The Giro d’Italia comes to Avellino and Benevento!

Giro d'Italia 2009 - Route Map

We were just thrilled to hear that this famous race would be passing so near to Calitri, Avellino, in two of it’s stages this May (Avellino and Benevento stages)!

Giro d’Italia 2009 Race Schedule:

(21 stages and 2 rest days from May 9, 2009 – May 31, 2009)

Saturday May 9
Lido di Venezia, Venice, 20.5 km

Sunday May 10
Jesolo to Trieste, 156 km

Monday May 11
Grado to Valdobbiadene, 200km

Tuesday May 12
Padova to San Martino di Castrozza, 165 km (uphill)

Wednesday May 13
San Martino di Castrozza to Alpe di Siusi, 125 km (uphill)

Thursday May 14
Bressanone to Mayrhofen, 242 km

Friday May 15
Innsbruck to Chiavenna, 244 km

Saturday May 16
Morbegno to Bergamo, 208 km

Sunday May 17
Circuit Race in Milano, 155 km

Monday May 18 – REST DAY Giro d’Italia 2009

Tuesday May 19
Cuneo to Pinerolo, 250 km (uphill)

Wednesday May 20
Torino to Arenzano, 206 km

Thursday May 21
Sestri Levante to Riomaggiore, 61 km (timetrial)

Friday May 22
Lido di Camaiore to Florence, 150 km

Saturday May 23
Campi Bisenzio to Bologna, 174 km

Sunday May 24
Forlie to Faenza, 159 km

Monday May 25 – (uphill)
Pergola to Monte Petrano, 237 km

Tuesday May 26 – REST DAY Giro d’Italia

Wednesday May 27
Chieti to Blockhaus

Thursday May 28
Sulmona to Benevento

Friday May 29
Avellino to Monte Vesuvio, 164 km

Saturday May 30
Naples to Anagni, 203 km

Sunday May 31
Rome, 15.3 km

Southern Italy Vacation Rental – Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso for the Avellino or Benevento Stages of the Giro d’Italia? Please contact at SouthernItaly@comcast.net .

www.SouthernItaly.wordpress.com Copyright © 2007 All rights reserved

 

Gourmet Food and Wine in Irpinia (Avellino)

“In the local dialect of Avellino, the Campanian province east of Naples, mesali means “tablecloths,” a sign of hospitality. Now, it is also the name of a new association of restaurants sprinkled around the mountains of Irpinia…

Irpinia’s rustic soups, homemade pastas, ricotta, legumes, black truffles, chestnuts, and heirloom fruits and vegetables, along with the area’s three DOCG wines — whites Greco di Tufo and Fiano di Avellino and powerhouse red Taurasi — will have you baaing with pleasure.” — Faith Heller Willinger, Gourmet, January 2007 (Click to Read the Full Article)

The 11 member restuarants of this new gourmet food association in the Avellino Province (Irpinia) can be found at http://www.mesali.org .  I have included some on my “Great Links” page – some do not have websites, but you can find contact details on the Mesali Website. Bon Appetito!

Italy Holiday Rental – Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso in Irpinia? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net .

www.SouthernItaly.wordpress.com Copyright © 2007 All rights reserved.

 

Italian Bread in Southern Italy

 

I have to admit, I pretty much love all Italian food….but when I am away from Southern Italy, what I miss the most is the bread from inland Campania! 

We have been known to buy a loaf of bread from the bakery, or even the supermarket -becasue even the supermarkets in Southern Italy have wonderful, fresh bread delivered daily-in Calitri and call it a meal! (and maybe along with some fresh deli meats and Caciocavallo Cheese or Buffalo Mozzarella  (Mozzarella di Bufala) produced locally)

Bob Rinaldi writes, in the “recipes” section of kingarthurflour.com: “When I was a young boy I would ask my grandmother about Italy. She told such fantastic and exciting stories that as a young man I began to take romantic trips to the home of my family in the mountains of southern Italy. One story that Nonna told often was of bread. She complained that the bread in “‘Merica” was too white and that was why people got sick so much. It took years of research and the patience of my teacher and bread coach Sharon Masone but here it is; the bread from the ovens of Calitri.”

Pane di Calitri

“Bread from the Ovens of Calitri”, Avellino in Hills of Southern Italy

(Click for the Recipe)

 

Italy’s Great Unknown: Aglianico del Vulture

“Those wine lovers who have heard of Aglianico usually know it as the variety that makes Taurasi, Campania’s most famous red wine.  But Basilicata is Aglianico’s Italian home–although it originated in Greece, as did most grape varieties in southern Italy.  Aglianico arrived in what is now Basilicata around the 7th century B.C., and shortly after made its way to Campania…Monte Vulture is in northwest Basilicata.  The eastern slopes of Vulture, around the towns of Rionero, Barile, and Melfi, are the sites of the best Aglianico vineyards.  The soil, composed largely of deposits from the ancient lava flows, is rich in potassium and tufa, the porous calcium carbonate stone that is ideal for grape growing.  The late-ripening Aglianico variety thrives in this soil and climate” Discover the Mount Vulture home of Aglianico…right across the the Campanian border (Calirti, Avellino) in Basilicata (Potenza) and the slopes of Mt. Vulture!  READ the full article/review about some of  the Aglianico del Vulture wines, by Ed McCarthy, WineReviewOnline.com.

Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net

 

Recipe: Calitri Wild Boar

Recipe – Foods from Southern Italy!

I don’t own a lot of cookbooks…actually…I don’t own ANY Italian cookbooks.  I just love all the Italian recipes you can now find on the internet!  I wanted to share this one from the Avellino province in Campania, Southern Italy (Calitri, to be exact!) It’s from ”Molto Mario” on the Food Network. (Click the link below to view the recipe – don’t worry, you can substitute pork for the wild boar!)

Wild Boar in the Style of the Eastern Side: Cinghiale di Calitri

Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net.

 

Antiquing in Italy – Antique and Open-Air Markets in and Around Calitri

  

Every second Sunday of the month (excluding January and February), Calitri hosts an antique market (Antiquacalitri) on Corso Giacomo Matteotti starting at 10am. 

Calitri’s weekly outdoor market (household goods, fresh local produce, cheese, etc.) is held every Thursday from 9am-1pm. 

Sunday is market day in the nearby towns of Lioni, Bisaccia and Nusco (about 9am-1pm) – a good option to stock up on food when most shops in Southern Italy are closed for the day on Sundays!

Here are some other Italian Antique markets (and Southern Italy Flea Markets) in the area:

Mirabella Eclano (Antiqueclano) – Every last Sat., (4pm-9pm) and Sun. (9am-9pm) of the month, Piazza XXIV Maggio

Avellino (Mercato dell’Antiquariato) – Every first and Third Sun. (8am-7pm) of the month, Piazza Castello

Potenza (Mercatino delle cose usate e d’altri tempi) - Fourth Sun. (9am-9pm) of the month, Piazza Mario Pagano

Salerno (Mostra Mercato) – Every Fourth Sun. (9am-7pm) of the month, Piazza Sant’Agostino

Salerno (Mostra Mercato dell’Antiquariato) – Every Second Sat. and Sun. (9am-9am), Piazza Sant’Elmo

Salerno (Mercatino dell’antiquariato in viale Kennedy) – every second Sat. and Sun. (9am-7pm) of the month, viale J.F. Kennedy

Salerno (Anticaglie Sotto Le Stelle)Every first Sat.(5pm-10pm) of the month, except July and August, Historic Center

Apice (AnticApice) – Every last Sat. (3pm-9pm) and Sun. (9am-9pm) except July and August, Piazza Municipio

San Lorenzello (Mercatino) – Every last Sat. and Sun. of the month, Historic center

Napoli (Fiera Antiquaria Napoletana) – Scheduale Changes (Usually thrid weekend of the month) - Click HERE for the Website w/ Info. Viale Comunale

Napoli (Mercatino di Poggioreale) - Sundays (8am-1:30pm), via Nuova Poggioreale

Please be sure to leave a comment and info. if you know of other Antique Markets (In Southern Italy – near Calitri, Avellino, Campania)I have left off the list… or if you have gone Antique shopping at any of these markets!

Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net 

 

Chef Antonio Pisaniello in Nusco

 I was very excited to find this article (about this local favorite restaurant in nearby Nusco) from Bon Appetit on  epicurious.com …  I hope you enjoy the read!

“Antonio Pisaniello is the chef American chefs go to when they’re in need of inspiration. He’s this secret region’s secret weapon. Here’s the story and the recipes behind the legend. 

In a small southern Italian village called Nusco, an affable chef named Antonio Pisaniello strolls the Sunday farmers’ market, picking out the ingredients that will make their way into lunch later that day at his restaurant, La Locanda di Bu. There is a bright saffron bouquet of fiori di zucca, bundles of just-picked bitter field greens; pure white cow’s-milk ricotta still warm from the making; and perfectly streaked pancetta. “La Locanda” has become a culinary mecca here in the province of Avellino, in the interior part of Campania — all’interno, as the Italians call it.

This mountainous region is not as well-known as the sunny Amalfi Coast and the boisterous pizza capital of Naples that lie an hour or so to the west. And Antonio Pisaniello is this secret region’s secret weapon, a sort of culinary guru to American foodies, from chefs to restaurateurs — and now, with the recipes here, to home cooks, too.

To fully understand the power of Pisaniello’s food, you first have to talk to the pros: California restaurateur Victoria Libin fell under the spell of his cooking during a culinary tour of Campania. Her critically acclaimed San Francisco restaurant A16 is named for the highway that cuts through the region. She sent the restaurant’s opening chef, Christophe Hille, to study with Pisaniello in Nusco. “If Antonio hadn’t taken in our chef and taught him everything, we probably wouldn’t have this restaurant,” says Libin. Ore Dagan, production supervisor at Paul Bertolli’s new Berkeley-based company, Fra’ Mani Handcrafted Salumi, spent five months working in Pisaniello’s kitchen. Dagan saw Pisaniello sway the locals away from the Italian tendency to eat with a hyper-regional bias. And this was no small feat. “He cooked amazing seafood that even the locals could love,” says Dagan. “Because they’re mountain people, this is not something they were familiar with.” Rocco DiSpirito was so blown away by a meal prepared by Pisaniello that he invited him to cook at his restaurant in New York. Pisaniello was the Italian guy bringing a bit of the Old World to the very New World circus that was DiSpirito’s reality TV show, The Restaurant. DiSpirito describes Pisaniello as having an uncanny ability to find that sweet spot between traditional Italian cooking and his own personality. “He has a true sensibility that few people have,” says DiSpirito. “It’s something that I hoped I had when I was a young chef. I think he has a sixth sense.”

That sixth sense comes through in the following recipes. In their minimalism they can seem both traditional and modern. The handmade Irpinian pasta (Irpinia is another name for the province of Avellino) is prepared with just flour, water, olive oil, and salt and is served with a simple fresh cherry tomato sauce studded with pancetta and fresh oregano; it’s a bright new angle on an old standby. Humble white bean soup gets a welcome sweet-hot hit from spicy polenta. Ricotta gnocchi are fried for a little crunch and sauced with an earthy purée of broccoli. This is food that is both new and unmistakably Italian — delicious and thoroughly inspiring. “

— Carla Capalbo, Bon Appétit, September 2006

Photo From: www.borghitalia.it

Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net .

 

Southern Italy Holiday Home

Casa del Cipresso is a cozy home in Southern Italy; it is available for weekly rentals year-round;  A great, affordable, family alternative to a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) or Pensione! 

Please be sure to check in for postings in our “Southern Italy Blog“  for lots of information about the local area and our self catering holiday home.

For more information, including Rates, Directions and more photos, please click on the ”buttons” at the top of this page.

Please browse through our link page to learn more about the location and town of Calitri, things to do and see nearby, and anything else we think may be of interest! 

Italy Holiday Rental – Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net .

www.SouthernItaly.wordpress.com Copyright © 2007 All rights reserved.

 

Child-Friendly Italy

Italy with Kids 

It is so much fun to see Italy through a child’s eyes…my six-year old son is always armed with his little, blue, plastic, Fisher Price camera (he takes hundreds of photos and goes through SO many batteries!) and full of opinions about everything! He asked if he could post something about Italy…so…here it is…Italy from a six-year old child’s perspective… 

“There are lots and lots and lots of great places to go in Italy, like Paestum and Lagopesole and Melfi and I love Pompeii!  The pizza is great!  I always order the pizza Margherita.  I like to get pastries at the coffee shop and I like to get hot milk with sugar for breakfast.  I love Italian ice cream!  I always get lemon and vanilla.”

“If your kids like volcanos, southern Italy is the place to be. Besides Mt. Vesuvius, there are other volcanic craters and formations and islands formed by volcanos” – Travelforkids Website.  It also has some good suggestions for things to do in Naples with Kids, an excellent list of Children’s Books About Pompeii and Herculaneum and a list of must-sees when visiting Pompeii with children.

Would you like to stay at Casa del Cipresso? Please contact us at SouthernItaly@comcast.net .