FEBRUARY 2013

VERTIGO-INDUCING

02012013 The vintage Italian Fiat 500's are so tiny and perfect for Amalfi Coast with all the limited parking. The Amalfi Coast of Italy | The Road Less Traveled

02022013 In the most recent edition of One Story to arrive at my house, there was a postcard for the "Sirenland Writers Conference." And the location. "At Le Sirenuse in Positano, Italy." The price? $3,600 plus airfare. I don't have the writing nor cash for that kind of trip. But it's sometimes nice for a minute to have wild aspirations, overlooking an azure sea. Oh, to be a rich writer! | Patrick Cooper

02032013 For centuries Sorrento has been a favorite getaway spot that has drawn countless artists, writers, and tourists for centuries to its romantic sunsets, abundant shopping, exquisite cuisine. and a bountiful night life. Spend your time relaxing in the main city square Piazza Tasso or exploring the Roman era cobble streets and the winding narrow sidewalks of Via San Cesareo, an area which is brimming with shops selling an array of merchandise, including art. In the evening you might find yourself wandering down the walkway around the small hidden harbor, the clear aqua water dotted with small colorful fishing boats. The air is filled with the scent of the oranges and lemons planted in citrus gardens around the town. All of these things combined entice you to come and experience this amazing town for yourself! Sorrento, Italy | The AH-HA Traveler

02042013 For Cannavacciuolo, cooking is an expression of life which has no choice but to move on, in a continuous process of study and growth. He plays with flavours, putting ingredients from the Mediterranean sea together with typically Piedmontese ones, creating new combinations that enhance their unique flavours and arouse the curiosity of his guests. Antonio works on his cuisine every day of his life, drawing inspiration from life itself. His dishes also reflect and epitomise his journey northwards from the Sorrento coast to his wife, Cinzia, a native of Orta which is now his home. These are the secrets of our two Michelin starred restaurant. Antonio Cannavacciuolo | four-magazine.com

02052013 Franco Pepe spent most of his childhood in his family’s pizzeria in the tiny town of Caiazzo. Today, Franco Pepe is considered one of the best pizza makers in Italy. In a methodical way, Franco Pepe has been experimenting with different types of flour for years. Different blends, different leavening times, different lavorazione. There are no recipes. It’s a delicate interaction of the senses: weighing the salt, feeling the dough, hearing the sound of the oven wood. There is nothing forced; nothing is ready before it should be. Franco Pepe: Pizza Craftsman | The Curious Eater

02062013 The origins of the carnival of Montemarano are ancient. The main feature of the carnival, which takes place in the days preceding Ash Wednesday, is the spontaneity of the celebration, which involves all inhabitants of the village. The caporabballo (dance leader) leads a procession through the streets in which people wear festive masks, accompanied by the characteristic rhythm of the tarantella of Montemarano. Carnivals in Irpinia | Provincial Tourist Board of Avellino

02072013 Villa Matilde is located in the town of Cellole in the Campania region of southern Italy. With 140 hectares planted they make 13 different wines, totaling 700,000 bottles of wine per year (roughly 58,333 cases) from the white grapes of Falanghina, Greco, Fiano and red grapes Aglianico, Piedirosso, and Primitivo. The first wine Giorgio poured was the Falanghina, Roccamonfina I.G.T. 2010 – 100% Falanghina grapes aged in stainless steel for 3 months.  “Imagine, if you will…” Giorgio describes, “a beautiful young teenager. She is fresh, beautiful, and young. This is the Falanghina. Can you picture her?” A wine that indeed smells and tastes fresh, bright, with a salty minerality you often get from wines produced near a coast. Villa Matilde – Where hospitality and humor create a wonderful match | Vindulge 

02082013 One caldera that might be the most potentially hazardous on the planet is the Campi Flegrei in Italy. As the recent NASA Earth Observatory image of the region shows, there are an awful lot of people who live near the Campi Flegrei caldera. Understanding what might be happening in the subvolcanic system is vital if there is any hope of getting people out of harm’s way if the caldera decides to erupt again. How Restless Is the Campi Flegrei Caldera? | Wired

02092013 The volcanoes of south Italy are the closest active volcanoes to our home country, Israel, and yet we didn't visit them until that year. We first went to explore the 1,281m' high Vesuvius volcano. This was the best value "volcano" for "effort" we've seen. The crater is a merely 20 minutes walk from the car park, and only 100 meters higher! Volcanoes of the World | Nir Halman

02102013 In 2006 in Dante Square, in Naples, Shimamoto realizes an extraordinary performance: “A peace weapon”. The square is used as a stage and the paving of the space is covered with an immense canvas on which a piano is leaned. The whole event is accompanied by Charlemagne Palestine playing another piano. Shimamoto enters the square thank to a soft cloth tube, reminding a kind of birth. Then, after hailing the public with a sort of hug he begins his pictorial act. The artist is hanged by a crane and hold in his hands a sphere made up of numerous plastic glasses filled with colours. He throws from above with a calm gesture, really distant from the ones characterizing his first performances, violent and impulsive. Crane poses him on the ground and he regenerates himself to continue his action until the piano and the whole surface are full of colours. Between an artwork and an event | Associazione Shozo Shimamoto

02112013 “One of the reasons that the Romans didn’t find the depiction of such a wide variety of sexual practices objectionable is that their gods were doing the same thing,” he says. C. Brian Rose, a professor of classical studies at Penn, will also discuss the roles erotic imagery played in the home décor of the elite in Rome and Pompeii. Penn Museum unveils “Fifty Shades of Pompeii” | Penn Current

02122013 The water meets the sky and I can’t see anything more than infinite stretches of blue. Just because I miss it… Capri<3 | Way Away

02132013 My base for a week is Maria Giovanna, a 70-foot wooden ketch built for comfort, with a generous aft deck and accommodation in suites of gleaming mahogany for a maximum of 12 passengers. I find the boat lying in the Marina di Stabia, a short train ride from Naples, beneath the sleeping giant of Vesuvius. Sailing from Capri in the warm glow of the setting sun, with Pavarotti singing Panis Angelicus on the boat's sound system, is as good as it gets. One wonders why Odysseus bothered to go home. The high life | The Australian

02142013 Montepertuso had one greengrocer and only five places to eat, including the fantastic Il Ritrovo. Draped over the dining room's wooden beams were hundreds of vine tomatoes, hanging in grape-like bunches for preservation ahead of winter. Owner and head chef Salvatore Barba told us, modestly: "All my food is spectacular!" – and he was right. The bruschetta, the panna cotta, the pasta with porcini, sausage and creamy smoked cheese were all extraordinary. I left Il Ritrovo feeling crestfallen. Walking the Amalfi coast | The Guardian

02152013 Table for Two: Sign up for a cooking lesson at the agriturismo TerraMMare, where you’ll make, then dine on, traditional island recipes. World's Most Romantic Islands - No. 2 Capri, Italy | Travel + Leisure

02162013 I was here for something quite different – the tomato! It is one of my very favorite foods. Although the tomato did not make its appearance into Italy until the 16th century, it dominates much of southern Italian cooking today. It grows everywhere, even on the ashen slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. The most famous Italian tomato - the San Marzano (from the nearby valley of that name) is a cousin of our own plum tomato but thinner and pointier in shape than what we are familiar with. It also has thicker flesh and fewer seeds. I love the taste which is much stronger, sweeter and less acidic than most tomatoes. Chefs consider them to be the best sauce tomatoes in the world. Naples and Pompeii: Traffic, Tremors and The Tomato | Nancy Brussat

02172013 Hotel Terme Manzi was built in 1863 by Luigi Manzi right on top of the Gurgitiello spring, which rises up from the heart of the Ischia volcano. These waters are so famous that the Romans came to these same thermal baths in ancient times to benefit from the healing properties of the water. When I arrived with my 80-year-old father, I knew right away we were in for a treat. They were very patient with him, and their personal attention made our stay so enjoyable. Walking through the lobby of the four-story hotel felt like a mix between being in an eclectic Roman museum and my great aunt’s house in California. Ischia, Italy With My Dad | Johnny Jet

02182013 The white walls and the floors made in terracotta characterize its style, conceived to be perfectly in harmony with the environment. Located in a strategic position, 500 mt far from Lacco Ameno, it is easily reachable from every town in the island, Ischia Porto, Ischia Ponte, Forio and Sant’Angelo, and it is not far from the suggestive San Montano Bay and the hydrothermal park Negombo. Garden & Villas Resort | TravelDailyNews 

02192013 I have also always wanted to visit British composer William Walton’s garden, La Mortella, on Ischia. I love the story of how it came to be built with the help of Russell Page and I have long admired Walton’s relationship with his wife, Susana, and how devoted she was to him and how she preserved the garden after his death. In the garden | The Vancouver Sun

02202013 The small town is characterized by the skin tanning deriving from sheepfarming which, thanks to its favourable environmental conditions, has now got a great number of tanneries. In fact, it was part of a pole specialized in wool and skin manufacture, deriving from sheepfarming products and gravitating towards the market of Salerno comprising the Giffoni and S.Severino hamlets too, which had unremitting relations with Solofra. We can understand the importance of the artisan-mercantile world of Solofra if we consider that, at the beginning of the 16th century , the little town was formed of 15 hamlets, that on the territory there were 40 "apotheche de consaria" which made a great variety of products and were practiced a lot of skills linked to skins. Solofra In Short | Solofra Storica

02212013 On the southern flanks of Mt. Vesuvius in Campania south of Naples, here seen above the farming village of Trecase, winemakers like Maurizio Rosso continue traditions that are several thousand years old. No doubt the fertility of Campania is assured by the rich volcanic soil of Vesuvius, and everywhere on the ground one can see bits of volcanic rock scattered along the topsoil between the rows of vines. One of these famous wines noted in Campania for centuries is the Lacryma Christi (“Tears of Christ”). Campanian Wine from Vesuvius: Cantina del Vesuvio | Electrum Magazine

02222013 The WWF oasis of Morigerati, created in 1995,  is 3,000 acres.  There is a stone path which leads to the grotto and it is about 800 meters long.  Along the path you can watch the typical Mediterranean bush: oak, ilex, olive, ash.  In spring, there is the red valerian all over the oasis. Above the Oasis, the ancient hill town of Morigerati is the pristine remote mountain village.   The town with its old church dominating the landscape provides the perfect wedding or vow renewal location. Morigerati | Slow Dreams 

02232013 The Castello di Montevetrano fairies are the fruit of the land which, with their oriental scents and spices, have in the past helped shape the history of local, popular and more refined gastronomy. Great served on warm bread, as a welcoming breakfast for friends and guests; as an unusual dip; to caramelise meat or as an interesting cheese accompaniment, or to blend a sharp-flavoured food with a distinctive wine. Also as a fanciful sorbet or a colourful girandola, as a tantalising after-dinner sweet. Castello Fairies | Montevetrano

02242013 The Castelcivita Caves are in themselves a highlight of the Cilento. They are located near Vallo di Diano in the province of Salerno and are 4,800 meters long and 52 meters deep. They constitute one of the biggest speleological sites of southern Italy. They are situated at about 94 meters of altitude, between the banks of the river Calore and the south-west coast of the Alburni Mountains. Cilento National Park | ExpertoItaly

02252013 Capital of Campania’s southernmost province, the lively port of Salerno is much less chaotic than Naples and is well off most travellers’ itineraries, giving it a pleasant, relaxed air. It has a good supply of cheap accommodation, which makes it a reasonable base for some of the closer resorts of the Amalfi Coast and for the ancient site of Paestum to the south. During medieval times the town’s medical school was the most eminent in Europe; more recently Salerno has developed a reputation as a lively, sociable place, with a busy seafront boulevard and plenty of nightlife and shops. Salerno, Italy | Outpost Magazine

02262013 Sandwiched between a sleeping volcano and the steaming Campi Flegrei, Naples is a rumbling mass of contradictions. Extremes are something Naples does impressively well. Grimy streets hit palm-fringed boulevards, crumbling façades hide baroque ballrooms and cultish shrines flank cutting-edge clubs. One minute you’re in dusty Tangiers, the next you’re thinking of Paris. Introducing Naples | Lonely Planet

02272013 Naples is the capital city of the Italian region Campania and the country’s third largest municipality, after Rome and Milan. In 1995, the historic center of Naples was listed by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. The city is rich in culture, with stunningly beautiful churches and charming cobblestone streets. Naples in black & white | Flânerie féminine

02282013 The Farnese Bull (thought to be the world’s largest single Classical sculpture), which has a terrified Queen Dirce tethered to its hooves, is almost overwhelming. Instant Escapes: Naples | The Sunday Times