredients

Massimo Bottura is the genius of contemporary Italian cuisine. We were so mesmerized by his food, that Osteria Francescana became the first three-Michelin-starred restaurant at which we dined twice in the same day – lunch and dinner. There cannot be a dispute about the brilliance in the evolving chef’s visionary transition of traditional Italian ingredients into the works (plates) of delicious art. Rather than feeding his diners with the familiar classics of Italy’s distinct regions, dining at his Osteria Francescana in Modena means exploring philosophy and reality of life on the plates. He unashamedly deserves to bear the recognition as the “World’s best chef” awarded to his rather off-piste Osteria in 2016.

As much as being an unforgettable experience of a hedonistic pleasure, Bottura’s dishes make you think and wonder about their deeper meaning. Like the meals in Italy filled with emotions, the chef’s creations do not lack a pinch of emozione that is poured directly into their own bloodstream. He could have been the mama behind the stove of a village trattoria, convinced of the perfectness of her food. In person, he is proud, passionate, intensely articulate, and his discourse mesmerizes anyone interested in food [just look at the photo at the bottom of this review].
His muses, the ingredients, are mainly found around his native Emilia-Romagna.

As most revolutionaries and prophets of progress, the intrepid chef attracted many adversaries, disbelieving his culinary oeuvre, and mocking him for ruining by-generations-perfected Italian tradition of simple mangiare [=eating]. Yet, his intelligence rebooted the naysayers. Bottura explained to us during our private encounter, when dining inside the wine cellar for the second time in the same day, that he is not trying to change the Italian traditional foods for the sake of the change itself. He enunciated carefully, that “innovation is important for progress“, and this drives him, but also that he enjoys “feeling the ingredients and thinking deeply about them”. When the chef is trying to find the ingredients’ soul, getting the best of what they have to give, he can better understand the secret of their appeal to our palates. “We think a lot together in the kitchen“, said in a brief state of nonchalance the master brain behind the World’s best restaurant and the first chef in Italy to achieve this distinction.
Osteria Francescana fully deserves this coveted spot at the peak of the global restaurant pyramid. Although, one cannot uproot and totally dismiss the everyday pleasure from the simple traditional Italian dishes like pasta bolognese, risotto with saffron, Milanese ossobuco, breaded Veal Milanese or Ligurian troffi with basil pesto, that all easily satisfy our grass roots cravings. Osteria Francescana is not an everyday meal, it is that rare treat when one dines there filled with a gastronomic curiosity on certain special occasions.

When his hearty personality reaches out to you, there is no escape from connecting and embracing his artsy ideas. Like in his dish “Oops! I dropped the Lemon Tart” the chef splashes out sweet and sunny energy all over the plate. Needless to add, although it does not look like the perfect pretty cake, it tastes superb! The chef trained with the world’s best chefs from Alain Ducasse, who took him to his deluxe culinary incubator at Louis XV. in Monaco, to Ferran Adria at the former World number one El Bulli (closed) in Spain. Ducasse’s teaching shows in dishes like the “Abstract of prosciutto and peas Tagliolini“, a pure and intriguing broth focused on the lightness of seasonal vegetables. The deconstructed “Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano in Different Textures and Temperatures” were so different and unexpected, that El Bulli would have featured it if it were still in operation. The Parmesan became the most memorable culinary creation for me, and a great news for the future diners is that it is a permanent fixture on the signature menu: TRADITION IN EVOLUTION.

We indulged in this multi-course menu for lunch (€170 – a special occasion, not a daily trattoria), while sampled other plates à la carte for dinner. I learned that intuition has always been in Bottura’s repertoire of skills combined with his intelligence and a penchant for contemporary art. While the later has yielded an artistic collaboration with the talented painter Damien Hirst in which the craft of one inspired the other, his intuition drew him to cooking instead of working in his family’s oil business (with the Ferrari factory nearby almost everyone is somehow involved with the car industry) as he dropped his studies of law in order to open a small trattoria.
The British artist became the chef’s conceptual muse. His hallucinogenic spin paintings are mirrored in the casual plate of “veal” that is actually a piece of beef cooked sous-vide (in a vacuum) with an ash, all splashed over with colorful sauces evoking the Hirst’s style on a canvas. The “Beautiful, Psychedelic, Spin-painted Veal, Not Flame Grilled” also became the object of the artist’s new painting. Another, this time, a local artist Giuliano Della Casa, has been painting the menus with watercolors in exchange for food and drink at the restaurant. It seems to be an Italian passion since I also saw hand-painted menus at one restaurant in Piedmont.

Another favorite of mine and many other diners on the signature menu “An Eel Swimming Up the Po River”, stuns even the most refined Japanese palates, accustomed to their country chefs’ mastery of preparing perfectly this sea snake (eel). It might look very simple, but this dish takes a week to prepare, as the chef confessed. The eel possessed one of these flavors that your brain hardly forgets. Intense, yet delicate, deep yet refined, sweet and sour, dry and moist. Contrasts of flavors unsurpassed in the world of eel dishes. Like most of Bottura’s creations, these contrasts played harmoniously like a perfectly conducted orchestra. The instruments of the eel with a syrupy sauce of saba, a reduced grape must be used in making of balsamic vinegar, Amarone from Veneto, and sprinkled with burnt-onion-powder “mud” contrasted the more sweet apple extract as well as the creamy polenta sauce. The idea behind the dish came from a historic event when during the 16th century the Estensi family had to leave the capital Ferrara for Modena. Traveling against the current, the dish gathered ingredients typical for the regions the boat had to pass. This idea earned him praise globally and this plate became one of the iconic fine dining creations of our time as it entered the gastronomic world’s vocabulary.
The lettuce might look like a joke in a €170 costing menu, yet the “Caesar Salad in Emilia” again is not that simple as it looks. An abundant discovery of local flavors hidden inside the lettuce heart shield awaited in each mouthful. Discover yourself and your taste buds what is inside.
The tasting menu highlights the local ingredients with the prominence of top quality Balsamic Vinegar. In the “Foie Gras Ice Cream Bar with Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena“, the crunchy caramelized almonds and hazelnuts and extra-old Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena coat like a lolly the creamy foie gras. The chef himself makes an award-winning Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, that he ages in the attic of the Museo del Balsamico Tradizionale in Spilamberto. He poured us a half spoon of this super thick delicacy to taste, and I could not stop licking the spoon long after the content was gone. Addictive and dangerously good!

It is rare to like every single morsel on a multi-course tasting menu, including the homemade slowly raised bread and small extras before, between and after the sequence of the chef’s creations, but we did. The chef’s sensitivity to details and his self-proclaimed approach to cooking: “First is taste, second is health and then comes the dishes capability to intrigue and engage your brain“, made even the basic grissini one of the best I had ever crunched. Crispy yet soft, full of fragrance from the olive oil used in its baking. Indeed, as with pasta and bread, the success lies in a patient mastery of the process, and at the Osteria Francescana they got it right.
The dozen tables restaurant nestles in a small pedestrian alley in the historic medieval heart of cobblestoned Modena. The city, where the chef was born, and in 1995, after return from his global self-discovery, opened the now famous restaurant, on the spot of a casual Osteria Francescana, the name of which he kept. His private collection of contemporary art does not hang only on the wall of his home, but also adorns the intimate rooms of the restaurant. Right after entering you might be slightly shocked or amused by a trio of stuffed pigeons by Maurizio Cattelan, but there is more to be found in each room to explore in terms of controversial art for your eyes and your taste buds. Music, another passion of the chef, penetrates smoothly into your ears while you dine. I loved the jazzy tunes since I often miss music and a more entertaining atmosphere at most of the austere ambiances of many high-end restaurants.

From the a la carte menu in the evening, we tried the for starter the delicate spring-evoking “Terrine of lightly smoked cauliflower with red shrimp and Calvisius Oscietra Royal caviar “, and a chef’s sweet and sour take on a local sausage “From Modena to Mirandola: cotechino and zabaglione” with Lambrusco and the egg-yolk rich zabaglione. The main course of “Suckling pig with crispy skin and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar from Modena” was rich, deep, balanced and meaty as one would expect, yet my husband who is not a pig lover loved it. The Mediterranean “Branzino in an infusion of fragrances from the Gulf of Sorrento” was respected by the chef. Sea Bass at its best is served simply, so his delicate nature is not diminished by sauces and other ingredients, yet the chef found the perfect balancing act in adding just the fragrances found around the Mediterranean – a natural symbiosis.

A small crunchy ‘tartine’ of dark chocolate topped with a pair of thin-crusted chocolate cherries is inspired by a nearby town Vignola, known across Europe for its superior cherries Mora di Vignola. These sweet, dark-skinned cherries are as rare as seasonal – only late May and early June provide men with these delicate sweet and slightly sour tasting fruit grown around Vignola. Bottura created a reminiscence of this praised local cherry in its liquor filling the chocolate, and made it thus available for its fans throughout the year. More dark chocolates were to come with our tea, seducing us to another sweet temptation. One must try them all since these morsels molded from cocoa could proudly contest with the best chocolatiers in the world. The tiramisu ball enrobed in an extra fine layer of dark chocolate, popped with the pressure of my tongue splashing the liquid coffee cream inspired by tiramisu inside my mouth. I sighed with a pleasure, and the chef himself seems to be particularly fond of this sweet treat.
It looks like we ate the entire Bottura’s menu in one day, and indeed we tried most of it. We were intrigued by his refreshing talent. The three stars from Michelin, three hats by Gamberro Rosso, Number three restaurant in the world, all the accidental!? ‘threes’ are deserved awards for rebellious hard work and striving for innovation in a country where tradition is as sacred as the Pope himself. The chef mostly cooks at his restaurant in Modena, but now he also makes culinary trips (he was cooking in Tokyo at the Bulgari restaurant in Ginza) and attends the chefs’ symposia (‘Cook it Raw’), so you may miss him. Contrary to most of his top-ranking colleagues, he devotes only necessary time to the celebrity chef duties like TV appearances (watch him on CNN’s “Culinary Journeys”) and life culinary shows.

Drinking well at Osteria Francescana

Next to the Tuscan heroes and Piedmont big-ticket Barolos, the wine list offers also interesting pickings from more and lesser known Italian regions. The wine pairing (add €110) alongside the tasting menu was a revealing journey into the diversity of Italian wine. In the cellar, you find bottles of Masseto, one of the country’s most expensive wines, fronted by red Ferrari as an allegory to their high value. An aperitif of Italian spumante – Annamaria Clementi Ca’ del Bosco – was deep and complex, and could easily compete with very good vintage champagne from France, while the orange wine, the local beer, and other surprising pairings fitted perfectly like a cork in a wine bottle. Since we were eating inside the wine cellar we splurged on a 1998 Ornellaia and a very interesting and surprisingly light Sicilian bottle of red Frappato by Occhipinti.
For the genuine gourmets eager to eat what the season and chef together ripen, the seasonal plates in a surprise tasting menu called SENSATIONS can be an interesting choice. If you are just hungry for an inspiration or a creative muse in the home kitchen, read the best-selling book by the chef titled ironically “Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef”. The chef being thin himself, highlights his approach to everything – flip things to make others question the conventions, but make it work.

🕗 Open for lunch & dinner Mon-Fri; dinner only on Saturdays; closed on Sundays and each January.
✉ 22 Via Stella, Modena, Italy
☏ +39 59 22 39 12
NOTE: Beware, there is no parking in front of the restaurant, since it is located in the historic center of Modena you will need to walk, but the restaurant will send you instructions for parking once your reservation is confirmed. Every single reservation at Osteria Francescana must be confirmed the day prior your visit otherwise it will be canceled.

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