An annual public holiday also known as Anniversary of Italy’s Liberation (Anniversario della liberazione d’Italia) or Anniversary of the resistance (Anniversario della Resistenza) or sometimes just as 25th April (25 Aprile). It celebrates the liberation of Italy from Nazi occupation during World War 2 and the victory of the resistance in Italy[1].
Bologna liberated itself on 21st April 1945 and by the 1st May most of northern Italy was liberated. The national date of 25th April was decided in 1949. In a previous post I made a joke about reclaiming “Liberation Day” from Farage et al who had attempted to use it as a phrase for the day when Britain left the EU. I wanted to use it instead for the day when we are all free to leave our homes and see our friends etc. without worrying about spreading the virus. I had forgotten that Liberation day already existed in Italy and, more importantly in these days, that it is a national day of celebrating the fight against fascism.
The history bit
As usual I offer the caveat that all the information presented here has been researched (badly) by me, mostly from Wikipedia, and therefore any inaccuracies or misunderstandings are the result of my poor workmanship.
The Italian resistance[2] is a term used to cover all the many Italian different resistance groups who were fighting against 20 years of fascist rule in Italy and 5 years of war. They gained more prominence after the occupation by the Nazis. It is also an important date in Italian history because it led to Italy abolishing the monarchy and establishing itself formally as a republic. If you read my post about Italians and food you will know that this was not long into the existence of Italy as a unified country. The republic was declared to be founded on the struggle of the resistance (La Resistenza). The members of the resistance were also known as partisans (I partigiani) and many people see this conflict to liberate Italy as the Italian civil war.
While many of us have holidays and festive days dedicated to various battles and liberations, I don’t think there is anything quite like this Italian Liberation Day. Its connection to the resistance is a key part of the day, at least it is in Bologna. It is not a celebration of long past historic events; it is a living reminder of the continuing fight against fascism.
I have always had a soft spot for resistance fighters and partisans. I see them as the ultimate form of DIY; ordinary people organising themselves to fight against something, using whatever means they have at their disposal. I have read several books by and about resistance groups in the 2nd World War and their invaluable contribution to the Allied victory. These people were willing to sacrifice their lives. They often lived in terrible conditions, supplied by supportive locals, having to remain mobile to avoid detection and capture. The casualty rate was high and Nazis were known to execute 10 civilians for every soldier killed, usually taken from nearby villages or POW camps. However, this move which was intended to discourage local support for resistance groups backfired as the resistance fighters were usually from the community and shared in their deprivations and hardships so it ended up reinforcing support against the common enemy. I think it’s great that this day is specifically remembered as both the liberation of Italy from Nazi occupation and the victory of the resistance against fascism. It reminds us that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It reminds us of the power people have when working together towards a common goal. It reminds us we are strong enough and brave enough.
How soon is now
We were lucky enough to be in Bologna for Liberation Day last year. We had not been in Italy for long and had never heard of it. In the centre of the Bologna there is a formal wreath laying at the memorial plaque, however from my perspective the action is in Via Del Pratello and the surrounding streets. We have heard great reviews of the bars here but we tend to feel a teensy bit older than their usual customers. Sadly, Al was working, but we decided to go in his break to check out what was going on.
In Via Del Pratello Liberation day events are a cross between a street party, a political rally and a DIY festival. There is very much an anarchic homemade approach to banners and flags and stalls. Representatives from all manner of political and social groups are nestled alongside food drink and general market stalls. There are also impromptu looking stages that barely rise above the pavement where many bands seemed to play a punk polka. Last year it was really busy even though the weather was not great. There was one part of the street that we could not pass at all because it was so rammed with people. That’s hard to imagine at the moment, but at the time we were forced to divert into a couple of other streets to avoid the blockage.
A political stall
Busy streets
Band on stage
Liberation Day – Via Del Pratello 2019
It was a lot of fun and we were able to find a bar (there are formal and informal bars) with a shortish queue and get drinks in plastic cups so we could drink while walking along. I have been told that Liberation Day in Via Del Pratello can get very messy, but I haven’t heard anything about problems with drunkenness and violence. We were there between 3 and 5 so it was quite chilled and only just getting started.
While we enjoyed our brief glimpse into Liberation day we felt like voyeurs, tourists snapping a local festival, which we were. We wondered what it would be like to be in Via Del Pratello for the day, meeting up with friends and being part of the community. We had hoped that this year we would be able to take a more active role in festivities as we have now lived here for over a year. Sadly, the Corona Virus restrictions mean that there aren’t going to be any events this year. It’s still a National holiday so those businesses that were open will be closed, or on reduced hours, but there won’t be bands and stalls and bars in Via Del Pratello. However, we can take the means at our disposal and celebrate at home, making sure we still remember those who sacrificed their lives to free this country and to remember our role in maintaining our vigilance and standing up to fascism whenever we can.
[1] ‘Liberation Day (Italy)’ (En.wikipedia.org, 2020) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Day_(Italy)> accessed 23 April 2020
If you don’t recognise the above as a quote from Monty Python’s Life of Brian, then that’s a film that you need to add to your watch list.
Learning the Lingo
When I was trying to learn other languages at school the teachers would say “what’s the past participle” or “conjugate the verb to go” or talk about the position of the “subject” and the “object” of a sentence. I didn’t know what those things were in English never mind in whatever language I was struggling to learn. Education might not have been the same everywhere but I maintain that British students of the 70’s and 80’s are more likely to recognise “Kumbaya” from the opening strums on an acoustic guitar than they are to have been taught what a participle was in English.
Grammar is useful to help you understand how the new language structure is different, but this does necessitate knowing what it is in your language first. In many ways this remains the biggest struggle I have learning Italian. I sit there and have to try to summon the Italian grammar rules. Is this a passive sentence? Am I giving my opinion? These require the use of different tenses or rules. If I am in a real life situation this is compounded because I need to answer quickly.
On top of the grammar and structural issues there is also problems of vocabulary. There are some words which look and sound similar to English words but which have completely different uses and/ or meanings. These are called “false friends”. Then there are verbs that can be translated as roughly the same meaning but are used in different ways. For example, Italians use their verb to make (fare) for things where we use to do or to go. When you want to translate some things from “do” or “go”, you need to use “make” e.g. I make food shopping, not I do the food shopping etc. You need to bear in mind these differences when answering simple questions like “What are you doing this weekend?”
I know that I just need to remember that learning a language is hard and the results are not instantaneous, but patience is not one of my virtues. I have so much more respect now for anyone who has managed to become proficient in a language that is not their mother tongue.
“He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.”
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Teaching the lingo
On the flip side of learning a language I am teaching my language to others. This is a newly acquired skill and still involves quite a lot of learning itself. It means looking at English, a subject I had thought I knew well, from the perspective of the learner. I think my teaching is enhanced by the fact that I have current experience of the trials and tribulations of language learning. One benefit I have is that my students are nearly all Italian and they often make similar errors which I can backwards navigate to understand what the Italian structure or vocabulary is, which helps my Italian too!
I live in fear of my students asking me questions like “in what circumstances do I use the past perfect after the past continuous?”. First, I need to remember which they are (past tense of have, verb+ed) after (past tense of be, verb +ing) and then deduce the rule around when you might use that form. There is also the pretty tricky fact that we have so many exceptions. I don’t want to give an answer that covers the example I just thought of (I went jogging after I had studied) but not the situation the student was asking about.
However, this is nothing when compared to the student who said “Oh, I’ve forgotten, what’s the English order of adjectives again, it’s age, colour and material isn’t it?” I looked at her blankly. “You know the order you need to put the adjectives in, I can’t remember if it’s colour before material?” I was about to say that there wasn’t an order, but it immediately became apparent to me that there was and my mind was blown.
I have asked a number of people about this and not one mother tongue English speaker ever remembers being taught the order of adjectives, but we all use it without thinking. If I said to you leather, brown, old sofa you would understand what I was referring to. However, you would usually say old brown leather sofa. Don’t believe me? I dare you to consider anything in front of you now and let me know if you don’t use a specific order to describe all items e.g. blue suede shoes.
As a writer I have found both the learning and teaching experiences enlightening. They focus your mind on the way we use language, how and why we select certain words for particular sentences or specific uses. There are so many things about our language and the way we use it that I had never given a second thought to. Nothing makes you think twice about an expression you’re about to use like imagining how you will explain it to someone for whom English is not their first language.
So, what else is new?
Not much really. I couldn’t let you go without some gratuitous food shots, obviously. We are fine. We are both still healthy. We are getting better at cryptic crosswords, but not fast enough given that we are two pretty impatient people. We have been formally extended in lock down until 3rd May, but our numbers are looking more positive. There were free masks being distributed in our area on Monday so Al went out on Tuesday to get some and they had all gone. It’s not that we have a specific view in the masks vs no masks debate, it’s more that these days everyone out in the shops has a mask and we are worried that when lock down restrictions are lifted they might mandate mask wearing while out and about. Amazon.it mask delivery dates were for June. Amazon UK claims 22nd April, I’ll keep you posted.
Chargrilled and fresh vegetables on sourdough toast with mozerella
My companion on the deck
Vegetable lasagne
Gratuitous food shots plus our neighbourhood lizard
One final thought in the shape of this quote, which I found when looking for one about learning a language. This is so true and useful at this time, all language is thought shaping, especially the language you use most often.
“Change your language and you change your thoughts.”
Karl Albrecht
*feature image courtesy of: Terry Jones, Life Of Brian (1979).
As you all would expect this week has progressed much like the others in the now established pattern of Lockdown. Good Friday marks one month in and we don’t know when it will end. Technically it could be lifted on 13th April, but we all expect to see an extension, with some level of restrictions on travel and non-essential services continuing for some time even when lockdown is lifted. The good news is our numbers finally seem to be taking a turn in a more positive direction, no matter which measurements you are using for comparison. To be blunt the daily death count here has started to drop but is still in the hundreds. Italy has lost almost 18,000 people and so far more than 85,000 worldwide have died (source WHO). I know that the UK is about to enter its most difficult period in terms of numbers of infections and deaths and our hearts are with you. I hope our improving numbers offer hope that an end is in sight, but we are by no means out of the woods yet.
It’s impossible to calculate how many impacted families and friends there are with lives completely altered. It is an appropriate time to think of others: those still fighting the virus, those who may continue to have complications long after and those providing medical and other essential services. These are very sobering thoughts and any frustrations I might feel about being cooped up are easily addressed by remembering how, by staying in, we are helping to minimise the number of people who will be affected by this event.
Yada yada
On Tuesday I taught my last class for at least a week. We take it in turns to go to the shops only when we really need to go. We have been eating well as you’d expect from us. If you follow Al’s Instagram you have already seen the chocolate buns, but I’m still going to share them again. They were amazing. Today we had doughnuts but I may have forgotten to take any photos before we ate them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any raspberry jam at the shop, so we had to settle for strawberry, but that’s hardly a complaint.
Chocolate buns
Meat and cheese piadina
Campari spritz
Some food highlights
The temperatures have been building all week with today hitting 22 and 26 expected by Saturday, so we have been spending a lot of time outside. There have been times when we have wondered if we would have been better off if we had tried to return to the UK at the beginning of all this, but its hard to see how that would be an improvement on our current situation. We think the Italian government at a local and national level have been doing a great job. I think we both have a lurking fear about something going wrong and us having to deal with Italian medical or social services and not understanding what we need to do or ask for. However, we have an amazing landlord who is in contact to make sure we are ok and if we need help (with Italian) or if we have any concerns he can help with. Luckily, we don’t, but it is a comfort to know that help is there (albeit in Venice) if we do.
Strengthen our communication
Last Friday we had our first virtual pub experience courtesy of some friends with a zoom account and it was so successful that we will repeat it this Friday. It was great to catch up with people and exchange experiences of this crazy time. There were differences in what would really happen at the pub for example, everyone has to be in the one conversation rather than breaking out into separate ones. You can’t read body language or account for slight delays so you inevitably spend some time interrupting each other. However, it’s a pretty good stand in and the drinks range is perfect.
On Tuesday morning I attended a Pilates class thanks to Chrissy of CMdance . I can’t usually get to it because it’s in Southampton, however it has moved online for the time being, which is lucky for me. It was good to see and talk to people while adding a change to my exercise routine. There seem to be no end of activities you can join in with online now, which I think is fantastic, but I have to be honest and say this is the first one I have done.
It’s great to be able to keep in touch and talk to people face to face, albeit not in person. We are so lucky to have the technology readily available in our homes and we would do well to remember that we have it all the time, not just in the time of a global pandemic.
The Everyman crossword with my ham fisted notes
Cryptology
When the lockdown first began, we printed out the guardian quick crossword and every day would start with coffee and the crossword. It’s not the most difficult crossword though and we started to finish it a bit too quickly. We decided to have another crack at Cryptic crosswords, which we have attempted before but pushed into the too hard pile. We even had a cryptic crossword as a wedding present which we really enjoyed doing, but we just found them difficult to do on an on-going basis. So, now seems like the ideal time to be looking at them again.
This week we have printed an old Everyman cryptic from the Observer every day, so that we can also look up the answers when we give up, which we have to do, a lot. We haven’t finished one without assistance yet, but we are enjoying trying to work them out and learning how the clues work. Some are fiendish works of genius; some are tenuous stretches. Today we only had to look up four, which I think is pretty impressive.
The bit at the end
I wanted to ensure I ended this on a positive note as I felt the start was bleak. Possibly this aptly sums up where I am with it all. I start with some hard and disconcerting facts, move onto some life minutia then try to focus on the positive. Something which I have seen emerge as a kind of sign off on messages and emails is “stay safe” or “stay well” or both. I like this as a kind of subtle identifier of a time before as well as a time after. It’s one of many changes in the way we speak and relate to each other. We have a renewed experience of our power as a community and the importance of everyone in it. The world will be different after this and we have the power to make it better, if we want it.
When I was thinking about writing this week’s blog I was conscious that the likelihood was by the time I came to write it lockdown would be a reality for the UK too. Comparing the numbers of Corona Virus cases from Italy two weeks before the UK, it seemed a similar story was emerging. I am sorry it had to come to this, but I think it’s in everyone’s interests. Hopefully they are finding, so far, it’s ok. A great many kind people, organisations and businesses are offering services for free or on reduced rates for us to do/use while we are at home. However, as I said last week, we shouldn’t try to do too much. We are in strange days and there is a mental aspect to this as much as a physical restriction. No doubt your thoughts and feelings about being in lockdown have changed and will change. Make sure you look for and hold onto the positives of which there are many.
A change in the weather
Last week we had balmy 20 degree days. You might remember my photo of the garden, glass of wine in hand. I want to make as much use of the garden as possible at this time and I was worried for my pale blue Celtic skin so I put in an Amazon order for sun cream. The supermarket we can walk too does not have a lot of choice available as it’s not a big store. I thought getting an order would be better than travelling out to a bigger store and potentially encountering more people even if social distancing is practiced here. This week has rewarded us with a wind warning and days barely reaching the 10s so it hasn’t been garden weather, although it has been sunny. However, this morning we were greeted by snow!!! Snow and it was settling, which we were not expecting at all. A quick check of the weather forecast confirms the 20 degree days will return by Sunday, which is good because my sun cream has not arrived yet.
Winter had a last laugh
Learning new skills and being bored
This week I learned to use a new online teaching platform as well as how to set up and use groups on Skype. My lessons are spread out over the week a couple of hours, usually not more than 3, at a time. A lot of the day feels like waiting for lessons and other activities are fitted around lessons and prep. I think I pulled a muscle in my stomach doing Yoga, so I’ve been laying off that and I caution those who are planning a vigorous exercise regime during this time not to over do it. Al has been bored because he doesn’t have any work to give structure, however I will mention that tonight I will be eating a chicken pie with handmade puff pastry. The chicken filling was also several processes and days in the making. We’ve also had homemade pasta and bread this week.
Last thoughts for this post
We are a couple of weeks ahead of the UK in this weird netherworld of lockdown. There is a stoicism that says just keep going which is good and helpful but, its ok to admit this is frightening. We have never seen the like of this in our lifetimes. We have no reference data to tell us how to feel and what to do. We are in an event we have only read about in post-apocalyptic books and seen in disaster movies. By staying in and minimising our contact with others less people will die, but that’s still pretty stark. There’s a part of you that feels like this is a holiday, a part that feels like this is an inconvenience and a part of you that is terrified and it’s all correct and OK to feel. We don’t know what is going to happen, which is always true, but is scarier now because we didn’t really think this would happen. One day this week I said to Al that I had a lot of work to do but I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. I’m not always sleeping and I’m imagining symptoms (luckily a fever can’t be psychosomatically generated) on a consistent basis because, hey, that’s the kind of girl I am. Turns out, it’s perfectly natural. Everyone is doing it, because it’s part of a natural human reaction. Allow yourself to have these moments. It will be ok and we will get through this, but if we have the occasional tremble, or just need to pull the duvet over our heads today, so be it. Be kind to everyone, but especially yourself. We can choose what elements of this experience we hold onto and take forward and which elements of our old life we want to let go of and leave behind.
As we begin this second week in Lock down we feel that we
are getting the hang of it. Al has been making enough bread to ensure we have
some every day and has also made batches of pasta, mayonnaise and sauces to
keep us eating in style. This week Al has decided we need a lasagne as there
are another 2 weeks of lock down to go (it was announced today that this will
be extended). I continue to teach over Skype and to spend the rest of my time
reading and trying to write. We are going out every couple of days to get top
up fruit and veg or occasional meat. This is as much an exercise in getting
some exercise as it is a necessity. However, we think we will try and see if we
can get more deliveries online to limit going out further.
Here people patiently wait outside shops, a respectful metre apart, until the next customer comes out so they’re able to take their place inside. It’s hard to imagine this happening in the UK without security guards or other monitors. It seems particularly unusual when Italians are otherwise famous for their inability to queue. However, everyone understands the seriousness of the situation and there is a sense of togetherness in a crisis which maintains a calm acceptance of the present situation and the need to get through it together. This too shall pass.
Rediscovering our love of film
One of the unexpected outcomes of all this was rediscovering our love of film. Back in the early days of our relationship we spent a lot of time watching films, being early adopters of Love Film and clocking up a fair number of films per week. Love Film ate blockbusters and was eaten by Netflix in turn. While we have maintained Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts these have largely been to keep up with TV series. Al’s anti-social hours meant that the Cinema was out of the question and starting a movie at home at 11pm is not that appealing. Even on his days off he rarely had the headspace to sit through a film. Now that we are forced to be in the apartment all the time, we realise that we haven’t really watched films for about 10 years. We are enjoying reading reviews and building up a watch list as well as watching the films. While there are a couple of films that are still daunting us with their length (the Irishman is 3 hours and 40 minutes!) there will never be a better time to watch them than now.
Piazza Maggiore
Via Farini
Ring road
Quadrilatero
Jennie’s top tips
Someone asked me for some tips in case you guys all get
locked down too. I must say that I think it’s important that you do. I
genuinely believe this is the only way to minimise this virus. Here are the
tips I gave this morning plus one or two more:
Watch films, paint pictures, cook and read books. Do anything you usually don’t have time for.
Try to stick with a schedule but not your old work schedule or an unrealistic home improvement schedule
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to achieve. This enforced free time can be used for relaxing too.
If there are local businesses you can support by buying direct from them, do it.
If you’ve had gigs or events cancelled try to wait for the reschedule instead of getting a refund. See if the band or venue has merch you can buy or a Patreon or something to keep them afloat.
Don’t be a dick, only buy what you need.
Reach out to your friends. You can’t be in each other’s company but you can still interact. If someone reaches out to you, respond.
Think creatively about how you can continue to do things you enjoy – what about logging on to a streamed gig or comedy performance? Or what about a Skype dinner party – everyone does their own cooking in their own home but with Skype on so you can talk to each other?
Stay positive. This will pass.
Don’t you wish your supermarket was stacked like mine?
The future’s so bright
The world will be different after this experience. Undoubtedly there will be another global economic downturn and many businesses will not survive. However, this has given us an opportunity to see the world, as one of my students put it “through another lens”. We see how quickly those who have jobs that facilitate, can work from home. To see how much we need and depend on the jobs that have recently been referred to by the UK Government as “low skilled”. To see how we can be our best in a crisis, turn misfortune into opportunity, working together to help each other and finding other ways to continue to operate. We can take what we learn from this period into the future and make sure we change it for the better. It is tough right now so those crowdfunding a contingency fund, offering online shopping for goods and services, turning restaurants and pubs into takeaways and any other ways you have thought of to reinvent yourself to adapt and survive I raise a glass to you. If there is anything you can do to support them, you need to get on it.
Keeping positive
Sometimes the human spirit really can surprise you in very positive and uplifting ways. Here in our uniquely Italian experience we have the 6pm music from balconies, which have been shared widely on social media; the hashtag “#iorestoacasa” (I stay at home) being used by Italians to share experiences and homemade posters in windows saying Andrà tutto bene” (Everything will be fine).
If I had written this piece last week it would be completely different. I was into the start of the second week of Skype only lessons with the school closed. Al had just been advised that the place where his restaurant is located would be closing for evenings. This was a move as related to falling demand as to public safely as people had stopped going out as much. Corona Virus was largely to the north of us in the mountains and ski resort areas. We had taken advantage of more free time by visiting a few sites we hadn’t got round to like the walk to San Luca (to be told in a future posting), finding groups of school kids excited at the unexpected holidays pretty much everywhere we went. Museums and galleries were closed so there was nothing but views to admire.
The tourist numbers had been quick to drop and the arteries of the quadrilatero (medieval centre) were no longer so clogged as to make them impassable. In fact, one of the busiest streets, Via Pescherie Vecchie was so empty of customers I thought about stopping for lunch just because it might be the only time I could get into a restaurant here. Usually the voices around the centre of town are Italian with the occasional English, American or Chinese accent being quite striking and evidently tourist, so I hadn’t appreciated how many of those voices were Italian tourists and not locals. This became apparent by the reduction of people around. We knew the fall in visitors would have a financial impact so we decided to spend our money in shops that were likely to suffer the most.
Christmas shopping in the Quadrilatero
Early morning in the Quadrilatero in better times
Late night shopping in Via D’Azeglio
A rainy weekday in November
Usually something going on – May 19
Staying informed
We are using a mixture of media to keep abreast of what is going on from the BBC, The Local.it, La Repubblica and The Commune di Bologna (local council) as well as staying up to date with current travel advice on Gov.uk. We have been surprised by the differences in the tone of reporting that we were accessing with a lot of UK news articles on social media having overtones of panic and fear. I was amazed to see an article from Sky News and other British tabloids reporting everyone returning from Italy had to put themselves in self-quarantine. A quick check of gov.uk at the time confirmed what I thought, this advice was only if you were returning from one of the hot spots or if you had any symptoms. While we knew of the international reputation (infamy) of the British Press these events have really highlighted the stark difference between keeping people informed and acting in public interests and trying to sell copy, distract and manipulate the public agenda. Unfortunately, almost without exception the British reporting has fallen into the latter rather than the former.
Even the stories from the region published in the British
press seem to be the more hysterical ones. They do not chime with my experience
at all. Is this because people like me don’t contact the UK press to provide
comment, or because our stories are not exciting enough? I have seen quiet calm and dignity. I have
heard stories of panic buying, but I haven’t seen any for myself and the shops
here have plenty of toilet roll.
I will admit that, with hindsight, we might not have thought this as serious as we perhaps should. We continued to go to our favourite bars and restaurants, although they were quieter. We continued to meet with friends and discuss the situation. We were not feeling ill and not overly concerned as although we knew the Corona Virus would eventually come here, it was not really here yet. We were even still encouraging people to come here and have a relatively crowd free experience.
Aperitivo
What a difference a week makes
Last Thursday we were advised that the schools nationwide would be closed for 10 days, so we knew our schools would not be opening here. We knew people who had been forced to take holidays as local, small businesses began taking efforts to restrict the financial impacts. After that things moved quickly. On Saturday the Red sites or hot spots were extended to include Modena 23 miles to our North and Rimini 70 miles to our south. Although we were not in lock down, we were surrounded by areas that were. On Sunday Al went to work to be told his workplace would be closing until 3rd April. As he had the night off and it was the anniversary of our arrival in Bologna we decided to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant on Via Pescherie Vecchie. The centre was not as lively as a typical Sunday night, but it was a little livelier than we were expecting so we felt more hopeful that this time would pass soon enough. On Monday we went to the vegetable shop and bought more food than normal because Al usually eats at work but now, we would both be having our meals at home. We focused on fruit and vegetables to ensure we ate healthily and as a boost to our immune systems. Late on Monday night we got the news that all of Italy would be put into lockdown, there were no such things as red sites anymore.
Via Pescherie Vecchie into the Quadrilatero
Via Pescherie Vecchie towards Piazza Maggiore
Empty steps at the Cathedral
Empty Piazza Maggiore
Quiet in Via D’Azeglio
The Corona Virus
I have heard many things about the Corona Virus ranging from
its no worse than Flu to it’s the end of the world. I just wanted to unpack some
of the things from either end and the middle. The flu is not like a cold. If
you think it is, then be thankful you have never had the flu. I cannot count
the colds of varying severity I’ve had but I know I have had flu twice. It is a
horrible illness and I would be happy never to have it again. Flu does kill
every year and while the happy majority manage to rest it out at home, I wouldn’t
wish it on anyone. I don’t want Corona virus anymore than I want another dose
of flu thanks very much.
The odds might well be that like 80% of people (source WHO) I would not have
a bad case and that I would be able to recover at home. It’s not really me I’m
concerned about. It’s who I might come into contact with, who I might
unwittingly infect. It’s the old lady in the street who I might have exchanged pleasantries
with, it’s the shop worker who has to work so people can eat. I am more aware
than ever before of the people whose lives I touch, even if it is just in
passing. You can have this virus for up to two weeks before you develop any
symptoms. Can you remember everywhere you have been in the last fortnight?
Everyone you spoke to, everything you touched? It’s people who are coming into
contact with friends and family with asthma, with diabetes, with compromised
immune systems and any other number of health issues who would not be able to
manage an infection so nonchalantly that concern me and so we all need to take
responsibility.
We owe it to our friends, families and the wider communities
in which we live to take this seriously and make sure that we are taking the
precautions that we can. We are not able to stop the transmission of the flu
(although actually the same measures would help) but there is still time to contain
this virus and we should all make every effort to do that so that those in our
communities who are vulnerable are not put at risk by our cavalier attitudes
because we think we would be able to handle the sickness.
In Europe and the US the weather is starting to get warmer
and we can hope the increase in temperatures will help to kill off this virus
in the same way the flu is reduced in the summer months. However, we can’t know
if that’s the case and the other half of the world is in the opposite situation,
getting colder and with their flu season about to start.
Let’s all try not to panic and inflict pain and misery on others; hoarding goods we don’t need; reducing the supplies of gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, medical support and medicines from those that really need them. Let’s stop thinking only of ourselves and what the impact is, or could be, on us. Let’s demonstrate the best of humanity by washing our hands especially after we have been in public places; minimising unnecessary contact with others; minimising travel; checking in on our family, friends and neighbours and only buying what we actually need to get through this period.
Blossom in Via Degli Orefice
It’s not all doom and gloom
So here we are, in day 2 of the Italian lockdown. Food shops
are still open and people are still free to move in their towns and streets,
going to work etc. They are advised to minimise contact with other people and
of course the ubiquitous hand washing advice. We weren’t planning on going anywhere
else and we’re in the city so we don’t feel too restricted. Yesterday we went
to the butchers and I waited outside while Al ordered because they had a two
customers at a time restriction. We went to a large supermarket, where shelves
were stacked and no one appeared to be panicking. Shop staff wear masks and
gloves.
The school I work for is making plans to extend online lessons. Al is making bread and pasta. It was 19 degrees and sunny today so we had lunch in our garden while reading. I don’t know what will happen next, no one does, but I look forward to giving you an update next week.
Although I was aware of the Venice carnival, I was not aware of its connection to Lent or the fact that not only was this an Italian wide festival, but also quite a lot of the rest of Europe too. For around two weeks, certainly in Italy, there are Carnevale events culminating in a parade of some kind on Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday as it is known in other places e.g. Mardi Gras in Spanish, Martedì Grosso in Italian. I had noticed carnival masks and coloured streamers going up in shops, seen signs for Carnevale as well as event specific delicacies in the Pasticceria windows. However, I was not sure what the celebration was for as it seemed too early for Easter. I asked someone who told me it was the festival before Lent. This information turned our Shrove Tuesday into the limpest of pancakes. WARNING! This is my understanding of Carnevale almost certainly containing wild inaccuracies, baseless assumptions and misunderstandings. Anyway, Carnevale is understood to be from the Italian word for meat Carne and vale which means without. This makes sense as a description for Lent or any other type of fasting. The English word Carnival is derived from this. There is something reassuringly human about that fact that around the world, in all cultures, any period of organised fast start and end with a bit of gluttony.
We had looked online and Bologna was holding its Carnevale dei Bambini (Carnival for children) parade on Sunday at 2.30, which was fortunate as Al had the day off. We decided to go and headed out with a plan to grab a slice of pizza or a piadina to eat while watching the parade. When we arrived, we noticed that there was a lot of confetti and streamers on the ground and we worried that we had somehow missed it. We walked up to where the parade was supposed to be and although there were loads of families with dressed up kids walking around no one seemed to be massing for an event or waiting for one or getting a good spot or any of the usual signs of imminent events happening. We walked the length of the road and at 2.15, having seen no sign of parade or parade watchers, we decided we must have made a mistake about the time and decided to get some lunch.
It can be difficult to get lunch after 2.00pm because many
restaurants close at 3 or don’t open on Sundays. I had a mild cold so I was
keen to sit down if we weren’t going to get a parade. We were close to Mercato Delle Erbe (The herb market). This usually
has vegetable stalls in the centre with cafes, shops and bars around the edge.
Because the market itself and many of the restaurants do not open on Sundays, those
that do can extend into the unused space of neighbouring restaurants for the
day.
Polpette e Crescentine is one such restaurant that doubles in size on a Sunday. It is often very busy so you might want to think about booking, which you can do through their website on this link. The staff are very friendly and the menu is available in English if you need that kind of thing. The menu also lists their suppliers and the traditional nature of the food. For the uninitiated Polpette (meatballs) and Crescentine (small roughly square bread pieces fried so they puff up and can be stuffed) are local specialities.
Affettati Miste e Crescentine
Close up of Crescentine
We ate here when we were newly arrived in Bologna and they
introduced us to the delights of Friggione a local dish of tomato and onions
that is usually served at room temperature. I’m not one for side dishes but I
will make an exception for this, it is fabulous. More recently we had our first
Crescentine here which for some reason we had not eaten before, although they
are Bolognese. We had decided to start with a selection of local cooked and
cured meats called Affettati misti (mixed
slices) and to have the Crescentine
with it. A colander of freshly fried Crescentine arrived with our meats and the idea is you break into
the puffs and fill them with bits of meat, refolding them into bite sized
pieces. They smell and taste similar to a savoury doughnut and were a delicious
accompaniment. It was a fantastic discovery and something you probably can’t
enjoy outside Bologna.
After lunch, and disappointed that we had missed the parade,
we went to an exhibition we wanted to see. This temporary exhibition is at the Bologna Museum of Modern Art (Mambo)
and was part of Bologna Art Week, which I have written about previously. It was
curated from the work of multiple international artists, but by far the stand
out piece for me was “Bonjour 2015” by Ragnar
Kjartansson. I was about to describe it and then I remembered I have the
power of photos so here it is.
“Bonjour 2015”
Yes, those are two real life people in the “set” who perform
the same set of actions on a five-minute circuit. It is both beautiful and
terrifyingly nihilistic at the same time. You are able to walk around the whole
set, so the “performers” can be seen at all times. I have to be honest I
admired their commitment to the performance although I was distracted by
wondering how many hours they performed this for.
When we left the museum, we were disappointed to see even more confetti and streamers littering the place and it became clear that we had missed the Carnevale festivities for a second time in one day! I thought I might try and catch the Fat Tuesday events before work instead but this was not to be as unfortunately, even the lavish festivities of the Venice Carnevale were cancelled due to the sudden spread into Italy of the Corona Virus. Although Venice itself had no cases, it was deemed wise to avoid mass gatherings of people. The central and regional Italian governments took a robust approach to containment with Emilia Romagna, where Bologna is situated, deciding to close all schools, museums, churches and cinemas for a week as a precaution. This meant that there was no Carnevale parade on Fat Tuesday and MamBO, along with other museums, galleries and cinemas, was closed to the public too although they have made the exhibition available on a streamed service.
As part of our ongoing mission to see more of the area surrounding Bologna whenever we can, we found ourselves on a Monday heading out in our ancient Polo to what the Bolognese call “the hills”. Probably because in my mind the hills mean softly undulating landscape, I was not prepared for the majestic sweeps, deep valleys and dramatic shapes of the Bolognese hills. It would be like calling the Peak district, the hills of Sheffield, which is an error with my understanding of the Italian word rather than undue modesty on their part. This area is part of the Apennines which separates Bologna and the north from Pisa and Florence.
Al advises me that it was interesting driving, along the twisty roads, with hairpin bends, steep inclines and unexpected drops with no power steering and it certainly looked it from the passenger seat. My ears popped on one high stretch and we knew that down was the only remaining direction available. There were many beautiful small towns in valleys and on hillsides as we snaked our way through. I don’t have photos of the drive as I was too busy taking it in. You will just have to take my word for it or visit for yourself.
Porretta Terme
One of the main streets
We had set our sights on a town called Porretta Terme . As the name suggests Terme is Italian for Thermal spa and these springs have been in use since Roman times. The town is also famous for Winter sports as it is close to a couple of resorts as well as being home to an International Soul Music festival which has been running since 1987. It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures promising to reach 15 despite it still being February.
Walking around Porretta Terme
We enjoyed ourselves wandering around the streets looking at the architecture. However, it is us, so we had timed our visit with lunch and needed to find something to eat. Monday lunchtime is not an ideal time to visit a town as many shops and businesses close for lunch and many restaurants and cafes don’t open on Mondays. However, there is always somewhere to be found and we were more than happy to stumble on Cipensoio which is the restaurant of the Helvetia Thermal Spa hotel. It looked formal and we thought twice about going in, but we read the menu outside and decided we would go for it. It rated highly on the review sites, but we had really been looking for a sandwich. We often find ourselves in restaurants having sworn we would have a light lunch on the run.
Baccala’ mantecato “Brandacujun”
Crostini al Lardo stagionato di Pata Negra
Maltagliati con scorfano, pomodorini confit e asparagi
Maccheroni al torchio con salsiccia di cinta e porcini
Our dishes from Cipensoio
Ci Penso Io is literally translated into English as “I’ll think about it”, but it widely accepted to mean “I’ll handle that” or “I’ll deal with it”, so bear this in mind if you hear it said or say it. Certainly, in this case they could handle our lunch. The food was delicious.
We had only been able to pay for two hours parking (parking requires change which, except for small brassy denominations, seems to elude us), so we had to get back on the road. It’s still early in the year so you start to lose the light at 5pm and we had another stop planned before heading for home. There is a station, Porrettana, which runs to and from Bologna, so a train trip would probably take you through some beautiful countryside on the way. Next time I’m planning on booking in for a spa treatment.
La Scola
We drove back in the direction of Bologna but turned off onto a road that climbed the side of a large hill. This road was in part single lane and we were a little disturbed to see bus stops dotted along, as there was no room for a bus to pass. The tarmac surface did not extend by more than a cars width and to the sides were rain gullys. I didn’t notice any passing places, but I would not have wanted to reverse back to one anyway, the road was steep and twisty. La Scola is listed as a historical monument, but it is a tiny village where all the buildings are from 14th and 15th Centuries and were built by master stonemasons. Its location, perched on the side of a hill, means that the beautiful buildings are set in an incredible context against the sky and surrounding hills. As it is tiny there is no parking to speak of, no facilities and I imagine that it could get pretty busy in peak tourist season. You can also get there by train and then bus from Bologna and I recommend it as somewhere to go on the way to or from somewhere else.
Italians love food. This might seem a bit of a “bear shits in the woods” statement but I really want to impress on you what this means on a daily basis. You can’t seem to avoid talking about food with Italians at some point. Even Italian idioms and proverbs are mostly based on eating and drinking. The greatest thing about Italy is that you can buy good food everywhere. Step into any café, bar or restaurant and you will eat something freshly prepared, simple and good. Eating out is something that happens at least once a week because it’s relatively cheap, given the quality of the food available. There are multiple butchers, grocers, fishmongers, Pasticceria (cake and pastries shops), Sfogline (handmade pasta shops), Pane (bread shops) Salumeria (cured and cooked meats and cheeses) as well as markets and various speciality food shops over and above those.
Salumeria in a small mall
Sfogline (pasta) shop at Easter
A corner café bar. Breakfast and lunch
Specialty food on every street
Italians simply wouldn’t stand for it if great produce
became so unaffordable as to be elitist, but also recognise the value (and
cost) of food produced slowly with skill, care and tradition and are willing to
pay more money for it. As Italy has retained its specialist food outlets and
market shopping culture people tend to eat seasonally and locally so food miles
are largely irrelevant. It’s hard to buy out of season here. If you want to eat
sausages from Sicily you go to Sicily. In western countries we can have a lot
of food waste because people want the premium cuts, but not the other meat that
is left once they are removed which has led to the rise of “Nose
to tail” eating. In Italy they eat most of the animals they butcher. They
have built food industries around the inventive and delicious ways they
transform the less preferred parts such as the Florentine speciality Lampredotto
(cow’s stomach sandwich) etc.
Tagliere (local meats and cheeses sliced) from Tamburini
Often people we meet are really surprised we have moved here.
People usually move away to places like the UK for work and to progress their
careers. This reversal makes them curious. When we say “for the food” they
spread their arms warmly, smiling and nodding because it’s obvious and it makes
sense to them. Even people who have initially seemed hostile melt when they
know we are interested in their food. They know they have great food. They will
start advising you on what’s best to eat, where and when. They want to know
what you have eaten already, where and what you thought.
If we have to generalise* and for reasons of space and humour we are going to, Italians are hyper regional. Everyone you meet is likely to tell you where they are from, as in which specific part they were born in as soon as tell you their name, because in Italy it’s a really important part of your identity. Tied to the regional identity is a sense of pride about whatever food that region produces for example a Neapolitan talking about pizza is an obvious one, but they will detail the dough, the mozzarella and the tomatoes. You will get the same from Florentine talking about beef steak, bread and olive oil and Bolognese talking about tortelloni, or tagliatelle or Ragu etc.
A very brief history of Italy
To put this into some context you need to remember that
Italy has only existed as a country since 1861, the same year in which “Great
Expectations” by Charles Dickens was released in book form, HMS Warrior the
first completely iron ocean going ship was launched, Abraham Lincoln became US
President and the American Civil war started (84 years after the start of the
American war of independence) and Tsar Alexandra emancipated Russian serfs. Before
this time Italy was a set of city states which occupied the same peninsula, often
at war with each other and many of which were variously occupied by foreign powers
and empires. Even in 1861 not all the city states joined immediately with some
joining after 1918 when Italy defeated Austro-Hungary in WW1. While others like
Piedmont were broken up with Nice given to France in return for their military
support. San Marino still hasn’t joined and retains its independent status.
The result is that those regional identities and traditions are very strong and many people speak the dialect of their home region with some older people only able to speak dialect and not modern Italian at all. This accentuates the things that the regions have in common as part of a communal identity; such as their dedication to their food. Much of the history of Italy that we know is centred on the History of the Roman empire, the Holy Roman Empire (dissolved 1906) and the Roman Catholic church or the powerful families such as the Medici’s who ruled city states, with the rest of what is now Italy only being included in historical reports as geographical conquests by various others. ‘Italian Unification’ (En.wikipedia.org, 2019)
Map of italy
Regionality and food
Each region has a set of speciality products because of the
unique geographical and agricultural features of that area. I’ve been told that
the Island of Sardinia, contrary to what you might imagine, does not enjoy a
coast that is particularly good for fish, except in one specific area. However,
it is quite mountainous so it’s famous for its sheep products. Apparently, Bologna
does not have olive oil because all the olive trees on the surrounding hills
were killed in an unusually prolonged spell of very cold weather a couple of
hundred years ago. The oil produced had not been great whereas the olive oil in
nearby Tuscany is so instead of replacing the olive trees they planted Sangiovese
(red) and Pignoletto (white) grape vines to create the wines which the region
is now famous for and used butter for cooking.
As well as being proud of their home regions food, Italians have
extensive knowledge about the produce from every region and understand where
the best examples of each kind of food can be found and when it is at its best,
by breed, by species and by season. They believe in the “terroir” of food. Someone
gave me the example of a Neapolitan chef making pizza at a high end place in
New York who had taken to shipping the pizza ingredients from Naples to New
York, everything from the flour and water to the tomatoes, mozzarella and herbs
in an effort to get the pizza to taste as good as it does at home. It still did
not taste right so he bought a machine to recreate the exact humidity too
because it all matters.
Bologna is in the region called Emilia Romagna, but this is comprised of two regions that have traditionally fought each other, so you hear a lot of arguments about where Emilia ends and Romagna begins depending on with which one your allegiances lie. Emilians don’t rate piadine as these are Romangnola, but swear by crescente, which to the less discerning eye are incredibly similar flat breads you fold food into. Generally, I have found that when I am recommended something as the best tomato variety for a summer salad with mozzarella and basil everyone will agree where you go to get that tomato. There is a generosity in recognising the superiority of another area’s product e.g. the Bolognese for example will all happily agree that they are rubbish at any other types of bread and recommend the bread of other regions.
Thankfully Lasagne is Bolognese
Food fight
Of course, with this much everyday passion and knowledge about food for Italians they don’t really understand that this is not usual for everyone or why we make mistakes with their food. Part of the problem for the rest of us is that our cookbooks and TV chefs have continued to provide inauthentic recipes for Anglicised or Americanised versions of dishes, but kept the Italian names or given them Italian names that they don’t deserve or suggested that they are somehow Italian when they aren’t. No one has any issues with adapting dishes, but when you have spent centuries cultivating your produce and the resulting dishes to their optimum its galling to have someone present something entirely other and say it’s the same thing. We don’t have that same kind of repeatable food culture, ours is much more of a make do and mend approach to cooking. If I can’t find what I need for the dish or don’t have what’s on the list, I will substitute it for something else. That’s fine, it makes sense, who hasn’t done that, but it’s a different dish. Bearing in mind most Italian dishes are very simple and only involve a small number of ingredients, any substitution is a significant change. Perhaps we should take more credit for our inventiveness and give our dishes new names. If we really feel the need we can always say Inspired by and then name the dish we didn’t quite make. While it’s true a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, you would be annoyed if you paid for a dozen red roses and some badly sprayed daffs turned up.
An example of this food adaptation is “Spaghetti Bolognaise”. This dish is neither Italian nor from Bologna. Italian people even tell me that it doesn’t exist. Why, I hear you ask? Firstly, it uses spaghetti, right there in the name. Spaghetti is a dried pasta from further south and does not contain egg. The Bolognese specialise in fresh egg pasta such as tagliatelle or stuffed egg pastas like tortelloni and tortellini. Everybody knows spaghetti is not from Bologna. Secondly, the sauce is not one that Italians recognise. There is a Bolognese meat sauce called Ragù. Indeed, a traditional Bolognese dish is Tagliatelle alla Ragù. Ragù is not the same as the meat sauce in most of the “Spaghetti Bolognaise” recipes you see in UK and US cookbooks and definitely not related to anything you can buy in a jar. It is often made from veal and pork rather than beef mince and is closer to a kind of stew. So even if the Bolognese sauce being referred to was Ragù, there is no way it would be served with spaghetti. There are restaurants in Bologna (and elsewhere in Italy) that cater to the tourists’ insatiable enthusiasm for an “authentic spaghetti Bolognaise” by putting it on their menus and, like the locals, we avoid those places.
“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
Miles Kington
Italians are proud of their pizza too and something which
comes up in my classes all the time is putting pineapple on pizza. They think
this is disgusting and want me to confirm if it is true that other countries do
this or not because they are not sure if it’s a kind of urban myth. There are
only a handful of truly original pizzas which includes the margherita and the
marinara. This has been extended to include other Italian products such as
salsiccia and friarelli (sausage and a kind of broccoli), the four cheese and four
seasons pizzas etc. However, they have not extended into adding any non-Italian
foods such as Pineapple. In fact, many will tell you they never have fruit on
pizza, but it is possible they don’t recognise the fig as a fruit (tomatoes not
withstanding).
At other times the pitfalls can be harder to miss for a non-native. The other day I was running a conversation class, where a small group of English language students are given a topic to discuss in English, when as usual we moved onto food. They were trying to describe something called Arrosticini to me, which in my defence they described as meat on sticks cooked over a flame, so I said innocently “Ok, like a kebab” and wrote Shish kebab on the board. There was a collective sharp intake of breath followed by some vigorous head shaking and furious declarations that these were not the same at all. One woman said to me “You must not say that again. It is not like a kebab. People will be offended”. I obviously erased the words and moved the conversation on, hoping that they were writing it off as my English ignorance about the culinary world. I know people in England can get upset about the correct content of a Cornish pasty (as well as the crimp), or whether you should put cream or jam on a scone first, but these people are few and far between, so the depth of the reaction I caused came as quite a surprise. Anyway, for the uninitiated arrosticini is meat or fish and vegetables on a skewer and then cooked over flame, which as “any fule kno” is not like a kebab at all, ok?
Arrosticini
If you would like more information on how we get Italian food wrong or how passionate they are about it there is a Facebook account for that: Italians mad at food
Artisanal food production and modern life
You only need to go to nearby places like Parma (Parma Ham and Parmesan cheese) and Modena (Balsamic vinegar) to see that tradition as well as place is a big part of the Italian attitude towards food. Often eschewing modern production methods which might increase yields but would damage quality the artisanal nature of the product is respected. It is the price required for the quality of the resulting product. Processes and recipes largely unchanged for generations. Handmade pasta is the preserve of the Nonna, with pretty much everyone telling you about their memories of their Nonna making pasta by hand for special occasions, like Christmas and Easter (something which is dying out if you are to believe www.pastagrannies.com). Pasta is made on a more commercial scale now in shops full of experienced Sfogline hand rolling, cutting and stuffing pasta to fill seasonal orders. The artisan is a figure revered in Italy and while modern life is eroding this to some extent it is still very much in evidence in all aspects of Italian life. Apparently people used to cook at home every night and then buy food at the weekend because they were busy, now they buy ready meals or eat out in the week because they are busy with work and only cook at the weekends because then they have more time.
Parmesan
Balsamic Vinegar
It is not just in terms of when they cook and who is cooking that Italians attitude to food is changing. I noted that the students in my school were very excited because a KFC had just opened. Now in Bologna this may have had a little extra frisson because Chicken is not a local speciality so it isn’t on every menu and not all of the city super markets (express supermarkets) sell whole chicken or unprocessed chicken, but it might be because these are brands they have grown up with in the cinema or on TV but didn’t have. Certainly, the McDonalds I pass by twice a day in the centre of Bologna is depressingly full. I hope they know that is not how good burgers should taste.It is not just in terms of when they cook and who is cooking that Italians attitude to food is changing. I noted that the students in my school were very excited because a KFC had just opened. Now in Bologna this may have had a little extra frisson because Chicken is not a local speciality so it isn’t on every menu and not all of the city super markets (express supermarkets) sell whole chicken or unprocessed chicken, but it might be because these are brands they have grown up with in the cinema or on TV but didn’t have. Certainly, the McDonalds I pass by twice a day in the centre of Bologna is depressingly full. I hope they know that is not how good burgers should taste.
I heard that Starbucks was going to open a branch in Bologna
and it made me sad. Italy. All of Italy, everywhere. Makes excellent coffee. An
espresso in an artisanal coffee place where you can pick your beans costs
£1.20. A perfect cappuccino £1.70. I have never had a Starbucks that was a
patch on any coffee I ever had in Italy, although to be fair my Starbucks
experience is limited to two branches. However, I was heartened when I spoke to
someone in one of my business groups and he explained that, for them, Starbucks
was not about the coffee. It was somewhere to hang out, somewhere to have a
meeting. In Italian coffee bars you go to get an espresso, drink it and leave.
Customers are rarely in the shop for longer than it takes to eat a brioche.
Starbucks would not replace Italian coffee bars but did offer something else.
Two students were completing an activity where they had to
discuss the available options on their pre-printed hand outs and decide where
to go for dinner. At the end of the activity they revealed they had picked the
fast food restaurant. I explained that with all the great produce and food in
Bologna I was surprised and disappointed. They argued that they had wanted to
go to the seafood restaurant, but fish is expensive and they were only students.
Then they pointed out that there wasn’t any other choice as there wasn’t an Italian
restaurant on the list!
Italians and new food ideas
There is a side effect from all this history and local food
pride that we had not expected but that probably was inevitable. Italians can
appear unadventurous when it comes to food. Don’t let me be misunderstood, they
will eat every single bit of the pig, tripe is a speciality of the beef region
(Firenze), meats are often cured not cooked, some fish and meat are best served
raw, etc. Italians are not squeamish about food, but they know which of their
foods go together and so the idea of trying anything outside of their, as I
already detailed, encyclopaedic knowledge of food seems unnecessary. This isn’t
to say that every family doesn’t have their own secret nonna recipe for the food
of their region, but it will be variation on process and possibly varieties
rather than key ingredients.
There are some Chinese restaurants, there is in increase in appetite for Sushi (often served by Chinese restaurants) and now Mexican too. Mexican might seem odd in this context but given that a fajita or burrito is not that dissimilar to a piadine, being that it is round flat bread with something folded into it, is not all that surprising. Aside from the occasional Arabic Kebab shop with the trademark Doner slowly turning behind the counter, and the usual usurping fast food chains, these are the only foreign food establishments you are likely to find with any regularity. Most of the Italians I have spoken to in Bologna have eaten in one or all of these and enjoy them however, it must be stressed that Bologna is a famously cosmopolitan University city so there is possible more appetite for opening up to new cultures and food ideas here than in other parts of Italy.
Italy is not preserved in aspic, it has not been cut off from
the rest of the world for generations, they just don’t really think of food
outside of what they are familiar with. There is a certainty that this is the
way to do it. They are really good at what they do and it leads them to produce
some of the best products in the world, but this rigidity to what can be eaten
with what and when can also seem to be its limitation. For example, there is a
three Michelin starred restaurant in Modena, called Osteria Francescana with an
Italian chef Massimo Bottura, who has also worked in the US. He had upset the
locals of Modena by changing Italian classics for example by producing a pesto
recipe that does not use pine nuts. While he is happy to celebrate and present
the fabulous food and produce of Italy, he is also not afraid to change and
challenge, which has not always earned him fans here. However, I note that his
name often comes up in class as an example of the international recognition and
acclaim for Italian food and, especially amongst the young professionals, the
restaurant is suggested as a goal for a once in a lifetime food experience.
Italians and the future
To sum up there is a strong, embedded and enviable food
culture that honours and promotes the history, geography and skill of quality
food production and which generates an unprecedented number of unique,
fantastic products. Its value is passionately felt at all levels by Italians as
a source of regional and national pride. It’s possible that the rigidity which
has preserved these processes, skills and ideas about food could also stifle
creativity and innovation. This could be especially problematic given the
current socio-economic situation, Trump’s EU trade tariffs and the
environmental impacts of global warming on the conditions that allow some of
these products to be produced here. Each of these issues could be incredibly
damaging for the diversity and volume of production. However, it should be
remembered that Italians have been cultivating their produce in largely the
same way for centuries, despite numerous wars, the rise and fall of empires, occupations
and invasions, floods and droughts. It might be a different kind of challenge
but with passion for food being part of the Italian identity, I think they got
this.
*disclaimer: this article also includes suggestions, anecdotes and explanations repeated verbatim that may not have any bearing on reality and with which other Italians will strongly disagree.
References
‘Italian Unification’ (En.wikipedia.org, 2019) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification#Background> accessed 29 November 2019
