Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
In the Brembana Valley, the river reigns supreme. In fact, there is still a functioning water mill for grinding corn, as well as people passionate about maintaining centuries-old traditions.
Difficulty: Beginner
Italy
To take a break from the hustle and bustle of Rome, there is a place waiting for you, just 40 minutes away, where horses and cows graze in the wild, and where there is plenty of interesting flora and fauna to observe: The Sorbo Valley.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Here and there in the small villages of the valley, there are interesting frescos hearalding back to earlier times. Two local recipes are offered: stuffed curly cabbage leaves and Taragna polenta, a kind of cornmeal with the addition of buckwheat.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The fine white mold that forms on the cheese helps give it its characteristic flavor, but it is also painstakingly scraped off each round. Before the high-altitude pastures are ready for grazing, humans take advantage of the snow and the trails.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Lo stracchino is a soft, mild but flavorful cheese that's spreadable, and we find it in supermarkets all over Italy. But the kind Francesca's family produces in the mountains, with traditional tools, is on a whole other level. Why is this cheese called stracchino? There is a fascinating reason. Watch the video.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
We've come to the end of this journey to find Valentina. Philip Rembrandt continues to wait, and Valentina never forgets him.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Il formaggio (cheese) is rarely missing from an Italian kitchen. This video takes us to the mountains north of Bergamo where the Monaci family has kept the family cheese-making tradition going, beginning in the stable where the cows are taken care of during the colder months.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Which came first? Blow-Up or Ciao Valentina? Which work stole from the other? In any case, there are some striking similarities.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The Romans were the ones to introduce the culture of wine to the area around Mount Vesuvius as can be seen by what was left behind in places like Ercolano. And it is in Ercolano where a unique cooperative has been set up to cultivate a very special variety of tomatoes.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Crepax's stories were based on imagination and vision. In those years, artists contaminated one another's works, and there was even a curious connection between Crepax's Ciao Valentina and Antonioni's Blow-Up.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Coral has been made into jewelry in Torre del Greco since the fifteenth century. In that same century, a variety of grapes arrived from Catalunya, which over time has produced a wine with a unique personality.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Who was the model for Valentina? Certainly, the actress Louise Brooks who portrayed Lulu in the movie Pandora's Box directed by G.W Pabst (based on two plays by Frank Wedekind), but also Crepax's wife, Luisa Mandelli.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Gragnano is a town near Naples known for its pasta production. There are many different shapes and types, but they all are a bit rough to the touch, because they go through a bronze cutter, rather than a Teflon one. That's why the pasta holds the sauce better. Of course, everyone living in Gragnano is an expert about pasta.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Just as in Cubist art, Crepax would design his figures to be seen from various points of view simultaneously. Sometimes he would use small windows to attract attention rather than making them larger.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
This land is not only good for cultivating grapes for wine, but also the special piennolo tomatoes, that keep for several months.
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