Italian cuisine may be one of the most popular in the USA and if you are part of an Italian family you have enjoyed traditional dishes as well as special treats on holidays. Although fresh vegetables are a mainstay in Italian cooking, a vegetarian diet is now achievable with the new book by Ylenia Sambatti: Italian, Simple Vegetarian. A lifelong vegetarian, Yle says she learned to cook from Nonna Antonietta, her grandmother. “I loved watching her being fully immersed in making pasta, she had this amazing art for making pasta. For years Yle has organized travel adventures in Puglia that included food experiences. The increased interest in the regional cooking of southern Italy, led to creating Cook in Puglia cooking school. With a platform to demonstrate farm to table specialties and the increased interest in vegetarian dishes or a healthier diet, she decided to share recipes she has cooked for her family and at her school.

For years Yle has organized travel adventures in Puglia that included food experiences. The increased interest in the regional cooking of southern Italy, led to creating Cook in Puglia cooking school. With a platform to demonstrate farm to table specialties and the increased interest in vegetarian dishes or a healthier diet, she decided to share recipes she has cooked for her family and at her school. Thirty easy to follow recipes feature soups, main dishes and even deserts. The ingredients are often already found in your kitchen and the step-by-step instructions are simple and clearly listed.

After months of cooking at home, now may be a perfect time to follow Yle’s suggestion about cooking: “rethink some ways of living and go in a healthier direction when possible, not a drastic change but gradual”. Available on kindle at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RQDM1K6 author contact: info@cookinpuglia.com

Italian street shrines

Pietre Dure: the art of hard stones

Florence offers a  view into the ancient art of

Pietre Dure

Not a painting.    Stone Art

   Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure

Via degli Alfani 78 - 50121 Firenze

Perhaps more familiar are the artistic techniques of mosaic, using small pieces of cut stone or marquetry, applying pieces of wood veneer to form patterns and pictures, but Pietre Dure is celebrated in Florence.

                                               
The museum is housed in a renovated, historic building that wraps around a central garden.   The traditional floor plan was altered exposing a 2 story gallery from the entrance of the museum.

Without the large crowds in other museums, you can enjoy your visit at your own pace.  There was no tour offered and the signage is mostly in Italian.  However,  in every room there were laminated information sheets for visitors to use as they examine the pieces in each room.   

But you may be too busy marveling at the colors and intricate designs on the tables, bowls and vases to read the descriptions supplied.     The walls are covered with stone 'paintings'.  From a distance they appear to be painted figures, animals and lush forest scenes.  But everything is created with very thin pieces of stone that fit together like a puzzle.

Some of the typical motifs used

The second floor houses the ancient machinery and tools that are used to create Pietre dure art. A  film explained the process simply and described how designs are created, patterns made and stone cut to fit exactly into each pattern.  The museums' You Tube posts gives you close up, color views 

For details on this detailed process another  You Tube  video covers  the process from selection of each stone, cutting and fitting into the intricate pattern to the final touches.

You get see the tools employed in the cases as well as stone samples.

This wooden vice holds a very thin slice of marble.   A wire saw will cut out the next design
piece that will be added to the outline

Most walls are covered with works that appear to be paintings but are ALL completed with different colored stone to create each piece.  The work is seamless with no indication that it is not one single piece of stone.

Check with the museum for open days and times.  http://opificiodellepietredure.it/

 Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dure  Via degli Alfani 78 - 50121FFirenze   

Museum of the Liberation of Rome

Museo storico della Liberazione, Rome  another unique experience to discover- beyond the tourist sites.

The museum recording the liberation of Rome from the Nazi occupation is housed in a non descript apartment building not far from the Basilica of St John Laterna.

Here you will find records of the Italian Resistance in 1944 during the WWII German occupation of Rome 9/11/1943 to 6/4/1944.  

Exterior of via Tasso 145, Rome  photo from web site

At this location the SS detained and tortured captured members of the Italian Resistance.  Since 1955 the former cells and offices preserve original leaflets, posters and documents that create the record of events during the occupation.    Photographs, recordings and some films from this time are on display throughout the museum.

Historical Museum of the Liberation Struggle of Rome Prisons

 

The staff member on duty the day I visited.  What stories he may have to share

The museum layout uses the original apartment floor plans    Your audio guide takes you through the rooms on each of the 3 floors.  Tour at your own pace there is much to read and learn in the 19 rooms.   

                      What goes through your mind if you have been captured by the Nazi's
                                                 and brought to this stark building?

The rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors during the time the SS occupied the building,  'housed over 2,000 citizens, soldiers, partisans, who were detained, interrogated and tortured'. 1    In several cells you can see the prisoners faint messages scratched on the walls.

                   .

Many of the rooms have documents, photos, posters and art work from the occupation.   Most of the descriptions and details are in Italian but often there are short notations in English.

Photos and details of detained prisoners are carefully displayed.   

Their ultimate fate is listed for many of the detainees.  These are all sad rooms.   

 Several examples of prisoners' clothing and 

  personal property are on display

                                     

                                                         Bread, Peace, Freedom

               

 

                            Black and white photo from public events and a few of mass gathering 
                                                  for Hitler or Mussolini were fascinating

                                 

Not far from the Termini train station, close to the basilica of St. John Lateran

The museum offered free admission and welcomes donations.  
Several books and publications are available for purchase.
Check with the museum on access to the research room and materials.

Consult the museum's web site to confirm days and times open.

museum web site http://www.museoliberazione.it/
 Phone: +39 06 700 3866
Address:  Via Tasso 145, Rome

Sources for statistics and dates:   www.itww.museoliberazion;  Wikipedia; the Museum Narrates by Antonio Parisella
1.  http://www.museoliberazione.it/en/information.html

Made in Italy, a guide to artisans throughout Italy

Made in Italy, by Laura Morelli

We all may be arm-chair travelers this year, but we can still travel throughout Italy in the pages of Made in Italy. 

Part Italian history lesson, part insider travel guide this compact volume takes your inside the towns and villages of Italy where traditional handmade traditions flourish.

An award-winning author of Art-historical fiction and writer of a guidebook series, Authentic Arts guidebooks,  Morelli has updated her popular series for the third time and gives the reader up-to-date suggestions on how to experience Italy via the people who make the Italian items recognized all over the world.

Covering 5 regions  in Italy from the North to the tip of the boot, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, this is a wonderful exploration of towns and cities a traveler will be enticed to add to their next itinerary. 

                                                        Sample of the map for the NE region

Helpful maps of each region assist planning the cities to explore while traveling between regions.  Each chapter includes the history of an area highlighting the particular handcrafted and artistic items each region is known for, often detailing how a product is made.   In addition, Morelli includes detailed information on specialty food items, vinegars and wines you can discover on your travels. 

Not only shoppers will enjoy this easy read, but travelers may find new ways to ‘experience’ Italy by interacting with locals, visiting a studio and leaning about skills perfected over decades to create items that are truly ‘Italian’.

“One of the many things that make Italy great, is their traditional handmade items that join the past with today.” a quote from her book

Finely crafted violins from Cremona

                            

You know about the lace makers in Burano, but have you seen the pupie marionettes in Sicily or the paper makers in Amalfi.

Sicily:   pupie

Amalfi hand made Carta (paper)

                  

You can watch women in Sardinia hand weave certini or admire the carved stone in the shops in Lecce, Puglia.   Some of the many skilled passed from one generation to the next

                                                                          

  

In a world filled with mass produced products it is refreshing to find craftspeople creating stunning jewelry, fine leather goods, pottery, carved wood, nativity pieces for the Presepe, perfumes from ancient recipes and so much more. 

On your next trip to Italy support a local artist.   All the new places you can experience on a trip Home to Italy!

Wood carving in  Legno

The author has compiled a list of recommended artisans and shops, Artisans of Italy, available to readers of Made in Italy, available on Amazon

Morelli has a PhD. from Yale, has written for National Geographic Traveler, USA Today and Italy Magazines and has published award winning novels including The Gondola Maker and the Painter’s Apprentice.  Her new work, The Giant, is available now.    www.lauramorrelli.com  all photos are the property of Laura Morelli