Sicily often conjures up images of beaches and suntans, but once had a great reputation for ice.

Gathering snow and compacting it into ice has been done for centuries, and Sicily’s high mountains provided ice not only for its hot coastal cities, but was shipped as far as Tunisia and Malta. 

On the flat top of Monte Lauro, an extinct volcano nearly a 1000 meters high in the Monti Iblei, there are 25 neviere - snow huts – that stand in testament to the once-thriving ice industry, when gathering snow to make ice was big business.  From the 15th to the 19th century these neviere supplied ice to Buccheri and other neighboring towns, as well as half the ice for the entire city of Syracuse.

The neviere were built in a few different shapes, with the majority of the structure being beneath the earth.  The most common shape is the “cupola”, built as a deep stone cylinder underground, topped with a visible cupola. Snow was gathered within a limited area called a “zàccanu” (most often owned by a noble family and occasionally, the church), which was enclosed by a low stone wall. When it snowed, a bell would be rung in the town, and anyone willing to work for a few cents would gather in the cold night to roll the snow towards the neviera, then pack it into 100 kilo layers that were separated by straw, which served as both insulation and to mark a section that would be later cut as ice in the summer months. 

Used for protecting food from spoilage as well as making cooling sorbets with lemon and salt in the hot summer, the ice was also used as a medicinal remedy for a high fever, when doctors would prescribe “la cura di lu friddu”, the cold cure, which involved packing the patient in ice – survivors definitely had no fever.

While no longer in use, the fine craftsmanship of the neviere is lovely to behold.  I love to see them in winter when the skies are clearest and the snow-capped Mt. Etna volcano appears as a backdrop – a stunning sight!  You may have to clamber over a few barbed wire fences and dodge some feisty cows, but the neviere of Monte Lauro are worth a visit.  When feasible, I take visitors to this area, particularly on a walking tour in eastern Sicily.

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The opening of the Cacioteca Regionale di Sicilia – the Sicilian Regional Cheese Consortium – is being celebrated during Cheese Art 2012, which includes two days of Tasting Workshops with traditional cheeses from around the world.

The Consortium works towards elevating the production of historic traditional cheeses to the status of “works of art.”  The idea is that great cheeses should be considered among Italy’s important cultural assets, holding a place beside the many works of art for which the country is famous.

During Cheese Art 2012, cheese tastings will be available with various cheese boards paired with locally sourced cured meats (priced at 14-20 euro) or you can join in the Tasting Workshops on January 28 & 29, when traditional cheeses from around the world will be paired with Sicilian wines from Cerasuolo di Vittoria and Planeta, or beers from the Baladin microbrewery of Piedmont.  Cheesemaking demonstrations will take place during the course of the event – we know this is great fun, as we include it on our Eastern Sicily walking tour.

Here are the cheese tasting menus  in Italian, or check out the listing at the end for the 2012 Cheese Art Tasting Workshops and where they are.

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Saturday January 28:

13.30 – 15.00 “Drowned in Beer”

• Robiola di Roccaverano, aged goat cheese in cherry leaves (Piedmont)
• Frumage Baladin (Piedmont)
• Piacentinu Ennese DOP, sheeps milk with saffron (Sicily)
• Perdido Cheese (Usa
• Vezzena di malga (Trentino Alto Adige)
• Castelmagno d’alpeggio (Piedmont)
• Roquefort (France)

Paired with artisanal beers from Baladin
Cost  €24,00

19.30 -21.00 “European Breeds”

• Camembert (France)
• Queso de la Tetilla (Spain
• Provola dei Nebrodi (Sicily)
• Aged Pecorino di Farindola (Abruzzo)
• Salers (France)
• Goat Cheddar Quickes (England)
• Erborinato sheep cheese, alpi cozie (Piedmont)

Paired with Planeta wines

Sunday January 29:
11.30 – 13.30 “Brunch Cheeselandia”
 Brunch prepared by Accursio Craparo (chef of 1-star Michelin restaurant La Gazza Ladra  in Modica) and Corrado Assenza, the pastry chef of Caffè Sicilia in Noto, and will end with this cheese board:
 

• Mozzarella di bufala (Sicily)
• Organic Robiola from “happy goats”(Veneto)
• Ragusano DOP, aged and semi-aged (Sicily
• Beaufort (Francia)
• Red Cheddar (England)
• Stilton (England)
  Paired with wines from Planeta, and the Consortium of  Cerasuolo di Vittoria  as well as artisan beers from microbrewery Baladin
  Cost  €35,00

19.30 – 21.00 “European Pastures”

• St. Nectaire (France)
• Manchego (Spain)
• Raschera DOP d’Alpeggio (Piedmont)
• Tuma persa (Sicily)
• Monte Veronese d’allevo DOP di malga (Veneto)
• Blue deTermignon (France)
• Blu capriziola, goat cheese (Lombardy)
  Paired with Sicilian wines from the Consortium Cerasuolo di Vittoria
  Cost €24,00

Details:
To reserve in advance, fill in the online form  or phone:
Tel. +39.0932.660.427

Located at km 5 on the SP 25, the main road from Ragusa to Marina di Ragusa.
E-mail: info@corfilac.it

I like a man who is serious about sweets.  Giuseppe Trapani, a 4th generation torrone maker in Sicily, fits the bill.

When he welcomed me into the Torronificio Trapani, he’d already been at work since 4.00 am preparing the first batch of his secret family recipe for torrone.  Since torrone is a traditional sweet in Italy at Christmas time, Giuseppe’s Christmas season begins the first of October, when his torronificio goes into high gear, making 2 batches of torrone a day.  That’s about 70 kilos (155 lbs) of torrone, which seemed like an enormous amount to me, but Giuseppe told me that it had already been reserved for customers.

In the spotless kitchen of the Torronificio Trapani, the air is suffused with the fragrance of honey.   Several people sat at a marble table busily wrapping tiny chocolate-covered torroncini, big pans of toasted almonds were being pulled out of the oven, and a machine held a huge mixing bowl where a combination of honey and egg whites was being heated and stirred, becoming a thick white cream.  I’d stepped into torrone heaven.

I’d already done extensive tasting of almond nougat from some very good artisan torrone makers (forget the commercial ones, which are like eating a sickeningly sweet sponge mixed with sawdust and ersatz flavorings) but when I first tasted Torrone Trapani, it was clearly the best, and I was here to get to the sweet heart of the matter.

Giuseppe explains what makes his torrone so good: high quality ingredients and no skimping on the almonds.  (Of course, there is also the secret to his recipe, which he isn’t revealing.) While some large-scale commercial producers of torrone use as little as 10% of almonds in their product,  Torronificio Trapani uses close to 70%.  The almonds are locally grown, not the cheap imported ones, or the California almonds that Giuseppe pronounced to be “woody and tasteless”.  His  almonds come from the highly prized almond varieties grown near Noto, and they are slowly toasted to a rich golden brown. The honey he uses is also local, and is fragrant of orange blossoms, which contributes to the torrone’s unique taste.

Giuseppe was constantly on the move – in fact he never stood still long enough for me to snap his picture – checking the consistency of the batch in the mixer, making sure the almonds are toasted to perfection then added at just the right temperature, and that each chocolate-covered torroncino is cooled properly before wrapping.  I am beginning to see that the real “secret” in the recipe is Giuseppe’s know-how and constant vigilance, as he strives to make every batch of torrone consistently perfect.

Giuseppe’s Aunt Maria is helping out. She has been making torrone for 30 years, though she admits that she no longer likes to eat it.  Don’t worry, I think, I’ll eat your share.  She remembers when all this work was done by hand – heating the honey and egg white mixture over a coal fire in a big copper pot, and stirring the mixture for several hours.  “Difficilissimo,” she says, sounding tired at the mere thought. Then the pots were scrubbed with ashes and lemon juice, and polished until gleaming with a white cotton cloth.  She shakes her head in wonderment. 

In 1986, Giuseppe asked an engineer to design a machine that would mimic his hand movements as he mixed the honey and egg white mixture, and this helped him increase his production with a larger batch that couldn’t be mixed by hand. Then in 1996, he decided to investigate the use of the machine that he now has on the premises, to see if he could replicate his torrone with a device that both mixed and heated. He traveled to Milan to try out the machine, mixing his batches of torrone and adjusting the temperature and paddle of the machine until he was satisfied that he could make the same excellent caliber of torrone. Only then did he buy the machine, which allowed him to double his production.

There is still a lot of hand work involved in Giuseppe’s torrone business.  When Giuseppe pronounces the torrone in the mixer ready, the staff snaps to attention and works like a well-trained relay team.  One fellow piles the warm nougat mixture on a wooden board on a scale. When the needle hits exactly 7 kilos, he passes the board to a table, where 2 people pat the nougat down into an even layer, then pass it to Giuseppe. He inverts the mixture into a shallow rectangular mold that was previously lined with edible wafer paper, then vigorously works a rolling pin over the torrone mixture until it uniformly fills the mold.  He places the mold on a rack and another person covers it with wafer paper, and lets it rest.  This procedure is repeated nine times.

The cooled nougat is then cut – first with a machine that scores the torrone, then finished by hand with a pizza cutter – which releases an intense aroma of toasted almonds.  Mixed with the sweet fragrance of honey, the air becomes almost edible.

Torronificio Trapani’s classic torrone bianco is available with almonds, a combination of almonds and pistachios, with hazelnuts, or as individual almond torroncini, covered in dark or white chocolate.  I stocked up on a variety before stepping out into the disappointingly sugar-free air. 

Before I got to my car, I’d already unwrapped a torroncino.  The dark chocolate coating was paper thin, just barely beginning to melt against my anxious fingers. And inside, oh my.  It was packed with crunchy almonds, toasted to perfection, with just the right amount of creamy filling holding it all together in a sweet embrace.  Torrone heaven.

Torrone Trapani can be found in several pastry shops in the area – Pasticceria Di Pasquale in Ragusa and the wonderful Rosy Bar in the Sacro Cuore district of Modica – as well as the larger DiMeglio supermarkets. 

Or go straight to the source:
Torronificio Trapani -Via del Mercato 66

Giarratana (RG) 

Tel 0932 975014

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There are many patron saint festivals in Italy, but few can top the festival of San Sebastiano – St. Sebastian – in Sicily. 

San Sebastiano is most often depicted as a young martyr tied to a post, wearing only a loincloth, and bearing a strangely serene expression for someone who is stuck through with arrows.  Shooting him with arrows was actually the first attempt at killing him for his Christian beliefs, and after being nursed back to health, he went off to harangue the Roman emperor Diocletian for persecuting Christians, and was promptly clubbed to death.  So, a serene but belligerent martyr he was.

San Sebastiano is the patron saint of the Sicilian town of Palazzolo Acreide, about a 40 minute drive from where I  live in eastern Sicily.  I had heard much about this festival and finally the timing was right, so off I went with Emanuele & friends in tow.

The two most intriguing things about this festival are the “sciuta”, Sicilian for the “exit” or when the San Sebastiano statue on a gilded cart exits the church, carried on the shoulders of an army of men dressed in white and red.  I was told that there was much fanfare and it was “molto, molto bello.”   I’m used to the Sicilian’s fondness for exaggeration, and figured it would be similar to many festivals I had already seen.  Boy, was I wrong.  

The second intriguing thing, that borders on the bizarre, is that little babies, who are often stripped naked – apparently this is to echo the nudity of San Sebastiano – are offered up to the saint’s statue as a kind of blessing to protect them.  The babies might wear a necklace bearing banknotes that are pinned to the outside of the cart, but donations of coins are also accepted. 

Join in the celebrations as these pictures depict how the festival of San Sebastiano unfolds.

When first arriving in town, we are met with a line of bancarelle, stands selling an assortment of stuff, from straw hats to ward off the hot sun to cheap plastic toys made in China to entice the hoards of children into pestering their parents.  Sales are slow.

But we are looking for tradition and folklore, and soon we find it outside the church steps.  There is a cart selling cuddure, ring-shaped breads that celebrate the wheat harvest in August.  Bakeries donate these breads to the festival, and the money from purchases goes to finance the celebrations. 

Soon a band starts playing and a parade starts, and the festive atmosphere heats up. 

Finally a few loud firecrackers announce that the sciuta is happening soon, and everyone squeezes into the piazza in front of the church.  The sun is fierce and tensions are high – I argue with a tall guy who pushes in front of me, and he agrees to squat so that I can see over his head.  And then the sciuta begins.

The first moments of the sciuta are electrifying.  Some of the men who will help to carry the statue call out with arms raised exhorting San Sebastiano to come out of the church.  Just as the cart reaches the doorway a series loud explosions are accompanied by violent sprays of ‘nzareddi, colored paper ribbons.

The continued explosions are deafening and the church is obscured in a swirl of colors and smoke, while people shout and raise their fists in the air.  I’m in the midst of a psychedelic bombardment, and as the crowd surges forward, I lose Emanuele in a whirl of colors. My heart is pounding,  my hands are shaking and it’s hard to keep the camera still. 

 Finally the colors part, the smoke clears and we can see the cart of San Sebastiano!

I follow the cart as it is carried through the town, and babies are held up to receive the blessings of San Sebastiano, who becomes their protector.  Sometimes the babies are stripped naked, mimicking the nudity of the saint.  As they are lifted up to the heavens, the crowd rejoices, Viva San Sebastiano!  I’m swept up in the soaring energy.

Not all the babies are as thrilled as the spectators.   I almost feel like crying, too.

As the statue of San Sebastiano heads down a side street, the piazza is suddenly overrrun with children frolicking in the ribbons of paper, while a priest and other devotees walk solemnly through the riot of colors.  A few diligent workers are busily dumping buckets of water on little fires that have sprung up in the paper ribbons. 

All in all it was one of the most emotional patron saint celebrations I’ve witnessed in Italy, an exuberant but exhausting experience.

I find Emanuele & friends, and babbling excitedly like children, we head off to lunch.

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The festival of San Sebastiano takes place on August 10 in Palazzolo Acreide in eastern Sicily. but other festivities go on for a week.  Check the website for a calendar of events.

In a country known for its cultural treasures, the medieval town of Pietrasanta – known as the “City of Artists” —has deep roots in Italy’s legacy of art and sculpture.

Located near the Italian Riviera in northern Tuscany, this little town has been a hot spot for artists and sculptors since the 15th century, when Pope Leo X ordered Michelangelo to construct a road from the coast below Pietrasanta to Monte Altissima, an otherwise inaccessible peak known to contain rich deposits of pure white statuary marble.  Cutting and then transporting the stone from the wilderness back to the coast proved too difficult a task to perform very often, so only the Michelangelo’s Moses and the unfinished Slaves were carved from  this marble. 

But from here, Pietrasanta’s reputation as an international center for art and sculpture was set in stone, and today artists from around the world come to use the local marble studios and bronze foundries, and to benefit from the knowledge of master artisans.  And not only are these artisans highly skilled at carving stone, they also sport nifty paper hats handmade out of newspaper. 

Staying in Pietrasanta is an interesting experience, where you may run into Colombian artist and sculptor Fernando Botero, who has made Pietrasanta his home for part of the year; one of his bronze scuptures graces the entranceway to the town.  Quirky restaurants, unusual shops, and art galleries abound, so there is always something to do.   

Worth a visit is the Museo dei Bozzetti which has hundreds of sculpture models by over 300 Italian and foreign artists.  It also offers guided tours explaining the many “meanings” of the museum—that is, the history of local sculpture, what a model is, the contemporary artistic background and the work of the craftsmen, who are the real force behind today’s artists.  You might be surprised to learn that few contemporary artists produce their own designs in stone—visit a sculpture studio and you’ll find hardworking artisans working on stone sculptures that are destined for public gardens or private villas around the world. 

On our walking tours in Italy that touch upon Pietrasanta, I always include a visit to a sculpture studio or a bronze foundry to see the fascinating process firsthand.   I love staying at the luxurious Albergo Pietrasanta, a boutique hotel housed in a palazzo in the center of town,  with a stunning modern art collection that seamlessly blends with the historic building and fine antique furniture.  This is where we stay on our Cinque Terre & Beyond walking tour, which touches upon some of the more well-known hiking trails in Liguria as well as the quiet undiscovered trails that bring you to Tuscan marble quarries or tiny seaside villages.

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The Looted Goddess of Morgantina

The 5th century BC Greek statue known as the goddess of Morgantina, was unearthed in illegal excavations in Sicily, and after being smuggled into Switzerland and eventually given “legal” status, it was purchased in 1988 by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for $18 million.  Recognized by archeologists as having come from the ancient site of Morgantina, after a thorough investigation and long negotiations the Getty museum eventually agreed to return the disputed statue to Italy in May of 2011.  Amongst much rejoicing and fanfare, the looted goddess is now housed in the archeology museum in Aidone, a small town set on a lofty hilltop near the ancient city of Morgantina.

Sicily’s hilly terrain coupled with an antiquated road system means getting to Aidone and Morgantina is a long trek from just about anywhere, but one fine June day we decided to see what all the fuss was about.   Much of our route from Modica to Aidone was on winding back roads with little traffic, and also without much in the way of road signs, but we managed to find the town with only a couple of U-turns. 

Before arriving at the museum, we noted an information point with a couple of tour buses, and stopped for further info. A friendly man gave us a map of the town, and with obvious pride, pointed out the route to the archeology museum, and also suggested we visit a church and the belvedere with a splendid view. 

We are instructed to leave our car and continue on foot, but Emanuele, ever the hardheaded Italian, insists on driving, and after getting lost, we soon end up on a steep narrow street barely wide enough for our compact car.  After wedging the car into a stairwell, we clamber out and hurry to rush past the tour group arriving on foot.  Inside the splendid statue is a bit of a surprise.

At 2.20 meters tall (7 ½  ft) this a big goddess, with massive thighs outlined beneath her flowing gown, and I am at first a bit disappointed as she seems to lack a certain elegance. It’s as if the size of the room does not quite do justice to this amazing figure – she needs more space. But the more I gaze upon her, walking around to get a good look from all sides, I begin to sense her power and feel that she just might burst through her gown, crushing the onlookers in one triumphant step.

The Goddess of Morgantina (often erroneously referred to as Venus) is most likely a figure of Persephone and is carved using the acrolithic technique in which a different material is use for the body and the extremities. In this case the body is carved from a limestone from Ragusa, while the head and extremities are carved from Greek marble. Traces of color suggest that the gown was once painted. Archeologists date it from 400-425 BC, and a likeness of the statue has been found on ancient coins from Morgantina. It is surmised that the statue stood on a pedestal in the center of the city. 

Locals hope that the return of the Goddess of Morgantina will help the economically depressed town of Aidone, and I hope that they are right.

The Aidone Archeological Museum is open everyday from 9.00 am to 7.00 Pm.  Tickets are 6 euro, children and students 3 euro. It is recommended that you arrive early so as to allow time to also visit the nearby archeological site of Morgantina, and the Roman Villa Casale at Piazza Armerina (under restoration, but parts of the magnificent mosaics are open to the public. )

Join us on October 31 as we explore these sites together, as an add-on to our Splendors of Sicily walking tour, Oct 24-30, 2011.  Only a few spaces available – see our contact info below

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After being looted and sold to the Metropolitan Museum, the stunning collection of 3rd century BC silver pieces known as the silver hoard of Morgantina has come back to Aidone in Sicily.   It’s an arduous task to get to this remote town,  but I can assure you that it’s worth the trip. 

On a recent visit, I found the silver pieces breathtaking – exquisitely crafted bowls, drinking vessels and other pieces left me and other lucky visitors gasping in awe.  The silver hoard is beautifully displayed in the tiny archeological  museum of Aidone, and in the same museum you will find the Goddess of Morgantina, a Greek statue that also has a murky past, having come home to rest after having been looted and sold to the Getty Museum. 

We will be including a visit to the Morgantina archeological site, Aidone archaeology museum as well as the spectacular mosaics at Piazza Armerina as a 1-day add-on to our Splendors of Sicily walking tour Oct 24-30, 2011 ( add-on day is Oct 31.)  To join,  e-mail us or call to find out more: (780) 438 5712. 

The looting, sale and investigation of the Morgantina silver is also a fascinating story.

Considered to be among  the finest Hellenistic silver known from Magna Grecia,  the pieces were purchased by Metropolitan Museum of Art in the early 1980’s  for $2.74 million from Robert Hecht Jr,, an American dealer in antiquities that is currently in trial in Italy for conspiring to deal in stolen artifacts.  Robert Hecht Jr is now 90 years old and the statute of limitations runs out in July 2011, so it is doubtful he will ever be convicted. 

It was also an American, the archeologist Malcom Bell III, who championed investigations at the archeological excavations of Morgantina, and eventually proved that the silver hoard had been stolen.  

After a tombarolo – tomb robber – confessed to having had a hand in digging up the treasure, Bell was given permission to examine the silver, and deciphered an inscription dated 211 BC of the family name Eupolemos.  Bell claimed that the silver pieces were “most likely hidden beneath the floor of a house by a Greek man named Eupolemos, who was trying to protect his wealth from invading Roman armies.”  The similarity to other silver pieces found at Morgantina also supported his theory. Another clue to the source of the silver was Bell’s discovery of a coin, minted between 212 and 214 BC found in one of the excavated holes that the tombarolo had indicated.  The most damning piece of evidence, was actually a 1978 coin of Italian lira that was also found in an excavation hole, apparently having been dropped by the illegal diggers, and proof that the silver had been looted. (Both of these coins are on display at the archeology museum in Aidone Sicily.)

The Metropolitan Museum agreed to return the Morgantina silver hoard to Italy, but retains joint custody of the pieces, allowing the Met to have the silver pieces for an exhibit every 4 years.  When the Morgantina silver came to Italy in February, the Met received a recently excavated 20-piece Roman dining set from Pompeii for a temporary exhibit.

The archeology museum at Aidone is open everyday from 9.00 am to 7.00 pm.  It is recommended that you arrive early so as to allow time to also visit the nearby archeological site of Morgantina, and the Roman Villa Casale at Piazza Armerina (under restoration, but parts of the magnificent mosaics are open to the public. ) Join us on October 31 as we explore these sites together, as an add-on to our Splendors of Sicily walking tour, Oct 24-30, 2011.  Only a few spaces available – see our contact info below. 

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660 properties will be open to the public throughout Italy during a weekend sponsored by FAI,  the Italian National Trust.  This year, in honor of Italy’s 150th anniversary, the 2011 weekend includes places linked to the Risorgimento in Italy, as well as bicycle rides, guided walking tours through nature reserves, and visits to archeological sites and gardens. Many sites are not normally open to the public, so here’s your chance to get a peek into Italy’s hidden treasures. 

You are encouraged to make a donation of your choice to FAI, which goes toward the restoration of important historical properties and gardens, as well as an educational program in Italian schools promoting knowledge and pride in Italy’s vast cultural and historical heritage.  

Visits to many sites are available in several languages, with Italian school kids as your guides – in my past experience, they have been excellent and enthusiastic tour guides to these unique attractions.  Dates are March 26 & 27, 2011.  The FAI website has a complete listing of open sites in every region of Italy – just click on the map of Italy for a list of properties and hours.

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A little bit of rain does not keep the bidders out of the piazza in Santa Croce Camerina, a small town in southeastern Sicily that is known for its lavish St. Joseph’s day celebrations. Sure there are processions, but food is the centerpiece. 

Walking three blocks from the parking lot, there are cooking smells pouring out of kitchen windows, with sugar laden desserts, aromatic tomato sauce, and yeasty breads mingling into a thick food fug. By the time I reach the piazza, I’m dizzy.

My goal is the food auction, which starts at 9.30 am, and continues for most of the day, with a break for lunch, presumably to attempt to consume some of the huge quantity of goods purchased at auction.  Just the cheese table alone is a sight to behold as it groans under the weight of 20 kilo loaves of caciocavallo, heaps of freshly made provola, and wheels of pecorino studded with peppercorns.  And cheese is just the beginning.  There are cases of strawberries, eggplant, fennel and oranges, hand-picked bunches of wild asparagus and mustard tops, and baskets of citron that look like huge knobby lemons, and are eaten in thin slices dipped in salt. 

I am invited back stage at the auction to survey the goods, and find baskets of the prized carob-tree mushroom, carefully frozen in the fall and now fetching a handsome price.  There are innumerable piles of San Giuseppe festival breads, in traditional shapes decorated with flowers or shaped like St. Joseph’s cane.  While I am busy surveying the abundance of produce, a burlap bag at my feet begins to move and I am cautioned not to step on the (live) rabbit.  Someone hands a whole pork thigh to the auctioneer, and then a fellow shows up with his young son and a live baby goat.  The goat, being frisky, is quickly moved to the front of the auction line.  Rather than being sad about parting with it, the young boy is obviously  proud of the fact that a man immediately bids on it.   After parting with 30 euros, the man wrestles the goat into his car, and drives away with a baa.

We take a break from the food auction to check out some of the tavolate – laden tables – set up in private homes, where townspeople playing the part of la sacra famiglia - the holy family- will be guests at a festive lunch, and then take home a tower of homemade sweets.  The  presentations are breathtaking, and I am accompanied by Leonardo, a 15-year old nephew who, like 15 year olds the world over, is perpetually hungry. His eyes are popping out of his head at all the sweets and he whispers, “are you sure we can’t eat any of this?” as his hand hovers over a plate of little cassatelle, ricotta tarts. I share his pain, so hustle him out before I give in to temptation and ask him to grab me one, too. 

Once out in the street we head forlornly back to the auction, and reach the piazza just at the moment they are auctioning off a tray of arancini.  Leonardo gasps and we lunge forward to have our bids heard, and are stunned when no one outbids our screams of “quindici, quindici”!  We are soon the proud owners of 10 arancini.  We waste no time in moving to a corner of the piazza, and giggle gleefully as we each grab an arancino. They are still warm.  The first bite is the point of the arancino, perfectly crusty and not too oily, the rice inside creamy and fragrant. The second bite hits the meaty filling, and a thick string of warm cheese flops onto my chin.  “Buono” I swoon.  “Buonissimo” responds Leonardo. We grin with our mouths full.  Forget the processions-now this is what I call a feast day.

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All state run museums in Italy will be free on March 17, 2011 in celebration of Italy’s 150th anniversary.  This includes all archeological sites and state parks, so wherever you are in Italy, there will be a vast choice.  In addition, several important sites will be open the night of March 16 including:

Turin:  l’Armeria Reale, la Galleria Sabauda and  Palazzo Reale
Milan: la Pinacoteca di Brera
Florence: la Galleria degli Uffizi, la Galleria Palatina, la Galleria dell’Accademia
Rome: Palazzo Barberini, Castel Sant’Angelo, Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II
Naples: Palazzo Reale

There will be all-night parties on March 16 in many Italian cities, so join in the celebrations and get a free dose of culture, too.

The fun continues with the San Giuseppe festivities on March 19.