“Imagine the women and men of a thousand-year-old Tuscan hilltown inviting you into their kitchens to teach you their family’s home cooking secrets and gardening wisdom. Il Campo Cooking School of Radicondoli, tucked away in a hidden gem of a village west of Siena, offers lessons from the village’s most celebrated cooks. Here you can experience a way of life long forgotten in the bustling tourist centers of Italy, and learn the rhythms and nuances of the age-old Tuscan art of simple abundance.”

For the initial launch of Il Campo, Marlane is offering two “advisory group” trips at discounted rates: May 7-14 and May 28-June 4, 2010. The cooking school will take place in her beloved town Radicondoli, located in the heart of Tuscany. Space is limited! To read more and to contact Marlane, go to her website here.

A stunning exhibition of the Medici’s precious cameos and carved gemstones, gleaned from museums and collections all over the world, will be held at the Museo degli Argenti (Palazzo Pitti) from March 25 through June 27, 2010. A must see if your spring travels take you to Florence!  To read more, go here.

A celebration of the language and culture of Italy, La Bella Lingua is the story of how a language shaped a nation, told against the backdrop of one woman’s personal quest to speak fluent Italian.

For anyone who has been to Italy, the fantasy of living the Italian life is powerfully seductive. But to truly become Italian, one must learn the language. This is how Dianne Hales began her journey. In La Bella Linguaa, she brings the story of her decades-long experience with the “the world’s most loved and lovable language” together with explorations of Italy’s history, literature, art, music, movies, lifestyle and food in a true opera amorosa—a labor of her love of Italy.

Throughout her first excursion in Italy—with “non parlo Italiano” as her only Italian phrase—Dianne delighted in the beauty of what she saw but craved comprehension of what she heard. And so she chose to inhabit the language. Over more than twenty-five years she has studied Italian in every way possible through Berlitz, books, CDs, podcasts, private tutorials and conversation groups, and, most importantly, large blocks of time in Italy. In the process she found that Italian became not just a passion and a pleasure, but a passport into Italy’s storia and its very soul. She offers charming insights into what it is that makes Italian the most emotionally expressive of languages, from how the “pronto” (“Ready!”) Italians say when they answer the telephone conveys a sense of something coming alive, to how even ordinary things such as a towel (asciugamano) or handkerchief (fazzoletto) sound better in Italian.

To buy La Bella Lingua, click here!

• 1/2 lb. mild Italian sausage
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1 large can (28 oz.) diced Italian tomatoes with juice
• 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary (or dried)
• Couple of dashes of hot crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1 lb. sea shell pasta
• 1/2 c. grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

In a saucepan, cook sausages in boiling water for 3 minutes; remove sausages from water and when cool enough to handle, slice into thin rounds.

In a large skillet or saucepan, melt the butter over medium to medium-high heat, add sausage rounds and cook until lightly browned. Add tomatoes (with their juice), rosemary and hot pepper flakes. Bring to a slow boil, then simmer over low heat for 6-8 minutes until slightly thickened. Set aside.

In a large pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil (adding a tablespoon of salt if desired); add pasta and cook ’til al dente (approx. 11-13 minutes).

When pasta is almost done, put tomato sauce back on medium to medium high heat and add the parsley and cream. Stir and cook until slightly reduced, about 3-4 minutes. Taste for salt.

Add cooked, drained pasta to the sauce and toss to coat evenly, adding 1/4 cup of grated parmigiano cheese. Serve immediately with extra cheese on the side.

Olives have been harvested in Italy for thousands of years, and the annual autumn ritual of picking and crushing this bitter fruit is a sacred tradition for millions of Italians. But for three rookie Americans, 2009 was our (extra) virgin experience with “La Raccolta”.

My Italian home, Ciceroni, is surrounded by a hectare of land (about 3 acres) and is graced by 80-85 olive trees. In a normal year these trees – when properly pruned and maintained – should produce between 300-350 kilos of olives, and yield between 45-50 liters of oil. But this was no normal year: due to the hot, dry summer in Tuscany, there were fewer olives to be had in general, and my trees had not been pruned for several years, further decreasing the yield. Adding insult to injury was the thick growth of brush under the trees which made access (and the use of our nets) difficult if not impossible.

We arrived from California with high hopes, excitement and tons of energy. Our first morning was devoted to buying supplies (nets, plastic crates, and gloves), in hopes of starting the harvest that afternoon. By day’s end, however, it had begun to rain and the rain lasted for two full days. This was probably a blessing in disguise as jet lag caught up with us the second day. But on the third day, the sun came out, the wind quickly dried the grass and trees, and the harvest began!

Within hours, my friend Denise and I realized what we’d gotten into… branches that poked us in the eye (and elsewhere), rogue grapevines twisting through our trees, ground that wouldn’t allow us to lay our nets down, and broken ladders. We could hear each other’s moans, groans and cries of “ouch!” from 100 yards away. At the end of our first day we had picked about 20 kg, about half of what we’d thought we’d do. To say we were a bit discouraged is an understatement.  But carry on we did, and as our crates began to fill up the next day, we got a second wind. We began to name our trees, as each had a special personality. Denise dubbed her favorite tree “Donnatella Camilla” after one of our very fertile friends – as the tree was literally hanging with fruit.  I named one of mine “Strozzi” as it strangled you as you climbed it. When one of us would  find a tree that had an abundance of low-hanging olives we’d furiously stake our claim to it…all in the spirit of friendly competition. Denise was leaving in two days’ time, and we fretted we wouldn’t have enough olives to do a pressing, but our friends at neighboring Pignano offered to combine our olives with theirs for the first press. By Denise’s last day, we had 100 kg of what we called our beautiful “babies”.

We were off to the press…the frantoio was absolutely humming with activity. Tons and tons of olives (and their proud pickers) were everywhere.  Denise and I laughed that ours were the most perfectly groomed (we had carefully removed every stem and leaf from ours, while everyone else’s were full of the stuff). We watched the whole process, from the weighing to the washing to the crushing to the exquisite moment when that beautiful chartreuse oil came out of the spout into our stainless steel container. We were over the moon…and came home with 16 liters of “Tuscan Gold”.

The very next day my friend Acey arrived to take over where Denise had left off. Again the rains came, and what olives were left were high in the trees and difficult to reach. But Acey hadn’t traveled 6000 miles for nothing…he got to work. As all of the olives had to be picked and placed in baskets by hand (again, no nets, and we had only one small basket), Acey improvised with his backpack, placing it in front of him which made for the perfect receptacle. Within several days (while still dodging rainstorms), we had 40 more kg of olives and off to the press we went again, coming back with 7 more liters.

We learned a lot from our first harvest.  Ciceroni’s trees will be properly pruned in February, and the land cleared next fall within a week of the harvest. I’ll invest in two or three proper baskets. And with luck, we’ll have at least two more hearty pickers on hand. We’re shooting for a yield of 50 liters!

This year’s oil is “piccantissimo”…very peppery with a bit of a bite. Nothing beats dipping a crusty chunk of bread into this fragrant oil and tasting the earth, the trees and the olives it came from. What a life-affirming experience we had, and what a thrill to take part in this ancient ritual. We can’t wait for “La Raccolta” 2010!

—Susan Naythons

It’s no news to any loyal client of EyeItalia that we love Italian design, particularly when it comes to paper. The marriage of classic motifs, rich colors and craftsmanship of the highest order make Italian papers – and the objects they cover – a visual feast. The products created by the esteemed firms of Giulio Giannini and Carte Etc. reflect the beauty and time-honored traditions of paper-making in Florence. EyeItalia has just received new shipments from both these companies, just in time for the holiday season. Whether albums covered with classic marbled paper (marmorrizata) from Carte Etc., or boxes covered with xilography (hand blocked papers with old Tuscan designs), we have a wonderful selection to choose from. To see them all, go to Albums and Journals and Treasures and Gifts.

The utterly charming Jolly, a sporty beach car, was designed to be a beach toy for affluent families in places like Portofino or the Amalfi coast. It was usually built on the Fiat 500 or Fiat 600 base, and had wicker seats and a canvas sun shade. This particular model might well be the only one on a Bianchina cabrio base (Auto Bianchi – once a luxury car maker – has longed since merged with the Fiat group). The car is painted in its original salmon color and is in the final stages of a ground-up restoration.

The arrival of autumn is filled with meaning in many cultures; in Italy it is associated largely with the “vendemmia” – the grape harvest – that will go to make that year’s wine. The vendemmia is much more than a mere agricultural event: entire villages dedicate their whole energies to it, and life revolves around the grapes. The pickers are old farmers, young students trying to make a buck, tourists who wish to share the experience, and relatives of the landowners.

The work is fairly hard (and very sticky!), and long days under the Mediterranean late summer sun take a toll on your energies, but when nighttime falls the workers collect around campfires to chat, tell their stories, finish up the previous year’s wine and have a jolly time before heading to bed where they will enjoy a good night’s sleep.

The rites of the vendemmia have something ancestral about them. In Italy, people have been cultivating vines for the past three millennia, and collecting the grapes has always been the same work. It can’t be done with machines, so the workers today do exactly what the inhabitants of the Greek colonies in southern Italy did when Rome was still just a small provincial town in Italy, centuries before turning into the greatest empire in human history. Back then the wine was much stronger (it was unthinkable to drink diluted wine: according to Homer, pure wine was the drink that helped Ulysses to get even the Cyclopes Polyphemus to sleep, allowing him to escape with his men), but the vendemmia is still the same.

So if you’re planning a trip to Italy, this might well be the perfect time, as you’ll enjoy the countryside immersed in its loveliest activity of the year.

—Camillo Mekacher-Vogel

The Iso Lele was a sports coupé built between 1969 and 1974 by Piero Rivolta’s Iso. As the other models by Iso, the Lele combined Italian flair and design (by coachbuilder Bertone) with American V8 engines by Ford and Chevrolet. Only 285 Leles were produced, making it a rare and intriguing car.

Located only 7 kilometers from the city center, Villa Grabau is one of Lucca’s most important historic villas. First built in Renaissance style in the late 16th century, the villa was renovated in the 19th century in a neo-classical style; it has been owned by the illustrious Grabau family since 1868. The villa’s interior is completely furnished with period antiques and contains vibrant frescoes by Francesco Bianchi, a renowned Lucchesian artist.

What makes Villa Grabau truly extraordinary is its setting: it is surrounded by one of the grandest and most beautiful parks in all of Tuscany – covering over nine hectares (22 acres) and boasting over 100 different species of trees and rare botanical plants. Visitors from all over the world come to marvel at the richness, diversity and architectural designs of the gardens: from the formal Italian garden behind the villa, to the park-like English Garden, to the charming “Box Hedge Theatre”. Throughout the property are incredible stone mosaics, mysterious statuary figures and fountains. The villa’s 17th century Limonaia (where over 100 lemon trees are kept in the winter) is one of the most beautiful in Tuscany, and in the warmer months serves as a stunning venue for weddings and other festive celebrations.

Guests may tour the gardens (unescorted) at their leisure for a nominal entrance fee; guided tours of the villa are also available. Villa Grabau hosts functions, receptions and weddings; weekly accommodations in separate apartments within the estate are also available. For more information, please contact us.

Villa Grabau

• via di Matraia, 269
• 55100 San Pancrazio, Lucca
• Tel: 0583-406098
• www.villagrabau.it