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 Polenta sulla Spianatoia Polenta on a Board
Polenta is a common winter dish throughout Italy. It is warm, hearty and filling, the perfect hot remedy on a cold, blustery day. While polenta is particularly popular in the north, the central mountain regions have a traditional way of serving it that takes the humble dish to a jovial, communal level.
Polentone (big polenta) is also known as polenta sulla spianatoia, or polenta on a pastry board. It seems to have originated in Abruzzo – or at least they claim it as their own, calling this presentation polenta all’abruzzese – though the surrounding mountain regions of Marche, Lazio and Umbria serve it up as well.
 Pouring out the polenta The traditional method uses stone-ground cornmeal, which is cooked in a copper cauldron over a wood fire and is stirred with a long, thick wooden stick. Nowadays, many cooks prefer to opt for the quick-cooking polenta on a stovetop, which whittles the fatiguing stirring time from forty minutes down to about five minutes.
The polenta is cooked until it is soft but not firm, then it is poured out onto a pastry board and smoothed out with a wooden paddle. It is topped with a rich tomato sauce, dusted generously with aged, coarsely-grated pecorino cheese, and dotted with pieces of sausage or mushrooms.
 Adding the sauce, meats and pecorino This rustic dish is fun to eat; everyone gathers round the table and eats directly from the spianatoia. To get to the meat or mushrooms, you must fare una strada (make a path) to them through the polenta. Kids try to cheat and little fork duels erupt as each tries to protect their polenta turf. It is an entertaining and interactive meal, complimented with hearty red wine and good company.
 Family, friends and food...a perfect combination. Want to try it at home? Here’s a recipe.
Lots of various polenta recipes are found on Kyle Phillips’ site.
 Life size presepio Italian Nativity Scenes
One of Italy’s most enduring and endearing Christmas traditions is the presepio, or nativity scene. All around the country they are erected – from simple mangers to elaborate, functioning towns – in honor of Jesus’ birth. They are set up in piazzas, in grottoes, and in nearly every church. Much thought and work goes into constructing the annual scenes, which are usually unveiled on Christmas Eve and remain on display through Epiphany, January 6.
The nativity is said to have originated in Assisi, first initiated by Saint Francis. His birthplace is one of the best towns to view a wide array of them, including an open-air life-sized scene on the lawn in front of the basilica devoted to the kindly saint.
 Presepio in Assisi There are many mangers from around the world displayed in the heart-felt church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Set in the valley below Assisi’s steep streets, the church was erected around the humble little chapel where St. Francis preached. Despite its size the church has an air of lightness and spirituality. It feels warm and welcoming.
The manger scenes on display range from large, ceramic villages to simple, hand-knit figures, many donated from parishes and individuals world wide, containing symbols and materials to denote each country’s culture.
In Rome’s Piazza del Popolo an annual exhibit called 100 Presepi takes place, with an array of whimsical, cute and outlandish representations of the nativity. Not far away in the Imperial Forum is the International Nativity Museum (il Museo Internazionale del Presepio) which displays a large collection of historic and artistic nativity figures in an underground chamber. Though it has strange opening hours, it is well worth a visit.
Living nativities, or presepi vivanti, are popular throughout the peninsula. They do not consist of merely a few people in costume but instead are elaborate reenactments of ancient life, with artisans and shepherds playing out their roles vibrantly in open-air venues. One such beautiful living nativity can be found in Cerveteri, about an hour from Rome.
 A living presepio at Cerveteri Presepi are the most popular holiday decoration in Italy, and many make it an annual tradition to stroll from church to church to see the different displays.
However you celebrate the holiday, Italy Panorama wishes you a Buon Natale!
 A child's precious work
Signs of Autunno
You know that autumn has arrived when the vendemmia has been completed. Once the vines are barren of fruit, the leaves change color, and the vineyards become ordered rows of autumnal tints, speckled in yellow and red.
 Chestnut roasting But the clearest sign of fall is seen in the seasonal specialties. The emphasis shifts from summer fare and grilled goodies to heavier dishes like polenta and fall foods like mushrooms and truffles foraged from the mountains. The main event this time of year is the chestnut. They are proffered from roadside stands, in the weekly mercato, and the grocery store. There are many sagra events that focus solely on the versatile humble nut.
Italian ingenuity brings the chestnut into play -and onto the plate – in many different ways. It can be dried and ground into flour, which makes a rather tasty sweet bread; it can be roasted and turned into a sweet paste that is used to fill sweet ravioli, usually in conjunction with cocoa; and it can be used to make gnocchi (good with a gorgonzola sauce) or polenta. Another treat is the marron glace’ which are often topped with a bit of whole-milk or honey-sweetened yogurt. The best marron glace’ are the ones that have been carmelized in sugar syrup and then soaked in liquor.
Chestnut vendors are careful to keep a distinction between castagne and marroni. The dictionary translates both simple as “chestnut” but marroni can cost quite a bit more. So, what is the difference?
For the answer, we asked a grower/vendor at a sagra in Castignano, a town whose very name derives from chestnuts (castagno means chestnut tree). If anyone knew the difference it would be a Castignanese.
He kindly and patiently informed us that castagne are just your common chestnuts which grow wildly and naturally all over the place. Anyone can go into the woods and forage for these run of the mill nuts. They grow three to a pod, encased together in their furry outer shell. Marroni, instead, are a cultivated hybrid…the Cadillac of chestnuts, if you will. The nut inside is shinier, sweeter and plumper than a common chestnut. They also peel out of their skin much more easily once they’ve been roasted.
 Castagne vendors So how can you tell the difference when they’re piled up on the vendor’s table? Simple, he said. The “white” of a marrone is elongated- narrow and oval, almost rectangular. The castagna has a rounder, darker-colored marking.
Despite the varied, creative ways that Italians utilize chestnuts, the most popular way to eat them is still the simplest: freshly roasted until the skins darken and can be peeled off. They are traditionally served with vino nuovo, new wine, and the two items take center stage as the headliners for the Festa di San Martino, the feast day of St. Martin, on November 11, when both are in full season.
Viva autunno.
Grocery Shops Decoded
The best places to go for the freshest local ingredients in season are usually just a short walk away. Italians take cooking very seriously, so the main shopping experience you find in even the smallest of hamlets is focused on the food shops.
 Fruttivendolo Your smallest shops are the fruttivendolo where you buy fresh fruits and vegetables, where the goods are almost exclusively locally grown and in season. They are generally scattered about in neighborhoods, but are often so small they are easy to miss unless they have crates of goodies set up outside. The proprietor will likely tuck in some herbs or garlic to season your sauce with.
Similar to the fruttivendolo is the macelleria for meats and the forno for breads. These establishments are small but the owners make them unique with their personal service. They will grind meat fresh on demand, and cut off the size of loaf you desire in a flash.
A neighborhood grocery is the alimentari which may carry fruits, vegetables, bread, milk, and some other items – but especially cured meats and cheeses. These shops are family run and the proprietors are always knowledgeable about their products, and often know who produced the local delicacies (if their own family didn’t make them!).
The supermercato is a regular grocery store, larger than an alimentari shop, yet often still located in a neighborhood. They are usually locally owned but aligned with a national consortium for buying power.
 A typical alimentari interior At the top of the food chain (pun intended) is the ipermercato, the Italian rendition of the superstore. They are enormous and carry a little bit of everything yet lack the personal one-to-one service you will find at the smaller neighborhood establishments. These stores may stand alone form the central focus at a centro commerciale (shopping mall). Selection is huge, but they often carry national products rather than locally grown or produced goods.
In a historic center you can locate all the primary ingredients you need from the small locally owned shops, along with the weekly mercato. It’s a pleasant experience to walk between the small shops, interact with the owners, and maybe stop for a caffe along the way.
 Bread from Matera Timbro di Pane
We always say that the further south you travel down the peninsula, the richer the coffee gets and the better the bread gets. Lifeless, salt-less Tuscan bread cannot hold a candle to the thick, crusty loaves you find in Puglia and Basilicata. So famous and delicious is their pane that they have been granted the DOP designation, a marker of regional authenticity.
Matera DOP and Altamura DOP honor those cities’ commitment to producing bread the old-fashioned way, but this traditional product is not limited to those two towns alone; it is found throughout the southern regions, still made the way it has been for generations. Some even claim that this particular bread dates back to Roman times, and claim that Horace referred to it in a letter in 37 AD!
 You can just smell it! The large loaves have a soft golden interior, because it is made with finely milled semola flour (hard durum wheat which is also used to make pasta). The crisp crust is sometimes splotched with black marks from wood-fired ovens. Natural leavening known as lievito madre or biga, is used, with a piece of dough always being reserved for the next round of baking. The lumpy, irregular loaves are said to reflect the peculiar landscape of the Murgia.
Long before the bread was designated with its prestigious DOP status, however, it was marked in another way – with a timbro di pane. Bread stamps were used to imprint a symbol or initial onto the top of the loaf to designate who the bread belonged to, as it was baked in communal ovens.
 A wood timbro di pane The women prepared and kneaded the dough in the evening, left the bread to rise, stamped it with their seal, and a baker came to take the dough to town, or a nearby masseria in the case of rural folks, for baking. Bread ovens were –and often still are – fueled by olive and oak wood. The finished bread was then retrieved by the family for the next several days’ consumption.
Nothing was wasted. Dough scraps were fried in oil and dusted with sugar as a treat for the children, and crumbs from the very crusty bread were reserved to be sautéed in olive oil with garlic and peperoncino and sprinkled as a topping on the pasta, an everyday garnish still enjoyed throughout these regions today.
The timbri di pane were often made of wood, carved into fanciful shapes by local shepherds. Others were forged in iron or cast in terracotta. Many families still have their grandmother’s timbro on display in their kitchens, a reminder that while bread generally is no longer kneaded at home, the ancient tradition is still very much alive and treasured, and preserved by countless bakeries.
 Tmbri styles
 Arco di Traiano Ancona is the capital of the Marche Region and has been a major Adriatic port for more than two millennium. It was one of the main debarking points for European crusaders during the Middle Ages. Today’s port is industrial, with heavy shipping, cruise ship and ferry traffic. It was rebuilt after heavy bombing damage during World War II, but contains some unique finds amongst the drab.
The Arco di Traiano, built in 115 to honor the Emperor Trajan (Traiano) who was instrumental in expanding and improving this most important Roman Adriatic port. This marble structure stands almost six stories high and originally had large brass statues of Trajan, his wife Plotina and his sister Marciana. The arch originally dominated the port as a landmark for approaching ships but now looks rather small compared to the towering cranes of a busy modern port.
 Duomo di San Ciriaco Situated above the sea is the Cathedral of San Ciriaco, which provides good views of the port and Adriatic to the east. If you like to watch the ships come and go this is a great vantage point. The duomo is an interesting medieval church with stone lions standing guard at the door and a simple but elegant interior. From this location, the highest in the city, you also have a view of some Roman era ruins to the north that currently are not accessible.
 Roman road at Grumentum You don’t need to spend much time in Italy to discover there is truth in the old adage that “all roads lead to Rome” (or as they say it Italian, “tutte le strade si portano a Roma”).
Many of the modern roads used today in Italy, and even other parts of Europe, were built by the Romans as a means of expanding and accessing their Empire from the capital city. Beneath that asphalt highway, country lane, or modern city street may lurk a byway that was laid down by the Romans over 2000 years ago. The modern road surfaces is built upon (and hides) that ancient foundation.
The first major road that the Romans built to their expanding empire was the via Appia (now known as the Appia Antica, or Appian Way). It was constructed in the 3rd century BC by Appius Claudius Caecus. Outside of Rome you can still walk on parts of this ancient highway…now that is a well built road!
 Road in the center of Terracino Such engineering marvels have survived in part due to their excellent base and a surface of crystalline basalt block, using materials readily available in and around Rome or the location of construction. A trench was dug then filled with layers of gravel and sand, then capped with heavy, hard, durable blocks like travertine or granite. The surface was rounded to allow proper drainage. When finished, the roads were used to transport troops and goods to and from the far reaches of the empire. Later, they facilitated invaders’ aspirations.
Driving between Rome and Ascoli Piceno, we follow the via Salaria, the so-called ‘salt road’ that transported the valuable commodity from the Adriatic coast to the Roman markets. That particular highway dates back to 361 BC. We have located and tread upon other Roman roads, as well; one right outside the Colosseo in the heart of Rome, and others in various locales around the country. Amazingly, some are overgrown and neglected, seemingly forgotten.
As you walk along these routes, it is hard not to imagine the history that has passed over their surfaces during the past two millennia.
 Typical Italian mercato vendor Stroll through any mercato (weekly market) in Italy and you’ll eventually be hit with the wafting aroma of herb-scented roasting meat. Porchetta is classic street fare, proffered from mobile stands. It is also fair food, starring as the headliner of many a town festival and people all over the peninsula go hog wild for it.
Porchetta is the whole hog. A small pig is gutted and boned, then stuffed with herbs like rosemary, fennel and garlic, along with pork fat and seasonings. It is sewn up and roasted whole on a spit over a wood fire for hours to achieve a crispy, flavorful skin while creating moist, savory meat.
 Porchetta ready for eating Porchetta dates back to ancient times. Some say it originated with the Etruscans, though no historical records were left to back this up. It certainly was in vogue during the Roman era, as ancient writers mention it dating back to 400 BC and it was a favorite meal of Emperor Nero. It was often served at grand Roman banquets.
It enjoyed a resurgence in the Middle Ages, particularly in the central regions of Lazio, Abruzzo, Umbria and Tuscany. Today, the classic dish is more popular than ever nationwide. It can be found in supermarkets, some meat markets, and shops called rosticceria, where rotisserie meats are made fresh daily. Street fairs are dedicated to it, with three or four spits turning at once to meet demand.
Next time you’re in the mercato ask for a sample, and you’ll see why the country is addicted to its porchetta.
 Amatrice Amatrice, Lazio
The compact, picturesque stone and stucco town of Amatrice rests just off the ancient via Salaria, in western Lazio where it nearly kisses Abruzzo. Here the mountains loom larger and the landscape grows more intensely rugged. Driving along the lovely valley you skirt a small lake. The setting alone is worth the trip to Amatrice, its pastoral position seems to sit just below the clouds.
The place gives off an aura of relaxed energy. Outdoorsy gear and casual wear are de rigueur. A major influx of summer visitors are attracted to the nearby national park, Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga, while winter travelers find skiing and snow-showing.
 A sign of great food ahead But the real attraction to the town is signposted at a crossroads: Amatrice – la Citta degli Spaghetti. Amatrice – Spaghetti City.
Spaghetti all’Amatriciana originated here and spread the length of the peninsula. It is known and loved by all Italians, though inevitable regional variations have crept in. Romans often try to claim it as their own, though they use bucatini instead of spaghetti, and frequently make it using onion and garlic, the addition of which the good Amatriciani say is akin to blasphemy. They should know; they’ve been making this plate for many generations. The town isn’t labeled Spaghetti City for nothing!
The original “matriciana” was made in bianco, without tomatoes. Shepherds used cured guanciale (a type of bacon made from the cheek) and their own abundant pecorino cheese to flavor their pasta. The three necessary ingredients, dry spaghetti, cured pork, and aged cheese, were very transportable and didn’t require refrigeration. This older version of the dish is also known as Gricia. Eventually, tomatoes got thrown into the pot, and a famous dish was born.
 Courtesy of inuyaki.com There are numerous restaurants and agriturismos offering the town’s claim to fame, but our favorite is the humble Trattoria del Lago. The unassuming restaurant is on the outskirts of Amatrice along the little lake, Lago di Scandarello, in a non-descript building. The bustling trattoria is easy to miss, except for the cars lining the curvy road.
Trattoria del Lago serves the famed Spaghetti mounded up on the plate with nice, coarsely-grated pecorino cheese dotting the top. A carafe of vino rosso and a side dish to round it off is all you’ll need. One bite and you’ll see why Amatrice is known for its culinary contribution to the country.
 Trattoria del Lago
An Evening With Brigands
For many people the view of il Mezzogiorno, the south of Italy, is that you must sta attenti (watch out) and be always on your guard because “Basilicata is the land of brigands”. Yeah, whatever! We always passed off such derogatory comments as uninformed.
It turns out, there are brigands in Basilicata, and they put on one helluva performance. Every weekend from the end of July through mid-September the era of i briganti comes to life at La Grancia outside tiny Brinidisi di Montagna.
In a huge open-air, natural amphitheatre below townis Il Parco Storico La Grancia, a multi-venue historical theme park with six areas for education, theatre, music and art. There is Il Borgo, a sort of Lucanian frontier-town where artisans in period costumes demonstrate traditional crafts, and -this being Italy-there are several stands and restaurants where you can eat locally-produced delicacies that would have been served during the brigantaggio years, the late 1800s. Music and dance performances are designed to reflect the area’s particular history and culture.
 Brindisi Montagna as the backdrop to the show. But the main event of this park is La Storia Bandita, a grand production dubbed as a “cinespettacolo”. It is a beautiful blending of impassioned live performance, dramatically-devised video projection, and astounding special effects, utilizing the bare cliff wall opposite and the ruins of the 11th century castle perched above Brindisi. Seriously, this is one amazing show.
Interestingly, La Storia Bandita means “the history of the bandits” but could also be translated as “banned history”. It is a clever word play for the period when many Lucani felt that their culture and history had been marginalized, trivialized and tyrannized. Tired of invasions and overly dominating landowners that kept them poor, oppressed and disillusioned, the period of the Risorgimento (the unification of Italy) proved to be a flashpoint for many southern peasants who joined together and formed a band of bandits. They became known as i briganti.
 The Briganti leader Crocco La Storia Bandita tells a dramatized version of this period, focusing on the charismatic leader of the pack, Carmine Crocco, who was called the ‘General of the Briganti’. From events in his childhood and disillusionment with the unification forces, the story shows how and why the briganti took things into their own hands to protect their lands and traditions.
The production is astounding, with hundreds of participants in an all-volunteer cast and crew. Dance and music reflect the rural Lucanian life at the time. Crocco authored an autobiography and some of his rousing prose is movingly recited. But the effects! When the forces invade, the castle is set aflame. Gunfire echoes loudly in the canyon and the flashes illuminate the mountain formations. Images are projected behind the set on the rock. A waterwall shoots up in a stirring finale.
 The Finale You don’t have to understand much Italian to follow the show. The performances play it all out before your eyes, unfolding in the peasant village, as well as tents and caves, representing how the briganti had to hide out in the hills. This is a show worth seeing.
WHAT: La Storia Bandita, a live performance utilizing special effects, the hundreds of people who comprise the cast and crew are all volunteers.
 The cast at La Grancia WHERE: Il Parco Storico La Grancia, Brindisi di Montagna (Potenza Province). It is located just off the Basentana superstrada.
WHEN: Every weekend from the end of July through mid-September
COST: 18 euro
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