Italian Cuisine

Posted by Rebecca Ford

I’m off to Italy again to continue research for the new guidebook, so once again I’ve got to tackle the packing. It’s an art I’ve never fully mastered. I went through a ‘capsule wardrobe’ phase a few years: you know the sort of thing you see in magazines in which you have about one skirt, a pair of jeans, a couple of tops and a huge scarf - which you’re meant to tie in a hundred different ways to create everything from beachwear to a ballgown. It never worked and I always looked crumpled within a couple of days and never could do anything interesting with the scarf.

I’d really prefer to travel in ‘everything but the kitchen sink style’ like the celebrities do, with about 6 massive suitcases and, of course, someone to lug them about for me. I’d be prepared for every eventuality and type of weather. But as that’s not going to happen, and since I’m travelling around Tuscany on buses and trains, I need to find some sort of compromise between the capsule and the kitchen sink. The real problem is the amount of paper that I accumulate on trips – I grab every map, leaflet and brochure I can. Last time I had to buy a new bag to fit them all in, and they weigh a ton. On top of that there’s my camera and my notebooks and pens – no laptop, too heavy. And I always take at least 2 paperbacks with me – I hate the thought of being stuck without something to read. I’d better get going now.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

Summer in the city – and the temperature’s rising. In Florence the other week it was well over 30 degrees C for days on end. Even the locals were complaining. Too hot to be on holiday – let alone working. But I’m currently writing a new guidebook to Tuscany, so I had no choice but to get out and about. Mad dogs and English guidebook writers go out in the midday sun.

Florence is a small city, nice and compact and easy to explore on foot. But it was so hot it felt as if it had expanded to the size of London. Getting up early is essential to beating the heat. Luckily the main museums open very early – about 8.15 am, so you can enjoy some of the main attractions before the mercury rises.

However, I had one nice surprise. The euro is currently so high, against both the pound and the dollar, that visitor numbers are down. And this meant that, whereas it’s usually difficult to enjoy sights such as the Uffizi gallery because of the huge crowds, everywhere was much less frenetic than usual. I even had the convent of San Marco, with its wonderful frescoes by Fra Angelico, to myself. Well worth the discomfort of the searing heat.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

To the Globe Theatre on London’s South Bank on Sunday to see their production of King Lear. Probably not the cheeriest choice for a summer Sunday afternoon – the stage was littered with bodies by the end. However, the magnificent production more than compensated – David Calder was a believable, often fragile, very human Lear. And the Fool, played by Danny Lee Wynter was both witty and compelling.

The couple behind me seemed to enjoy it too, though rather more intrusively than I would have liked. They whispered noisily to one another at key moments, chomped apples and nuts, and fidgeted the whole time. They’d also left their mobile phone on, which proceeded to trill chirpily at an intense part of the performance. Infuriating.

The Globe and its players, however, rise above all such annoyances. It’s part of the open to the skies experience. The actors cope brilliantly with helicopters hovering overhead, winds gusting off the Thames, audience distractions (an unfortunate lady in the standing area fainted on Sunday) – even curious pigeons landing on the stage. In fact they’re so skilled that they can sometimes build these things into their performance (at one production I saw, an actor cleverly directed some of his lines at a pigeon that kept waddling across the stage). It’s what makes the Globe alive – and the very best place to see, and understand, Shakespeare.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

Just back from a week in Quebec City. The city is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year – that’s 400 years since it was founded by Samuel de Champlain. It was the first settlement in New France and today the French language is still dominant – I met a couple of people who said they didn’t speak English at all. A few others said they didn’t know much English – though they then proceeded to speak it pretty competently. What was interesting was how different the French of Quebec sounded to that spoken in France. I found it really hard to catch anything – far more so than in say, Paris or Lille. In the end I didn't even attempt my usual efforts at Franglais.

“Some French people laugh when they come here,” one local told me. “They certainly notice a difference and say that we speak very quickly. They also think it’s funny that we don’t allow any Anglicisms in Quebec French.” “So, you don’t say ‘le weekend’ or ‘le camping’?” I ask. “Oh no,” she looks rather appalled at the thought.

The city also has a more European feel than others in Canada or North America. There are little squares, some winding streets and – perhaps most welcome of all – you can walk everywhere. In fact you get great exercise, since Quebec City is divided into a lower town by the old port, and a higher town on top of the escarpment. Walking up and down the steps between them tones the thighs beautifully. Good thing too, if – like me - you’ve given in to temptation in the local patisseries .

Posted by Rebecca Ford

Over the past few weeks, newspapers here have been devoting more column inches to the rising price of food. Basics, such as wheat and rice, have shot up in price – due it seems to a rather complex mix of factors: climate change, affecting harvests; increased meat consumption in countries such as China (meaning that land formerly given over to growing crops is now used to raise cattle); and the production of bio-fuels. This last is perhaps of most concern, as in many cases fertile land is being taken out of food production in favour of more lucrative bio-fuels. This means that many essential foods are not only rising in price, but are also becoming scarcer.

It has certainly been noticeable on my local supermarket shelves, as some days they’ve been denuded of that essential of Italian cuisine – pasta. Perhaps people are stock-piling it?

It would be hard to imagine cooking Italian dishes without pasta – or to a lesser extent rice. You could use gnocchi, of course, as they’re mainly made from potatoes. The other alternative would be that staple of the north – polenta. This golden cornmeal is certainly versatile – you can eat it hot or cold, or even fried. And it’s very filling. The only trouble is making it in small enough portions. It seems to grow in the saucepan and I always seem to cook enough for ten.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

To the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington Gore last week, to hear Sir David Attenborough speak. I’d been lucky to get a seat, as there was a ballot for places (the organisers obviously anticipating huge interest in his talk). As we filed in I realised that I’d missed a trick – many people were clutching copies of his books, in the hope of getting them signed afterwards.

Sir David looked just as he does on TV – ridiculously youthful for a man in his 80s, though with a rather more noticeable limp, which looked like a painful hip. His talk was on Alfred Russell Wallace and Birds of Paradise. Wallace, a Victorian naturalist, spent years in and around Borneo – much of the time observing these fascinating birds.

His observations led him to realise that species can evolve – a theory he proposed in a letter to Charles Darwin. David Attenborough vividly described the turmoil caused by this letter – for Darwin had essentially come up with his theory of evolution over 15 years earlier, but hadn’t published it for fear of the controversy it would provoke. Now, if he published it would look as if he had copied Wallace. And if he didn’t – it would look as if Wallace had beaten him to it.

In the end, a tactful solution was reached – papers by both men would be read to a scientific audience – just a short distance from where the RGS is today. That was 150 years ago. Next year, Sir David reminded us, is the bi-centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Then he left the stage to go and sign books – pursued frantically by the man who’d been sitting next to me, clutching a dog-eared copy of his work on birds.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

It’s nearly the Easter weekend, which in Britain is the signal for stately homes to re-open their doors to the public. National Trust properties will be gearing themselves up for a rush of people, keen to stroll round the grounds and admire the spring flowers – before filling up on slices of sponge cake and buttered scones in the tea room. I sometimes think they must make more money from cakes than they do on the entrance fees.

Easter’s unusually early this year-it won’t be this early again for well over 200 years, so it could well be a chilly holiday. If you’re heading for Italy, remember to pack a brolly (umbrella) - the forecast is for rain in both Rome and Naples. If you are in Rome over Easter, remember that there will be a Way of the Cross celebration at the Colosseum on Good Friday, and a service at St Peter’s on Easter Sunday. It’s worth going to something like this once, at least. A powerful spectacle – and you’ll get some pictures of the Pope.

Take a look in the cake shops if you’re in Italy at Easter. You’ll see special loaves, baked in the shape of a dove (though the shape is not immediately obvious – look for something rather like a thick splodgy cross). In many regions you may also see Easter pies – like the Torta Pasqualina that’s made in Liguria.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

The earthquake in Britain last week may have only hit 5.2 on the Richter scale, but it was quite enough for us. We’re not used to climatic or geological extremes on this small island – and in our book even small earthquakes count as extreme: the sort of thing that happens ‘abroad’. The epicentre of the one last week was in Lincolnshire, 180 miles away from where I live in south London. But I still heard it – a loud rumbling in the night, and then felt it when my bed seemed to ripple underneath me in a rather alarming fashion. I couldn’t imagine what it was – well, an earthquake in England? – and went back to sleep. It was only when I heard the radio the next morning that I realised what had happened.

Italy, of course, has a less stable geology than Britain. An earthquake, for example, hit Umbria in 1997, killing 10 people and causing terrible damage to historical sites such as the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi. And there are active volcanoes on the islands of Sicily (Etna) and Stromboli and, most famously, on the mainland near Pompeii. While the volcanoes on Sicily and Stromboli dramatically puff smoke into the air, Vesuvius broods in a rather sulky fashion – making it far more dangerous than the others.

Posted by Rebecca Ford

To the Dulwich Picture Gallery in South London last week to catch the end of their exhibition on The Age of Enchantment, which featured the fabulous – and often fantastical, illustrations of artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, Sidney Sime and Edmund Dulac. The timing was good as it coincided with the start of another, smaller, exhibition of Guido Reni’s work. This brings together 6 of the 7 paintings he created of St Sebastian in the 17th-century.

In London, with its world class attractions like the National Gallery and the Tate, it’s easy to forget about the smaller museums and galleries. But they’re well worth a visit. Dulwich Picture Gallery was the first purpose built art gallery in England, and was designed by Sir John Soane. It’s set in pleasant grounds and the permanent collection is rich in European works, including those by Dutch masters and British artists such as Gainsborough. It’s a lovely place to visit in the Spring, with daffodils blooming in the gardens outside.

Spring, of course, hasn’t officially arrived yet and we’re still a few weeks off Easter. But that didn’t stop one travel company from sending out what must surely be the earliest Christmas mailing yet. Come and see Santa in Lapland it urged – only 311 days to Christmas!

Posted by Rebecca Ford

Italy continually comes out well in the romantic stakes. Perhaps it’s the combination of images of black-eyed Latin lovers, delicious food and stunning scenery. Italian food certainly makes the ideal St Valentine’s Day meal – even the worst cook can rustle up some pasta, followed perhaps with a decadent chocolate dessert.

Now a poll for TripAdvisor has come up with the top 10 places to propose in Europe – and, not surprisingly, Italy pops up three times. Popping the question while on a gondola in Venice is one – predictable and rather pricey – location. Another is at the Trevi Fountain in Rome – not one for shrinking violets, as it’s always packed with tourists flipping coins into the fountain to ensure they return. Finally, there’s the Ponte Vecchio, the much photographed medieval bridge that spans the Arno in Florence.

But Italy has plenty more romantic places that lovers could consider. There’s the magical shell-shaped Campo, the piazza at the medieval heart of Siena – magical in the moonlight; or a picturesque Tuscan hilltop town such as Montepulciano or San Quirico d’Orcia (quiet around this time of year). If you’re not scared of heights you could opt for the top of the Mole Antonelliana in Turin – now the Museum of Cinema this stunning building offers panoramic views of the city and surrounding mountains. And if your lover’s a water baby, what about standing by the romantically named Bay of Fairytales in Sestri Levante in Liguria, or looking down at the harbour of gloriously glamorous Portofino…or…? Well, it’s hard to stop when it comes to romance in Italy.