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FEATURING an EXCLUSIVE
LAKE COMO Review
MARCH 2009 I s s u e 72 £3.75
the NO.1 magazine for lovers of all things italian
www.italymag.co.uk
people property holidays style culture food
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EDITOR’S PAGE
the NO.1 magazine for lovers of all things italian
J
‘benvenuti’, welcome!
IT IS AN INTERESTING time to reflect on how the world’s perception of Italy has turned full circle. Long considered the economic eccentrics of Europe, the values that are inherently Italian are rapidly being hailed as the great virtues of the new world. Living for and enjoying life today whilst saving for future rainy days means that the country is in far better shape than many others. It also helps that the worst effects of globalisation have passed the country by.
world of a triple Michelin star chef to our readers’ prize winning spring recipes. We visit the Maremma area in Sothern Tuscany/Northern Lazio where the malarial marshes have been reclaimed, and look at the horsemen who drive the cattle, a way of life that goes back generations. For those with a head for heights, a visit to the Brenta Dolomites offers not only spectacular views above the clouds but an unforgettable walking experience. If you are visiting Venice, look out for Alex Hai the only female Gondoliera: in this issue we tell her story. Heinz Beck, Rome’s 3 star Michelin Chef, tells us the secrets of his enormous success and how he became a chef as a result of a toss of a coin! We move from one cultural star to another, and interview the vivacious singer Alexia in Table Talk.
The strong sense of culture, food and identity that is enforced with charm and style mean that change from the outside is slow to make an impact. It is not unusual to deal P E T E R S H AW – EDITOR Tourism Reporter of the Year with clients who welcome a phone call to tell them you have National Union of Italian sent an email to them, otherwise the email would sit unread Journalists, 2007 indefinitely. It is encouraging to see McDonald’s sited by the motorway, out of town, rather than in the centre of Lucca. We chart the rise in success of the very fashionable Piatonna Faltering attempts at speaking the language are almost universally encouraged handbag and take a look at the beautiful and atmospheric Lake Como, which is not the case in certain neighbouring countries. inspiration to many famous writers and composers, and a favoured location The integrity of the cuisine comes from the belief that Italian food is the best there is, and wonderment at why anyone would prefer another cuisine. Simple food created from fresh seasonal ingredients: this is the philosophy behind the creation of great dishes that are unsurpassed anywhere in the world. As the skyscraper cities of Dubai and Las Vegas are being heavily promoted as desirable and must-see destinations, I look forward to my trip to Sicily next week and living life on a human scale.
for Hollywood film directors. Plus all our regular features, including advice
This issue of the magazine goes some way to showing the huge diversity of landscape, culture and cuisine that the country has to offer: from mountains and lakes to marshy plains, from urban life to rural life. From the
Ciao e a presto,
on working in Italy, our property for sale section continues to expand, and we offer advice on how to purchase a property and show a selection of properties for sale in various price ranges. If you are thinking of visiting Italy in the near future or buying a property there, then do visit our redesigned website at www.italymag.co.uk which is updated daily and has many hundreds of pages of relevant information.
www.italymag.co.uk PUBLISHED BY POUNDBURY PUBLISHING LIMITED, MIDDLE FARM HOUSE, MIDDLE FARM WAY, POUNDBURY, DORCHESTER, DORSET, UNITED KINGDOM DT1 3RS Tel: +44 (0)1305 266360 Fax: +44 (0)1305 262760 ISDN: +44 (0)1305 266710 S U B S C R I P T I O N R AT E S
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S U B S C R I P T I O N H O T L I N E O R D E R S ! +44 (0) 1305 266360 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm) o r t o s u b s c r i b e o n l i n e V I S I T www.italymag.co.uk • Credit cards acceptable and likewise orders by telephone • • Please refer to subscription details in this issue for special prices •
E D I T O R Peter Shaw
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S U B E D I T O R Germaine Stafford
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A R T E D I T O R Paul Tutill
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W E B M A S T E R Ronald Ashri
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W EB E DITOR Carla Passino
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W EB C OMMUNIT Y R EL ATIONS Valentina Grassiccia
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SALES MANAGER Angelo Sangiorgio
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COVER IMAGE… Spring uncovers a small cluster of houses and a church at the foot of the Dolomites (Se feature on p. 26) Image courtesy of Fotolia©Ferdinando Conte
ADVERTISEMENT SALES Angelo Sangiorgio ~ Tel: 00 44 (0)207 5588497/00 39 0932 950222 ~ Email:
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Print and Origination: The Manson Group Limited, St Albans, Hertfordshire. Distributers: Seymour, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT. With thanks to: Vanessa Hill. Telephone: 0207 429 4000. International Sales: Through Poundbury Publishing Ltd: Contact Debbie Shorey. Telephone: 01305 266360. Copyright: Poundbury Publishing Limited© 2007. All rights reserved. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without prior permission in writing. We welcome contributions that fit into the general theme of the magazine, but only on condition that no irreplaceable material is sent to us. All such material is submitted, received and held entirely at the sender’s risk. Important Notice We do our best to ensure that information is accurate but must emphasise that we cannot accept responsibility for mistakes and omissions. Opinions expressed are those of the authors; we shall endeavour to give an opportunity for alternative views in our letters column. All advertisers submit their own wording and we cannot, therefore, become involved in any disputes between advertisers and their customers. Those responding to property notices should be aware that the magazine goes to press a month before publication and that properties may have been sold in the meantime. Competition entries: These may be made in duplicate form, photocopied or hand-copied, as we realise you won’t want to cut the magazine. Correct entries will be drawn from a hat, or by some other equally random process on the stated date.
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IN THIS ISSUE
the NO.1 magazine for lovers of all things italian
44
contents
22
places
12 s e n s e o f p l a c e This stunning gallery is a favourite destination among Milan's shoppers, with comfortable bars for for those who are left carrying the bags…
arts & culture 9
10 w h a t ’ s o n Our guide to the most interesting events in Italy for the month of March
14 i butteri On her trip to the Maremma, once a malaria ridden area of marshland, Christine Webb meets Italy’s last traditional ranchers, i butteri
2 2 walking in the Brenta Dolomites Jane Gifford invites us on an unforgettable trek through the dramatic pinnacles, turrets, rocky outcrops and boulder-strewn slopes of the Dolomites
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letters
11 i n s i g h t a n d n e w s Recent interesting news items and perspectives on Italian life
44 dual language
– Rome’s medicine man
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Gem Cameron takes a look at Galen, one of Ancient Rome’s most illustrious physicians, whose pioneering medical work was to survive unchallenged for over 1,400 years
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MARCH
2009/ISSUE 72
22 49
Subscriptions
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Milan
Tu r i n
Ve n i c e
Genoa
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For subscription details see pages 5 and 65.
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Bologna
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7 1 Florence
Pisa
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Rome
Bari Naples
Sardinia
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Palermo
Sicily
lifestyle
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Rome’s three-star Michelin Man
Jesper Storgaard Jensen catches up with one of Italy’s most revered chefs, Heinz Beck, and quizzes him on the various skills a modern chef needs to become a success
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and finally…
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recipe competition
food & drink Ronald Ashri presents the winning recipes of our Summer Food Lover’s event. Congratulations to both winners, Susan Reed and Seema Rao
table talk: Alexia
property
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Lake Como
In our SPECIAL REVIEW SECTION, we take a look at a much loved area that has been charming tourists and stars alike for hundreds of years
the right price Carla Passino shares advice on how to determine the right price for your property and make a savvy investment
business
In our regular feature, Emma Bird looks at becoming self-employed, becoming a bilingual secretary and teaching in Florence
what’s up DOC?
Germaine Stafford examines the classification systems of Italian wine and asks if the quality of a wine is reflected in its label
Germaine Stafford questions well-known Italians on their attitudes to food
bags of style – the italian way
Gilly Turney talks to designer Pia Tonna, who, when she decided to launch her own handbag business, turned to Italy to realise her dream
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food & drink
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Alexandra Hai: …gondoliera
Marc Millon enjoys a special excursion with Venice’s only female gondoliera and finds out what hurdles she had to overcome to join this elite profession
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the price of property
– p r o p e r t y u n d e r €14 0 K
Just what can you get for your money? Carla Passino goes property shopping with €140,000 in her pocket. Find out what she comes up with
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the price of property
– p r o p e r t y u n d e r €4 3 0 K
Just what can you get for your money? Carla Passino goes property shopping with €430,000 in her pocket. We take a look at her finds
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LETTERS
£ £ £ £
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your letters 5 2 ! e z i r P h£ as£ C£
£ £
We welcome your letters and emails to italy magazine. Write to us at the address you’ll find on page 5 or email us at
[email protected] The winner of our prize letter will be receiving a cheque for £25 to splurge on some lovely Italian wine or perhaps treat themselves to a beautiful book on Italy
PRIZE LETTER
can’t live without you I honestly tried to give you up, with our exchange rate being quite a nightmare at the moment (South African Rand vs British Pound). For four months I survived without you – well, almost! But I finally surrendered, and once again you are back in my life. I find that I can’t wait for that big, brown envelope in my post-box every month. I enjoy every page, every picture – being taken away to my favourite place, indulging in wonderful food, and dreaming of my very own villa. How can I thank you for such a wonderful magazine? I dream of visiting this amazing country, but until then, I will learn more and more every month of Italy, its culture and its people. I hope to visit the ‘La Dolce Vita’ show in London in March this year – one step closer to Italy’s doorstep. In the meantime, I’ll keep on dreaming. Who knows, one day I might just own a villa in Tuscany, bought via your property section, and end up speaking Italian like a local, thanks to your website. Kind regards from Africa. Lietta Swanepoel
Gosh, Lietta, this might just be our first readers’ letter from South Africa. We’re delighted to hear you enjoy Italy magazine and that you are as enthusiastic about this wonderful country as we are. I’m sure you will love the Dolce Vita show, but in the meantime, good luck with realising your Italian dreams and we’ll continue to do our best to be a difficult habit to break. ED.
flights of fancy
forays into the world of coffee ordering. Spending
As usual we fought over who was to read the Italy
time each morning in the same café, I would,
magazine first... and my husband won this time!
through gritted teeth, order my ‘caffè Americano
However, I was interested to read an advertisement
con latte freddo’, suffering the polite stares of the
for the Ipomea Club, Capo Vaticano, Tropea. This is
locals, all the while cursing my habit of finding
not an interest in the hotel as such, because we
Italian coffee served either too strong or too small
have had properties in Calabria for the last 30 years,
for my liking. Therefore, you can imagine my delight when a helpful barman came to my rescue on my last morning when my usual order was met with a slow shake of the head, ‘No’, and the barman in question retreated to the coffee machine. Thinking I had been barred for my heathen ways, I was about to turn tail and run when he glanced up at me and, smiling, said simply, ‘cappuccio’. Two minutes and some quite woeful Italian on my part later, I was happily drinking what I was assured was a variation on the cappuccino, only larger and not quite as strong, feeling more at home with every sip I took, now that I had ditched my dreaded Americano. The only hitch was, with my new found cultural freedom, I spent the rest of that day hopping from bar to bar ordering cappuccio after cappuccio, leaving me sleepless and wild eyed for the entire evening! Such is the seemingly individual nature of each establishment you visit in Italy, I wonder if the cappuccio shares the same qualities from bar to bar?
but for the heading of the advertisement: ‘Be in Calabria at the drop of a hat with new direct flights to Lamezia Terme’. Popping back and forth quite often and having Italian friends who come to visit us on a regular basis, we naturally know all about the great facility of being able to fly direct to Lamezia and not going via Naples. However, I wondered what this heading meant because ever since October, Ryanair (who as far as I am aware was the only English carrier to use this airport), withdrew their flights to Lamezia! Knowing the interest now in Calabria for the Brits, perhaps some other enterprising airline has taken up this route, or perhaps Ryanair have reviewed their policy, realised their boo-boo and got their act together again. You may be hopefully more in the ‘know’ than I am. I also wanted you to be aware of this fact too for any future articles you may have in the pipeline. Look forward to hearing from you.
Mrs Jean Ireland Thanks so much for your email Jean. We are always grateful to eagle-eyed readers who spot inconsistencies. Presently, Ryanair offer direct flights to Lamezia from London Stanstead, Milan, Bologna and Pisa and they look set to continue these services. However, if we should hear of any change in their schedule, we will be sure to pass the news on to our readers. Meanwhile, hopefully this will make life easier for guests lucky enough to join you in your beautiful part of the world! ED.
coffee culture After spending some enjoyable New Year time in Florence, I was, as always, embarrassed by my
Adam Wileman, Acaster Malbis, York, UK Hi Adam, your email really made me smile, as I have often encountered similar problems. It’s true, size and strength varies from one establishment to the next, but thankfully most Italian barmen are keen to serve you your cappuccino, or cappuccio, as you prefer it. (Though no doubt they are trained to favour some great Platonic cappuccino ideal.) For real caffè enthusiasts, Gambero Rosso publishes an annual guide named Bar d’Italia where they indicate the bars and cafés serving what they consider the country’s best caffès and cappuccinos. Happy drinking… ED.
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EVENTS GUIDE
whats on whats on
in March
COMPILED BY FELIX PETRELLI
Our essential guide to the most interesting events throughout Italy in March, including useful contact information to help you plan your visit
Art
Until 20th April Venice, Venezia Venezia 1915-1918. Immagini dalla città in Guerra. Ninety years after the end of the First World War, this exhibition illustrates the unique experiences of Venice during the conflict through paintings, photographs and original documents. Location: Cassa di Risparmio di Venezia, Campo San Luca Web: www.museiciviciveneziani.it Until 1st May Venice, Venezia Ritrovare il Museo: Murano 17971859 dalle collezioni del Museo del Vetro. This is the first in the Rediscovering Museums series and covers the extraordinary yet little known collection of early 19th-century glassware. The show contains some 135 works that chart the period after the fall of the Venetian Republic when a few master glassmakers introduced innovative methods and rediscovered techniques of the past, paving the way to the renaissance in the Murano glass industry from the second half of the 19th century. Location: Museo del Vetro Web: www.museiciviciveneziani.it 13 t h M a rc h – Au g u s t 3 0 t h Florence, Tuscany Galileo. Images of the universe from antiquity to the telescope. Explore the extraordinary human and intellectual adventure that has given us our current vision of the Universe. The exhibition shows how the cosmos was envisioned and represented from ancient times right up to the Scientific Revolution. This fascinating journey begins with the mystic visions of Egypt and Mesopotamia, moves on to the Arabic contribution to the science of astronomy and the
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Christian approach to the concept of the universe, and ends with the revolutionary theory devised by Copernicus that inspired Galileo and Johannes Kepler. See scientific instruments, maps of the heavens, drawings, paintings, sculptures and manuscripts from the world’s most prestigious museums and libraries. Working cosmological models specially built for the exhibition alongside the exhibits make for a truly captivating show. Location: Palazzo Strozzi Web: www.palazzostrozzi.it
Music
4 t h – 15 t h M a rc h Turin, Piedmont L’italiana in Algeri. ‘The Italian girl in Algiers’ was penned by Rossini when he was only 21 and was first performed in 1813. Bruno Cappanella conducts Vivica Genaux, Antonino Siragusa, David Alegret, Lorenzo Regazzo and the orchestra of the Teatro Regio in one of Rossini’s most popular operas. Location: Teatro Regio Web: www.teatroregio.torino.it 14 t h – 15 t h M a rc h Venice, Venezia Concerto Bruno Bartoletti. Bruno Bartoletti conducts the orchestra and choir of the Teatro la Fenice in a performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem op. 66. Bartoletti’s fame was built on his 51 years at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and he has come out of retirement for this performance of Britten’s stunning choral masterpiece. Location: Teatro La Fenice Web: www.teatrolafenice.it 2 3 r d M a rc h Palermo, Sicily Larry Carlton Trio. Three times Grammy winner Larry Carlton brings his jazz fusion to Palermo. Carlton has collaborated with
many big names over the course of his 40 year career including Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Quincy Jones and Linda Ronstadt to name a few. Location: Teatro Metropolitan Web: www.teatrometropolitan.it 2 0 t h & 2 2 n d M a rc h Palermo, Sicily Faust. Internationally acclaimed Tuscan tenor Andrea Bocelli is Faust in the lavish five act opera by Charles Gounod based loosely on Goethe’s Faust. Location: Teatro Massimo Web: www.teatromassimo.it 31 s t M a rc h Florence, Tuscany Sinfonia n. 2 Resurrezione. Zubin Mehta brings the Maggio Musicale’s season to a close with the monumental Symphony n. 2 Resurrection by Mahler. He conducts Barbara Frittoli (soprano) and Marjana Lipovšek (contralto) and the orchestra and choir of the Teatro. Location: Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Web: www.maggiomusicale.it
Exhibitions & Shows
6 t h – 8 t h M a rc h Bologna, Emilia Romagna Bologna Mineral Show. This show is dedicated to gems and mineralogy and attracts 300 exhibitors and over 10,000 visitors to the Villa Nasicae. Location: Villa Nasicae Web: www.bolognamineralshow.com 6 t h – 15 t h M a rc h Turin, Piedmont Cioccola-Tò. One of the several Italian fairs dedicated to chocolate, this is one of the largest. This year the theme is Women and Chocolate and guest stars will
include leading female chefs, writers of books about chocolate and female artists who work with chocolate. Location: Piazza Vittorio Veneto Web: www.cioccola-to.com 19 t h – 27 t h M a rc h Rome, Lazio Roma Independent Film Festival. RIFF is a seven-day celebration of new European and International independent films. As well as offering the chance for young filmmakers to present their work to the general public at film screenings, RIFF offers a series of special events including retrospectives, seminars and workshops on various aspects of cinema, as well as exhibitions and theatre, dance, fashion, and concerts. The festival concludes with an awards ceremony. Location: Nuovo Cinema Aquila Web: www.riff.it
Sport
14 t h M a rc h Rome, Lazio Rugby Sei Nazioni. The RBS Six Nations Championship continues into March when Italy meets Wales at the Stadio Flaminio. Location: Stadio Flaminio Web: www.rbs6nations.com 10 t h M a rc h Turin, Piedmont UEFA Champions League. Juventus play Chelsea in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League. Location: Stadio Olimpico Web: www.uefa.com
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INSIGHT and CURRENT AFFAIRS
insight insight
Festa delle donne! In Italy, every woman expects to be spoiled on March 8th: here’s the reason why
O
news roundup We take a look at some topical issues and items that have made the headlines in the popular press recently in Italy WO R D S : D OT T. A N D R E A A N TO N I O N I
WORDS: FELIX PETRELLI
N MARCH 8th, we celebrate the Festa delle Donne, a day dedicated to women. Officially this is International Women’s Day, established in recognition of women’s political, social and economic achievements and formally sanctioned and sponsored by the United Nations. All over the world, different events are commemorated: New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 where 146 women lost their lives; Russian women’s campaign against war in 1913 and their strike for ‘bread and peace’ in 1917 after the death of over two million Russian soldiers in war. But we Italians put our own special spin on the celebrations which tend to stray just a little bit from the original themes of the day. Here, the festival has almost become as important and as commercial as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, and restaurants, clubs and bars put on special nights to vie for the business of the ladies. The day starts with husbands, fathers, sons and even some employers giving the women in their lives a bunch of bright yellow mimosa. In truth, it isn’t actually mimosa but Acaia dealbata or the silver wattle. The fragrant clouds of yellow flowers are sold in truck loads throughout cities to help out those not lucky enough to have a home grown supply. There are special deals throughout the day for women and some museums and clubs waive entrance fees for the day.
A N i g h t o n T h e To w n Then the women get together to celebrate, and this is the girls’ night out of the year. Restaurants fill up with groups of women, who have special licence to do things they would not normally even consider. Teetotallers drink, normally discreet women pinch their male waiters’ bottoms and go to clubs that put on strip shows a la Chippendales especially for the feste delle donne. One restaurant I know of advertises the night as Sexy Camerieri – sexy waiters – male of course. I only know about this because of my years waitering while I was studying. If I hadn’t seen the ‘exuberance’ of the donne on March 8th first hand, I would not have believed it! And believe me, my female compatriots can be very exuberant! If you are visiting Italy in March this year, make sure that you make a big deal of the special women in your life.
QUARESIMA: If you come to Italy during March, or if you are resident here, you will undoubtedly hear a lot about Quaresima, not only in church but also in daily life. What is Quaresima ? It is the holy period of Lent, the forty days between the first Sunday in March (this year), until the Saturday before Easter Day, during which, believers fast and prepare themselves for the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Until three or four decades ago, Italians were very strict about not eating meat and avoiding luxurious lunches during Quaresima, though today’s habits are a little more relaxed. LA STERLINA: The Pound Sterling has greatly depreciated against the Euro recently. Indeed, today, the two currencies are more or less of equal value. Italians haven’t forgotten that before the introduction of the Euro, one Pound Sterling was worth around 3,000 of the old Italian Lire. It is therefore a shock over here to learn from newspapers and TV news that apparently the Gross Domestic Product per person in the UK is now lower than in our country, and that consequently, on paper, Italians are now richer than the British. If Britain eventually joins the Euro currency area, it will be interesting to see whether this is indeed the case when it comes to purchasing power in UK and in Italy. COUS COUS AND BYREK: Italians are becoming more and more used to the different cultural and traditional aspects of the various ethnic groups that in the last ten years have become integrated into Italian society. If Chinese restaurants have been around for years, Moroccan cous cous, Albanian pastries called Byrek and Arab kebabs are becoming common foods over here, and are now competing with traditional maccheroni and pizza. If you consider that half of the building companies in the region of Liguria are now run by Albanians, and that more and more non-Italians carry out express courier deliveries to Italian homes, it’s obvious that Italy too is becoming a multiethnic society.
DRINKING AND DRIVING: Stricter laws concerning drinking and driving in Italy have arrived. The new Codice della Strada, Highway Code, states that if you drink more than three glasses of wine or more than one brandy, you will not pass Police alcohol tests. Not only do you risk having your driving license suspended for up to a year, but your vehicle can also be confiscated and sold by the State, depending on the judge’s decision on the gravity of the offence. This is somewhat of a cultural shock to Italians who were traditionally a little careless when it came to drinking and driving. HEATING GAS: The cost of heating gas over here is twice that of the UK. You will realise this by reading the gas bill these days, after a warm winter at home with the central heating at full blast. As you probably remember, Italy imports all its oil and therefore energy is more expensive here. If you live in town, this is not so bad as you will be burning town methane, but if you have a private gas container in the countryside, you will be burning expensive butane gas. As an alternative, try using your wood log burning stove, with 100 kg (un quintale) of cut and delivered wood costing you only about Euro 13.50, that produces radiant heating rather than convection heating. TAX: If you have worked in Italy during 2008, then this month you will receive a document called the Cud (Certificazione Unificata Dipendenti), that is to say, a document sent by your employer which sums up income paid and taxes retained at source for the financial year 2008. If, instead, you were self employed, you need to prepare all of your purchase and sales invoices and prepare your Unico Dichiarazione dei Redditi, equivalent to your Tax Return in the UK. Your commercialista, accountant, will not submit your return before October, but you will have to pay tax in June, so he will ask you to gather all the necessary information this month, giving him sufficient time to deal with the complex Italian tax system.
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PHOTOSPREAD
IMAGE : FOTOLIA
© PIXACHI
a sense of place W
HEN MOST FOLK talk about going to the mall, they're not referring to a place like the Galleria Vittorio in Milan, named after Vittorio Emanuale II, the first king of United Italy, and built by architect Giuseppe Mengoni in the 1870s. But even if you don't buy anything at any of the designer shops inside, it's the perfect place to enjoy a steaming hot coffee and some people watching.
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A SENSE OF PLACE
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PLACE
i butteri
Once a malaria ridden area of marshland and swamps, the Maremma is now the reign of Italy’s last traditional ranchers
I
WORDS and IMAGES : CHRISTINE WEBB
Butteri… ee-boot-air-ee. I practiced saying the name over and over. ‘No Cristina, i butteri … i butteri!’ said my friend, but still I couldn’t quite get the stress on the right syllable or roll the ‘r’ enough. Here I was, getting myself ready to rise at dawn to witness a time-honoured, almost sacred ritual of men and I couldn’t get the name right. An area of the southern part of Tuscany and northern Lazio is called the Maremma. It is a beautiful natural part of Italy with
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excellent farmland of gentle hills gradually rolling to the sea. Evidence of Etruscan strongholds and Roman municipium are here and there, but from time to time, villages were periodically abandoned as an enemy mightier than powerful armies drove the people into the hills and left the land to droving cattlemen. Malaria decimated the populations whose numbers had swelled in good years, and the Spanish called the area Maremma. The cattlemen were expert horsemen who were readily called upon by various armies for their
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I BUTTERI AND THE MAREMMA
services as cavalry. When they returned from battle to resume tending their herds, the cattlemen retained some of the accoutrements of their mercenary life. While the horses and herds grew immune to the affliction that devastated the community, the horsemen’s individuality was at one with their steeds.
FIGHTING MALARIA The area had many marshes, wetlands in the local dialect called padule. When Tuscany eventually came under the rule of the House of Lorraine in the 18th and 19th centuries, many public works saw
the marshes drained, in the coastal areas pine trees were planted and the malady that affected the people was held at bay. At the end of the 19th century, the preventative cure of quinine was discovered and in the early 20th century, administration of the treatment was aggressively pursued so that the area became completely free from it. The Maremma could now be safely repopulated, and new farming methods changed it into the area we know today. Gradually the semi-wild herds were replaced by modern farming methods and the roll of the Maremma horsemen contracted to managing merely five or six herds in the wild coastal areas, now the Parco Regionale della Maremma, 100 square kilometres centred around the town of Alberese, only 15km south of Grosetto, the capital of the province. But where the story of malaria ends, we come across another extraordinary, uniquely Italian situation: that of the Azienda Regionale Agricola di Alberese. The Agricultural Regional Company of Alberese is one of the greater Italian regional companies. Situated in the heart of the Maremma, it oversees an area of 4,600 hectares, of which 700 is of pine and approximately 2,000 of forest, much of which is part of the
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the patrimony of the province as the symbol of the maremma rests on the shoulders of the butteri
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it’s difficult to penetrate their world Parco Regionale della Maremma. Another 50 hectares hold vineyards growing the grapes that produce the DOC Morellino di Scansano and another 300 hectares comprises olive groves with more than 80,000 trees where the cattle can range for some parts of the year. Lastly, there are another 600 hectares of cultivated land growing crops and 500 of natural pastures.
BALANCING TRICK It is, in fact, a large farm. Where this takes a leap from the ordinary is that the organisation of the estate has been continuous for 1,000 years, steadfastly preserving the natural balance of the zone, biological farming practices and of course, i butteri, the Maremma stockmen. The structure of the organization
is such that it survived centuries of the feudal age, the mezzadria system depicted so wonderfully in Bernardo Bertolucci’s film 1900, and more remarkably the Fascist era, the war and the collapse of the mezzadria. Now, in the era of globalization, it has re-established itself in the important niche market of biologically produced and traditional foodstuffs that are now in demand more than ever. So, at 7am, I am almost ready for the personification of this remarkable agricultural history. The patrimony of the province as the symbol of the Maremma rests on the shoulders of the butteri. If only I could get their name right. At Spergolaia, on the road to Marina di Alberese, are the headquarters and stables of the butteri. Straight backed men looking like extras in a First World War movie move about the stables in whispering silence. Their dress has an old fashioned utilitarian appeal that reeks of masculinity. They are not a tourist attraction but somewhat reluctantly allow themselves to be photographed, yet again, as the symbol of their paese, their country. It’s difficult to penetrate their world.
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Theirs is the world of horse and man ... men with nature and men of tradition. Think Australian stockmen portrayed by Hugh Jackman or Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, but whatever you do don’t call them cowboys.
TRADITIONAL APPAREL Their horses called Maremmano have been born here and trained at their hand. The distinctive saddle is called a bardella. The buttero’s attire is a short brimmed straw hat, a waistcoat with the company logo, and boots and shin pads to protect them from the cattle horns. Tightly rolled behind the saddle is the pastràno, a linen coat that has been rendered impermeable to the rain with beeswax. Most importantly, the buttero carries the mazzarella. This is made by each man from a long thin branch, stripped of bark and polished for strength. At the head, an antler has been welded to the wooden branch to make a multipurpose tool for goading cattle, opening gates, picking up anything the rider may need, because, once mounted, the buttero rarely leaves his steed. There’s a secret rapport between the butteri and their horses as they go about their day. In all weather, they supervise the herds of cattle, recognising each beast, when cows are ready to deliver. The Maremmana cattle themselves are unique to Italy, bred entirely in the wild. In 1935, the total population of cattle was estimated at 274,000 head but by
the maremmana cattle themselves are unique to italy, bred entirely in the wild
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>> Visit www.italymag.co.uk/map-of-italy for greater map detail
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It is best to make an appointment through the Azienda Regionale Agricola di Alberese (www.alberese.com) You may be lucky enough to observe the butteri from a distance on the road to Marina di Alberese. The butteri also participate in many of the historic pageants in the town. In the town of Alberese, there is an outlet for products of the Azienda including riding outfits.
the 1960s, with the onset of land reform and mechanisation, they faced extinction. Maremmana cows average 600kg, while the bulls weigh in at a massive 900kg and measure 155cm at the withers. The cows’ horns measure 120cm and are a splendid lyre-shape, while the bulls’ are sickle-shape. It is a rare and wonderful thing to see a way of life, nature and animal breeds maintained without artifice… even if you can’t pronounce the name. Ee-boot-ter-ee! italy
Parco Regionale della Maremma (www.parco-maremma.it) The best time to visit the Park in is in springtime, autumn and winter (September 16 - June 14). During this part of the year, visits are free, starting from 9:00am till an hour before dusk. All itineraries are open. In addition, the park offers tours by horse, wagon, canoe and bicycle. In the summer the beach is a natural magnet for sun lovers with free access, but an entry/parking fee is charged. Picnics are restricted to special areas to protect the wild boar who happily feed on discarded refuse, and it is forbidden to feed the animals due to the possibility of disease transmission or bite risk. It is best to start at one of the two visitor’s centres. Alberese Visitor Center: Via del Bersagliere, 7/9, Alberese. Open daily, October 1 to March 22, 8am to 1.30pm; from March 23 to September 30, 8am to 5p.m. Tel: (+39) 0564 407098
Visitor Centre and Talamone Aquarium: Via Nizza, 12, Telamone. Open daily from September 1 to June 30, 8am to 1pm; from July 1 to August 31, 8am to midday, and from 5pm to 8pm. Tel: (+39) 0564 887173 Fax: (+39) 0564 887173
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The official tourism site for the Maremma is www.lamaremmafabene.it
where to stay
The area has many agriturismi, farm stays. Farm holidays, specialist in green vacations: www.byfarmholidays.com Hotel Rifugio Prategiano, Loc. Prategiano 45, 58026. This hotel enjoys a magnificent position overlooking the delightful Tuscan hillsides. Delicious local cuisine, the swimming pool and numerous horseback excursions make this the ideal base for exploring the Maremma countryside. Tel: (+39) 0566 997700 Fax: (+39) 0566 997891 Email:
[email protected] Web: www.hotel-toscana-tuscany.com
nearest airports
ITA Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino about 160k or 2 hours drive. www.adr.it
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Pisa Airport about 170k, also 2 hours drive. www.pisa-airport.com
For more information including news and weather visit www.italymag.co.uk/tuscany
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Brenta
WALKING
IN THE
WORDS and IMAGES : JANE GIFFORD
In the Adamello-Brenta Natural Park, although the weather in the valley might be grim, a cable-car can lift you above the clouds
A
N INVITATION to go trekking in the mountains can come as a daunting prospect when accompanied by pictures of bronzed athletic figures in designer climbing-gear suspended above death-defying drops… so I confess to some apprehension when I first looked from my balcony in Madonna di Campiglio at what should have been a spectacular view of the famous rosy dawn lighting the peaks of the Brenta Dolomites. Although right on my doorstep, the mountains were barely visible through the rain-cloud (above). Woken by bells, I rise quickly from the luxury of my bed at The Hermitage to catch a fading glimpse of chocolate-brown cows being herded through the forest. Silhouetted pines make a romantic if rather damp impression on me, but the weather does not otherwise inspire any sense of derring-do or desire to scale to lofty heights. Downstairs, a Jacuzzi, Turkish bath and beautiful pool beckon, and as yet, nobody has mentioned the words cable and car to me. The weather continues to be grim but we still make an early start. I look down at my printout of our intended destination, Rifugio Tuckett, and see it is wet. It shows an isolated stone building in a lunar landscape
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in the sky. The T now looks more like an F, but I am relieved at least to be standing in the queue for the Grostè cable-car. We have had the rules of mountain-walking firmly drummed into us: wear sturdy boots and a water and windproof jacket; let people know where you’re going; don’t leave the path or become separated from the group; carry a map and fully-charged mobile phone. We are a party of five: Deborah Dorigoni, our Trentino Rep, elegant in her mountain gear; Roberto Manni our nonchalant mountain guide, looking rather like Bruce Springstein; and we three English ‘Brenta virgins’, two with dodgy knees, one dressed more for the city than the mountains.
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shrugs and says even this doesn’t matter because red stripes along the path mean you can never lose your way. Veteran of expeditions to K2 and Everest, he chats pleasantly as we walk and seems genuinely pleased by our obvious pleasure in our surroundings. After an hour or so, Deborah receives a worried call from the Tourist Office in the valley below. ‘The weather is worse in Madonna di Campiglio than it’s been for weeks. Are you OK?’ We are all in fine spirits. Perhaps Roberto’s patience becomes a little stretched with the umpteen photo stops we make along the way but he gives no sign of it. To walk on top of the Dolomites is a fabulous experience which I recommend to everyone, however unfit. As long as you don’t suffer from vertigo and can manage the cable-car, you can experience the wonder of these mountain heights. Our chosen route will take the whole day. It is boulder-strewn and steep in places. To us it makes an exciting challenge, but really it is easy-going. After a morning’s walking way above the tree-line and the clouds, we stop for a simple lunch at Rifugio Tuckett before beginning our descent. No cable-car any longer for us fledgling alpinisti. Still bathed in
Dolomites Excitement mounts as the cable-car whisks us up the mountain. To our combined delight, we alight in bright sunshine and learn a valuable lesson which works firmly in our favour for the rest of the day: although the weather might be foul in the valley, the cable-car will often lift you above the cloud. Of course, the opposite can also be true, and the weather can change in moments. But Roberto
to walk on top of the dolomites is a fabulous experience which I recommend to everyone, however unfit
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of marked trails to explore, including many mountain-biking trails of varying difficulty. There are twelve hundred species of flora for the keen botanist to discover. Gentians, wild crocus and edelweiss abound, along with an estimated twenty-five million trees. The Park is home to thousands of chamois and deer, in all, fifty-one species of mammal, including the Alpine brown bear Urus arctos. By 1996, the bear was, however, facing extinction. Project ‘Life Ursus’ released ten bears in the park between 1999 and 2002. One wandered up into Germany and was shot. Another had a narrow scrape with a motorist. The driver reported it to the police and was considered far too drunk to be on the road. Luckily for him, someone had heard of the project. Bear and driver escaped unharmed. Today there are around thirty
the rain on the mountains which has provided the romance of walking above the clouds now provides us with gushing waterfalls sunshine, we follow the path from Bocca di Tuckett into Vallesinella through forest and meadow to Rifugio Casinei. Over a drink, we decide that despite aching knees and the prospect of walking in dense rain-cloud and fading light, we will nonetheless follow Roberto’s suggestion and make a two hour detour to some waterfalls… that’s how much we are enjoying our first day’s trekking. We are hooked. Vallesinella falls are really springs issuing straight from the rock, fed from above by rainwater and travelling through a network of fractures and caves within the Dolomitic limestone. During the winter freeze or in summer drought, they often disappear. Our timing is perfect. The rain on the mountains which has provided the romance of walking above the clouds now provides us with gushing waterfalls.
S P E C TAC U L A R S U R RO U N D I N G S The Brenta Dolomites, a unique limestone landscape of dramatic pinnacles, turrets, massive rocky outcrops and boulder-strewn slopes, comprise the eastern part of the Parco Naturale AdamelloBrenta. The Adamello-Presanella Massif to the west is a completely contrasting granite terrain of lakes and weathered tors known as ‘The Kingdom of Water and Ice’. The Park’s remit is ‘to protect the natural and environmental characteristics of the area; to promote scientific study and the use of natural resources by the community; and to safeguard and enhance the natural, cultural and human resources of the territory’. It extends over 620 sq km with 700 km
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bears happily roaming the Park but there is no need to fear their presence. Even as a keen bearspotter, you are extremely unlikely to encounter one. If you are lucky, you might come across signs of their presence: tracks, raided beehives, perhaps a half-eaten animal carcass. Farmers are compensated for any lost stock and the draw of the project as a tourist phenomenon far outweighs any costs.
STYLE SETTERS
Rifugio Casinei
The Brenta Dolomites took off as a fashionable destination for the intrepid rich of Europe from the 1850s onwards. John Ball, who founded The Alpine Club of London, was credited with establishing the first safe route to the summits above Madonna di Campilglio in 1864. Meanwhile, Quintino Sella (1827-1884) Italian industrialist, scientist and politician, founded the Club Alpino Italiano. However, the British continued to hog the limelight – in particular Francis Fox Tuckett, (18341913), a modest and exceptionally talented Quaker businessman from Bristol who was a prodigious climber, mountaineer, explorer, inventor and
the brenta dolomites took off as a fashionable destination for the intrepid rich of europe from the 1850 s onwards
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mapmaker. He refused the presidency of the Alpine Club of London due, he said, to business commitments, but he nonetheless found time to bag 269 peak ascents and the crossing of 687 mountain passes. Tuckett and British geologist, Freshfield were the first to climb Cima Brenta (below), the highest peak in the Brenta Dolomites. Popular with fellow Alpinists of all nationalities, Tuckett received the Italian order of Knight of San Maurizio and San Lazzaro from King Vittorio Emanuele II. Rifugio Tuckett was opened as a hostel on 20th August 1906. A second refuge has since been built next-door, dedicated to Quintino Sella. Locals will tell you the main reason why they were not first to be recorded making these early ascents is because they did not have the money for such costly expeditions. During World War One, known locally as the ‘White War of Adamello’, Italians suffered a far harsher forced encounter with these mountains entrenched as soldiers on the summits at heights between 2500m – 3500m. Vie ferrate, metal ladders hammered into the sheer rock face, allowed them to move about the gun emplacements. They suffered terrible losses in brutally extreme exposed conditions. The iron ladders remain as a reminder of their ordeal. They are still used, and you can follow a ‘Journey of Remembrance’ along marked trails to military sites within the Park.
LOCAL HEROES Since these harsh times, the Italians have made a more triumphant mark on their mountains, with men from the 1930s like dashing pilot and World War Two hero Giorgio Graffer and Gino Corrà, both climbers from Trentino, making daring and dangerous ascents of many of the Brenta peaks; and Bruno Detassis, known as the ‘King of Brenta’, who opened up routes to the summits which, even with today’s modern equipment, are still considered a challenge. More recently, local hero Cesare Maestri from Madonna di Campliglio, dubbed the ‘Spider of the Dolomites’, has grabbed the headlines. A spirited and controversial figure in his youth, he has invented many new climbing techniques. Today, the majority of visitors to Madonna di Campiglio are wealthy Italians, so there is no slacking on style in the region’s hotels and restaurants. In winter, they ski. In summer, they explore. For those with less of a head for heights, there is still plenty to do. You could spend days just floating in the pool in the ‘Wellness
…the majority of visitors to madonna di campiglio are wealthy italians, so there is no slacking on style in the region’s hotels and restaurants
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d et a i l s Tourist Office Madonna di Campiglio, Pinzolo, Val Rendena Via Pradalago 4, Madonna di Campiglio. Tel: (+39) 0465 447 501 For a fantastic range of maps, guides and all other information the following sites are useful; www.campiglio.to www.pnab.it www.dolomitibrentabike.it www.pinzolo.to
where to stay and eat Centre’ at the Hermitage, admiring the tasteful décor and stunning view. The hotel has been run by the Maffei family since 1899. Situated on the edge of town, it’s a favourite hideaway for celebrities. Juventus have their summer training ground close-by. Game is the local speciality but there is still plenty to enjoy for those of a less meaty persuasion. I love the ambience and inventiveness of the menu at Il Gallo Cedrone, in Hotel Bertelli, especially their version of the traditional dish cassunziei, (beetroot ravioli) served with lavender-flower mousse and spinach salad.
LOCAL SPECIALITIES Wines and cheeses from Trentino are generally excellent. A great place to enjoy them is for Sunday lunch with the Tisi family at Casa al Campo, a restaurant on an organic farm closeby in Val Rendena (below) near Pinzolo. Everything served will be local, most of it produce from the farm. It will be packed, so book first. Pinzolo is an interesting old town famous for the sixteenthcentury fresco on the Church of San Vigilio, La Danza Macabra (above) - a reminder from the Baschenis brothers that death comes to us all, no matter how grand. The tower dates from the beginning of the tenth century. Next-door, a World War One gun commemorates those who fell in ‘The White War’. The people of Val Rendena and Pinzolo have Celtic roots stretching back more than two thousand years. Here they did not espouse the feudal system. This was the domain of the knife-grinders. italy
MOUNTAIN HOSTELS Rather than walk down each day, plan your route to eat and stay overnight in the mountains. Simple food and accommodation in stunning surroundings: Alimonta: Tel (+39) 0465 440366 – Boch: Tel (+39) 0465 440465 Brentei: Tel (+39) 0465 441244 – Casinei: Tel (+39) 0465 442708 Grostè-Graffer: Tel (+39) 0465 441358 – Lago delle Malghette: Tel (+39) 0465 440814 – Lago Nambino : Tel (+39) 0465 441621 Tuckett: Tel (+39) 0465 441226 – Viviani Pradalago: Tel (+39) 0465 441200
MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO Bio-hotel Hermitage & Restaurant, Stube Hermitage (4 star) Via Castelletto Inferiore 69, Madonna di Campiglio. Unbeatable view and Wellness Centre. First class accommodation with the Maffei family. 2003 awarded Qualità Parca for making minimal impact on the environment in terms of recycling, building materials and energy consumption. Tel: (+39) 0465 441558 Web: www.biohotelhermitage.it Hotel Bertelli - Wellness Centre & La Taverna ‘Il Gallo Cedrone’ (4 star) Via Cima Tosa 80, Madonna di Campiglio. Fabulous food and charming service. Excellent wine cellar. The welcome hors d’oeuvre is a feast in itself. Hosted by the Masè family since the 1930s. Tel: (+39) 0465 441013 Web: www.hotelbertelli.it www.ilgallocedrone.it Val Rendena & Pinzolo, Casa al Campo. Excellent local food and accommodation with the Tisi family on a working organic farm in the countryside. Tel: (+39) 0465 500290 Cell: (+39) 3385008438 Web: www.casalcampo.com
getting there BY CAR: A4 from Milan - Verona, exit Brescia Est A22 Bolzano – Modena, exit Trento Centro or Roverto Sud BY TRAIN: FF.SS Trento- Brescia BY BUS: Links - Trento, Milano, Brescia BY PLANE: Airports: Milano-Lintane, Milano-Malpensa, Bergamo-Orio al Serio, Breschia-Montichiari, Verona-Villafranca, Venezia-Marco-Polo
fe s t i v a l s Madonna di Campiglio: Compleanno dell’Imperatore. The Emperor’s Birthday, 18th August: an historical revival of the Habsburg Court. Pageantry, parades and music Val Rendena: Dance Theatre Festival, 29 June – 6 July Festival dei Antichi Sapori, late September I Giorni dei Funghi 29 Aug–14 Sep. Guided walks with a mushroom expert. Collect and identify mushrooms and learn to prepare and cook them at Hotel Bertelli with chef Vinicio Tenni
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For more information including news and weather visit www.italymag.co.uk/italy/place/trentino-alto-adige
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WORDS : MARC MILLON IMAGES : KIM MILLON
E ARE IN a gondola in Venice, gliding along the back canals of Dorsodoro, enjoying the silence, the beauty of this watery city, far from the madding crowds. From this unique waterside perspective, houses back directly on to the canals, and boats are moored against wooden posts by rear entrances. Occasionally, we get a glimpse into dark interiors, a salotto, a kitchen, a Murano chandelier, and we catch the occasional whiff of delicious aromas emerging from barred windows in anticipation of the midday pranzo. This is a privileged, insider’s, backstreet view of Venice, a world away from the bustle and craziness of the tourist spots of Rialto and San Marco, where gondolas travel in procession, complete with requisite attendant Neapolitan crooner.
A WOMAN’S TOUCH We have been transported to this other, quieter world through the skill of our gondoliera, Alexandra Hai. We sit back in the comfort of this amazingly sleek and unique craft, sip glasses of Prosecco, relax and take in the sights as Alex propels us. From the Rio S. Travaso, we pass a squero, one of Venice’s few remaining gondola boatyards, and continue our smooth and undisturbed
Alexandra HAI: … gondoliera Enjoy a special excursion with Venice’s only female gondoliera
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rowing known as voga alla veneziana. As the space between the two craft diminishes, I am aware of weight of the boat, its travel as it glides forward with each forceful push of the oar through the smooth waters. How, I wonder,
… the sculpted metal prow, or ferro, missing the stone building ahead by mere millimetres… journey. The canal is narrow and I can see ahead that it bends at 90 degrees. Alex’s gondola is nearly 11 metres long, and though it a large and relatively heavy craft, at this moment it also seems delicate and potentially fragile. As we approach the bend, Alex gives out a calm but forceful cry, announcing our presence around the blind corner. She carries on straight towards the wall in front of us, then, noting the precise point to pivot her craft, she leans heavily on the oar, which turns the boat gracefully, the sculpted metal prow, or ferro, missing the stone building ahead by mere millimetres, the back end swinging perfectly into line. Corner negotiated, we continue on our way up the Rio S. Barnaba. The canal is busier here, with boats parked along either side, and not much room in the middle of the passage. Ahead, we see another gondola approaching us, silent, gliding as swiftly towards us as we are moving towards it. Alex does not hesitate, continues to push the oar with an insistent, rocking forward stroke, the Venetian form of
would you stop such a craft if you had to, with only a single oar? Alex is concentrating hard, determined; her counterpart similarly does not hesitate. The two boats are on an apparent collision course, soon upon each other, as each continues forward with the rhythmic, silent, unrelenting push of their oars. Just as it seems we are about inevitably to crash, both gondolieri make what must be an almost imperceptible adjustment: we glide past, oars lifted like guns at ease, side virtually scraping side – yet there is no contact. It is a sublime moment of supreme skill, confidence, bravery, (and perhaps a touch of bravado), neither Alex nor her approaching, now disappearing alter ego, exchange a word, hardly a glance. Was it a dangerous game of bluff, or simply the day-to-day rough-andtumble of gondolieri plying their trade skilfully and expertly on the crowded canals of Venice?
PURPOSE BUILT The gondola is a unique craft that evolved over centuries from its origins as a means of transport between the many islands out of which Venice was formed. The need was for a craft that could be manoeuvred by rowing, not only through narrow canals, but also underneath low bridges and in shallow waters, able at the same time to cope with strong tides and currents as well as with the fickle and sometimes fierce winds that sweep across the lagoon. Other uniquely Venetian craft emerged, too – the sandolo, sanpierota, and the mascareta, for example. But the gondola reigns supreme, has become the very symbol of the city. In its heyday in the 17th century, it is estimated that there were as many as 10,000 gondolas at work in the busy mercantile city. At that time, the gondola was a private craft and would have had a felse or cabin for protection from the elements as well as to hide the identity of those within, handy especially for those Casanovas travelling incognito to some secret assignation or another. Since 1562, this unique craft has always been painted black on account of sumptuary laws designed to prevent ostentatious rivalry between the noble families. In the pecking order of Venetian society, gondolieri held a special status, according to Venetian historian Francesco da Mosto. They were retained by the nobility, but were con-
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sidered, not as servants, rather as ‘lower ranking friends and confidants’. The profession was often handed down from father to son, and the gondolieri were proud of their rowing prowess as demonstrated in the city’s various regattas. Many were also apparently quite literate, versed in Venetian poetry and art. The modern gondola is still a hand-built craft, measuring just under 11 metres in length and weighing upwards of 600 kilograms (the exact proportions vary from boat to boat as, ideally, the craft is made to measure, to take into account the weight of the gondoliere). Constructed from a variety of different types of wood, it is sleekly elegant and beautiful, especially when decked out with its final fittings, seats, cushions and other finery. Each is unique and individual.
PERFECTLY UNBALANCED One of the most striking features of the gondola is that it is longitudinally asymmetrical with a greater depth on its port side, so constructed so that the boat can follow a straight course when rowed by propulsion from the starboard side only. Indeed, the unique Venetian style of rowing – voga alla veneziana – is virtually an art form in itself, and certainly a skill that requires some years of dedication in order skilfully to be able to be in control of this delicate craft on the crowded and narrow canals of Venice. When Alexandra Hai, a young German woman, came to Venice, she, like many others before her, fell in love with the city and with the gondola. Unlike most who visit or choose to make Venice their home, she decided that she actually wanted to learn to master the mysteries of how to row a gondola. Her dream was eventually to become proficient enough to be able to join the elite profession of gondolieri. Today there are just over 400 gondolieri in Venice, an exclusive and traditional maleonly profession that in many cases is handed down from father to son. Some gondolieri can trace their Venetian roots in the profession back for literally centuries. The majority are Venetian-born, so the difficulties for both a foreigner as well as a female were considerable from the outset. However, Alex found a sympathetic gondoliere who was willing to teach her the ropes.
She dedicated herself over a period of years to learning this difficult art…
She dedicated herself over a period of years to learning this difficult art, which involves not only propelling the craft effectively, but also mastering the intricacies of Venice’s myriad network of canals, as well as the natural and always varying conditions of tide and wind. To gain proficiency, she worked for a lengthy apprenticeship on a traghetto, rowing tourists and residents across the Grand Canal as a ferry service, a job that is poorly paid but in which you learn how to deftly handle a gondola within this always busy thoroughfare.
OLD BOYS’ CLUB More difficult to negotiate still, was to find her way through the arcane and closed politics that still dominate life in this watery and
anachronistic city. That Alex was not welcomed into the guild of gondolieri with open arms would be an understatement. Perhaps, given the historical antecedents and the tradition of the profession, it is not surprising. Three times she took the practical examination, manoeuvring her gondola around the canals of Venice; three times she was failed by the examiners. Officials have publicly proclaimed that Alex did not succeed simply because she wasn’t good enough, that it had absolutely nothing to do with her being a woman or a foreigner. Yet anyone who steps foot in Alex’s gondola will know with absolute certainty that this is a person with supreme mastery of her craft and with a tremendous knowledge of and respect for the traditions and history of the gondola. Not to be denied, Alex met the officials in a court of law. She became something of a cause cèlebre, and there have been articles of support for her in the local newspapers. Italian society is changing and women’s rights are finally becoming an important issue. By invoking an ancient bylaw, she eventually won the hardearned right to be able to ply her trade, though only privately for guests who stay as residents at a small group of hotels with whom she works. Though this does not entirely redress the unfairness of the situation, and though some gondolieri still resent her presence on the waters and make this more than clear, it is a solution of sorts. Alex has achieved her dream. And in any case, she far prefers working in this manner as she not compelled to stand on a quayside corner, soliciting for work: ‘Gondola, gondola!’ Rather, her clients can book a gondola ride in advance with her through the hotels, and she is able to give a better and more relaxed, as well as a more professional service. A gondola ride in Venice should be one of the highlights of any visit to this magnificent watery city. A gondola excursion with Alex Hai is a rare and very special experience indeed. italy For more information, visit Incantesimo Veneziano Web: www.incantesimoveneziano.com Email:
[email protected] Tel: (+39) 347 8869753
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Heinz Beck drew lots with his brother to decide which of the two was to cook, won the draw, and ended up becoming one of Europe’s most famous chefs
ROME’s three-star… *** MICHELIN Man WORDS and IMAGES : JESPER STORGAARD JENSEN FOOD IMAGES : LA PERGOLA
somewhat of a coincidence. At least, that’s how the rumour goes: the two Beck brothers drew lots to decide which one would choose cooking as a profession, because in the Beck family two chefs were considered one too many. Heinz Beck laughs shyly and says: ‘Yes, it’s a true story. We drew, I won, and... the rest is history.’.
CLIMBING THE RANKS
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OME: As I contemplate the wonderful view from the roof terrace of the restaurant La Pergola (above), high above Rome’s thousands of churches, monuments and yellow-brown roof tops which down below are lit by a golden autumn light, I can’t help thinking that this spectacular view must necessarily constitute a metaphor for La Pergola’s gastronomic qualities. But I must stop giving myself over to the panoramic view: Heinz Beck, La Pergola’s world-famous chef, is ready for our interview. Lo chef, as Beck’s staff often call him with a mixture of sympathy and awe, is not a tall man. On the other hand, one quickly understands that his personality more than
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compensates for this. The look in his eyes is direct, the flow of Italian words, pronounced with a charming German accent, is fluent and Beck’s charisma and willpower are especially dynamic. And of course we shouldn’t forget his skills. In 2008, for the third year running, La Pergola was assigned three highly soughtafter Michelin stars, the only restaurant in Rome to be so favoured. The well-known Italian gastronomic guides, Gambero Rosso and Guida Espresso, long ago discovered the German chef’s qualities, and for the last three to four years, La Pergola has constantly been in the top three of Italy’s very best restaurants. This is all the more fascinating when you consider that Beck’s career actually started as
Before Heinz Beck came to Rome in 1994, summoned by the Hotel Cavalieri Hilton’s then manager, he had been gaining experience in well-known restaurants in Germany and Spain. At only 31 years of age, he became head chef for a restaurant which did not have any particular reputation. However, hard and purposeful work paid off after four years, when La Pergola in the 1998 edition of the Michelin Guide was given its first star. Star number two was obtained in 2001, and after another five years, in 2006, Beck crowned the achievement when his restaurant was given the third star. What was his recipe for success? ‘Over time, I have introduced a modern and light cuisine based on the Mediterranean tradition. We then introduced a number of new ingredients to create imaginative and original dishes. Later, when I felt the kitchen had been taken to a sufficiently high level, I started to focus on the dining room and the service. It was important to bring the service up to the same level as the kitchen.’
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INTERVIEW – HEINZ BECK
‘Over time I have introduced a modern and light cuisine based on the Mediterranean tradition’
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INTERVIEW – HEINZ BECK
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WHO
But the quality of the dining experience and the food is one thing; the economic part of restaurant administration is quite another. Beck is very conscious of the connection between these two parallel aspects. As he says: ‘Some people might think: Ah, it’s easy for Beck. His restaurant is in a hotel. He can do what he wants to do, when it comes to spending money. Unfortunately, it’s not true. I’m a part of the hotel, and I have to make a profit.’ But when one hears about La Pergola’s activity level, one imagines the profits are not trivial. Indeed, La Pergolas’s 55 seats have been completely filled for the past nine years, and to be sure, to get a seat in Rome’s principal gastronomic temple, you need to book something like three to five weeks ahead.
QUALITY
AND
AESTHETICS
Beck has long achieved international recognition for the perfect interaction between his dishes’ taste, aroma, and the quality of the raw materials on the one hand, and the restaurant’s atmosphere, service and aesthetics on the other. Harmony, innovation and lightness are some of La Pergola’s key qualities, and Beck sums up his philosophy like this: ‘The genuine taste of the dishes, the quantity, digestibility and healthfulness are all essential. The importance of the taste is no surprise. But the quantity and the interval between two dishes are also extremely important. The running time between two dishes must
IS HEINZ BECK? Heinz Beck is German, born 1963. Since 1994, he has been the Executive Chef at restaurant La Pergola, Rome. Today he is considered one of Europe’s leading chefs. In the Michelin Guide, editions 2006 and 2007, La Pergola received three Michelin stars. The restaurant is considered among the three best in Italy. Heinz Beck is the author of several books on gastronomy and restaurant administration. Several of his publications have received important awards at the international festival for gastronomic literature, ‘The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards’. In 2000, he was rewarded with the distinction ‘The Artist’s Gold Medal’, which is awarded by Rome’s La Sapienza University. It was the first time in the 30 years this distinction has been awarded, that it was given to a chef. In 2005, Heinz Beck was adviser to the famous Italian pasta manufacturer De Cecco during the development of a new ready-made pasta sauce.
H O T E L A N D R E S TA U R A N T Hotel Cavaliere Hilton, Via Cadiolo 101, Rome. La Pergola, the restaurant of Hotel Cavaliere Hilton, is situated on the hotel’s ninth floor. Tel: (+39) 06 3509 2152 Web: www.cavalieri-hilton.it/indexx.html To book a table: it is recommended to make reservations three to five weeks in advance. For weekend bookings (Fridays and Saturdays), it might be necessary to book even further ahead. Email:
[email protected] Tel: (+39) 06 3509 2152 P R I C E S : 9-course menu: 195.00 Euro, without wine; 6-course menu: 160.00 euro, without wine. Further information on menus and prices can be seen on Heinz Beck’s homepage: www.heinzbeck.com W I N E C E L L A R : La Pergola’s wine cellar contains some 50,000 bottles, of which you’ll find 2,600 different labels. 60% of the wine stock is Italian, 30% is French and the remaining 10% is from other countries.
not be too long. If it is, our stomachs will change from a receiving process to a digestive process, and that’s not what we want. The Alpha and Omega in our cuisine is lightness, meaning the dishes’ digestibility.’ Another aspect, considered a Heinz Beck trademark, is the quality of the raw materials, which, according to Beck, means everything:
‘I can mention, as an example, that we receive live Norwegian lobsters. Three hours after their arrival, we kill them and prepare them as lobster fillet. We never use deepfrozen lobsters, because it’s impossible to conserve their consistency and taste due to the fact that their natural content of water disappears during the process of deep freezing. If there is one place where I never compromise, it’s on the raw materials. They have to be of prima qualità,’ says Beck with an adamant look. When it comes to the typical Italian love of beauty and aesthetics, one might tend to think that these virtues would be less essential to a pragmatic German. But when Beck starts to gesticulate like an Italian and speak enthusiastically about what he calls the dishes’ ‘architecture’, one knows he is far from being merely a pragmatic German: ‘The different ingredients must have the right relationship with one another. The highest ingredients must be at the back, and the shadows on the plate must not be too pronounced. Dark sauces should go under lighter sauces. Aesthetics are, of course, important too, but bear in mind the golden rule: aesthetics can never replace taste,’ says Beck.
CHASING CLIENTS, N OT S TA R S And what does Beck think about the ‘stardom’ of many famous cooks, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world? ‘Well, I’m not exactly in favour of that way of looking at things. I like to see my profession in a different way. I’m a fairly humble person, but I also know that I have something to say. Remember that the work of a cook is very complex. You must have aesthetic qualities, you must be creative, you have to be productive every single day, you have to let the press get to know you, you must make a profit and so on. I think that very few other professions are so complex.’ Time is running out, and only one more question can be put to Beck who, during our interview, is ever more frequently being called to the kitchen. So I ask him teasingly where he, with his extreme focus on quality, takes his wife, when they want to wine and dine? Beck laughs and shrugs his shoulders in an almost shy manner: ‘Believe me, it’s really all too seldom that I take my wife out. In the last 13 years I have spent almost all my evenings here at La Pergola.’ italy
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ARTS AND CULTURE
RECIPE COMPETITION The winning recipes of our Summer Food Lover’s event are presented below. Congratulations to both winners, Susan Reed and Seema Rao
zucchini
The competition offered an impressive range of recipes and the final choice was certainly not an easy one. The theme was ‘Spring Pasta’ dishes, the idea being that few and light ingredients were required for wonderful, fresh and easy results.
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by Susan Reed
N THE 1980s, I lived in Venice for five years, and very shortly after arriving, I met a delightful old lady called Nai. The Italian language was unfamiliar to me, but she spoke beautiful English and took me under her wing, and with her tuition I was able to understand quickly. I spent many mornings with her as she taught me about the Italian culture, the history and most of all, shopping and cooking. All the food was bought in fresh on a daily basis. We would carry empty litre bottles of wine to be filled at the local bottega, then across the way to the supermarket for a litre bottle of grappa, and to the tabaccheria for her cigarettes - ‘Esportazione’ (the same brand that she had smoked since the war). Just a few yards from her house in Via Garibaldi, the fruit and vegetable boat would come up the canal early morning and stay until 12:30. We would always go there to buy all the fresh produce she would need for the carefully planned menu of the day. Amongst my favourite vegetables were the carciofi already prepared, floating in a bucket of water. These had to cooked almost immediately to stop them from turning brown. We had to be back in time for our third espresso of the day before she would begin preparing a most wonderful gourmet meal for her
I N G R E D I E N T S ( fo r t w o p e o p l e ) 175g of orechiette pasta 2 large zucchini Clove of garlic Olive oil 25g fresh Parmesan, grated Handful chopped flat leaf parsley ½ lemon Handful toasted pine nuts (optional) Preparation Slice the zucchini as thinly as possible (I use the flat side of my grater). In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil with the garlic left whole (just to add flavour), and fry the zucchini in small batches so they brown quickly. When cooked, drain on kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil until they all are done. Discard the garlic, sprinkle the zucchini with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook pasta, drain, add zucchini and pine nuts and stir well. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, freshly grated Parmesan and finish with chopped parsley. Serve.
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husband Mario who would come home from work for his lunch. We ate at 1pm prompt every day, always il primo followed by a delicious secondo accompanied by red wine and followed by another espresso. Usually the grappa was reserved for after the evening meal. I love everything Nai has cooked for me over the years and have lifelong memories of times we spent together. My husband and I go over to stay with her in Venice as often as we can. She still loves to cook outstanding meals for us. Probably my favourite spring pasta dish was the one she made with zucchini which I have adapted slightly. It is so simple and yet delicious and satisfying. Biography: I am married to Alan Reed who is a professional watercolour artist and loves to paint scenes of Italy. We live in Northumberland and I work alongside him in our business. We travel regularly to Italy, America and the Middle East for painting commissions.
ramp
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gnocchi by Seema Rao
OMANCE is an experience that is hard to define. If you had asked me when I was 16, I would no doubt have said that it involved flowers, fancy dinners and jewellery (preferably platinum). Much older now, I have come to the conclusion that romance is complicated, tied to the moment, and, most importantly, ephemeral. Spring is particularly romantic. After all, nature is in love at the time: the trees are in bloom, the robins are laying their eggs. In Cleveland, after a winter cooped up with a toddler, the arrival of spring was particularly welcome. The spring market offered us so many lovely and welcome additions to our diet - nettles, pea shoots, morels and, of course, the wild spring leeks – ramps. The Allium family is a sort of aphrodisiac - or more accurately, they do promote camaraderie and pairing. Only one person in a couple consuming garlic bread results in, well, no kissing. When both consume, anything is possible. When our friend told us that we could forage for ramps on their wooded lot, we jumped at the chance. Like all good romantic experiences, the sweetness and enjoyment of the event snuck up on us. My husband and I arrived at the lot just before sunset, bag and shovel in hand. The air was moist - it had rained that morning. On the way down to the river, as we passed the newly blooming primroses, we spoke. Nothing special, we just talked. When you spend so much time talking about work, bills, errands, babies, just talking is an incredibly romantic moment.
IMAGES COURTES Y OF FOTOLIA , MAIN IMAGE©C ARMEN S TEINER AND INSET, RIGHT ©IMAGES TALK
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RECIPE COMPETITION RESULTS
For my husband, Italian food is comforting and homey. The culinary prowess of his Nonna lives on a full decade after her death
When we returned home with our ramps, the sun was just about gone. For my husband, Italian food is comforting and homey. The culinary prowess of his Nonna lives on a full decade after her death. The best of the Italian kitchen profits from the freshness and seasonality of the ingredients. Our ramps were in the ground only half an hour before we cooked them. Homemade gnocchi is one of my husband’s favourite meals as it quick, filling, adaptable. Squash gnocchi with sage, potato gnocchi with tomato sauce, beet gnocchi with brown butter, ricotta gnocchi with zucchini blossom... well, you see the kind of wonderful cook that he is. For the ramps, the goal was something that didn’t overpower these spring treats. We debated making a potato based gnocchi, as potatoes and ramps are a classic, but we went with ricotta, in order to achieve soft pillowy dumplings. The ramp gnocchi were delicious—light and fluffy. Sautéed ramp bulbs and bacon dressed our ramps. We ate our dinner off one plate, snuggling on the couch. Ramps, spring and Italian food equals romance. I N G R E D I E N T S ( fo r t w o p e o p l e ) 250g whole-milk ricotta cheese (that has been drained) 1 egg, beaten ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese ½ cup finely chopped ramps ¾ cup flour Preparation Combine the ricotta, egg, Parmesan and chopped ramps. Add the flour and work gently until a dough is formed. Adjust seasoning. Let rest, roll into long snakes and then cut into bite-sized pieces. You may roll it against a fork to get the characteristic indentations. Boil in salted water until they come to the surface—watch not to over cook them. Dress with bacon and sautéed ramp bulbs, or if vegetarian, with ramp bulbs and pecorino cheese. italy
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ARTS AND CULTURE Eustachio Cazzorla
Do Italy’s present categories of wine provide guarantees to producers, to consumers, or serve only to muddy already unclear oenological waters?
W H AT ’ S U P
DOC? WO R D S : G E R M A I N E S TA F F O R D
I M AG E S : A N D R E A F E R R A I O L I a n d E U S TAC H I O C A Z Z O R L A
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NTERPRETING WINE LABELS has long been a thorn in the side to many non professional wine lovers, and this is especially true with Italian wines. Partly due to the boutique nature of Italian wine production and the sheer quantity of grape varieties and types of wines, labels can be singularly unhelpful. What often happens is that, perusing a label, you find you have never heard of the producer, the grape variety is unfamiliar and the wine itself it a complete novelty. So what do you do? Check the classification, naturally. Ideally, the classification system should denote the quality of a wine (among other things), helping consumers to choose wisely. However, many consider that the present system has failed in its aim of distinguishing superior wines, with some regarding the system as overly complicated and strict, and others insisting it is not strict enough. It is also important to remember that Italy, more than a wine producing country, is an amalgam of wine producing regions, run by a series of argumentative and often disorganised authorities with conflicting interests. But before discussing the myriad difficulties, here’s a recap of Italy’s four categories of wine:
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Vino da Tavola : this supposedly covers Italy’s basic table wine category, whose only criteria is that it must be
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produced somewhere in Italy. While it does indeed include many low quality wines, there are also some gems to be found under this classification, with several makers choosing to avoid the bureaucracy of classification and concentrating instead on the simple matter of making wine. Just think, until 1994, Italy’s Super Tuscan Sassicaia was classified as a Table Wine! IGT – Indicazione Geografica Tipica : these are table wines that are grown in specific geographical growing regions. Originally a step up from simple table wines, this classification increasingly covers quality wines whose producers, for a variety of reasons, have opted out of the DOC and DOCG classifications. DOC – Denominazione di Origine Controllata : the wines that fall under this title are even more strictly tied to their region of provenance and are produced in growing zones specified by the government. These wines are subject to rules regarding grape varieties, vine pruning, aroma, flavour, alcohol content, acidity and period of aging. Many producers (and consumers) argue that in some cases the rules are inadequate, especially regarding minimum yields, thus consenting the inclusion of low quality mass produced wines. Others argue the bureaucracy involved, especially in particular terrains, dissuades many quality producers from participating.
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WOI NL IE V CE L O A SI LS I W F I EC EAKT EI O NN D
DOCG - Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita : this is a super DOC category that is meant to cover Italy’s very best wines. In addition to extremely specific growing zones, DOCG wines generally have lower yields and must pass strict chemical and taste evaluations before being bottled. Wines in this category tend to be of excellent quality, but don’t necessarily include many of Italy’s very best bottles. So now that it’s clear what the various classifications are meant to cover, let’s take a look at why it ain’t necessarily so…
OPTING OUT A few years ago, I remember reading the bizarre story of how, while most of the country’s vintners were fighting tooth and nail to gain DOC and DOCP status, several Italian producers were declassifying themselves in order to be taken more seriously. The specified standards were, in their opinion, at times so poor that they wanted nothing to do with them, preferring instead to establish their wine (the same wine that was previously DOC for example),
under the name of the producer and with a declassified IGT label. It was a catch-22 situation: instead of encouraging growers to aim for quality instead of mere quantity, often the result was that quality producers were being dragged down with the masses. Clearly not ideal. Roberto Anselmi is widely regarded as one of Italy’s leading white wine producers. In 2000, discouraged by the low quality and general lack of ambition in the Soave region, he took the bold decision of abandoning the Soave DOC, and labelling his wines as IGT Veneto. Anselmi is a quality oriented producer whose Guyottrained vines have extremely low yields compared to the more typical pergola-trained vines in Soave which produce frightening amounts of inferior wine, whence Suave’s less than sparkling standing. Over the last decade, he has slowly been helping the battered wine reputation of the Veneto region to recover and improving the perception of Italian wines worldwide. He has also earned himself multiple Tre Bicchieri classifications for his Anselmi wines, proof that IGT wines can be just as good as bottles with superior classifications.
…instead of encouraging growers to aim for quality instead of mere quantity, often the result was that quality producers were being dragged down with the masses T
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I FUI N C AT TA II ON NS REW S PI N I GE HCI L’ SA S FS O
EXTREME WINES That’s not the only reason folks are opting out. Winemakers Marisa Cuomo and Andrea Ferraioli of Gran Furor Divina Costiera, producers of Fiorduva, another Tre bicchieri wine, have spent the last fourteen years doing their best to hold high the DOC flag with their six DOC wines. But the bureaucracy involved in adhering is fast becoming a problem. ‘This isn’t Tuscany,’ says Andrea, ‘with huge expanses of vines covering hectare upon hectare of land. Here on the Amalfi Coast, we have a very different reality, with all of our terraced vineyards belonging to different families who have split their small vines between the various family members, meaning that we have one of the most divided wine territories in Italy. It’s an administrative nightmare. We are keen to continue as DOC, but can’t help thinking that every case should be judged according to its particular characteristics and problems so producers aren’t penalised unnecessarily by the difficulties of their land.’ And in fact, Marisa and Andrea’s Gran Furor Divina Costiera is included in the list of Vini Estremi, an association that promotes wines produced from vines found in extreme geographical or climactic winemaking conditions. On a final note, Marisa comments that she believes that the DOC system does offer more guarantees to the consumer, but that many of the present problems could be resolved by ensuring the rules were fully Marisa and Andrea enforced and by carrying out more controls on winemakers. Meanwhile, of course, many producers chose to opt out of the classification systems simply to avoid the stricter rulings, thus having more freedom to produce and mix wines as they please, often in fact, to appeal to a more ‘international’ taste. That is, producing wines designed to please drinkers rather than producing wines that are expressions of a particular terroir whose value lies in their distinctiveness.
EXPERT OPINION Eustachio Cazzorla, journalist, sommelier and lecturer is the man I normally call when I’m confused about wine, and this time he was quick to acknowledge my doubts and confirm that even professionals have a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff at times. ‘There are tons of serious wine producers doing their best to follow the stringent rules of the classification system,’ he agrees, ‘but you also have those who aim for a DOC or DOCP for other reasons:
to access EEC contributions, for example.’ He agrees that many producers are distancing themselves from the classifications, or have simply chosen never to participate, and he gives a great example of a simple Vino da Tavolo that exemplifies the difficulties inherent in being guided purely by DOC/DOCG status: Maccone di Angiuli, Primitivo di Acquaviva, produced at Acquaviva inland of Bari – a gorgeously mature, fruity wine with cinnamon and pepper that could easily be a DOC, but is instead, a simple Table Wine. As Eustachio puts it – ‘it’s as warm as an Amarone, has perfectly velvety tannins with a bitter liquorice edge that keeps the wine’s ample sugars under control - a sincere wine from a sincere producer.’ But as Cazzorla reminds me, the subject of wine classifications is about to undergo important transformations: from 1st August 2009, new European Commission laws are due to come into effect, removing Italy’s existing four tier classification system and replacing it with a two tier system that will unite all European wine producing countries and, says the Commission, simplify labels for consumers. The EEC promises: ‘Simpler labelling rules: in the interests of producers and consumers, quality will be based on protected geographical indications/ designations of origin. Well-established traditional national quality-labelling schemes will be kept, and simplified labelling rules will allow EU wines to be labelled for grape variety and vintage.’ Predictably, the Italian wine world is up in arms, horrified that their DOC and DOCG wines might all be lumped together as DOP after so much work to differentiate them. Though the words ‘traditional national quality-labelling schemes will be kept’, give the more optimistic reason for hope. However, the wheels of bureaucracy are notoriously slow… Conclusion: don’t presume either price or classification systems will lead you to the best wines. It’s often a better idea to read private tasting votes, and be advised by folks in the know. Calling Marc Millon! italy For more on Eustachio Cazzorla and his musings, visit: www.eusto.it For further information on Costa d’Amalfi wines, visit: www.granfuror.it Vini Estremi : www.viniestremi.com EEC Reforms, wine sector: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/capreform/wine/ index_en.htm
We are keen to continue as DOC, but can’t halp thinking that every case should be judged according to its particular characteristics and problems… ITALY
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LA DOLCE VITA
Celebrate the best Italy has to offer at the dazzling lifestyle event, La Dolce Vita - taking place at the Olympia in London from March 26 - 29 2009.
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eaturing fabulous Italian gourmet treats, designer fashion and stylish home-ware, amazing holidays and luxury properties, the event is now in its fifth year. It’s going to be bigger and better than ever before, with several new exciting features. Located in the central Piazza, ‘Il Gran Menu’ is a restaurant where four renowned and award-winning chefs will be working together to created the ultimate Italian menu that you will not find anywhere else in the world. There’s also to be a fabulous Mercato delle Delizie, where Italian producers, exclusively selected for the show, will be selling a range of delicious food including oils, award-winning pesto, cakes and rather unusual vegetables that are yet are not available in the UK...until La Dolce Vita! Hosted by Sarah Fraser and Richard Turnbull from Channel 4’s The Great Italian Escape, The Property Match Bar is a lively and fun environment allowing you to receive specialist advice from Italian property experts in just a few minutes. Find your Italy is an interactive attraction where visitors literally pinpoint their favourite spot in Italy on an enormous map and can then have the chance of winning a wonderful holiday there. Standard tickets cost £14 if bought in advance, or £16 on the door. The hotline is +44 08712 305 589. For more information, please visit www.ladolcevitaevent.co.uk
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TABLE TALK – ALEXIA
Table TALK… with…
ALEXIA
WO R D S : G E R M A I N E S TA F F O R D / I M AG E c o u r t e sy o f S T E FA N O G U I N DA N I
Alexia is a popular singer whose diminutive stature belies an immense vocal talent and energy that infect fans the world over
What RELATIONSHIP do you have WITH FOOD? A love-hate relationship. I’m tiny, only 1.53 metres tall, so have to be really careful about what I eat. I love good food but try not to eat too much of it…
Is it possible to COMPARE WRITING A SONG to COOKING? Yes, both are hugely enjoyable and relaxing, but a song last longer than a dinner …
Do you have any particular MEMORIES related to FOOD? In the days running up to Christmas, my mother would spend ages making ravioli and tortellini. Now it wouldn’t be Christmas if my sister and I didn’t join in the kitchen to help her ...
culinar y ID Name:alexia
Warm bread and Nutella …
profession: singer birthplace: la spezia Favourite Food: [ pizza Favourite wine: none. I’m teetotal
dislikes: various pork products like cotichino, pig skin, etc Winner of San Remo in 2003, runner up in 2002, and with millions of records sold worldwide, Alexia continues to delight her public with her own particular poprock-blues style. Her latest album was released this year and is entitled Alè.
For more information visit www.alexifans.com
Do you have to BE CAREFUL about what YOU EAT for YOUR VOICE?
Not really, but I have to make sure I’ve already digested whatever I’ve eaten, as the stomach and the diaphragm are close neighbours, and the digestive process can be tiring …
What FOODS would you TAKE WITH YOU on a DESERT ISLAND? Sushi, rice, pizza and coffee …
FAVOURITE CHEF or RESTAURANT? There are two places in Milan that I really like: La Bruschetta and Paper Moon …
You get some GOOD NEWS – what do you CELEBRATE with ? STRANGEST food you’ve EVER EATEN? A meal I ate in an African restaurant in Paris – some kind of root vegetable steamed inside huge leaves …
Can you SEDUCE someone at the DINNER TABLE? It’s funny you should ask. When my husband and I had only started dating, I took over his kitchen and prepared a meal for him one evening when he came home from a business trip. I made gnocchi with a quattro formaggi sauce. Very simple and very effective as he immediately declared I was the woman of his dreams! ...
If I gave you some GINGER what would you DO with it?
I’d mix it with soy sauce, Chinese wine, onion, and garlic and use it to marinade some tuna fish. Then a sprinkling of sesame seeds and straight into the pan. Delicious! …
Is there a BOOK or a FILM about food that you like? I love the film Chocolat, the way the main character’s sweetness wins everyone in the village over …
A NIGHT with GEORGE CLOONEY or a SLAP UP meal? I’d be too nervous to enjoy my time with George, so I’d prefer a meal with very close friends so I could relax and let my hair down …
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This month, we examine the achievements of Galen, one of Ancient Rome’s greatest physicians. Try reading the Italian version first then check with the English version below
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would necessarily be found in humans, the rete mirabile, a plexus of blood vessels at the base of the brain in ungulate animals for example, and his descriptions and sketches of the human womb represent, to all effects, that of the dog. Like many of his contemporaries, Galen was a well prepared surgeon whose tools included forceps, scalpels, catheters, bone hooks and drills, cross-bladed scissors, needles, spatulas, cupping vessels (for bloodletting), surgical saws, probes and specula. (Many such instruments were uncovered in the House of the Surgeon at Pompeii, so called thanks to the findings, and even in Roman Britain and elsewhere in the Roman Empire.) From trepanation – drilling holes in the skull to relieve brain pressure – and amputations, to pioneering cataract operations and plastic surgery, Galen and his fellow physicians were astonishingly ahead of their time. During surgery, painkillers such as opium and scopolamine were used, acetum (actually a more effective antiseptic that Joseph Lister’s carbolic acid) was used to wash and sterilise wounds, and instruments were washed in boiling water. Interestingly, while the Romans had no real idea of germs being related to disease, they practised many techniques that killed germs, techniques that were not fully reembraced until millennia later.
Galen regarded anatomy as the foundation of medical knowledge, and since the dissection of human bodies was illegal under Roman Law, practised the dissection of pigs, apes, dogs and other animals. This was to prove both an advantage and a weakness. On the one hand, much of Galen’s work was to prove groundbreaking: he was the first to observe that muscles work in contracting pairs and that arteries carried blood, and not air as had been commonly held till then; he gained superior understanding of the structure of the heart, its valves and its arteries; and, using experiments, was able to demonstrate paralysis resulting from spinal cord severing. However, Galen was misled on many accounts, especially concerning the internal organs. For instance, he incorrectly assumed that structures found in animals
Despite many critical errors, Galen was the most authoritative physician of his time, keeping up to 20 scribes to help put down in writing his every finding. Dedicated to his profession and with firm ethical beliefs – he held that physicians should learn to despise money as the medical profession was incompatible with acting for profit, Galen died around 216 AD, leaving behind him works that were to go unchallenged for almost 1,400 years, overridden only by the appearance of Andreas Vesalius and his work on anatomy in 1543, and English doctor William Harvey’s work on blood circulation in 1628. italy
HAVE DONE as much for medicine as Trajan did for the Roman Empire when he built the bridges and roads through Italy. It is I, and I alone, who have revealed the true path of medicine. It must be admitted that Hippocrates already staked out this path... He prepared the way, but I have made it possible.’ These words are attributed to the Greek physician and philosopher Galen whose works dominated the world of medicine for well over a thousand years. Born in 129 AD in Pergamon, (an area in modern Turkey), Galen originally studied philosophy and literature, but at the age of 16, on the prompting of his father, his proposed career changed to that of medicine. He studied at various cities within the then Roman Empire: at Pergamon, at Smyrna and finally at Alexandria, the most advanced medical centre of its time. Galen based his studies on the best work of the Greek medical schools which had preceded his time, while updating and refining theories on the basis of the findings of his extensive experiments and observations. At the age of 33, Galen moved to Rome. There he continued his studies, wrote prolifically, lectured, debated, and gave extensive demonstrations on anatomy to exhibit his medical expertise.
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IL MEDICO DI ROMA
Italian translation
T R A N S L AT I O N : D OT T. A N D R E A A N TO N I O N I
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guigni localizzato alla base del cervello degli animali ungulati, per esempio, e le sue descrizioni e disegni dell’ utero umano rappresentano, a tutti gli effetti, quelli del cane. Come molti dei suoi contemporanei, Galeno era un bravo chirurgo, ed i suoi attrezzi includevano forcipi, scalpelli, cateteri, uncini ossei e trapani, forbici a lame incrociate, aghi, spatole, coppette per salassi, seghe, sonde, speculi (molti di questi strumenti sono stati rinvenuti nella Casa del Chirurgo a Pompei – così chiamata per i ritrovamenti, nella Gran Bretagna Romana e altrove nell’Impero Romano). Dalla trapanazione – pratica di fori nel cranio per rilevare la pressione cerebrale - alle amputazioni, dalle prime operazioni di cataratta sino alla chirurgia plastica, Galeno e i suoi medici erano sorprendentemente all’avanguardia per il loro tempo. Negli interventi chirurgici venivano usati analgesici come l’oppio e la scopolamina, l’aceto (un antisettico più efficace dell’acido fenico di Joseph Lister) per lavare e sterilizzare le ferite e gli strumenti venivano lavati in acqua bollente. Curiosamente, mentre gli antichi Romani non sapevano che i germi erano collegati all’infezione, loro usavano molte tecniche per uccidere i germi, tecniche che in seguito non sono state riutilizzate per un millennio.
Galeno considerava l’anatomia il fondamento della conoscenza medica, e poiché la dissezione dei corpi umani era illegale per la legge romana, praticava quella dei suini, delle api, dei cani e di altri animali. Ciò costituiva sia un vantaggio che una carenza. Da un lato, molto del lavoro di Galeno voleva provare nuove teorie: fu il primo ad osservare il movimento dei muscoli in contrazione binaria e che le arterie portano il sangue e non l’aria come si era pensato fino a quel tempo; e attraverso esperimenti, poté dimostrare come la paralisi risulti da danni alla colonna vertebrale. Tuttavia, Galeno si è sbagliato su altre cose, specialmente sugli organi interni. Per esempio, pensava erroneamente che le strutture presenti negli animali si sarebbero necessariamente trovate anche negli uomini, la ‘rete mirabile’, un plesso di vasi san-
Malgrado i molti errori, Galeno era il più autorevole medico del suo tempo, tenendo testa fino a venti scribi che lo aiutavano a mettere per iscritto ogni sua scoperta. Devoto alla sua professione e dotati di saldi principi etici, pensava che i medici dovevano imparare a disprezzare il denaro perchè la professione medica è incompatibile con la ricerca del profitto. Galeno morì intorno al 216 d.C., lasciando dietro di sé opere che sarebbero rimaste immutate per quasi 1,400 anni, superate solo dalla comparsa di Andreas Vesalius e del suo lavoro sull’anatomia nel 1543 e del medico inglese William Harvey con il suo lavoro sulla circolazione sanguigna nel 1628. italy
o fatto tanto per la medicina, quanto Traiano ha fatto per l’Impero Romano quando ha costruito ponti e strade in tutta Italia. Sono io, e solo io, che ho rivelato la vera strada della medicina. Bisogna riconoscere che Ippocrate aveva già indicato la via… Egli ha spianato la strada, ma io l’ho resa praticabile’ Queste parole vengono attribuite al medico e filosofo greco Galeno i cui lavori hanno dominato il mondo della medicina per oltre mille anni. Nato nel 129 d.C. a Pergamone (una località dell’attuale Turchia), Galeno inizialmente studiò filosofia e letteratura, ma all’età di 16 anni, su richiesta del padre, la sua carriera si indirizzò verso la medicina. Studiò in varie città dell’allora Impero Romano: a Pergamone, a Smyrna e poi ad Alessandria, il centro medico più avanzato del suo tempo. Galeno basò i suoi studi sulle migliori opere delle scuole mediche greche che avevano preceduto la sua epoca, aggiornando e migliorando le teorie in base alle sue numerose scoperte, esperimenti e osservazioni. A 33 anni, Galeno si recò a Roma. Là continuò gli studi, scrisse molto, insegnò, discusse e diede molte dimostrazioni di anatomia per mostrare le sue conoscenze mediche.
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B A G S OF Carried by actresses, artists and celebrities from the music industry, the Piatonna handbag is collected by women the world over…
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HEN DESIGNER Pia Tonna decided to launch her own handbag business, it was to Italy she turned to realise her dream. With its reputation for exquisite fashion and fine craftsmanship, she knew this was the place to produce the luxury hand-finished product she envisaged. So, in January 2004, she and her partner, Max, left their jobs and life in London and headed for Italy’s fashion capital, Milan, where they set up the company’s headquarters in their two bedroom apartment: the studio and showroom in the front half, while they lived in the back half. They soon adapted to – and adopted – the Italian lifestyle and were not fazed by the complexities and bureaucracy of starting a business in a foreign country, albeit within the EU. With a background in fashion marketing, Pia was well qualified and prepared to cope with whatever problems came their way. Born in England to an English mother and Maltese father, (the Piatonna logo is a reworking of the Maltese cross), and brought up in London, Pia (38) has worked for various select luxury brands including Paul Smith, where, as Head of International Marketing, she worked on everything from shop launches to fragrance licenses, and the day-to-day business with Paul. Then she moved on to Chanel, working for Francoise Montenay, its President, (‘a really wonderful and interesting woman’), where she travelled to Paris on an almost weekly basis and New York several times a year in her Marketing and Strategy capacity within the Chanel Group. BACK TO HER ROOTS But something was missing. As a former design student at Worthing College of Art, now, after
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years working in marketing, she realised she really wanted to get back to her design roots. ‘Working at the Chanel group gave me the experience of following products from initial concepts through to launch – so I knew about product development,’ she explained. ‘When we launched Piatonna back in 2004, handbags weren’t as big as they are now and the handbags that were around were repeat styles with poor attention to detail, and more about making profits for the luxury goods houses as opposed to making really interesting products designed and made with passion.’ She was determined Piatonna would change that! ‘I really like vintage things, purely because much more went in to products 50 years ago, not just in the raw materials used but also the amount of attention to detail. Our bags have vintage details; for example, every bag has a moiré lining with a cordone trim. It is always a great pleasure to watch a person pick-up a bag they like and then open it to discover an impecca-
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bly finished interior. We receive emails from customers saying how they have never had so many compliments about their Piatonna handbag and that when someone takes an interest they open up the bag and show them the interiors.’ The handbags are all handmade in Arzano near Naples, and their small collection of shoes, also all handmade, in Castelfranco di Sotto near Pisa, (a full shoe collection is due to launch this Autumn/Winter 09). The leathers, metal hardware, linings and materials used are all Italian and most of the leathers are finished in Tuscany. ‘We make in Italy because you cannot fake the handmade feel of Italian products – they make their products with pride and heart.’ FINISHING TOUCHES Piatonna’s concept is to design and produce impeccably made handbags and leather goods with unusual leathers and unique shapes. Apart from the moiré lining and vintage hand-finish cord trim in each bag - an expensive process but it really adds to the finished product - each season the colours of the moiré and cordone are changed as well as the leather, skin, and trim, so every collection is fresh and modern. Plus three new shapes are introduced to keep the collection moving forward; this season they are Bohem (a versatile hand/shoulder/cross body bag), Dove (an elongated origami style pleat detail clutch bag, inspired by the wings of a dove, and Pia’s favourite), and Peace (with references to the natural shapes of a swan). Both Pia and Max are very much ‘hands’-on’ and work almost non-stop on the business - ‘not because we have to, but because we love what we do!’ she enthuses. Max, (36), a former magazine Advertising Director, manages the commercial side while Pia concentrates on all of the design and production. ‘We visit the manufacturing base at least
three times per season and we are in daily contact with our team there. We moved to Italy to work more closely with our manufacturers, tanneries and suppliers, to establish the relationships, learn the language and to understand the culture. Our experience there has fundamentally helped us grow the business. ‘The ‘product’ is central to what we do at Piatonna and has to be absolutely perfect, so we are extremely familiar with every element of the process, right from the leather selection and working with the tanneries, to developing exclusive designs, and deciding on the packaging of the finished handbag. Every detail is thought through’ Pia took the fashion world by storm with the launch of her own label of very special handbags each maintains a subtle sassiness, found in the unexpected colour combination or contrast of texture. They research and develop new leathers and often combine three or more different leathers or skins on an individual handbag. ‘This alone is quite unusual,’ explains Pia. ‘We pride ourselves on creating genuinely unique handbags that have real stand out appeal, combined with an attention to detail that is yet to be found in any other handbags. Many elements such as texture, colour, durability and finish are all considered whether the leathers we are using are exotic python skins or deer and nappa calf leathers.’ E V E R Y DAY C H A L L E N G E S In those early days, and even now, the Italian way of working can be exasperating! Pia and Max have kept the company British, ‘but setting up simple things like internet phone lines was a bit of a feat and even booking a courier can take an inordinate amount of time. The renowned Italian bureaucracy is alive and well!’ she laughs. But they love the lifestyle. ‘Italians are very patriotic and they put so much effort into everything they do with very high standards. Even if you go to a roadside café, the ham for your panini is carved right there in front of you and the ingredients are all fresh. Packet food does not exist. It’s just the same with the exacting standards of handbag and shoe production….’ From just a small beginning they have seen their business growth rocket with the explosion of the handbag and accessories market. In their third season, they went from a handful of stockists to over 60 in 23 countries. Their bags are now collected by devotees season after season. They have plans to open their first London flagship store this year, and back in London, looking for the right premises, their love-affair with Italy has not faded. ‘We adore Italy for its people, its culture and its breathtaking scenery,’ says Pia. ‘We will go back there regularly as that is where we will always manufacture. italy www.piatonna.com
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L A K E COMO Words by Germaine Stafford : Cover Image by Fotolia©John Hofboer
Lake Como is addictive: one trip here and you won’t be able to stay away…
Shaped like a great inverted Y, Lago di Como is an immense body of water that extends for an impressive 50 km at the foot of the Alps, with Colico at the northernmost point, Bellagio at the point the lake splits into two at the centre, and the main towns of Como and Lecco at the southern tips of the two arms. This is an area that was once covered in glaciers, and it is the Adda River arriving from the Swiss Alps that feeds Lake Como. It is one of Europe’s largest and deepest lakes and undoubtedly one of its most beautiful.
S O , Y O U ’ D L I K E T O S TAY ? And while we’d all like to own a lakeside villa, not all of us enjoy the likes of Mr. Clooney’s bank account. Thankfully, however, there are many other options open to lesser mortals. Linda Travella, the director of the Italian Property Specialists Casa Travella, launched Lake Como to the British public 22 years ago. She says: ‘It has so much to offer and you can find an amazing mixture of sophistication, rural charm and stunning scenery. In 1994 I won first prize for promoting tourism between Lake Como and the UK. The Mayor of Como presented me with a miniature silver ‘Lucia’ (traditional boat) with my name inscribed on. The second prize was given to the late Gianni Versace.
‘It has so much to offer and you can find an amazing mixture of sophistication, rural charm and stunning scenery’
Unsurprisingly for such an attractive spot, it has long been attracting esteemed visitors. Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger were both born here, Julius Caesar named it Lario, and Stendhal wrote that ‘nothing in the universe can compare to the wonder of these hot summer days passed on this lake’. Flaubert was moved by Como’s beauty, Shelly declared it voluptuous and
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Liszt was convinced there was no place in the world more suited for passionate love. And of course, it can have escaped no one’s notice that George Clooney chose this spot to buy a villa.
‘It is an excellent area to buy a property as it is central to many other European cities and has a very good choice of apartments in wonderful villas that grace the shoreline, or modern light newly built apartments that are very good as an investment for rental. If you are feeling really extravagant then you can look for a villa close to Mr. Clooney! Como is also perfect for sports W W W
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HEN YOU FIRST VISIT Lake Como, one of the first things that strikes you is the vicinity of the Alps. You expect the glittering expanses of lake, the dense greenery that carpets the surrounding hills, and the jumble of villages with their terracotta roofs that characterise the coast. But you don’t expect that dramatic backdrop of snow capped mountains, and this is part of Lake Como’s charm.
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Given the lake’s splendid surroundings, the area has enjoyed an increase in couples deciding to tie the knot here
IMAGE,LEFT, COURTES Y OF FOTOLIA©LOUISE MCGILVIRAY.
enthusiasts: there is golf, skiing is not far from Monza and football fans can go watch AC Milan (now with Beckham) or Inter Milan. Or then again, how about some shopping in Como town or Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone for some designer boutiques?’
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Travelling to Como is easy with Milan’s Malpensa and Linate airports close by, and Bergamo providing another option. Linda Travella is known as an expert on the Italian property market and has appeared in numerous TV programmes for BBC and ITV: Including: A Place in the Sun, filmed on Lake Como and I Want that House. Web: www.casatravella.com www.casatravellapremier.com Tel: 01322 660988 S AY I N G ‘ S I ’ O N C O M O But it’s not only folks who want to stay in Lake Como who flock here. Given the lake’s splendid surroundings, the area has enjoyed an increase in couples deciding to tie the knot here.
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‘Each lake is quite unique, each one has its own special atmosphere, and nothing could be more elegant than Lake Como…’
IMAGE, TOP, COURTES Y OF FOTOLIA©TROMBAX (LEFT) AND MAX DJ (TOP, RIGHT).
Wedding Specialists Blu Key Weddings was created by Francesca and Jeremy who both have a real passion and love for the Italian Lake Region. Francesca was born here and started her career photographing weddings around the Italian Lakes before moving to London. There she met Jeremy who has worked for years in the hospitality industry, and together they decided to develop a business that would not only allow their expertise to grow but also ensure they could create bespoke weddings within some of Italy’s most beautiful landscapes. Part of what distinguishes Blu Key Weddings is their strong desire to work with individual couples to create unique weddings, and the Italian Lakes has become their specialized area to create clients’ dream Italian wedding.
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‘Creating a wedding in the Italian Lake Region is a truly unforgettable experience simply because it’s one of the most beautiful, enchanting landscapes in Northern Italy,’ says Jeremy. ‘Each lake is quite unique, each one has its own special atmosphere, and nothing could be more elegant than Lake Como, dotted with picturesque little villages like Bellagio. And while we have a wealth of experience organizing weddings, we believe very much in the personal touch when dealing with our clients, and strive to make every wedding exclusive and individual.’ Francesca continues: ‘From private villas, castellos and grand luxury ‘Art Deco’ hotels to romantic restaurants tucked away on the islands, we are sure that you will find the right setting for your special Italian Lakes wedding day.’ Consultations are available in the UK or abroad and of course, Blu Key Weddings manage every aspect of your wedding day from the legal documentation to the entertainment, ensuring your big day runs like a dream. Web: www.bluekeyweddings.com
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A TOUCH OF LUXURY And if you don’t want to live here (or just plain can’t!), and aren’t feeling brave enough to tie the knot, treat yourself to a once in a lifetime stay at one of the area’s most stylish hotels. Since 1872, the elegant Grand Hotel Serbelloni has attracted the most discerning international travellers, including John F Kennedy and Winston Churchill. As the only Bellagio hotel with a five star deluxe rating, it consistently appears in lists of the world’s top fifty hotels. The hotel
‘I love to consider clients as my own personal guests’ enjoys a glorious location in the stunning town of Bellagio considered by many to be the ‘pearl’ of the lake. It is quiet, away from roads, and has its own private park to the rear and overlooks the lake to the front. This is a venerable hotel with sumptuous public rooms and a breathtaking setting on the lake. Attention to detail, uncompromising quality, discreet personal service and privacy are typical of the quality of service guests enjoy. For three generations the hotel has been in the ownership of the Bucher family, a dynasty in fine European hotellerie. An almost unique example, in this day and age, of a luxury hotel still managed by the family that owns it. ‘We want our guests to feel the history that surrounds this property and to experience the charm of a noble home,’ says owner Gianfranco Bucher. ‘I love to consider clients as my own personal guests.’ W W W
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DECADENT DINING As you walk through the magnificent halls, the atmosphere of the place reveals the particular style of this management, which is based on good taste and personalised treatment. There are two restaurants in the hotel overseen by the Chef Ettore Bocchia who has been awarded a Michelin star for the quality of the food served. Terrazza Serbelloni, the main dining restaurant, offers magnificent cuisine on a terrace that overlooks Lake Como and the flowering lakeside gardens of the hotel against a backdrop of snow capped mountains, truly an unrivalled setting. There are 73 rooms, 22 suites and 12 residence apartments within the grounds of the hotel. All are appointed and furnished to a high standard. As you would expect, there is also a wide range of facilities for sport, recreation and physical well being. A lavish spa, private beach, landing stage, indoor and outdoor swimming
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But whatever brings you to this neck of the world, make sure you take time to visit the charming villages that line the coast…
Open from April to November here is a unique opportunity to enjoy a serene holiday in a corner of paradise.(Plus Milan is easily accessed for daytrips.) www.villaserbelloni.com But whatever brings you to this neck of the world, make sure you take time to visit the charming villages that line the coast: Cernobbio with its elegant shops and restaurants; Varenna with its winding alleyways and the beautiful Bellagio with its old world charm and presenting some of the most striking views Italy has to offer. One thing is certain, however. Lake Como is addictive: one trip here and you won’t be able to stay away… italy
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pools, squash and tennis courts ,and children’s play area are all on site and there are golf and equestrian facilities nearby.
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Property & Business
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Our special section for those looking to buy, rent, work or simply holiday in Italy
Page 63_ property buying tips – the right price Carla Passino shares advice on how to determine the right price for your property and make a savvy investment
Page 67_ the price of property Just what can you get for your money? Carla Passino goes property shopping with €140,000 in her pocket. Find out what she comes up with
Page 69_ the price of property Just what can you get for your money? Carla Passino goes property shopping with €430,000 in her pocket. we take a look at her finds
Page 71_ business In our regular feature, Emma Bird looks at becoming self-employed, becoming a bilingual secretary and teaching in Florence
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I M AG E CO U R T E S Y O F L A D O LC E V I TA .
Page 74_ And Finally: the burden of bureaucracy… Paul Cleary discusses the ins and outs of fighting Italy’s insidious tangle of red tape
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the RIght PRICE Carla Passino quizzes some experienced estate agents on how to determine the right price for property and ensure you’re making a savvy investment WORDS: CARLA PASSINO
‘I
N THE NICHE MARKET in which we operate—that for traditional farmhouses and townhouses, restored or for restoration, in attractive rural locations or in historic villages and towns—the subjective nature of the buyer’s perception of value is invariably a significant factor in determining price,’ states Roger Coombes of Cluttons Italy. This market is small when compared to the mainstream Italian one, making it hard to extrapolate statistics on prices. ‘The detailed information available from the Agenzia del Territorio (the government body responsible for providing statistics on all types of property transactions) has only a tenuous link with the type of property most foreign buyers are looking for,’ Coombes explains. ‘Hence the reference to the subjective element and the need to look at ‘our’ kind of properties on a case by case basis.’ That said, he adds, to assess the reasonableness of a property’s asking price, it is worth conducting a research on the internet ‘to find a group of other properties on sale in the same area which are broadly comparable in terms of size, character and location. Many sites include the surface area in square metres. This enables a basic comparison of prices per square metre to be made.’
metres, you can expect to pay a maximum of €900 per square metre.’ For a main house of 250-400 square metres, expect to pay a maximum of €450 per square metre—this is because ‘the larger the house, the bigger the restoration cost, which deters many buyers,’ Smith says. So, she adds, ‘for a 200 square metre unrestored house, which would make 4 bedrooms, a price circa 180,000 euros should be the maximum. Beat this and you are doing well.’ Location, Location, Location… Linda Travella of Casa Travella, advises buyers to be locationwise when comparing property prices. ‘If you see a house with an amazing view in a great location, and the same house without a view in the same village but not such a good location, there will be a price differential for sure.’ In Le Marche, for example, proximity to the sea and a good location with the right type of land can make a huge difference, according to Smith. ‘If a house is within 15 minutes of the coast in a favoured location, this will increase the price per square metre by up to 20%. For houses within walking distance of the sea, double the price. A good location, and land containing vines and olive trees can add up to 20 %.’ Be aware, though, that coastal locations will carry a considerable premium. ‘In Le Marche, expect to pay a maximum of €2,700 per square metre for anything within five minutes of the coast and/or with a sea view: here you are competing with the Italian holiday home market.’ To get the best possible bargain, Smith adds, ‘negotiate very hard and look out for houses flagged with ‘Price Reduced.’ This usually means the owners are particularly keen to sell and will negotiate further. Of interest, Magic Marche has recently seen price reductions of up to 30% for houses requiring a quick sale.’ And if you really want to make sure you are not overpaying, ‘you can also opt to have a valuation carried out by a surveyor,’ says Travella. ‘You would have to have this done before you put in an offer and be prepared to write off this cost if you decide not to go ahead.’ italy .
‘… negotiate very hard and look out for houses flagged with ’Price Reduced’. This usually means the owners are particularly keen to sell
Size Matters Cluttons ran a similar survey in the first half of 2008 on a small but representative sample of well restored farmhouses with pools and an average of 6 bedrooms in Umbria and Tuscany, south of Florence. It determined an average asking price of about €3,900 per square metre. ‘On a similar sample of smaller farmhouses (3 to 4 bedrooms) on sales taking place in 2007 and 2008, the average figure is lower at about €2,800 per square metre,’ says Coombes. Magic Marche’s Jane Smith also recommends buyers become familiar with the Italian system of quoting prices per square metre, so it is easier to get some benchmarks. ‘Estate agents in Italy all quote the square metre of the house. Prices significantly below average price per square metre figures will represent fantastic value.’ For example, in the Marche, where Smith operates, ‘for an unrestored farmhouse with a main house of up to 250 square
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BACK ISSUES Prices (inc P&P) £4.25 each or £9.99 for 3 (UK) £4.50 each or £10.99 for 3 (Europe and Ireland) £5 each or £11.99 for 3 (Rest of World) Issue 33 - Limited December 2005
Issue 44 - Limited November 2006
Issue 64 July 08
South Tyrol, Siracusa Starting a business and teaching English Property for Sale in...Valtaro & Valceno
Issue 54 - Limited September 2007
Montagnola, Rome and Tuscany Property for Sale in... La Valle Reatine
Bologna, Trani Property for Sale in... La Sila
Siena Palio Special Review of Piedmont
Issue 34 - Limited January 2006
Issue 46 - Limited January 2007
Issue 55 October 2007
Issue 65 August 08
Abruzzo, Brescia Property for Sale in... Lake Como
Montepulciano, Pompeii Property for Sale in... Lunigiana
Elba, Como Special Review of Calabria
Issue 37 April 2006
Issue 47 February 2007
Issue 58 - Limited January 2008
Issue 66 September 08
Molise, Pietrelcina in Campania Property for Sale in...Southern Piedmont
San Marion, Noto Sicily Property for Sale in... Venice
Spoleto, Sibillini. Special language section
Volterra, Eolian islands Special Review of Liguria
Maremma, Comacchio Advice on Italian Legal problems Property for Sale in...Abruzzo
Issue 38 May 2006
Issue 49 April 2007
Issue 59 - Limited February 2008
Issue 67 October 08
Piedmontese Alps, Sorrento Property for Sale in...Recanati (Le Marche)
Piero Trail, Offida Property for Sale in... Southern Le Marche
Le Marche Cinque Terre Special Review of Tuscany
Northern Le Marche, Chianti. Special Review of Sardinia
Issue 39 - Limited June 2006
Issue 50 May 2007
Issue 60 - Limited March 08
Issue 68 November 08
La Murgia - Puglia, Stromboli Property for Sale in...Lombardy Lakes area
Lake Maggiore, Arbereshe - Calabria Property for Sale in... Lake Orta area
Cividale del Friuli Prato Special Review of Abruzzo
Cefalù, Lunigiana, Tuscany Special Review of Sicily
Issue 40
Issue 51 June 2007
Issue 61 April 08
Issue 69 December 08
Verona, Liguria Property for Sale in... Alghero
Ciociaria, San Remo Special Review of Campania and Basilicata
Imperia, Viterbo and Florence artisans Special Review of Abruzzo
Issue 41 - Limited
Issue 52 July 2007
Issue 62 May 08
Cities of Umbria, Raddusa - Sicily Property for Sale in...Lake Trasimeno
Urbino, Lake Garda Property for Sale in... Calabria
Issue 70 January 09
Veneto, Arezzo Special Review of Puglia
Palermo, Bosa and Bologna Special Language Review
Issue 43 - Limited October 2006
Issue 53 August 2007
Issue 63 June 08
Issue 71 February 09
Albe and Gubbio Property for Sale in... Tuscany
San Gimignano, Capri Property for Sale in... Alta Valle del Potenza e Dell’Esino
Costa Rei, River Po Special Review of Le Marche
Amalfi Coast Grosseto/Etruscan Cities Cookery School Review
July 2006
Massa Marittima Landscapes of Leonardo Property for Sale in...Le Murge
August 2006
To order simply write to us indicating which issues you would like, include a cheque or PO made payable to Poundbury Publishing Ltd for the correct amount, and send it to Italy, Middle Farm, Middle Farm Way, Poundbury, Dorchester DT1 3RS or alternatively, telephone our Hotline on 01305 266360 with your credit card details or order online on
www.italymag.co.uk
D I G I TA L S U B S C R I P T I O N F O R O N LY £ 3 0 Other issues not mentioned have already sold out! 66
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PROPERTY
THE PRICE of PRoperty What you can buy with… up to…
5140,000
WORDS: CARLA PASSINO
After the customary Christmas hibernation, the second home market is slowly waking up. The news from international agents is that buyers are still keen on Italy, but have become choosier and more cautious. They also look for competitive prices; UK buyers in particular need margins that will help compensate the decrease in value of the sterling against the euro, while American buyers expect to find the same kind of reductions they have seen in their home market. While a massive decline in prices is unlikely - particularly for homes belonging to Italian vendors, who traditionally prefer to take their property off the market rather than take a huge hit on price - sellers, particularly non-Italian ones, are showing a greater degree of flexibility. Even though they may nominally maintain their asking prices, they’ll often consider any realistic offer. And because the quality and quantity of properties available for sale is still good, prospective purchasers have an opportunity to pick up some interesting buys.
We have selected three: a flat to renovate, a renovated flat and a new development, all with a really affordable price. Just one word of warning, though: a good dose of realism is crucial for purchasers too. While this is a buyer’s market and owners are increasingly flexible, they are unlikely to entertain anything that is dramatically lower than the asking price.
Renovated Flat in Roccantica, Lazio…
370,000
R
OCCANTICA is true to its name, which means ancient hold in Italian. It is a beautiful medieval village of crenellated towers and golden churches, perched high on the verdant hills of Sabina. Here, in the borgo’s medieval heart, Immobiliare Polidori are selling a fully renovated flat on one level. A few steps lead to the entrance door, which opens onto very Italian interiors that blend traditional touches—cotto floors, a fireplace—with contemporary ones. The flat has one bedroom, a living room, a breakfast kitchen, a bathroom and a balcony, plus its own cellar. The windows frame panoramic views over the Sabina countryside. The asking price is €70,000. For more details call (+39) 0765 576477 or visit www.immobiliarepolidori.it
Flat to renovate in Poggio Catino, Lazio…
570,000 3100,000
A
LSO FOR SALE through Polidori Immobiliare is a large flat, this time in Poggio Catino, another pretty Sabina town. The property, which is in need of renovation, is situated in the historic town centre. It has a beautiful living room with fireplace and vaulted ceiling, three bedrooms, a kitchen, another small kitchen area, two bathrooms and a balcony. It would be easily split into two flats, as it has two entrance doors. The asking price is €100,000.
5100,000
For more details call (+39) 0765 576477 or visit www.immobiliarepolidori.it
Apartments in Tocco da Casauria, Abruzzo…
T
from 3135,000
HE HOME of the powerful Centerba liqueur, Tocco da Casauria is a pretty castle town at the foot of the mount Morrone, in Abruzzo. In the town centre, a historic building is being renovated and converted into three flats. Two of the units, which are sold fully furnished, will have private gardens, while the third will take up the two top floors of the building. All will afford far-reaching views over the Abruzzo countryside. The conversion will use contemporary techniques to bring the building’s rustic feel back to life, with touches such as cotto floors, exposed brickwork, vaulted ceilings and wooden beams. Prices start from €135,000 and go up to €220,000. italy For more details contact Chesterton International on 020 3040 8210 or visit international.chesterton.co.uk
5135,000 ITALY
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PROPERTY
THE PRICE of PRoperty What you can buy with… up to…
5430,000
How far do €430,000 go in these days of wobbly economy? You could treat yourself to just over a month in the cupola suite of Rome’s Westin Excelsior, one of the world’s most expensive hotel rooms; splash out on two Ferrari F430s; or you could purchase a good-sized home by the beach or deep in the Italian countryside. To put it in context, here are three properties in South, Central and Northern Italy that command that price (or slightly less). WORDS: CARLA PASSINO
Borgo ferri, Santa Caterina Ionio, Calabria…
3425,000
A
N ANCIENT family estate, neat rows of vineyards and the turquoise crystal of the Ionian Sea. All this is Borgo Ferri, a gated development in the village of Santa Caterina Ionio, in Calabria. The seat of the Ferri family, the Borgo has been split by owner Barbara Ferri and her husband Alfred Lenarciak to create a private golf community. Its 250 acres will be home to 150 properties set among the estate’s gardens, olive trees and vineyards. Owners will have access to a nine-hole golf course (with nine more holes planned for the future), swimming pool, tennis and beach club: the Borgo is located on the shore of the Ionian Sea. Borgo Ferri offers several options, but three-bedroom villas with gardens cost €425,000. There is a possibility of having a private pool built on the grounds at an additional cost. Borgo Ferri is about 50 km from Lamezia Terme international airport. Properties are for sale through Savills. Tel: (+44) (0) 20 7016 3740 Web: www.savills.co.uk
5425,000
Mulino Felica, Comano, Tuscany…
A
3430,000
N ANCIENT MILL that has been fully restored, Mulino Felice looks as if it’s come straight out of a postcard. Casement windows framed by cornflower blue shutters open on a whitewashed façade under a sloping roof. Inside, exposed beams and a brick fireplace give this three-bedroom home a rustic charm. But the outdoors are what make is special. Behind this ancient mill, which has been fully restored, tall trees cover a hill, looming large over Il Mulino’s gardens, olive grove, and vineyard. A courtyard with vine pergola is the perfect place to soak up the views of the vineyard as you dine alfresco while a terrace overlooks the stream that crosses the mill’s 2,300 square metres of land. Mulino Felice, which is one hour and 15 minutes’ drive from Pisa airport, and just over one and a half hour’s drive from Genoa, is on the market at €430,000 with L’Architrave Immobiliare. Tel: (+ 39) 0187 475543 Web: www.larchitrave.net
5430,000
Period Apartment in Acqui Terme, Piedmont…
3420,000
A
CREAM-WHITE 19th-century villa perches high on a hill near Acqui Terme, overlooking the mosaic of greens that is the Piedmontese countryside. Here, Apta Domus are selling a huge apartment ‘the size of a sizeable farmhouse,’ says a spokeswoman - with private access. The beautifully restored interiors exude country elegance, with details such as exposed bricks, arched doorways and fireplaces. The apartment, which is only one hour away from Genoa airport and just over an hour and a half from Turin and Milan, is laid out maisonette-style, with living room and kitchen area downstairs, and two bedrooms (both with Jacuzzi ensuite and one with a private living room) upstairs. ‘The apartment is situated in a beautifully restored and prestigious period villa built during the 1800s, at the time when it was the fashion for people to visit the thermal springs in places like Acqui Terme, which is nearby,’ says the Apta Domus spokeswoman. ‘These areas are once more becoming very fashionable. And this apartment, unlike many others, has its own private garden.’ It is on the market for €420,000. italy For more information, contact Apta Domus on (+44) (01)1628 474 513 or visit www.aptadomus.com.
5420,000 ITALY
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Look out for the next issue of Dream Italian Weddings & Honeymoons magazine
ON SALE from 12TH FEBRUARY at all leading newsagents and by subscription on +44 (0) 1305 266360 70
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_BusinessMAR:*Business
JULY L_O P
22/1/09
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BUSINESS
IN BUSINESS… a bilin-
In this month’s business section: becoming self-employed, becoming a bilingual secreatry and teaching in Florence
… o t w o H BECOME
WORDS: EMMA BIRD
CAREER D oCTOR:
–
SELF-EMPLOYED
I N I TA LY
–
Admittedly, going it alone is scary, but in Italy, you’ll be in good company. Freelancers and small businesses make up the backbone of the Italian economy. Here’s our guide:
G U I D E TO BECOMING SELF-EMPLOYED … 1. Don’t ever underestimate the amount of
red tape and the time it takes to get everything done. Work backwards from when you plan to open and add on several months for good measure. If you need to have your qualifications officially translated and recognised, be prepared to wait for up to a year. It’s common practice to get your authorisation on the very last possible day. Be insistent and regularly ring up
il:
D quesan EU to reply
the authorities to check how your case is progressing.
mercialista. The right one will open your
informed of all your tax and social security obligations. But beware, there are a lot of
commercialisti who tend to ignore their small clients and just take their money.
3. If you intend to work with the public and
need premises, one of the first things you need to do is the DIA – the dichiarazione
inizio attività. In English, that’s the official notification that you’re starting a business. The local comune will tell you which forms you need to download from the internet and fill in. Fill them in, take them back to the council and wait 20 days. After which you can officially open your doors. 4. Once you’ve opened, you’ll also need to
go to the Camera di Commercio (chamber of commerce) offices to register. The forms you need depend on what type of business you’re setting up. It’s best to get there as early in the morning as possible to avoid the queues.
Hello Mario. Given that things in England look like they are going to go from bad to worse in this credit crunch, I’m seriously thinking about moving to Italy. I’m a bilingual (English and Italian) secretary in London and would like to do the same job in an Italian city, possibly Rome or Florence. Could you tell me how to go about this and what my salary expectations could be. Grazie mille. Sarah Butcher (email)
Hi Sarah. Your prospects are excellent. You need to decide whether you want to work for a smaller company in a less structured role, or for a large organisation. In the case of the former, look on websites like www.wantedinrome.com In tourist areas, you will also find work as a secretary in estate agencies dealing with foreign clientele. If working for large organisations is more your thing, target the major job sites such as www.infojobs.it and recruitment agencies including www.quanta.com and www.adactalavoro.it As for your salary, you are looking at between EUR 1,100 and EUR 1,800 net per month.
REAL LIFE:
( )
Julia King, 24, moved to Florence two years ago straight after university. She teaches English to adults and teenagers.
‘
2. Ask around and find yourself a good com-
Partita Iva for you and also keep you
Q
Mario Berri continues in his role as career doctor. Mario is a change management consultant in Italy. He is also a former senior manager with experience working in international teams in the UK, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. He is the co-author of Starting a Business in Italy: how to set up and run a successful business in the Bel Paese and is a consultant with How To Italy (www.howtoitaly.typepad.com) and ABK International (www.abkinternational.biz)
useful sites
http://lavoro.corriere.it – job opportunities via national newspaper Il Corriere della Sera www.sinterim.it
‘The fact that I’m here and not teaching hormonal teenagers – a temping agency in Italy in a British comprehensive is all down to a guy I met in a bar on a night out in London. When I was in my final year of university, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life and, for a long time, I was toying with the idea of doing a PGCE, as a teaching qualification always gives you something to fall back on. I was on the verge of applying but meeting David changed my mind. He was so full of energy and clearly loved the life he was leading in Barcelona that it made me see that there was more to teaching than ramming Chaucer or DH Lawrence down the necks of sullen 15-year-olds. From then on, everything happened at breakneck speed. I applied and got a place on a month-long TEFL course to teach English to foreigners. Once it had finished, I started looking for jobs. The world was my oyster because I didn’t have any preconceptions of where I wanted to go. I was thinking about heading somewhere in South America but ended up in Italy because it was the first job I was offered and, of course, it meant I was nearer my friends and family. Looking back, I feel really sorry for my first students as I didn’t have much idea how to teach. I just tried to be friendly and helpful and muddle through as best as I could. These days, it’s a totally different story. I love teaching and I can’t believe I’d ever have considered anything else. Yes, the pay is bad and I certainly couldn’t afford to live on these wages for ever, but seeing the joy on a student’s face when they get a sentence construction right or finally manage to pronounce an English word they’d been struggling with is worth it. When I first moved here, I would look in the mirror and see a shy, 22-year-old English girl not quite sure where she fitted into the world. Now that Julia is gone and I see Giulia, a confident 24-year-old who is slowly adapting to the Florentine way of life. I plan to stay for a while yet.’
’
If you are interested in appearing in the Real Life section, please email:
[email protected] If you have a question for our Career Doctor, please email us at
[email protected] stating your nationality and whether or not you have an EU passport or right to work in Italy. We regret that Mario Berri is unable to reply to you personally
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p74 And FinallyMAR:*And Finally JULY L/O_P
23/1/09
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AND FINALLY...
Paul Cleary, pictured left with wife Charlie and daughters Sofia Rose and Cecily Grace, attempts to untangle the knots caused by Italy’s red tape
the burden of… bureaucracy
I
HAVE LIVED in Italy now for nearly a decade, and I know that the United Kingdom has changed hugely in that time. Where once the place seemed to run relatively smoothly, it now appears festooned by that godfather of hindrances: bureaucracy. At every level, new measures and systems have been devised, thought about for five minutes, and then implemented on the general public, with predictable results and an inevitable increase in frustration and decrease in patience. Does anybody actually understand the new directives? Actually, yes, but probably only half a dozen people in the country could really tell you what on earth was going on! But whereas Blighty is blighted by shiny, freshly made red tape, poor old Italy suffers a comedy of errors going back for decades. I feel it safe to say that my straniero (foreigner’s) point of view is widely held by the entire population of Italy, dogged as they are and always have been by a constant change of laws with every new government coming to power. As we all know, Italy has had more than its fair share of governments since World War II, so the resultant quagmire of rules and regulations is simply stifling. THE ART OF AMBIGUITY The Italian love of form-filling and paperwork is so all pervasive, that you sometimes wonder whether any of the millions of archives up and down the country have ever been committed to digital memory. To date I have not heard of any low-grade civil servants in Italy losing their jobs and facing treason charges for leaving a CD of military secrets on the train seat, for example. Involved, as I am, in real estate here in Italy, I have had the dubious pleasure of consistent contact with bureaucracy at all levels. I have learned over the years to avoid giving definitive answers to clients, where possible, to questions that will involve permissions being granted or how long something will take, for example. I have registered several compromessi (preliminary agreements of sale) this year, and each time I go to the relevant office I think I have everything I need to complete a smooth, fretless transaction. Not once have I managed it! Either I have the wrong stamps to put on it, or the rules changed since the last one I did, so it now costs Y and I only paid X, or something similarly banal. This constant evolution of rules and regulations makes it difficult even for
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the professionals to advise their clients. In a recent final contract of sale, a solicitor was on the verge of not signing on behalf of his client, due to a missing document of relatively minor consequence. Upon some research, the Notary conducting the sale informed him that the law requiring said document had been repealed only weeks beforehand. Job done, he signed. Prayers were offered up. CAR TROUBLE A few years back Charlie and I went to buy a second car. The rules about what paperwork one needs in order to buy a car in Italy have never really been properly understood. When we first arrived here, you needed to be an official resident to qualify for car ownership. This resulted in those non-Italians who did not have residency, buying cars in the name of their neighbour, gardener or long-lost cousin. We had bought a car in 2004 without having official residency and all was above board, insured, taxed and everything. When we bought the second one, we left the garage, having handed over the cash, and headed for the ACI (Automobile Club d’Italia) office to register our names as new owners. Except they would not let us. Only a month prior, the laws had changed, so now we needed a document that neither of us had at that time. Exasperated and not a little worried, we headed back to the garage to break the good news. Fortunately they were kind to us and left the car registered to the garage, until we could sort the papers out. I recently discovered another little bureaucratic snippet involving cars, which left a friend of ours with an unexpected bill. It seems that if you lose one of your license plates, (in a flooded ford across a road, in this particular instance) you cannot simply request a replacement. Oh no. The car needs to be re-registered with new plates, which can cost around €400. Probably more than the car was worth… When it comes to dealing with electricity and telecoms companies, I can only say best of luck. You will require not only patience, but also a good friend on hand who can calm your homicidal tendencies and mop your sweating brow with a cool flannel. Needless to say I have forced myself to learn patience and the art of deep breathing. Maybe I should think about taking up yoga. italy
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