I first made spaghetti alla chitarra at Casale Centurione in Abruzzo. I had read about making this square shaped spaghetti the traditional way using a “guitar” (chitarra) but had never tried to do it. The name itself is fascinating as it describes the device perfectly – a whole lot of metal strings strung along a […]Read Post ›
In the hills of Abruzzo there are bears. And agriturismi. And when we visited, there was also a lot of snow. When I first planned my trip to Abruzzo I had not expected any of these things, except perhaps the agriturismi. My friend Giulia had made sure I knew about the accommodation and food as […]Read Post ›
If I lived in Rome, I would live in Testaccio. On the river Tevere/Tiber, it is the former centre of food trade for old Rome. It takes its name from Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill made by bits of broken amphorae (also called testae) which were used for transport of wine, oil and grain amongst other […]Read Post ›
There is something enchanting about Umbria. We spent four days in a beautiful apartment in the town of Spoleto, right on the medieval town walls, looking out over an old convent. The clouds bathed the hills in a foggy mist most of the time making it seem like the magical set of a movie about the Middle […]Read Post ›
italy on my mind 