Green is the color of the leaves, of spring, of the pine, of olives. It’s the color usually associated with nature, just naming some of the positive things connected to this brilliant color, so much present in this season, represented amongst others by refreshing pine fragrance, and sweet perfume of pistachio pastry balls, adding beauty and harmony to our stressful lives in the most delightful way.
The colors of autumn: soft, soothing, calm, reminding us in a tenderly joyful way of the endless colors of existence , of every moment, in any season. Como lake is fluttering it’s intriguing autumn color charm in this period, leading into piny christmas season. I will dedicate the remaining fridays of the year to the marvelous scents, colors and atmospheres of this magical area and it’s wonderful city in the heart of the Alps situated at the south-western tip of the lake.
Il detto famoso: “Non tutte le ciambelle nascono col buco” (che vuol dire che non tutte le cose ci riescono come vorremmo), mi fa sempre venire voglia di fare un bel ciambellone e riscoprire ancora una volta quanta profumata allegria questa torta porta al palato e al cuore. Lo stampo alto per il ciambellone non modella solo una torta dalla forma fantasiosa che porta in sé dolce allegria, ma c’è anche un punto pratico perché quello stampo sarebbe consigliabile per certe torte.
Il mio mare infinito, include riflessioni, passeggiate, profumi, ricette e altri sapori ancora. Una piccola ricerca della bellezza eterna e delle bontà autentiche, incorniciata dalla Riviera del Conero, i suoi colori e le sue colline, abbracciati dall’ebbrezza confortante, incoraggiante e mistica del «giovane favoloso» e il suo L’Infinito.
Le Marche, a lovely name, just perfect for this ravishing region. Its immense beauty simply knocks you off your feet. The Adriatic sea and smooth hills descending towards it from the Appennine mountains. embrace the Marche district.
Its fantastic geographical position creates a unique dialogue between “terra e mare” reflecting in its culture as well as in nature. Characteristic towns nestle in the highlands and rigorous secular olive groves and vineyards bless the landscape. Le Marche has it all: sea, rolling hills, mountains, valleys, sublime cuisine and glorious art sites. Starting off our itinerary amidst the saline perfumed nature of Portonovo, nestled in Ancona’s sea resort, Conero Park will make you feel one with nature at a glance.
Mussels, as clams and oysters, are extremely nutritious as very delicious. Those plant-like bivalves could add to food security in aquaculture, that we need so much now. They filter their food from the water, cleaning thus gallons of water by day, and that of course improves the habitat for other sea creatures around them. It is obvious that the cleaner the sea, less hard work for them and purer and healthy product. Now is the high season for the “moscioli”, wild mussels of the Conero regional park area, Marche region, Italy, that starts from april and ends in september. Visitors of the Conero riviera, are ever so lucky to get to taste those exclusive sea gems. I made a simple sautéed version. Mussels are such a great food, just be careful of pick well when buying them.
The inlands of Finale Liguria are a real paradise for outdoor activity, and you have concentrated inside the circle of a few coastal towns a world of various landscapes and hidden treasures, both naturalistic and gastronomical.
There is something for everybody: comfortable beach walks, climbing in the area of rocky caves, Roman bridges and a charming archeological park in Orco Feglino. Here you find three hints for your Finale Ligure weekend.
In difficult times and crisis, the thirst and hunger for art seems to become a general need. Pablo Picasso wrote a sentence that crystallizes in a glimpse what art means for our soul: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”. So true and a beautiful metaphor at the same time. Just think of what a difference it makes, if you just pay attention to your breakfast, that it is not only nurturing, but as colorful as possible, that you inhale some extra minutes the enchanting perfume of your favorite coffee listening to a great song or symphony. In everyday life maybe we take art too much for granted, and don’t make the most of our own private moments, creating small works of art out of our lives. In times of crisis it is the soul who seeks by itself its food, as if telling us it has to be nurtured, it needs to rejoice, to be caressed caress it in midst of a storm. Art reconfirms itself yet another time as our official food for the soul.
I visited Rome two days in pre-spring, vivid, charming and fresh as ever, embracing the rinascimento season with its timeless flavors & perfumes, its warm gazes full of profoundly rooted joie de vivre and gestures loaded with centuries of savoir faire. I put on the timeless and comfortable ballerina shoes of Audrey Hepburn (the style of shoes she loved to wear), ideal for tippling quietly yet elegantly through one of the city’s most characteristic neighborhoods, Trastevere, tasting, observing and odouring its magic, its genuineness, its passion for life and the beauty that lies in the little things. Accompanied as before by beautiful Berta. Let’s dream together of Rome and try to imagine the sensations produced by its numerous flavors, perfumes and colors. Rome is resting now like all Italy, resting and fighting like all Italy in order to make this beautiful spring continue, more vivid and colorful than ever before.
There are few things more romantic that I can think of than Rome in spring, or should I say breathlessly charming? Observing Flora’s season exploding with its million colors and perfumes into the timelessness of the city is somewhat unique.
When I think of Rome, and when I go there, my spirit automatically travels back at least to the mid fifties and sixties when Audrey Hepburn had already left her inimitable footprints in the eternal city, first with Vacanze Romane (1955),
and later living there for many years. Celebrating International Women’s Day by getting into her beloved ballerina shoes and tap through her most dear Trastevere neighborhood in the company of the border collie Berta and photographer Danilo Mecozzi.
