Food Lover's Odyssey

Italy in Chocolate at Turin's CioccolaTo Festival and a Contest

 

CioccolaTo, the chocolate festival in Turin, begins today March 25 and lasts until April 3.  As a preview and to celebrate Italy's 150 years of unification, there is a special chocolate exhibition that began March 17 and lasts until the end of CioccolaTo.  The preview includes storyboards that point out important dates in both the history of Italy and the history of chocolate in Italy.  Along with the storyboards, the shape of Italy is carved in one gigantic boot of chocolate, and there are also the two islands, Sicily and Sardegna.  In addition, there is a chocolate sculpture of an important monument from each of Italy's 20 regions.

 

Giuseppe Garibaldi sculpted in Chocolate

 

Below, are photos of each of the chocolate monuments.  I found myself trying to guess which each monument was, so I thought it would be fun for you to do the same.  To make things a little easier, under the photo of the "monument," I've listed the region in which you would find it. 

There are prizes, too.  Chocolate prizes - two of them!!  Everyone that leaves a comment with their guesses will be put in a random drawing for an assortment of chocolates I've picked up from the CioccolaTo festival in Turin.   (I'm certain all of you can easily identify at least 2 of the monuments.) The first person to name all 20 of the monuments correctly, or the person who names the most correctly, will also win an assortment of chocolates.  

I've listed the regions from Sicily and Sardegna and then headed north. In the last photo, I've combined four regions in the northwest of Italy, but you need to name each monument for each region as it's listed.  For the other photos, the monument in question is always in the forefront of the photo.  Calabria doesn't  really have a monument, but instead two chocolate men.  

The deadline for the contest is midnight (California time) March 31, 2011.  On April 1st, I'll post the answers and the winners of the prizes and your chocolate prizes will be mailed to you.  Anyone can enter.  Good luck everyone!

 

Sicily - The Temple della Concordia in Agrigento

 

 

Sardinia - Le Nuraghe

 

 

 
Calabria - The Bronzi di Riace statues housed in the Museo Nazionale Magna Grecia in Reggio-Calabria

 

 

 

Puglia - The Trulli

 

 

 
Basilicata - Sassi di Matera (Stone caves/houses in Matera)

 

 

 

 
Campania - Castel Nuovo (also known as the Maschio Angioino) in Naples

 

 

 

Lazio - The Coliseum in Rome

 

 

Molise - Castello Monforte in Campobasso

 

 

 

 
Abruzzo - The Fortezza Spagnola in L'Aquila 

 

Le Marche - Santuario di Loreto in Loreto

 

 

 Umbria - Fontana Maggiore in Perugia

 

Tuscany - The Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

 
Emilia-Romagna - The Torre degli Asinelli in Bologna

 

 

Veneto - The Campanile di San Marco in Venice

 

 
Friuli-Venezia-Giulia - The Miramare Castle in Triest

 

Trentino-Alto Adige - Castello di Buonconsiglio in Trento

 

 

 

Four regions (from left to right) - Val d'Aosta, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy -

Porta Pretoria in Aosta, Mole Antonellina in Turin, Lanterna di Genova in Genova, the Duomo in Milan

 

Note: For those of you following my travels in Italy this month, I have gone a little out of chronological order and fast forwarded a bit through my travels.  Before I landed in Turin, I also spent time eating my way through Naples, most of the time with Napoli Unplugged and then in the Salento region in Puglia.  A few internet connection problems, and well, having way too much fun in Puglia put me a little behind.  Look for lots of posts on both those areas soon along with more on chocolate from Turin.

 

Related Posts:

Scenes from CioccolaTo - Chocolate Festival in Turin

History of Chocolate in Turin - Gianduja and Much More

Eurochocolate Perugia - Italy's Biggest Chocolate Festival

Gianduja Budino and a Chocolate Pass in Turin

Gianduja Nutella Cheesecake for World Nutella Day 2010

Nutella Love Cake for World Nutella Day 2011

Seven Sensational Gelaterie in Turin - After 100 Scoops

Everyone Should Eataly in Turin

Torta Setteveli - Seven Veils cake from Palermo

Torta Caprese - Flourless chocolate and hazelnut cake from Capri

Easter Chocolates in Paris Windows

Happy 150th Birthday to a United Italy

 

Yesterday, March 17, 2011, Italy celebrated its birthday.  150 years ago all the regions of Italy, previously ruled separately by the regional kings and popes, became a united country under one flag, the tricolore (three colors) of red, white and green.  Well, kind of.  The Italy as we know it today was missing a few cities in 1861. 

Venice didn't join the country until 1866 when Italy helped Prussia defeat the Austrians.  Venice was Italy's reward.  Then in 1870, Italy added Rome and its surrounding papal states to the country.  In any case, 1861 is the year recognized by Italians as the year Italy united as one.  Of course, this 150th birthday gives the country reason to take the day off and celebrate.

 

 

Italy started celebrating the night before.  Buildings were alit with the tricolore.  Flags hung from windows.  Evening festivities included musical performances and food festivals in the piazze.  People gatherered together with their flags in hand to celebrate.  Flower arrangements and food were decorated in green, white and red in honor of the festivities.  Celebrations continued throughout the day and the evening of the 17th.

 

Teatro San Carlo in Naples

 

Piazza St. Oronzo in Lecce

 

I was in Naples for the beginning of the festivities on the eve of the 16th and arrived in Lecce on the 17th to participate in the celebrations in Piazza St. Oronzo in Lecce.  Along with the Leccesi, many local food vendors gathered under a tent in the piazza, offering samples and selling local specialties.

 

Cacioricotto - cheese and ricotta blended together

 

Salumi from the Salento in Puglia

 

Making Copeta also known as Almond Brittle

 

 

Buon compleanno Italy! 

Favorite Scenes and Costumes from Carnevale 2011 in Venice in Photos

 

 

Carnival 2011 in Venice is over. The costumes, the masks, the balls, parades, parties and frittelle are all finished until next year. All that remains is confetti in the streets; that and the memories. Now it's time for the lenten fast. Ha! I saw many people breakfasting on frittelle still this morning. So much for that fast. In case any of you want to start planning for next year, Carnival in Venice 2012 will be from February 11 to 21, 2012.

Here are my favorite scenes from this year's Carnival in photos. Enjoy!

Martedi Grasso - Fat Tuesday in Venice

 

Fat Tuesday in Venice, and "Ogni scherzo vale" (Every trick/prank is ok) is the saying for today. Think of the U.S. holidays Halloween and April Fools Day put together and that is Martedi Grasso in Venice. The entire city is on holiday and celebrating in each person's own way. Pastel-colored confetti carpets the streets and groups dressed in theme-coordinated costumes sing as they march down the calle in Venice. I've seen leprechans, a deck of cards, tellytubbies, and many Disney-themed costumes especially Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

 

Carnevale Stage in St. Mark's Square

 

Spraying and Being Sprayed with Shaving Cream

 

Coffee in Costume in St. Mark's Square

 

Teens as Tellytubbies

 

The more fancy costumes in the Square

 

 

St. Mark's Square is party central with both young and old dressed and having fun. Several of the youngsters' pranks were quite harmless, only a little confetti thrown around, and some spraying of silly string and shaving cream. I've only been doused with a few handfuls of confetti. I was expecting worse. Actually, the kids who were spraying the shaving cream were very careful to get it only on each other.

 

Besides St. Mark's Square, Campo San Polo had its own festivities for the day and previous weekend with an ice skating rink set up and vendors from many other regions in Italy selling their food. My lunch consisted of a porchetta sandwich from Tuscany, olives and mozzarella from Puglia and almond paste cookies from Sicily.

 

Ice Skating in Costume in Campo San Polo

 

Porchetta from Tuscany

 

Sausage from Piedmont

 

Cheese from Piedmont

 

Food from Puglia

 

Tonight Carnevale and Martedi Grasso festivities will end with a candlelit parade along the Grand Canal at midnight. I'll have photos from that parade (hoping they come out) later tomorrow.

Tasting Venice - A Food Tour with Monica Cesarato

 

Another absolutely gorgeous day in Venice, and I had the great pleasure of spending the afternoon with Monica Cesarato, a Venetian and Venetian food afficianado. Monica writes a blog about Venice and owns and runs the Faronhof bed and breakfast, outside of Venice. She also is one of the two people who run Cook in Venice, where they offer Venetian cooking courses and food tours in Venice. Our plan for the afternoon was to eat a lot of cicheti. The day was so warm and sunny, we veered off course a little, walking along Zattere and stopping for a gelato (yes, it was that warm). Instead of just cicheti, I learned a lot more about the food in Venice.

 

 

 

Venetian Carnival Treats

Since it is Carnival time, we did a lot of talking about the fried foods treats of Carnival. I have seen the round "doughnuts"(frittelle) in five different variations. The three most typical are alla Veneziana (with rum soaked sultanas and pine nuts), filled with pastry cream, and filled with Zabajon (zabaglione). I've also seen them filled with cream chantilly (sweetened whipped cream). On our walk, we also found some filled with Nutella. There were also sliced apple rings dipped in frittelle batter and fried that I found at Tonolo Pasticceria. Lastly, there are Kraffen. These come from Austria and stayed in Venice after the Austrians left.

Fritelle with Zabaglione, Venetian Style, and with Pastry Cream

 

Fritelle with Nutella

 

Kraffen - (came with the Austrians) filled with pastry cream

 

Fried Apples Dipped in the Frittelle batter before frying

 

 

Venetian Sweets

On our walk, Monica also gave me a lesson on some of the other sweets that fill the pastry windows in Venice. One thing I noticed was that the same cookie were called different names in different pasticcerie windows. The Venetian dialect is still very strong in the city, and that's the reason for the two types of spelling for the same foods.

Zaletti (also Zaeti) Cookies

These cookies that are between are a sort of crunchy cake are made with corn flour, which gives them their yellow color. The name comes from Venetian dialect for yellow.

 

Bussola (also Bussolai) Cookies from Burano

Bussole are ring shaped shortbread cookies, with a little lemon zest added, and come from the island of Burano. I also saw these cookies with little chocolate chips in them. Monica told me she was a purist when it came to recipes, so I think she might not approve of the chocolate chip filled cookies, but they looked good this chocolate-chip cookie loving girl.

Pinza (also Pincia) - A kind of Bread Pudding

Monica explained Pinza as a kind of a bread pudding, made with corn flour, where you put whatever you have leftover into the mixture. This pinza had sultanas. She also suggested I buy a Venetian cookbook, A Toea coi Nostri Veci. It's traditional Venetian food. The only problem is that the book is written in Venetian dialect. (Monica, I'll be emailing you frequently for help ;-) I bought the book and plan to make and share several recipes from it.

 

Tiramisu

Of course, there is Tiramisu. We had a nice discussion about this dish, which is actually from Treviso (not Venice, but nearby). Monica, being the purist, said you cannot call it Tiramisu unless the eggs are raw. I knew I took liberties with my recipe, making a French bombe and cooking the eggs by whipping in cooked sugar, but she also didn't like my idea of adding melted chocolate to the espresso. Oh well, I might have to change the name of my recipe and make a new "original" version of tiramisu here.

 

Cicheti (cicchetti) and Ombra

Cicheti and Ombra are all the rage now, but at one time the person who went out for an ombra was considered a wino. Ombra means shadow. Legend has it that the little tumblers of wine that go with the finger food, known as cicheti, gets its name from the old wine sellers. They would move their barrels/carts to be under the shade, keeping the wine cool. Ombra can also be the "shade" or small bit of wine you get in those small tumblers.

Cicheti is another word that I've seen spelled two different ways. Monica let me know that cicheti (pronounced chee-keh-tee) is the Venetian spelling and cicchetti is the Italian spelling. Both are correct, and both are used throughout the city. We had cicheti at La Cantina Carbonera Vecia. Monica also gave me a list of other cicchetterie that she likes. I'll have more for you soon on all the cicheti I've been tasting.

 

Chocolate and Hazelnut Gelato from Nico

 

Carnival

During our walk, we also talked about Carnival in Venice. Monica reminisced that when she was younger everyone would be in costume. It's dress up for people of all ages. There were less of the extravagent costumes - those are furnished by many of the costume and mask stores in the city who pay the wearers to "pose" around St. Mark's Square. Not everyone was dressed up, but all ages were definitely participating.

One of the more extravagent costumes riding in a gondola

 

Adults in Costume on a Bridge in Venice

 

 

The youngsters posing and celebrating Carnival with confetti

 

Monica's personality is quite the opposite of the devil Carnival costume she had

 

Thanks again Monica for a wonderful afternoon and for all the information on Venetian food and Carnival in Venice!

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Frittelle, Hot Chocolate and Costumes - Welcome to Carnival in Venice

Snow one Day, Sun the Next - Carnival 2011 in Venice

Martedi Grasso- Fat Tuesday in Venice

Favorite Scene's and Costumes from Venice's Carnevale 2011in Photos

Italian Hot Chocolate

Italy in Chocolate at Turin's CioccolaTo Festival

Eurochocolate Perugia - Italy's Biggest Chocolate Festival

Cicheti and Ombra - Little Tastes of Venice

Best Ways to Savor Venice

A Lesson in Venetian Mask Making

Sfogi in Saor - Venetian Style Sole in Agrodolce

Tiramisu

Snow One Day - Sun the Next - Carnevale in Venice

 

What a difference a day makes. If ever that statement was true, it was today.

Yesterday, I walked outside to this. Snow!! Let me tell you this California girl was COLD! (So cold, I started having second thoughts about coming to Venice during this time of year.) I walked through the snowfall to San Marco's Square early in the morning hoping to find a few costumed people to photograph. There was no one but others like me, camera in hand, shivering and sad.

 

Snow one day in Venice

 

Today, I walked outside and the sun was shining. Yesterday, I had four layers of clothes, a coat, two scarves (wrapped so tight that one wrong move and I might have hung myself), gloves, and ear muffs. Today, two layers was a little too warm. I even got crazy and left the ear muffs and gloves at home.

 

 

Sun the next day

 

When I got to San Marco at 8:30am, (now my daily morning ritual along with a frittella for breakfast), I was late. Crowds had already formed around the posers in costume. However, we had so many more posers today to photo. This was the Carnival that I remember from four years ago, a party in the square. Some decked out in elaborate costumes and some with only a mask. All of us making merry for the festivities.

Today may have been the most beautiful day I've ever spent in Venice. I'm so glad I came. Like they say, what a difference a day makes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems many of you enjoyed the photos of costumed Carnival-goers as much I enjoyed taking them, so I'ved added some more to this post.

 

 

 

 

Related Posts:

Frittelle, Hot Chocolate and Costumes - Welcome to Carnival in Venice

Italian Hot Chocolate and Carnevale in Venice

Cicheti and Ombra - Little Tastes of Venice

Best Ways to Savor Venice

A Lesson on Venetian Mask Making

Sfogi in Saor - Venetian-Style Sole in Agrodolce Sauce

Best Places to Kiss in Italy

 

 

 

 

 

Fritelle, Hot Chocolate and Costumes - Welcome to Carnival in Venice

Carnival in Venice. I’m here! I still have no exact knowledge of the time. Right now, I only know that it’s night because it’s dark outside. Three plane rides later and crossing at least five time zones on little sleep, somehow I still managed to wake up early enough to get out and about as the kids were going to school this morning.

“Get to St. Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge early in the morning. That’s when many of the costumed Carnevale-goers will be out for photos." That’s what a few people told me and what I did. Actually, because the clock on the TV in my apartment is one-hour fast, I arrived in the square earlier than planned, around 7:30am. I and a group of maybe 20 others had the costumed posers and Saint Mark’s square all to ourselves. Well almost, there were hundreds of pigeons to annoy keep us company.

 

After some photos, I needed to warm up. My fingers were blue. Sometimes my legs felt as though they were frozen, too, and wouldn't move. It’s not snowing, but the wind is blowing through Venice’s campos faster than those pigeons will swarm on the smallest dropped crumb.

Breakfast was a cioccolata calda at Il Café on Campo Francesco Morosini. Yes, that same hot chocolate that inspired this Italian hot chocolate recipe. Later some fritelle from Pasticceria Ballarin. Fritelle seemed to be the breakfast of choice for everyone. I’ve found 3 varieties. The traditional Fritella Veneziana with raisins and pine nuts and rolled in granulated sugar. There are also fritelle alla crema (with pastry cream) and fritelle alla zabaglione (with Sabayon). If the sugar high from the hot chocolate wasn’t enough, the fritelle (one traditional and one with crema) certainly gave me the energy to brave the cold again. My preference, so far, is the one filled with pastry cream. I’ll do more testing tomorrow, and am hoping to find more varieties, say a chocolate pastry cream filled one.

 

Later in the day, I went back to Saint Mark’s. This time the piazza had many more photographers, ranging in expertise from those using their phones to professional photographers with foot-long lenses. The professionals even went so far as to give posing commands to those in costume. It was very much like some crazy photo shoot. With each new costume that arrived on the stage that was St. Mark’s Square, a group of camera-clad fools people (me included) swarmed around them and started clicking. Then another new costume would appear and the group with cameras would race from one to the next. George Clooney might even go unnoticed by papparzzi in favor of an even more extravagent costume.

I had to laugh, and agree, when I heard one Italian walking through the square, call it pazzesco (crazy). In any case, after 300 hundred photos (yes, it’s only my first day here), I’m pretty happy with all of the photos I have. Fried treats, thick hot chocolate and some awesome photos, yep, quite a nice welcome to Carnevale a Venezia!

I’ve shared a few of my favorite photos with you today. At the end of Carnevale, I’ll post a slideshow with all of them.