oh italy, i miss you

Seems like everything these days is reminding me of my times spent in Italy.  For those of you who don't know, I was blessed to have spent about 5 months living in Firenze (Florence) during my junior year of college.  I met the best of friends, living in a stone cold apartment just north of the Duomo.  Myself and six other girls, shared rooms, shampoo, and food in our apartment... all of us from different parts of the "stati". 

 My frequent view of Florence from Piazza d' Michelangelo.  That's Piazza della Signoria to the left & il Duomo and its bell tower to the right.

My husband surprised me with some authentic Italian treats straight from "little Italy" in NYC.  Love him!  In the midst of enjoying them, we turn our backs, and two of our pignoli (pine nuts) cookies were stolen by our oh-so-sweet Moses.  

One of the girls who I roomed with in Firenze just got married this summer... in Firenze...  Jealous!  And unfortunately, I couldn't be there to witness it.

I'm currently reading/listening to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  I'm in the middle of the chapter where her and her husband take a trip through Italy, indulging on the cuisine and food attitudes of Italians.  They also stayed at an "agriturrismo" -- a method of hospitality where instead of staying in a hotel in the city, why not stay in a renovated farm house, help pick the harvest (if you want), and enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner made only of ingredients fresh from the farm you're staying at.  Complete with the Italian family who owns the farm at their rather large kitchen table. 

I was thus inspired yesterday to browse through my, or the, "bible" of Italian cookbooks, The Silver Spoon.  This 2,000 recipe was finally translated to English recently.  Italian recipes, unlike the Americanized versions, are usually very simple.  The fewer the ingredients the better.  As long as the ingredients are fresh and local. 

And then... I decided to take a trip down memory lane to my months spent traveling all throughout Italy back in 2006.

 

A windy day in Pienza, home to one of my favorites -- pecorino fresco. 

My friend (mentioned above) and I took a night train down to Siracusa (in Sicilia -- Sicily).  My grandfather was born here, and Siracusa happens to be my mother's maiden name.

Our FAVORITE trattoria in Firenze, Trattoria Casalina.  Home to my favorite meal of all times, Ribolita (a stale bread soup) found below.

 Venezia, or Venice, is enchanting.  

 When the city floods, which happens to be often, wooden walkways on stilts are placed throughout the streets.  This happened one of the handful of times I've visited this special place. 

Cinque Terre.  Five little cities that you either have to hike to or take a boat taxi.

Spending time in Italy is not complete without attending a few soccer games.  Fiorentina, home team for Florence, beat Milan this game.

This was our favorite thing to do on the weekends when we didn't have class.  Hop a train to some small Tuscan town, San Gimignano here, purchase some bread, fresh cheese, sundried tomatoes, olives, and a few bottles of vino...