Paula's Tour Talk

Ciao!

I am flying to London tomorrow to spend a few days with my dear friend Jennifer, author of several great cookbooks, including Small Bites. I will visit the reconstructed Globe Theatre and  the National Gallery, which has the finest collection of Italian Renaissance paintings outside of Italy. It's home to one of my favorite works, Crivelli's beautiful and symbolic Annunciation with St. Emidius.

I also hope to catch a ride on the London Eye, the gigantic ferris wheel built to celebrate the millennium in 2000. (Some people love roller coasters, and some of us adore ferris wheels...).

Then, I will be going on to Milan, where I am meeting a private client for whom I've designed a special two week tour. In addition to Milan at the beginning and end of the tour, we'll visit lovely Varenna in Lake Como, Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, and Venice. I am hoping for slightly warmer weather than the chilly temperatures in the 50's of recent days.

Although it's a little tricky composing on European computers--the keyboard is configured differently, I will try to post some short articles as we go.

Do take a few minutes and check out the National Gallery website, which has great features, including virtual tours of the collections.

And, if you're dreaming of Italy, we still have some places left on our fall tours: The Tastes of Tuscany and An Artful Tour of Florence and Venice.

Ciao!

Easter In Italy

Although as you might expect Easter is essentially a religious holiday in Italy-- a day to attend Mass and visit with friends and family-- children still receive chocolate eggs and other treats. Everywhere people wish each other "Auguri di Pasqua" (best wishes for Easter). Each region has special traditional foods, featuring the freshest spring produce like artichokes and asparagus and lots of lamb, and often a special bread or pastry.

One Easter tradition is to give out a kind of fruit cake, called a Columba (dove) to family, friends, and as a sort of tip to people like your barista and mail carrier. There are stacks and stacks of the cakes in stores and they go for a variety of prices.

Easter Monday is a national holiday and many people take advantage of the long weekend and take a little vacation. In fact, there's a saying in Italy, "Christmas is for the family, Easter is for friends."

I am cooking a traditional spring feast of roast lamb, garlic mashed potatoes (a family favorite), asparagus with balsamic vinegar, deviled eggs, and  fresh strawberries. Even though my kids are teenagers, we'll have plenty of chocolate eggs and perhaps a few bunnies, too. I wish you a very Happy Easter.

Help With Lost Luggage

Since my luggage didn't arrive when I did after my last two flights--one from Italy and one a short hop down to Santa Rosa, CA--I was happy to find a FREE service called Bags Reunited.   

Here's how it works: you sign up with your name and email address and get a lifetime ID number. Then you print out luggage tags with your ID and a message that says, "If this bag is found, please go to www.BagsReunited and report it." Then, if someone, including airline personnel, finds your bag and reports it,  you are alerted via email and  can log in to the website to get the details and retrieve your bag.  The finder gets a free upgrade service which sends a text message to one's cell phone as a reward. (Of course, you can also pay a small fee and get this upgrade.) You can find full details at their FAQs page.

There are some good features to this service, too. For example, you can have the "please report" message printed in up to six languages on all your tags. You can print as many ID tags, as often as you wish, and use them for everything including cameras and I-Pods. There are also some good Travel Tips at the website.

I figure it can't hurt to sign up and put the ID tags on my bags.

Most luggage looks about the same and everything you can do to make yours easy to identify is worth doing.

I did eventually get my luggage back, (it took over three weeks in one case!) and here are some tips I learned from experience:

• Always watch and check to see that airline agent puts on a sticker with the correct airport code for you final destination.
• Keep the bar-coded claim receipts with you in a safe place.
• Write down the details of you luggage--manufacturer, color, size, etc. and carry it with you.
• Put an ID tag inside the bag as well as on the outside.
• Lock your luggage with TSA approved locks.
• Personalize you bags with a ribbon or colorful tag for easy identification.
• Make an inventory of everything you pack and keep it with you (not in your bag).
• Take a digital photo of your bag both closed and opened with your top items showing.
• If your bag is not on the carousel, report it to an airline agent immediately.

Finally, if your luggage is missing, NEVER leave the airport without filling out all necessary paperwork.

I also learned that the advice to put a change of clothes in your purse or carry-on is excellent advice and should always be followed. I sure wish I had...

Of course, whenever possible pack light and carry your luggage on. That's what I plan to do when I leave for Italy next week on Time of Your Life Tours' spring trip.

How to Order Pizza in Italy

No one should leave Italy without sampling real pizza. Pizza is generally only available at dinner time (especially on Sunday evenings when many restaurants are closed). Look for a pizzeria with a brick oven (very often right in the front window with a handsome guy manning it). Most places specialize in only one type: either Napoletana with a thick crust or Romana with a thin crispy crust. Both are delicious.

It's one pizza per person in Italy, and perhaps antipasto or salad. Sometimes you'll be offered a long list of choices, but you will always find certain favorites. These are so common that they often are listed without any explanation-- which can be confusing for tourists.

 

Margherita: tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil       

Marinara: tomato sauce, oregano, garlic (NO cheese)       

Capricciosa: cooked ham, olives, mushrooms, and artichokes

Quatrro Stagioni (Four Seasons): same ingredients as the Capricciosa,
but only one ingredient per quarter of the pizza

Viennese: tomato sauce, mozzarella, German sausage, oregano

Napoletana: tomato sauce, mozzarella, anchovies (EXCEPT in Naples, where it's called Romana)

You might see Margherita pizzas offered "con uovo"  or with an egg on top--it's good! 

Two more things: if you order pepperoni, you'll get red or green peppers; and in Italy pizza is always eaten with a knife and fork.

Although we eat at many fine restaurants, pizza night is always a favorite for Time of Your Life Tours' clients. 

Recognizing Saints in Renaissance Paintings

It can be frustrating trying to figure out who's who in a Renaissance painting. Often a painting's title offers little information beyond something like "Madonna and Two Saints." That's because at the time they were painted everyone could recognize the saints quite easily by the visual cues.

There are three kinds of cues: color, symbol, and attribute. For example, you can always recognize the Virgin Mary because she will be dressed in blue. Saints are often depicted with symbols, items that signify an abstract quality like piety, purity, or fortitude, or that are emblems of martyrdom. Attributes are items that refer to the saint's historical (or legendary role) or career.

For example, in this painting of St. Catherine of Siena she carries a lily, a symbol of purity, and an attribute, a book, because she was renowned for her learning.  Catherine is also recognizable by her black and white Dominican habit.

Mary Magdalene is easy to recognize because she is almost always depicted with long, flowing, uncovered hair, a sign of her lack of respectability, and red clothes. She often carries an alabaster jar of ointment as well.

Some, like John the Baptist, are even easier to know: he is generally shown with a ragged beard, wearing a camel skin, and carrying a cross made out of reeds and a scroll.

You will find St. Peter almost always dressed in yellow and blue with keys in his hands. St. Sebastian is the one shot full of arrows. St. Jerome has a beard and often a red Cardinal's hat. He may be writing or holding a book, and( here's the clincher) he'll be accompanied by a lion.

If you want to learn more, Wikipedia has an alphabetical listing of saint symbology  or there's a wonderful, illustrated book, Saints in Art, by Rosa Giorgi. It also contains the stories of the saints and lots of lore and information. I think it's a must-read for anyone truly interested in this subject.

Festa delle Donne

Around the world, March 8th is International Women's Day. In Italy it is celebrated as La Festa delle Donne. It's a day that recognizes women's social and political power, and it's also a bit of sentimental appreciation for all that women do in every day life.

No one knows exactly why, but the custom is for men to give sprigs of mimosa, a lovely yellow flower, to the women in their lives: their mothers, wives, daughters, and even the barrista in the local bar and other women they see in their daily routine. The flower is given as a sign of respect.

In recent years, women have started giving mimosa to each other as a sign of solidarity and an expression of support  for oppressed women worldwide. It's customary for women to go out in the evening on this day for a night of fun without men. Many restaurants offer special menus and there are often concerts and other events especially for women.

I happened to be in Italy for La Festa delle Donne a few years ago, and I saw flower shops filled with mimosa and even received a sprig myself from a waiter that day. I like this custom and appreciate it's simplicity and beauty.

Free from Barilla: The Italian Celebrity Table Cookbook

Barilla pasta, one of the most popular brands in Italy, has a terrific promotion right now called The Italian Celebrity Table.  You can download a FREE Cookbook with recipes from Italian-American celebrities like Mario Battali and Marisa Tomei. You can even preview the cookbook before downloading by clicking here. I think it looks great.

Plus, for every downloaded cookbook, Barilla will send $1.00 to America's Second Harvest, a charity whose mission is to end hunger. You can even choose whether you want "your" dollar to go to the national organization or right to your local one.

Barilla's website is also full of great recipes, and tons of information on everything from choosing to right pasta for your sauce to pairing pastas and Italian wines, entertaining tips, and lots more. You can also sign up for their free newsletter.

It's one of the best product websites I've ever seen and I hope you will check it out. Barilla pastas and sauces are delicious, too. My son especially likes Barilla Plus pastas (he used to cook in an Italian restaurant) which are enriched with protein.