Exploring Italy's Northeast: Udine

Finally we took off to begin our 5-day exploration of the northeast corner of Italy. A high-speed Frecciargento train took us first to Mestre, just outside of Venice, where we changed to a local train to head to the lovely small city of Udine which was to be our base. Udine is located in the Friuli-Venezia Giula region of Italy, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps, and less than 25 miles from the border with Slovenia. Udine was settled by the Romans and then annexed by the many different groups that conquered and settled the region (Huns, Venetians, French, Austrians) until it officially became part of Italy in 1866. During WW1 and WW2 it was once again subjected to Austrian and German rule. But now it is a peaceful, beautiful and clean city presenting the beauty of Italian aesthetics over-layed with an Austrian sense of order.

Our interests were four-fold: to get to know Udine (about which we had heard so many good things), to explore the famous wine regions in the Friulian hills, to explore the Basilica of Aquileia, and to visit Trieste. Along the way we would sample the very different foods, pastries and wines of the area. And so we arranged our four days on the ground to visit all of these very different sites.

Our first evening, of course, included the requisite introductory aperitivo in a lovely piazza, followed by dinner in a simple but traditional restaurant, Il Vecchio Stallo (the old stall) where we tried many of the local specialties: cjalzons (a type of ravioli), polenta, frico (a type of cheese fritter with onions and sometimes potatoes), cevapcici (a grilled dish of minced meat), etc..

World-famous Gubano

Lee had done much research on what we should be trying, and so we were eager to sample Friulian cuisine and especially the local treat called a Gubano made of a twisted pastry dough filled with raisins and nuts. We even carried one back to Florence to share with our friends during morning coffee at the bar in Piazza Santo Spirito!

Map of old Udine

Our first full day focused on Udine and so we rented head-sets and began roaming the city with the help of an audio guide. Udine is made up of many small piazzas with charming streets connecting them all within a ring road which used to be the city walls. Legend has it that Attila the Hun selected Udine as his base when besieging the religious center of Aquileia and constructed a high round hill in the center of the city for his castle and base.

Udine has a small but excellent modern art museum, and so we punctuated our walking tour with a visit to the gallery which contains not only local artists (totally unknown to us) but also major works by De Chirico, De Pisis, and Guttuso.

 One of the loveliest features of Udine is the the small canal system which weaves through and around the city. The following photos show some of the prettiest areas of the town and several of the architectural styles ranging from Venetian (reflecting the time the area was under the control of Venice) to Liberty (art deco in Italian).

Art deco design (called the liberty style in Italy)

Note the Venetian style

More in the Venetian style

Dinner that night was at Alla Tavernetta, a restaurant also featuring local cuisine, where we were able to sample even more Friulano specialties and wine, and fortify ourselves for day 2 exploring the wine regions in the hills generally lying east of the city, centered around the town of Cormans.

Home Again to Florence - September 2014

Here we are again back in Florence. After a smooth flight to Rome and an easy train trip to Florence, we are established in our Italian life once more. It is always interesting to see what has changed over the past three months and to reconnect with friends and our favorite local merchants (Marcello and family, the fruit and vegetable people, Massimilliano and Leonardo the butchers, the cheese shop and, of course, the Mercato Centrale). As always a great joy is to return to our favorite bar, the Pittimingoli, on the Piazza Santo Spirito, to meet up with Nikki, Charles, Connie and other friends for coffee and discussions ranging from shoes to local gossip to the state of the world in general, and that of Italy in particular.

We were barely back when our friends from Greve, Francesca and Uli, insisted we meet them for dinner at Eataly, which opened last spring in Florence (http://www.eataly.com/global/ ). It is fair to say that we would never have selected Eataly, an Italian and New York chain of sorts, for dinner. And so, expecting a rather casual evening, we joined them in front of the shop. 

We were whisked up to the top floor of the palazzo to a beautiful, intimate dining room with frescoed ceilings and soft music to enjoy a dinner worthy of a Michelin star. Two of the pre-appetizers are shown below. Then followed the appetizer, two other courses, and pre-desert and then desert. All creative, bursting with flavor, and yet somehow light.  And so we left several hours later, with wallets a bit lighter, but very happy with the amazing time spent with our friends. The food alone always makes us happy to be back in Italy!

Our next adventure was to go to an outdoor sculpture exhibit in the newly opened Forte di Belvedere (yes, the very same location that was the site of Kim and Kanye's wedding which was all the buzz in June) with our friend Kate. Built in 1590 to strengthen the city's defenses on the south side of the Arno, it sits above the Boboli gardens, and is incorporated into the city walls. The Forte now hosts major exhibitions, and presents amazing views of the city looking to the north and of the hills of Tuscany looking to the south south.

The sculptor, Giuseppe Penone, presents his works under the title "Prospettiva Vegetale" and the translation is difficult to explain. He has created work in marble and bronze and all are quite intriguing. 

Lee and our friend Kate

Our first week came to a lovely close on Saturday evening, when we went to the Festa de l'Unità - a month-long local festival along the banks of the Arno celebrating the end of summer, dined on home-made Tuscan pasta, and then stopped by for some intensely fruit-flavored granita from Carabé, a gelato artisan from Sicily with shops and a school in Tuscany.     


Che la vita è bella a Firenze!

Puglia and Basilicata: Part 3,Mottola and Matera

The last leg of our journey was to the town of Matera in the region of Basilicata. Friends had told us about the very particular characteristics, i.e., the "sassi" of this town which stands in the heart of a region dissected by deeply eroded gorges. It presents a desolate landscapes with wide horizons, beautiful in a stark, dramatic way.

Mottola





 Leaving Alberobello we decided to take the scenic route to Matera knowing that this would add a great deal of time to our route because of the absence of most road signs. Despite having a map of the area we found that the map had few road numbers so this,  together with roads themselves having few signs, it always took us twice as long--but that is part of the adventure.






 

1023 - building the castle

1080 - fighting the Normans

Wanting to find a pleasant location for lunch, we struggled through a few large towns and then set our sites on the hilltop town of Mottola. This small and quite lovely town has been inhabited from the dawn of history. 

Strolling through town in search of a bar (in the Italian sense of the word!) for lunch, we came across the town square which contained a labyrinth of eight mosaics representing battles with the Normans and other invaders from as early as 1064--truly fascinating. The bar owner could not have been friendlier, and provided us with great panini! People from the southern regions show incredible hospitality and warmth.

Matera 


After reconnecting with the main road, we finally arrived in Matera.

The first challenge was trying to weave our way through the old city to get to our hotel, the Palazzo Gattini, which sat at the top of the hill overlooking the gorge, the town, the rupestrian churches (churches built deep into the rocks), and the "sassi", the ancient cave dwellings. We happily handed over the keys to the car to the hotel staff who took care of putting it in a garage.

Matera is know as the subterranean city because of the layers the town descending down into the gorge. Sassi are ancient cave dwellings which originate from prehistoric times and are thought to be some of the first human settlements in Italy. 

Our terrace, looking out to the earliest caves

Matera town center

The houses are dug into the rock so that the streets in some parts of town are actually on the rooftops of other houses. A friend who attends writing conferences in Matera twice a year suggested a guide, and so we took a fascinating walking tour up and down through the town and through its fascinating - if turbulent - history.





Carlo Levi's book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, published in the 1950s, described the dire conditions of the families still living in the caves without water, electricity or sanitary facilities. As a result, Matera quickly developed the reputation of being the shame of Italy. The government forcefully relocated most of the population of the Sassi to areas of the developing modern city. 

Ancient frescoes in a rupestrian church

A happy espresso drinker!

Only 20 years ago, the government decided to provide basic electricity, water and sewage infrastructure, and started permitting people to move back if they would fix up the Sassi, and either live in them themselves, or start a business (B&B, artisan shop, etc.). Even the five-star Palazzo Gattini in which we stayed had been abandoned until recently.










The town has since come roaring back to life with restaurants, inns, and bars. Much to Lee's delight, he discovered incredibly rich coffee served in Matera.  He even sweet-talked the owner of a favorite caffè to sell him some beans to bring back to friends here in Tuscany who are equally as passionate about their coffee!






The Basilicata region is also known internationally for its widely-acclaimed Aglianico wines, which reach their peak in the Vulture area.  This region, on the slopes of a long-dormant volcano, lies about a two hour drive west of Matera, deep in the heart of Basilicata.  We couldn't pass up this opportunity to visit first-hand the region in which these blockbuster wines are produced. 

Armando Martino, a main producer of Aglianico

These wines are characterized by ferocious tannins, which take several years of aging to mellow out. It was well worth the visit, albeit with the, by now, usual navigational challenges. And later that night during dinner, we of course enjoyed a fine bottle of Aglianico del Vulture!

Puglia and Basilicata: Part 2, Gallipoli, Alberbello and the Castel del Monte

As we wanted to cover a great deal of ground while during our limited time in Puglia, we both traveled by train and rented a car in order to explore some of the more remote points of interest. Our first excursion into the countryside was by train from Lecce to the old town of Gallipoli on the Ionian Sea.

Gallipoli

A 90-minute train ride through the relatively flat and productive (vineyards and olive trees) areas of the Salentina peninsula deposited us in Gallipoli ("beautiful city" in Greek). 

 

 

The old part of the town is actually a small limestone island linked to the modern town by a small bridge built in the 16th century. As with so many places in the south of Italy, it was taken over first by the Greeks, and then Romans, and then the etc.

In the Middle Ages it was sacked by Vandals and Goths, but was rebuilt by the Byzantines and later owned by Roman Popes fighting against the Greek monastic orders. Then the Normans, Venetians, and Spanish--whew! The history in these areas of Italy's south makes the mind spin.

During the 18th century, a period of relative calm, Gallipoli became the largest olive oil market in the Mediterranean.

The lovely and sleepy town that we through which we walked had only the remains of the fortifications and many old churches to show for the centuries of high drama. And so we walked all around the old city walls and small streets of the town and, of course, found a cute and calm trattoria for a seafood lunch.

The food, especially the mussels, was fresh and delicious although still a bit heavy on the tomato sauce for our taste. Nevertheless, we enjoyed lunch, and then took a stroll through the modern town before taking the train back to Lecce.












Alberobello

We had seen so many pictures of trullis, and so many friends had raved about this area of Puglia that we decided it was time to spend a couple days actually living in a trullo!  The town of Alberbello is trulli central and looks like a cross between a hobbit village and a random set  of chess pieces. While most tourists stream to the trulli zones, the actual town where locals live and shop is equally lovely if less "cute."

 

Trullis throughout the countryside

 
A trullo (singular, from the Greek word for cupola) is a dry stone hut with a conical roof. The style of construction is specific to this zone, the Murge river area of Puglia. Trulli were generally constructed as temporary field shelters or as permanent dwelling by small proprietors.

The trulli village of Alberobello

The pinnacles have a variety of designs according to the stonemason who built them. The symbols painted on the top cone represent both Christian and pre-Christian and good luck signs. 

Our very own trullo.

Life inside a trullo

Beginning in the 20th century the trullis began to be restored with bathrooms and kitchens and turned into homes and inns. They are now incredibly popular with visitors such as ourselves because of their unusual design and charm. 









And so we passed two cozy and peaceful nights in our very own trullo (which was in fact three trulli that had been merged together), the only problem being Lee's height and his occasional collision with a trullo beam.








Castel del Monte

From Alberbello we decided to make the two-hour drive to visit the Castel del Monte built by Emperor Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor) in 1240, on the summit of one of the highest Murge hills overlooking the sea. 

Frederick II was an amazing historical character - a German, who although Holy Roman Emperor, spent as much of his life in Sicily rather than Germany as possible. He was a scholar, diplomat, warrior with a multi-cultural world view, having been raised in the city of Palermo with Arab, Byzantine, Norman and Latin influences. A fascinating historical note: Frederick won back Jerusalem in the 6th Crusade by diplomacy and was promptly excommunicated by the Pope for not shedding any Muslim blood in the process!

Frederick was closely involved with the construction of his many castles and fortresses built throughout Puglia. His constructions were based for the most part square based on the number four which was considered a magical number in the Middle Ages. 




The square and the circle were considered symbols of earth and the sky, Man and God. Castel del Monte though was designed using the number eight--the octagon was considered a perfect balance between the circle and the square, blending the human and divine. Eight is used almost obsessively here--the castle is eight-sided, there are eight towers and each floor has eight rooms. Sounds a bit like Dan Brown should be here.
 

A bird's-eye view of the castle

It is even today, nearly eight hundred years later, a beautiful and moving structure. Even the interior remains lovely because of the designs and views. Frederick's Castel del Monte even had an internal toilet system, inspired by the Arabs and by this time in common use in Sicily.

Puglia and Basilicata: Part 1, Lecce

One of our great interests, among so many others here, was to visit the regions of Puglia and Basilicata - two regions in the very south of Italy. And so we planned a ten-day excursion to that part of the world. Although a friend had encouraged us to fly from Pisa to Bari, others suggested that we take the rain.  In the end, we decided to take the very comfortable and fast "Freccia Bianca" train in order to see a stretch of Italy we had not seen before. And so on April 6 we headed first to Bologna to change to the train to Lecce, all in all a train trip of over 7 hours.

Our goal was to explore one of the more remote parts of the country, i.e., the "heel" of the Italian "boot" in general and the Salentina peninsula in particular, and then the "instep" region of Basilicata. Much like Sicily, through the centuries this area fell under different influences of conquering countries in no small part because of its rich agriculture. Even today it produces most of the wheat used in making pasta in Italy, huge quantities of olive oil, and several powerful wines (Primitivo, Negroamaro).

After settling into our B&B, the Volver, which sits just outside the town wall, we headed out for a first walk of discovery, a welcome glass of prosecco and a bowl of tarallis, the local cracker specialty often seasoned with fennel seed or pepperoncini.

 




The B&B was cute, if a bit rustic, but they did serve a lovely breakfast on our terrace. So after fortifying ourselves on our first morning we set out to discover the Roman/Norman/Baroque city of Lecce.



 

Lecce's Roman Anfiteatro

Lecce's Roman teatro

Lecce is nicknamed "the Baroque Florence" because of its profusion of incredibly decorative buildings. Prominent and prosperous under the Romans and the Normans (Puglia, like Sicily, was the breadbasket of the time), many Greek, Roman, and Norman structures are still present and standing throughout Puglia.





Lecce's greatest splendor came between the 16th and 18th centuries when the town was embellished with Renaissance, Rococo and Baroque monuments. The local limestone gives the buildings a warm, lovely hue. While time and the environment has worn away many details, the carvings are still beautiful!

The Basilica of Santa Croce is sumptuously decorated with truly amazing ornamentation as are many of the smaller buildings throughout the town. The following photos are just a small sample of the incredible carvings, some whimsical and some grotesque, and unusual designs of the buildings of Lecce.

Food and Wine

We had heard a great deal about the food and wines from the region of Puglia and had greatly anticipated savoring many of the local specialties. In truth, we were a bit disappointed in some dishes, which involved involved heavy doses of tomato-based or fava bean-based sauces (definitely not the Tuscan way) and rather heavy orecchietti (little ears) pasta. We did sample many of the local dishes at breakfast, lunch and dinner and enjoyed them thoroughly. 

For breakfast the local pastry is called a pasticciotto -- deadly with a cappuccino. It is a cake like dense pastry filled with a "crema pasticciera" and served slightly warm. The only problem is that one is tempted to gobble down about six of them, but they are so rich that it would probably be impossible to get up from the table after just two!

At lunchtime in a cafe by the Roman anfiteatro we sampled other specialties:  pastries filled with spinach (a rustica), tomatoes and cheese, and stuffed balls of rice (arancinis also found in Sicily).

Also at lunch Lee discovered a local coffee specialty, the "espressino". Careful analysis (i.e., a brief chat with locals) suggested that it was something like a mini cappuccino (since Italians are not supposed to drink cappuccino after 11 am, this may be a face-saving way to get around this food rule).

Dinner at the Osteria della Divina Providenza treated us to a wonderful seafood dinner in a warm, stone setting.  The local wines, such as Primitivo (the best being from the area around Manduria) and Salice Salentino (based on the negroamaro grape) are big powerful reds, and are justly famous.

But for our seafood based meal we opted for a fruity "rosato" (rosé) made from the primitivo grape.  The term "primitivo" by the way, does not refer to a rough or raw character, but rather to the fact that is is an early-maturing (hence "primitivo") grape.  It is, in fact, the same grape - albeit with a different name - used in making California's Zinfandels.