So, have you ever dreamed of leaving the rat race behind, buying a vineyard and creating your own wine surrounded by gorgeous nature? Maybe creating a restaurant that features homegrown vegetables and local cheeses, keeping things rigorously organic? That is just what the Stefano Matturro and Gabriella Grassi did. Careers in Milan and Brescia in…
The last weekend of October, Rome was a hotbed of activity for the maximum in Italian wine. On Saturday, October 26, the Italian Association of Sommeliers (AIS – Associazione Italiana Sommelier) presented its guide, Vitae, at the prestigious Nuvola Convention Center designed by famed Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas. The Maximum in wine and architecture! And…
On a recent jaunt to Rome, I nearly OD'd on artichokes. I know, I know, do I have no self-control? It's just that Rome is more than the capital of Italy... It's the capital of artichokes! The Roman dialect word for artichokes is cimaroli, also called mammole, and this tender variety is round and without…
There's something afoot, and it may very well be revolutionary. People are lining up for culture. And this is not Disneyland: This is the magnificent Renaissance monument, Palazzo Farnese, last weekend, open to the public; and what a public, clamoring to get in! It's true, it's tricky to get into the palace, which…
Back in the Città Eterna, or Caput Mundi - the capital of the world, people! The Romans got it right! And not Kaputt Mundi, like some have recently tried to portray it. From the minute I hit the ground in Termini, I am off and running: ruins, fountains, monumental architecture, churches churches everywhere, palaces…
You know I tell the truth here on Italian Grapevine. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth … on matters of Italian food, wine, culture and dolce vita living. I am la bocca della verità. Back in the Eternal City… What is the magic of this place? Could it be that you…
So this may be reason enough to make a trip to Rome. Don't tell me I have to explain what puntarella is... And can you identify 4 wonderful things in this photo that just make you feel oh-so-Roman? (Answers below!) So Rome is the happening place now in Italy... Great things are sizzling culturally (like…
Suzanne Branciforte's Italian Grapevine 