Sicily Trip: Food and History

Hello everyone!

I can't believe it is already February!  We finally finished our fall semester and right after we finished finals, our entire program went on a trip to Sicily.

Sicily is the island right next to the toe of Italy's "boot"

We flew into Palermo, in northwest Sicily.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and was known as the "pearl of the Mediterranean." Throughout its history is was sought after by many nations.  Here is a quick outline:

• In about 750 BC, it was colonized by the Greeks.  It was part Magna Graecia, along with the rest of Southern Italy that was under Greek domination. There are many ruins of Greek temples and cities that we visited during our trip.  It also reminded me very much of Greece, so the Greek influence is still evident today. 
• The Romans took over in 242 BC and Sicily became the first Roman province outside of the Italian peninsula.
• After the fall of room, the Byzantines conquered Sicily, bringing the Greek Orthodox tradition and Greek language to Sicily again.  
• From 827-1091, Sicily was under Arab rule, adding a new language, religion, and new foods to the mix of cultures.
• Next, the Normans (from northern France) conquered Sicily and build many grand churches and buildings.
• In the 1280s, the Spanish took over Sicily, along with many other southern Italian cities on the mainlan
• Finally in 1861, Italian unifies and Sicily becomes part of Italy!
• Today, Sicily is its own region (province) and is known for its rich history, great food, and unfortunately, a strong mafia presence.

Food in Sicily

Every region in Italy has its own special cuisine and Sicily is no exception.   Sicilian food is very different than Tuscan food we have here in Florence and this is largely due to the great mix of cultures in Sicily.

The use of sugar, citrus, melons, saffron, and spices is due to the Arab influence; in fact, Sicily is famous for have decadently sweet desserts.  Fava beans, pistachios, fish, and olives are from the Greeks, and the Normans introduced more meat dishes in Sicily.  The Spanish brought products from the Americas, like chocolate, peppers, and tomatoes, which are a big part of Sicilian cuisine today.

N.B.: I didn't actually take pictures of the food, so these are all gleaned from the internet. 

1. Pasta alla Norma

  

A very simple dish, made with pasta, tomatoes, fried eggplant, and ricotta cheese.  It was very different for us because in Florence we usually eat our pasta with tomato sauce only.

2. Arancini/Arancine

These are balls of rice, usually stuffed with ragù, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and peas, although the stuffing can vary.  They are then coated in bread crumbs (so not gluten free) and fried.  Arancine means little oranges.

3. Caponata

This is a starter made from fried eggplant, celery, capers, and sweet vinegar.  They also add tomatoes, peppers, and/or olives, depending on where you buy it.  It is a very sweet dish - a sign of arab culinary traditions.

4. Marzipane

In Sicily you can buy marzipan fruits almost everywhere.  They are especially popular around Christmas and All Saints Day.  Marzipan is a paste of almonds and sugar, and here it has been dyed and shaped into all sorts of fruits, including lemons, watermelons, bananas, etc.  It is not fruit flavored though, it only tastes like almonds.  I did actually try this and I surprisingly enjoyed it!  Mine was a little orange :)

5. Cannoli!!

Most Americans are familiar with cannoli but did you know they are a Sicilian specialty?  You won't find these in Florence, that's for sure!  The crispy pastry shell is stuffed with a sweet ricotta cream and served with chocolate chips, pistachios, or candied fruit on the ends like the in picture above, or plain.  The name means little tube and comes from the Sicilian cannolu, plural cannola.

Fun Fact: Canolo is the singular, and cannoli is the plural, so "cannolis" isn't a thing.  You can have 1 canolo or 1000 cannoli :)

Let me know if you've ever tried any of these dishes before and what you thought of them, or if you haven't tried them, which ones you think you'd enjoy :)

Un abbraccio!

In fattoria: Our trips to Italian farms

Ciao a tutti,

Sorry for being absent for the past few weeks.  I started to write a post and then got hit by a sudden onset of work.  We have all our midterms this week so I've been busy writing a research paper for social history (which I thankfully finished last night) and now I need to study for my exams.
Let's see...so many things have been happening lately!  One of the classes I'm taking this semester is sustainable food where we learn about the methods of food production that are responsible and respectful of workers and our natural resources.  Part of the class includes field trips to visit local farms and compare the different types of agriculture.  So two weekends ago, we visited Camporbiano, a bio-dynamic farm outside of Florence.

What is bio-dynamic, you ask?  Good question!  In Italy, organic is called "bio" which is short for biologically (or naturally) grown.  A bio-dynamic farm is different from an organic farm for a couple reasons.  Organic means that the crops or animals have been raised without (or with limited) antibiotics or other natural substances.  Bio-dynamic is a little harder to define.  It is actually more of an agricultural philosophy but essentially it means that crops and animals are raised without antibiotics and with particular attention to their well-being.

Camporbiano produces milk, cheese, and other dairy products from cows and goats, as well as flour, fruit, and honey.  We got a tour of the farm and got to meet all the animals, including two very cute dogs :)

I vitelli!  The calves:)

Bonding time with the Camporbiano cows

 There are two words for "cow" in Italian.  You can either say la mucca (moo-ca) or la vacca, which is almost identical to la vaca in Spanish.  Our guide, who works at Camporbiano, told us that each cow has a name, in addition to the number on their tag and that the farmers know each one.  There are about 40 cows on the farm and during the winter months they live inside the stalls (which are much bigger than they appear in this photo) and during the rest of the year they graze outside.  The stalls, which are cleaned daily, are covered in hay to protect their joints from the hard impact of walking on the concrete all day - basically the same reason we wear good running shoes when we do certain sports or activities that involve lots of walking.  The cows also eat a very healthy diet - only the special hay that is made there on the farm. 

Le capre!  The goats - this one wouldn't stay still long enough to snap a photo that wasn't blurry :)

 Camporbiano has goats to make goats milk products that are very popular here in Italy.  Like the cows, they live not only in the stalls but also in the pastures depending on the seasons.  Our guide explained that because they do not give antibiotics to their animals, they heal them using natural remedies.  He told us that one time they had a bull who injured his leg and they cured him with calendula, a special type of flower with anti-inflammatory properties which grows naturally on the farm.  Incidentally, I have also used calendula gel for muscle pains and can say that it works quite well!

Camporbiano and the beautiful Tuscan countryside

 After our visit, we got to sample the various products, including cheese, bread, veggies, honey, yogurt, and a delicious fresh pear juice.  Yum!

Today was our second field trip and this time we went to Reggio Emilia, in the Emilia-Romagna region to visit la Fattoria Rossi (fattoria = farm in Italian) which is famous for Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  La Fattoria Rossi is an organic farm, so it was rather different than Camporbiano.

For instance, the stalls the cows lived in were not covered in hay and were rather dirty.  They were also not allowed to roam outside and they ate corn and other grains in addition to hay.

Fattoria Rossi dairy cows

We did get to see how the parmigiano is made, which was neat but a bit smelly because there was so much milk and aging cheese.

Making cheese wheels

The cheese needs to dry a bit before it can be soaked in salt water to preserve it

The cheese has to be inspected by an expert to make sure it meets the standard of parmigiano reggiano cheese.  The wheels are tapped with a little hammer to make sure they are not hollow inside.  If they have any defects, they cannot be sold as parmigiano reggiano but can be sold as other cheese or as grated/powdered parmigiano like we have in the States (although today we learn that our grated "parmigiano" is usually not parmigiano but another different type of cheese called Grana Padano).

Aging gracefully: the cheese storage room :)  Parmigiano needs to age before it is ready to be eaten

These stamps certify that it is Parmigiano Reggiano and also tell us the details about where, when, and how it was made

Afterwards anyone who could eat dairy got to taste some samples of parmigiano that was in different stages of the aging process.  I can't vouch for it myself but I was told that one really can taste the difference between a few months of aging!

Now I'm back in Florence and ready to resume studying for those midterm exams!  If you have any questions about the farms, please ask!  I have lots more information to share that wouldn't fit in this post. :)

A dopo,
Isabella

Santa Croce

Ciao amici!

Our second art history field trip during orientation was to Santa Croce to study the Italian Gothic style.  Compared to Romanesque churches (like San Miniato), Gothic churches are taller and are less dark inside.  The height of the church is representative of the desire to be closer to God (ie the church is reaching up to heaven) and the relative abundance of light in Gothic churches is because God is light.  When we think of Gothic churches, we usually think of grand churches such as Notre-Dame de Chartres in France:

Notre-Dame de Chartres, France.  www.wikipedia.com

Italian Gothic churches however, look quite different.  The Gothic style originated in Northern Europe and due to a history of Northern invaders it had a slightly negative connotation, so they changed it up a bit to make it more Italian.  This is Santa Croce:

Santa Croce, Florence.  www.wikipedia.com

It looks nothing like Chartres.  You can see that the Italian Gothic retains the heaviness/solidness of the Romanesque churches and it is more horizontal than Chartres.  Before we go inside I will point out one more difference between the Romanesque and Gothic styles: the arches.  Romanesque churches have a round, roman-style arch which is called arco a tutto sesto in Italian.  Gothic churches (Italian or otherwise) have an arch which ends in a point and is called arco a sesto acuto in Italian.

www.laterzalibropiuinternet.it

Inside Santa Croce

See how much more light there is?  There are also stained glass windows which you won't find in a Romanesque church and instead of mosaics there are lots of frescoes.  To enter Santa Croce we had to pay a small fee and wait in line as it is very popular among tourists for several reasons.  The two main reasons are: a. many famous people are buried here and b. the paintings of Giotto.  Let's check out the tombs first!

Michelangelo's tomb

Galileo's tomb

Back in the day, it was possible to be buried in Santa Croce if you were of a certain status so yes, these are actual tombs.  There are several other famous Italians buried here, including Machiavelli, and many more funerary monuments to people they wished to honor but aren't actually buried here.  The most famous of these is Dante, author of the Divine Comedy.  Dante was exiled from Florence in 1302 and is buried in the city of Ravenna, where he died. Florence came to deeply regret having exiled him and since then they have tried to honor his memory in every way possible all over the city.  In Santa Croce, they built this funerary monument:

Dante's funerary monument

Giotto's Paintings

Giotto was very influential in the transition between Byzantine-style paintings and a more realistic, humanistic style.  Byzantine paintings are very flat and two-dimensional, with no sense of movement.  Giotto (1266 – 1337) created his art from observing real life so his paintings have a greater sense of depth and movement.  During the Renaissance, this style will be more fully developed but Giotto is generally regarded as the first to have explored the three-dimensionality of figures.

Only parts of the frescoes remain

another capella by Giotto

How many arches "a sesto acuto" can you find? ;)

Note the attention to depth and perspective...

That's it for now!  If you've made it this far, congratulations!  That was a lot of information but there was just so much to share about Santa Croce.  This will be the final post from my orientation art history class.  The last church we visited for this class was San Lorenzo which is a great example of Renaissance architecture but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside.  It is a really neat church and probably one of my favorites so you should definitely click on the links and check it out. ;)

A dopo!