Italian Clubs, Events, Lifestyle; Travel Italy

Over a thousand of wineries across Italy throw open the doors to the public last week-end of May. It’s “Cantine Aperte” — Open Cellars — annual week-end wine festival.

It offers a chance to combine trips to some of the most amazing places in the countryside across the Peninsula — just think to Piedmont, Tuscan hills … — with sampling of excellent wines.

It’s also a great occasion for wine enthusiasts for taking a closer look at how — and where — the wine is made.

The sponsor of the event, the “Movimento Turismo del Vino” — Italy’s Wine Tourism Movement — offers on its website www.movimentoturismovino.it, advice on how to plan your wine trip.

Gourmet tourists visiting art cities in Italy in mid-March have some options to attend major food events in Florence and in Turin.

Sweet Turin

Turin hosts a 10-day chocolate festival — “CioccolaTO’” .
This annual festival — 2009 edition is held March 6 through March 15, offers chocolate tastings alongside a rich programme of cocoa-themed events.

For those who are interested to mix art, history and food, “Merenda Reale” — Royal Snack — offers a series of “sweet” meetings which revive the Savoy’s tradition of the afternoon snack and of the great patisserie.
Beginning February through March 15, from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, 19 venues in Turin are transformed into 18th-century tearooms serving cakes and drinks produced by some of Turin’s most prestigious pasticcerie.

In Florence, an exhibition about the pleasures of the table — “Pitti Immagine Taste” — is held the second or third week-end of March (2009 edition: March 14 - 16).
The event taking place at Florence’s Stazione Leopolda offers the chance to explore the cultural and biological diversity of food through debates, Taste Tours and visits to Taste Shops.

Il Cortile restaurant, in New York City, will host a show featuring Italian-american tenor Aaron Caruso, Friday, November 21, 2008. It will be a night of Italian songs in one of the finest Italian restaurants in New York.

Located in the heart of Little Italy (see map), with its rooms — Garden, Renaissance, and Caesar’s — in perfect Italian style, Il Cortile offers the best of Italian Cuisine.

Il Cortile’s chef DeGeorgio, now considered one of the most experienced Italian Chefs in New York City, graduated with top honors from the Culinary Institute of America, about the Mediterranean Diet and Italian Cuisine, suggests:

“The most practical way to bring the Mediterranean diet to your table is to choose the Italian way of cooking.
Basic Italian cooking, familiar to most of us, provides the recommended balance of nutrition shared by people living in the Mediterranean without having to restock our cupboards with exotic ingredients or experiment with new ways of cooking.”

- Event details:
When: Friday, November 21st , 2008, at 7 p.m.
Where: 125 Mulberry St - New York, NY 10013
For reservations, please call: 212. 226.6060, or: 718.256.6794.

Those who need to know more about the White Truffle, could consider a trip to Italy in the Fall. From October to December Italy offers a plenty of events, to taste, buy or know more about the White Truffle.

A number of fairs and festivals related to this precious tuber take place in the major geographical truffle-producing areas.

At the truffle fairs you can meet selected hunters and get real deals. The major fairs held in Italy, come with special commissions responsible for checking the quality of truffles sold, to protect inexperienced buyers from frauds.

An example is the “Alba International White Truffle Fair“, held in the town of Alba, Piedmont — 2008 edition is from Oct, 4 to Nov, 9.
At “Alba International White Truffle Fair” you can also attend seminars (November and December) on “How to become a truffle taster” or attend truffle auctions (for details visit www.fieradeltartufo.org).

In the Central Italy, major truffle fairs are held in Umbria, Marches and Tuscany.

The town of Acqualagna, in the Marches (view on the map), beginning Oct. 26, hosts its “Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco Pregiato di Acqualagna” — the National Acqualagna White Truffle Fair.

The Renaissance town of Città di Castello, in Umbria (view on the map), hosts the “Tartufo Bianco Fair” from November 7 through 9.

The town of San Miniato, in the inland countryside of Pisa, Tuscany (see on the map), celebrates its rare and precious tuber with the “Mostra Mercato Nazionale del Tartufo Bianco di San Miniato” — The National White Truffle of San Miniato Show, taking places in the week-ends of November. The event transforms this Tuscan town for the entire month of November into a huge open-air truffle tasting workshop.

These events offer also chances to taste a number of truffle-related produce and delicacies as long as great local wines.

As the White Truffle can only be found in a limited number of areas favoured by nature, with production being limited mostly to the months of October through December, visits to the select areas listed above in the Fall, offer you the best chance to get the best of the White Truffle.