Yes, Italy's treasures may lie in her beautiful cities, ancient churches clad in mosaics and frescoes, and her splendid museums and galleries. But for me, Italy's true riches lie in the way the people live. Food and wine are central to defining this lifestyle. The Italian philosophy to gastronomy is simple: having punished the sinner with hunger, God rewarded human endeavour with appetite. Laughter and spirited conversation are married with the unashamed enjoyment of good food. Italy, more so than maybe any other country, has a cuisine that bears the tradition of a great past. It is an unaffected and uncomplicated cuisine that echoes the entire national style.
And style they have. Their style is aspired to, and emulated all over the world. I can still clearly remember what I wore the day I did my final tasting presentation for my Wine Masters. My exam presentation focussed on red Italian grape varieties and the regional character of Italian wines. The panel of judges, swirling, chewing and spitting the Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico Reserva , were oblivious to the fact that my crisp white linen Armani suit ( yes, very brave when tasting red wine), my Fendi handbag, Ferragamo shoes and Gucci sunglasses were mirroring the elegance, balance and structure of the wine in their glasses.
There are 916,121 people in Australia who are Italian by ancestry, which makes them the sixth largest ethnic group in this country. Italian food is popular and plentiful. There are many quality Italian restaurants in Brisbane to choose from, but we eventually decided on Colle Rosso in the hilly inner-city suburb of Red Hill. Just as well I made the reservation a week ago, as yesterday was Valentine's day (not that it registers on my calendar...). Colle Rosso (Italian for Red Hill) was packed and they clearly struggled to cope under the pressure of the many loving couples wanting to declare their undying love the Italian way. Although Shakespeare never visited this boot-shaped peninsula, many of his romantic works were set in Italy (think Romeo and Juliet), and one has to wonder if his famous Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day....widely acknowledged as the most romantic poem ever written ) was him yearning for a sunny day in Napoli.
I can spend hours discussing the origin of Sicilian pasta, Parma ham, the cheese from Reggio Emilia and the virtues of Tuscan olive oil, but think it is best to rather let the food do the talking. Buon appetito! The menu at Colle Rosso covers a variety of pasta, pizza and authentic Italian dishes. There were eleven of us sharing two platters of Antipasto to start with (all the Browns, Phil, Martina and Anna, three Molloys (Andrew, Mandy and Pete) and a Korean exchange student). True to FNO rules (see blog week 1) we managed to order a different main each: Ravioli di Osso buco, Gnocchi Zucca Spinaci e pecorino, Saltimbocca alla Romana, Petto di Pollo, Linguini al Frutti di Mare, Lasagna Classica alla Bologna, Porchetta Arrosto, some pizzas and a Calzone. This went down well with a couple of Peroni beers and multiple bottles of Chianti.
As love is supposed to be patient and tolerant, we filled the very long time that we waited for our food and drinks by getting our facts straight ( see rules regarding fact sharing week 1,2 and 19).
Enthusiastic elaboration, critical examination and lively interpretation of all the wisdom passed, which elevated the sharing of facts to another level. From the Mafia to Maserati, we covered a vast range of topics. The newcomers had to be on their toes, as the seasoned fact-sharers scrutinised their contributions. Yet, somehow we felt that we did the history of Italy a disservice as we neglected to even mention Michelangelo, Medici and Machiavelli. To continue the conversation, the temptation exists to do Italy twice, but we have to move on. Next week, inspired by our exchange student, we shall visit Korea.
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