La Castagna (The Chestnut)

20
Nov
2008

November. It’s time to sit around a log fire and savor a handful of hot caldarroste (roasted chestnuts) with a glass of vino novello (new wine). What more could you ask for?

Large parts of central and northern Italy are covered with castagneti (chestnut woods) and for centuries chestnuts were the main source of food for the winter. This is reflected in the variety of chestnut dishes, both sweet and savory, which are still popular today.

Chestnuts can be eaten fresh, either roasted or boiled. Try the following recipe for boiled chestnuts: remove the outer hard skin and put them in a saucepan with enough water to cover, add a bay leaf and a sprig of green fennel and boil them for about forty minutes. Leave them to cool, peel off the soft skin and enjoy! If you omit the herbs you can then mash the boiled chestnuts to make chestnut purée to for desserts or to make gnocchi di castagne (chestnut dumplings).

But in order to preserve them for the whole winter the chestnuts must be dried first. After having removed the two layers of skin, the dried chestnuts are then cooked in soups or soaked in hot milk for breakfast. I love putting a small piece of dry chestnut in my mouth and chewing it slowly, like a sweet.

Dry chestnuts are also used to make farina di castagne (chestnut flour). In the past each village had its own mulino (mill) powered by water. The flour is used to make a sort of pancake called Pattona in Northern Tuscany, Castagnaccio in the area between Lucca and Firenze, and Torta di Neccio in the area near Siena. There are minor variations between these recipes, and my favorite is certainly the Pattona because it is so simple and wholesome. To make Pattona first prepare a fairly runny batter with chestnut flour, water, and a pinch of salt. Leave it to rest for half an hour. In the mean time soak some chestnut leaves in hot water (these should be collected at the end of the summer and stored for the winter). Pat them dry and use them to line a shallow backing tray (yes, we invented greaseproof paper a long time ago! and a very natural ecologically friendly one). Pour the chestnut batter on the top of the leaves (about 1 cm thick) and cook in a very hot oven for 10-15 minutes until the surface starts cracking. Enjoy the Pattona warm with some fresh ricotta (fresh curd cheese); I love the smell of the roasted chestnut leaves but don’t forget to peel them off before eating it!


By Serena | Posted in Culture, Food | Comments (1)

A Walk in the Mountains

19
Nov
2008

Anyone who has done a bit of walking in Italy will, sooner or later, notice the little red and white stripes seemingly mysteriously painted on trees, rocks, telegraph poles, old buildings etc. These segnali (signs) mark the routes of sentieri (footpaths) most of which have been created by CAI the Club Alpino Italiano (Italian Alpine Club).

Going for a camminata (ramble or hike) in Italy can be a pretty hit and miss experience due to a: a lack of accurate and up to date maps, and b: idiosyncratic marking of trails. I don’t know who it is that paints those little red and white signs but they probably know the route pretty well and fail to understand how a misplaced sign could confuse someone unfamiliar with the area. For example, a common scenario is that we’ll be exploring a new sentiero and, happily, the red and white signs seem to be in profusion, in fact perhaps too profuse, I mean do we really need one on every third tree when there are no other trails in sight! But hang on a minute what’s this, a junction. In front of us the trail forks in two directions, in the middle of the fork is a tree and beautifully hand painted on that tree a red and white sign, but no hint of which fork to take, no arrow, and as our map is basically a reprint of a military map from the late 19th century (the ‘latest’ version available) guess what, no detail there either.

Fortunately the majority of sentieri maintained by CAI are not like this and the volunteer workers of the Italian Alpine Club do a great job in helping walking enthusiasts to enjoy Italy’s amazing, rugged landscape.

The Club Alpino Italiano was formed in August 1863, just three years after the unification of Italy, by Quintino Sella, scientist, politician, economist, and statesman.

Sella was a passionate Alpinista (mountaineer) who wanted to raise cultural awareness of the Italian Alps. The idea to form CAI was born during the first Italian expedition to scale the summit of the 3,841m Monviso in the Piemonte region, of which he was the leader.

These days CAI has grown into a huge organisation with around 500 local branches which between them maintain around 60,000 km of footpaths and 700 mountain refuges or bivouacs which are available to all those who enjoy “l’andar-per-monti” (mountain walking). The main objective of CAI remains that of promoting: “mountaineering, the knowledge and study of mountains, specifically those in Italy, and the protection of the environment”. They also aim to create a “cultura della sicurezza” (lit. Culture of safety) and to this end they have founded mountaineering, alpine skiing, and rock climbing schools. If you would like to know a bit more about CAI and its activities check out this link: Club Alpino Italiano .

 

Buona passeggiata!


By Serena | Posted in Culture, Travel | Comments (0)

L’alfabeto telefonico

15
Nov
2008

It’s always tricky trying to spell a word over the telephone because several letters are difficult to distinguish from each other, e.g. p and b, m and n, etc. Of course you can use the international alphabet system: alpha, bravo, charlie … but I personally can never remember it. In Italy we use a system that is based on the names of Italian towns. Here it goes:

 

A = Ancona         

B = Bologna

C = Como

D = Domodossola

E = Empoli

F = Firenze

G = Genova

H = hotel

I = Imola

L = Livorno

M= Milano

N = Napoli

O = Orvieto

P = Pisa

Q = quadro

R = Roma

S = Siena

T = Torino

U = Udine

V = Venezia

Z = zeta (or Zara)

 

As you can see there are no Italian towns starting with “h” (this letter is called “acca”), or “q” (“quadro” isn’t the name of a town, it means “picture”). Another peculiarity of the Italian alphabet is that officially we don’t use the letters j, k, w, x, y, but we have a name for each of them:

J = i lunga; k = kappa; w = v doppio; x = ics; y = ipsilon.

 

So, if I’m booking a hotel over the telephone and they ask me “come si scrive il suo nome?” (Lit. how do you write your name?), I would say: S come (= as in) Siena, E come Empoli, R come Roma, E come Empoli, N come Napoli, A come Ancona.

 

N.B. This list of towns is not totally strict and there are some variations such as S = Savona or Salerno, and O = Otranto, but they are all fairly famous Italian towns with the exception of Domodossola. All Italians know this name because of the telephone alphabet, but very few of us know where it is! It’s a small town in the North of Italy on the border with Switzerland.

 

Buona fortuna!

 


By Serena | Posted in Grammar | Comments (0)

A Hat Full of Cherries

12
Nov
2008

I’ve just finished reading Un cappello pieno di ciliege (A Hat Full of Cherries), the last book by Oriana Fallaci posthumously published on the 31st July 2008, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006) was a famous journalist, war-reporter and writer. She had always been interested in her family history, an interest nurtured by the memory of a chest containing family memorabilia, which included a lute, a paper model of a sailboat, a pillowcase covered in handwriting, and a homemade Italian flag. When a few years ago Fallaci was diagnosed with cancer, she felt compelled to investigate her genetic heritage, to discover why she was the person she was, and which distant members of her family she felt more related to. Whilst the family history is thoroughly researched and documented, the book is clearly a work of fiction and not a biography as such. In fact while researching through archives and parish registers, Oriana felt that she could imagine the lives of some her ancestors very clearly, and that she had to give voice to them by developing them into autonomous characters. This voluminous novel (864 pages) is in fact divided into four separate books, each one portraying one couple of progenitors chosen from one of her four grandparents families.

The “hat full of cherries” refers to the hat that Caterina Zani, Oriana’s arcavola (distant ancestor) in the first book, wears on the day she is meant to meet her future husband. The hat was decorated with real cherries, and at the end of the morning Caterina takes the hat off and starts eating them!

The aim of the whole book is to explain Oriana’s existence; therefore the writer’s own voice can be heard all the way through. The story is interspersed with comments such as “when I lived Caterina’s life” or “I don’t like the idea that his genes are present in my genes, but I have to accept it!” which give the idea that her ancestors lives are part of her genetic heritage, and the writer had already lived many lives through her progenitors. However the most remarkable thing for Oriana Fallaci throughout the book is the fact that so many times over the centuries, because of the hazardous nature of chance events, she “had run the risk of not been born!”

Another peculiarity of the novel is the fact that the writer speaks directly to the reader with remarks such as “do you remember?” as if he or she were present at the event.

I don’t really want to say too much about the book, as I would only spoil it. I simply want to say: thank you Oriana for your last beautiful present!

 

Grazie Oriana!

 

 


By Serena | Posted in Culture | Comments (0)

The Olive Harvest

11
Nov
2008

November to December is the period in which the Raccolta delle Olive (Olive Harvest) generally takes place here in Toscana (Tuscany) and last weekend we were busy helping our friends who have several hectares of Olives near Pistoia to collect their harvest.

At this time of year the ground under the olive trees has to be kept clear, and any vegetation is cut with a trimmer or more traditionally a falce (scythe). This enabled us to spread the large nets underneath the trees which makes it much easier to pick up all the olives.

There are four main ways of harvesting olives:

 

1. Brucatura

This is the traditional method in which the olives are harvested by hand and it is undoubtedly the best in terms of the quality of oil produced because neither the olives nor the ramoscelli (twigs) are damaged. The downside is that it’s very labor intensive and time consuming. We usually use a kind of small rake to comb along the stems thereby pulling the olives off so that they fall into the nets spread out below.

 

2. Bacchiatura

This involves beating the branches of the tree with a bastone (stick) or canna (cane) to make all the mature olives fall off. This method is often used if the tree is too big to make collection by hand practical.

 

3. Scuotitura

Scuotere in Italian means to shake, but the shaking in this case is done by machines, which are attached to the trunk causing the tree to vibrate and the olives to fall. This method would only really be used by big commercial growers due to the cost of the machinery involved, but in the long term it’s far more cost effective than hiring a labor force to pick by hand.

 

4. Cascola naturale

This is probably the least labor-intensive method. The olives are literally left to fall off the tree in their own good time into the nets set out in advance. The quality of the oil produced in this way is, however, pretty poor.

 

The method that we used was a mixture of Brucatura, hand collection with rastrellini (little rakes) and mechanical Bacchiatura. Instead of using sticks to beat the trees we used an Oliviero (a mechanical olive beater). This consists of a metal pole with a rotating head powered by electricity (provided by car batteries!). The rotating head has four plastic prongs, which beat the twigs and knock the olives into the nets and, well just about everywhere else! In fact you have to wear goggles and a hat because olives are pretty hard, especially when flying down from a height of four meters or so, ouch!

The raccolta delle olive on a small scale is more of a Festa (celebration) than work, a bit like the Vendemmia (grape harvest), and it was of course obligatory to stop for pranzo a mezzogiorno (lunch at midday) and to eat a few hunks of Tuscan bread, Pecorino cheese, salad and potatoes liberally sprinkled with this years best?….. Yes you’ve guessed it, Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva.

 

Buon appetito.

 

 


By Serena | Posted in Culture, Food | Comments (1)

Il Cinghiale in Italia (The Wild Boar in Italy)

7
Nov
2008

It’s wild boar hunting season here, and that means that twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, we have to be very careful where we go for our camminate (walks) as it’s not just the cinghiali (boars) that might get shot, those hunters use some pretty serious hardware to bring down their quarry. Luckily as we live next door to one of the hunters he can usually tell us where they will be doing their battuta (beat) so that we have less chance of being shot!

The contadini (farmer/peasants) have always seen the chinghiale as destructive, and in fact with their large tusks set on a powerful head, and weighing in at between 100 – 200 kg  (220 – 440 lbs) the wild boar can do a lot of damage to crops, vineyards, stone walls etc. as they root around for nutrition. But it has been the reduction of their habitat together with the virtual extinction of their natural predators that has pushed the cinghiali out into agricultural areas.

In fact within their natural habitat, i boschi (the woods), cinghiali have a beneficent effect. Their large tusks are used not just in self-defense but also to excavate for the roots, insects, and even small animals that make up their diet, and it’s pretty awe inspiring to see an area that has been ploughed up by these creatures, almost like someone has been at it with an industrial digger! This rooting around helps to bury seeds and destroy harmful insects thereby nurturing the woodland.

The cinghiale has a thick bristly hide with few blood vessels. This helps to protect it from injury and infection in the Macchia Mediterranea (the typical scrubby Mediterranean vegetation) and from the bite of animals such as the viper. The males in particular have a thick layer of protective fat, especially in the mating season when they frequently fight with their rivals, (men huh!). The female excavates a tana (den) and camouflages it with bushes and other vegetation, rearing her young in February and March. She usually gives birth (in Italian we say dare alla luce lit. give to the light) to between two and four cinghialini (little boars), but in a good year she can have up to eight, what a handful!

The usual social structure of the cinghiale consists of branchi (packs) of females: the mother and her new babies plus those born in the previous year. The young males leave these packs after two years and live a solitary life or join up with other small groups of males (sort of a men’s club) until the mating season.

Cinghiali are common throughout Italy, from the Valle d’Aosta in the north to Calabria in the south, and the islands of Sicilia and Sardegna. We often see their impronte (hoof prints) and excavations when we are out walking or searching for funghi in the woods but, as they are quite shy and well camouflaged, we very rarely see the animals themselves. We did have one however in our garden a couple of weeks ago, Gigetta is a young female cinghiale who has been adopted by Pietro, one of the local hunters. He told me that he found her abandoned and nearly dead down by the river, he took her home and one of his dogs suckled her, now she has become a pet. I gave her a stroke on her bristly back and she stretched out on the ground with her legs extended in front and behind just like a puppy! Did she know that her savior and benefactor was a dedicated cacciatore (hunter)? “She looks healthy” I remarked to Pietro. “Sì, lei mi sopravviverà” (“Yes, she’ll outlive me) he replied.

 

Gigetta la cinghialetta

Gigetta la cinghialetta nel nostro giardino (Gigetta in our garden)


By Serena | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Buono o Bello?

6
Nov
2008

Good or nice? These two adjectives, together with a couple more, have a very strange habit when they precede a noun. Lets look at them! But before doing so you may want to have a look at the articolo indeterminativo (indefinite article) and articolo determinativo (definite article) that I summarized in my previous post “Articles, articles, articles”. OK! Are you ready?

 

Buono/a follows the rules of the indefinite article un/uno/una before a singular noun: buon giorno (good day), buon anno (happy new year), buono studio (good study), buona vacanza (good holiday). The plural form is regular: buoni for the masculine and buone for the feminine.

 

Bello follows the rules of the definite article when placed before a noun: il bel quadro (the nice painting), il bello specchio (the nice mirror), il bello zoo (the nice zoo), il bell’orologio (the nice watch), la bella macchina (the nice car), la bell’arancia (the nice orange). The same rule applies in the plural: i bei quadri, i begli zoo, i begli orologi, le belle macchine, le belle arance. When bello follows the noun, it behaves regularly: bello, bella, belli, belle.

Two more adjectives behave like bello: quello (that, those) and dello (some).

 

Having explained how to use these adjectives I would now like to write a little on when to use them:

 

Buono is used to express a positive opinion of personal qualities: un uomo buono (a good man), un buon film (a good film, because it deals well with a difficult theme). Buono is also used to describe flavors and smells: una buona pizza (a good pizza), un buon profumo (a nice smell). Finally buono is used to express good wishes: buon viaggio! (have a good journey), buona vacanza! (have a nice holiday).

 

Bello is used to express a positive opinion of the formal, aesthetic aspect: un bell’uomo (a good-looking man), un bel film (a good film because it’s enjoyable), fa bel tempo (the weather is nice).

 

There are two more words that often create some confusion: bravo and bene.

Bravo is an adjective expressing positive qualities and is used only with human beings and animals, not objects: un bravo ragazzo (a well behaved boy). Bravo is also used to say that you are good at something: sono brava a cucinare (I’m good at cooking). N.B. bravo is an adjective, so it changes from masculine to feminine, from singular to plural: bravo, brava, bravi, brave. Show off your knowledge of Italian next time you go to a concert, and shout “brava” to a female performer, or “bravi” if it’s a group!

 

Bene is an adverb, therefore does not change and is used with verbs to express a positive opinion: canta bene (he/she sings well), sto bene (I’m well). Bene is also commonly used to say “it’s a good thing”: è bene imparare l’italiano (it’s a good thing to learn Italian).

 

I hope I haven’t confused you too much!

 

Buono Studio!


By Serena | Posted in Grammar | Comments (0)

Man Rides Pig Underwater! – Part 2

3
Nov
2008

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for part two of the story of the Maiali (Pigs) or SLC Human Torpedoes that were pioneered by Italy during La Seconda Guerra Mondiale (The Second World War).

In part one I explained that the Maiali were transported to the area of operation on board a specially adapted conventional submarine, this however presented various problems. Firstly it was risky and uneconomical, what’s more a potential target spotted by Italian observers based in Spain could easily have moved on by the time the sub arrived with its cargo of SLC’s. Then there was the problem of the operators getting ‘stale’ during the long voyage. This is where that special combination of Italian inventiveness and good fortune stepped in.

On the 10th June 1940 the Italian nave cisterna (tanker) “Olterra” was in the Bay of Algeciras waiting to unload in the Port of Gibilterra (Gibraltar) when a coded message arrived to say that Italy had entered the war and that the captain should scuttle his ship.

The reluctant captain however decided to ground his ship in the shallows near the coast by blowing a hole in the hull, all documents were destroyed and a skeleton crew of five was left on board to protect the property.

The Olterra remained in this state for the best part of two years before a team of palombari (divers) arrived to repair the hull and refloat the vessel before towing it into port.

The Decima Flottiglia Mas (Mas being short for Mezzi d’Assalto or assault vehicles) planners had been searching for a fixed base for their operations near Gibraltar, and it was Tenente di Vascello Licio Visintini a young maiale operator who hit upon the idea of using the Olterra for this purpose.

In the autumn of 1942 Naval officers and engineers arrived secretly in Algeciras to begin work on converting the Olterra into a human torpedo base. Their cover story was that they were repairing the tanker to be ready for use at the end of the war.

Disguised as tanker engineers the Naval personal began to transform the internal structure of the Olterra. A compartment was created to house the torpedoes and other equipment, and a secret underwater tank was provided by flooding part of the prow. A hinged door was cut through the hull to allow the SLC’s to exit and enter the submerged compartment.

The torpedoes themselves, together with limpet mines etc. were smuggled past the unsuspecting customs officers disguised as spare parts such as piping and machinery for the ‘legitimate repair’ of the ship.

So it was that, right under the noses of the Allies based at Gibraltar, a secret Italian Naval base began to carry out operations against enemy ships, the Maiali leaving covertly from below the waterline of the innocent looking Olterra, and continued to do so undetected until the end of operations.

If you ever happen to be in the La Spezia area, perhaps during a stay in the nearby Cinque Terre, a trip to the Naval Museum is highly recommended. Here you can see one of the famous Maiali together with a section of the Olterra’s hull proudly bearing it’s name. Also on display are large parts of the wreckage of the Italian submarine Scirè which was used to transport the SLC’s into action and which was sunk with the loss of all it’s crew on August 10th 1942 just outside the port of Haifa in Palestine by a British torpedo-boat.


By Serena | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

E’ morto l’ultimo reduce della Grande Guerra

1
Nov
2008

Born on the 23rd August 1898 Delfino Borroni, who died earlier this week, was the last surviving Italian reduce (veteran) of the Grande Guerra (Great War, i.e. WW1).

Borroni was called up in 1917 at the age of nineteen to serve in the Bersaglieri Ciclisti (infantry with bikes), and began his combat career on the front line of the altopiano di Asiago (Asiago plateau). After a spell fighting at Pasubio he ended up in the infamous trenches at Caporetto.

“Caporetto was the worst place that I saw during the war”, maintained Borroni, “trench life was terrible, the cold, the hunger, the rumble of the bombs, then there were the gas attacks”.

“When it rained there was the temptation to sleep, but that was the moment in which an attack was most likely, so the Captain passed amongst us in his black cape and shouted at us to stay alert”.

One day the Sergeant ordered him to leave the trench for a reconnaissance, “I asked him why he was sending me, the youngest one, out to die and he replied that all the others had children”, recounted Borroni.

“As soon as I had crawled out of the trench a bullet hit me on the boot. I pretended to be dead lying beside two corpses, and when finally the Austrians had gone I managed to rejoin my comrades in retreat. The sergeant took my head on his lap and cried when he saw me alive”.

Some weeks later Borroni was captured but after only a few months of imprisonment he found his opportunity to escape when, after a long day of marching, the Romanian officer on guard fell asleep and Borroni made a run for it. Joining up with a cavalry battalion Delfino then made his way by train to Piacenza from where he wrote to his parents to come and get him.

“ I was resting in a tent, I raised my eyes and saw the boots of my father. Mia madre lancio’ un urlo cosi forte, che quasi mi moriva fra le braccia (My mother let out such a strong cry, she almost died in my arms)”.

After the war Borroni recommenced work as a mechanic, then married and moved to Castano Primo where he found work as a driver on the famous “Gamba de Legn”, the historic Milanese tram.

Delfino Borroni passed away on Sunday 26th October at the age of 110.

You can find a video of Delfino talking about his experinces (in Italian with Italian subtitles) here: Delfino Borroni

There are now only seven survivors of the Great War: Three in Great Britain, two in Canada, one in Australia, and one in America.


By Serena | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Articles, articles, articles!

30
Oct
2008

In English there are only three forms for the definite and indefinite articles: “the, a, an”. But, being Italians, as usual we like to complicate our language and to have as many variations as possible on one little word.

Lets start with the articolo indeterminativo (indefinite article: a/an). This is not too bad; we have four different forms where in English there are two.

Masculine: un/uno. Un is used when preceding a masculine word E.g.: un tavolo (a table), un treno (a train), un orologio (a watch). However if a masculine word begins with z, ps, or s+consonant, we use uno E.g.: uno zaino (a backpack), uno psicologo (a psychologist), uno studente (a male student).

Feminine: una/un’. Una is used before a feminine word starting with a consonant or group of consonants. E.g.: una sedia (a chair), una zanzara (a mosquito), una studentessa (a female student). Un’ is used before a feminine word starting with a vowel. E.g.: un’arancia (an orange), un’estate (a summer).

OK. That was easy enough. Lets move to the articolo determinativo (definite article: the). In English there is only one form i.e. the. In Italian … well, we have eight variations!

Masculine singular: il/l’/lo. Il is used in the same way as “un” (E.g.: il tavolo, il treno) with the exception of words starting with a vowel in which case l’ is used E.g.: l’orologio, l’ago (the needle). Lo is used in the same way as “uno”, i.e. before masculine words starting with z, ps, or s+consonant. E.g.: lo zaino, lo psicologo, lo studente.

Masculine plural: gli/i. Both lo and l’ become gli (without an apostrophe this time). E.g.: gli zaini, gli psicologi, gli studenti, gli orologi, gli aghi. The plural of il is i. E.g.: i tavoli, i treni.

Feminine singular: la/l’. They follow they same rule as una and un’. E.g.: la sedia, la zanzara, la studentessa, l’arancia, l’estate.

Feminine plural. Both la and l’ become le (without an apostrophe, ever!). E.g.: le sedie, le zanzare, le studentesse, le arance, le estati.

Semplice, no? Simple, isn’t it? Now a little homework for you to do. You’ll have to write the correct articolo indeterminativo and determinativo in front of the following words. Then you’ll change the words into plurals (see blog on plurals) and write the correct articolo determinativo plurale. Buon lavoro!

Programma (masc. program); sciarpa (scarf); spillo (pin); capacità (capacity); ombrello (umbrella); cane (masc. dog); zoccolo (clog); orchestra; stazione (fem. station); animale (masc. animal); caffè (masc.); zuppa (soup).

P.S. For those of you who know Italian perfectly, you might have noticed that I’ve left out two groups of consonant from the lo rule: pn and gn. I did it on purpose, because about 70% of Italians do not follow that rule, but they say “il pneumatico (the tire)” and “i gnocchi”.


By Serena | Posted in Grammar | Comments (0)