April 30, 2019
Before leaving for Italy, our family watched an episode of “Chef’s Table” on Netflix devoted to Dario Cecchini, a butcher in the small town of Panzano in the Chianti region south of Florence. So we looked up him up on the internet and, luckily, were able to book a reservation at his restaurant, attached to […]
April 29, 2019
On our trip to Italy over Easter, I took the family to a small village outside Greve in Chianti (south of Florence) for a family cooking class. It took place in the home of Stefania Balducci. Our first sight when we walked in her door was the table set for the meal we would create with her help.
September 17, 2018
For those of you who’ve followed my #100yearsago tweets, this should be a familiar name: the Isonzo River, scene of repeated, grinding, futile battles between the Italians and Austrians in the First World War. The Isonzo River cuts its way through a steep mountain valley in the Julian Alps to the north, exiting around Gorizia, […]
September 16, 2018
Before it was transferred to Italy after World War I, Trieste – on the Adriatic Sea – was the main port city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was a major center of shipping and commerce, and the self-conscious grandeur the Austrians tried to achieve there is obvious. My hotel in Trieste, the Excelsior, was one […]