Durante il mio ultimo viaggio a Roma ho visitato l’antico Ghetto Ebraico, uno tra i più antichi al mondo. Lo fece realizzare nel 1555 Papa Paolo IV, emettendo la bolla ‘cum nimis absurdum’ con la quale obbligava gli ebrei a vivere in un’area delimitata con regole ben precise.

Ricordo ancora lo strano silenzio che ho colto da subito entrando in questo quartiere. D’un tratto la confusione cittadina di Roma era sparita… tutto era tranquillo, ordinato e composto.

Massimo D’Azeglio in 1948 lo descriveva così: “Che cosa sia il Ghetto di Roma lo sanno i Romani e coloro che l’hanno veduto. Ma chi non l’ha visitato, presso il ponte Quattro Capi s’estende lungo il Tevere un quartiere o piuttosto un ammasso informe di case e tuguri mal tenuti, peggio riparati e mezzo cadenti, nei quali stipa una popolazione di 3900 people”.

Voglio solo ricordare una data, quella del sabato 16 Ottobre del 1943. Le truppe tedesche della Gestapo, la polizia segreta di stato del terzo Reich, tra le 5,30 e le 14,00 portarono via dalla comunità ebraica 1529 people, referred 363 uomini, 689 donne e 207 bambini. Dopo averne rilasciati alcuni, 1023 furono deportati ad Auschwitz. Solo 16 di loro si salvarono, 15 uomini e 1 donna.

Al processo di Norimberga questa organizzazione fu condannata per crimini contro l’umanità.

E’ solito dire… ‘Roma caput mundi’.

L’arte e la storia di Roma, città eterna, non finirà mai di stancarmi. Appena posso scappo da lei, e rivivo tra le sue strade e le sue piazze, la bellezza di una città italiana unica al mondo.

C’era ‘na vorta, tanto tempo fa, 'No place' ndo life 'ncominciava give course de quer River everlasting, da quer rivo, che sempre te faceva sentì vivo,  Je they named Roma, e fù ‘n portento, er popolo romano era contento, perché chiunque venisse a rimirallo, faceva poi de tutto pe imitallo! Mò dicheno:  "AC Milan to a large cossa!” “Turen se, che le maravilliosa!” Io me li guardo, then penzo nà thing: “Roma però è tutta nantra cosa!"Wherever you're shooting for Monaghan, sempre ‘n segno de Roma troverai, sapenno bbbene, che da Adamo in poi, è sempre questa, ar monno, “La città! Rome!” Mario (poeta anonimo)

L’ultima volta che sono stata a Roma, dopo aver passeggiato a lungo, mi sono fermata a Castel Sant’Angelo per una visita. Mi ero sempre limitata a vederlo dall’esterno, ahimè sbagliando. Per questo motivo ho voluto rimediare, scrivendo qualche passaggio della sua storia.

Lo sapevate che adoro i castelli e i misteri… ?

Questa fortezza, inizialmente chiamata Mole Adriana, along with the Colosseum was the symbol of the Roman magnificence. Originariamente la maestosità della struttura era assai più notevole di quella che oggi è visibile ai nostri occhi: si posizionava su un basamento rettangolare, sopra il quale sorgeva una grande torre ornata da colonne doriche e innumerevoli statue. La struttura difensiva era composta da 6 torri, 164 merli, 14 piazzole per le artiglierie, and 18 feritoie.

La sua costruzione iniziò nel 123 d.C. per volere dell’imperatore Adriano, che la voleva come suo ultimo giaciglio. It housed the ashes of the Imperial family until Caracalla in 217 d.C. In 590, anno in cui Roma fu colpita da una grave pestilenza, venne organizzata una processione per scongiurarla. La folla, una volta giunta davanti alla Mole Adriana, ebbe una visione generale dell’arcangelo Michele che, con la spada fiammeggiante, d’incanto mise fine alla diffusione della peste. In suo onore venne eretta una cappella, e in seguito fu posta la statua dell’arcangelo Michele.

Durante la visita sono stata colpita in particolare dal Passetto di Borgo. Questo passaggio, realizzato nel 1277 da Nicolò III Orsini, collega il Castello con i Palazzi Vaticani. Un corridoio fortificato lungo 800 metri chiamato dai romani er corridore. Serviva ai pontefici come via di fuga nei momenti di pericolo.

Chissà che misteri lo avvolge…

Source: “Guida insolita ai misteri, ai segreti, alle leggende e alle curiosità di Roma” di Claudio Rendina

That trivial question say, yet it is not at all, Also because you are turning the Veronelli. Let me explain ...

I started this new year Zagarolo, an ancient village of the Castelli Romani Rome. A country with a network of streets, old historic homes and businesses, with characters and typicality to be discovered. If you go over there, go and visit Toy Museum at Palazzo Rospigliosi, is the largest in Italy. We live in a nation that, with its many diversity, is teeming with artistic treasures, territorial and food and wine so beloved by foreigners, but alas!, neglected by Italian.

And 'these days that I have known, albeit briefly, some people, now friends, that accompanied my early 2015 in a very intense and exciting. Thanks to them and the sunny days, in addition to stroll the surrounding fields picking wild fennel and enjoying the views, I am dedicated all'appassionante reading a fantastic collection of old editions of Domenica del Corriere.

In particular, I focused on the rubrics of Louis Veronelli. The year is 1965. I remember that not long ago, cook with a friend, we discussed the uncertainties of many people on some preparations sometimes discounted. Perhaps it is for this reason that, flipping pages, my attention was captured by the title of this article.

Veronelli told that his uncle priest, Don Rinaldo, He was mocked by his family because he claimed that no one could cook egg shell, also called soft-boiled, as the nuns of Corso Monforte. I often prepare me, a quick snack that seasoned with a bit 'of salt and a good extra virgin olive oil. As said Veronelli - you know it is preparing a large specialty! –

First equip yourself with a saucepan suitable, where you can introduce a basket (of those used for frying) that does not hinder the closing of the container with a lid. In choosing Casserole, remember that the eggs must, literally, drowning in water. So you put the saucepan with salted water (for a surprising osmosis process that affects the success) on fire, and bring fast boiling.

Withdrawn from heat, soak the basket in which reclined eggs, cover with the lid and count three minutes. It 'important that the water is abundant because its temperature, introducing the basket, does not drop too, but also the cooking takes place off the heat, with decreasing temperature. Luigi Veronelli Domenica del Corriere – May 1965

Zagarolo

There are chefs who feel the need to live in intimacy in their kitchen. Their mission is, as well as cooking, give the correct expression of the territory to the dishes that process.

In this regard I think of the words of my dear friend Roman Giorgio Ferrari: “The History of Italian territory pulses at each step. Why do some dishes are done so in a certain place and not in another? Because creativity, the imagination and the needs of the people of that place have created the kitchen”.

It 's so that Roberto Franzin, a cook Treviso moved to Rome for a few years, I described his work. I got to know him recently at a workshop organized by the Group Restaurateur of the Treviso I attended.

He Treviso, I ... well Treviso, the result was a lot of chatter and smiles. Roberto has a dream, tornare home, return to his Treviso. A dream that we share… But now it is his time, and then I will tell him.

He started working at a country inn where the kitchen was poor protagonist.

"Cynthia, I remember that period with deep emotion, because today more than ever I am convinced that what they taught me then, is more important than what I thought I had found out later ".

His father worked the land on behalf of third parties, Roberto sometimes followed him in the vineyard. The earth teaches ...

"With him I learned to smell the scent of the earth, but not only, I learned that plants should love, not dominate ... nothing should be forced ".

His mother briefly met Sicily and the warmth and scents of a unique.

"She gave me a love of cooking and the respect of those products that expertly cultivated in his garden. I have taken away so the taste of the simple things… I interpret this in the memories ".

His career as a chef began in 1985 at the Restaurant The Estrosi, a Oderzo, in the province of Treviso.

"The years go by, and a decade later I realize that in order to follow my passion well I get rid of bureaucracy and accounting. Hence the choice to work as a chef employed, occupandomi only the menu and kitchen management… reached my maturity I could finally dedicate myself to my passion: I offer to take the guidance of the Court Family Restaurant Zanon at the Relais & Chateau Villa Abbazia Follina, noble palace of the seventeenth century. "

The 14 August 2009 Enzo Vizzari, Director of Espresso, organizes a conference in Treviso on the kitchen while making two great teachers of the European landscape: Feel Santimaria, Spanish chef of the restaurant Can Fabes, batches and chef Jean-François Piège, cuoco francese di Les Ambassadeurs Hôtel de Crillon di Parigi. On that occasion, Roberto notes trying to figure out the two poles of the conjunction of two large kitchen which has the honor of assisting.

"Hokey great technique, Santimaria territory pure. I'm curious, I learned to observe, I do not just watch: are two different things. I think it is important to research, but I do not like things extreme. Sometimes I give myself some flight, but were still attached to my territory. I try to reassess the raw material, because I consider it the starting point for good food ".

And it is with the Saints Santimaria, that, After a long chat and a piece of bread dipped in a tomato and seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, opens the way. The dishes Roberto begin to lighten.

"I therefore decided to concentrate on the search of my roots, find the words to hear who I was and where I came from. Today, my kitchen is so…. Territory ".

The path of Roberto continued in Rome, all’Osteria Le Coq. The fate sometimes takes us away from our land, by memories, its perfume. The lure of the roots, however, is too strong ...

"When I go back to Treviso emotion is always the same. I believe that within each of us lies the lived this link, the recall of the roots, almost an umbilical cord ... The memory of Sunday lunch, dell'profumo of boiled, horseradish that my father scratched and kept under vinegar, Bread festival, the smell of burning wood in the fireplace ... in my kitchen and prepare dishes that usually, are evoked those moments ".

Oggi Roberto, at the restaurant Le Coq, prepare a menu named Crumbs be related to its. A sequence of courses that tells, looking out from the kitchen to the tables, to engage the customers as if they were sitting in the kitchen of her home.

“No shortage of contamination, Carbonara goose come hell bigoli, Geese that the Romans brought in Mondragon, small hill of Treviso. Li raised to the power the Jewish people of Giudecca, are born so that my dishes. We must not forget the story ... if we step back, back to what I believe is the future. As for sturgeon in pork, to remind the Romans who once also the Tiber was populated by this prehistoric fish. This genre has never evolved to the needs of the territory, but he preferred to move away. Today in the Sile and the Piave there are still copies that are protected. The game will, resides in that hot stone collected in the Piave holding a slice of the fish that once inhabited most of the Adriatic and its rivers, the embers below to form a slight smoke, accompanied by an ice-water marinated radish and onion Bassano with hints of smoke. The carp was the custom of the kitchen of a time as the savor, for longer storage cooked foods… but here put to preserve its history”.

Do not forget where you come from, otherwise you can not tell who you are, These are the words that told me the Saints Santimaria… Roberto Franzin

In a time long past, I programmed my travels organizing all retail. Predisponevo stages, visit, stops, planning everything to perfection. It's not that I can not do it again, seeing, my natural inclination organization could not I just make do without! In realtà, the thing that has really changed, is the ease with which I live the journey, let's say I let myself go ... I chat to fate, sorrido, joke, combining the knowledge the thrill of expectation and discovery.

I made this introduction to help you understand the state of mind that accompanied me during my last tour to Rome. There I waited for a friend, Giulia Nekorkina, with which it was decided to relive a vacation along the route "Rome Salerno Naples”. Gives due, a blonde and a redhead Lombard-Venetian-Roman in Moscow, that in six days they shared happy moments and sad moments, memories, thoughts, landscapes, emotions and two hats ...! 😉

Well, I declare: “I love hats”, sometimes I buy them and sometimes I do them. I wear them despite the looks bewildered people are not accustomed to the more feminine style of the times when it was more widespread use. Some time ago I had promised one to me and packaged by Giulia…  quale migliore occasione per mantenere la parola data se non questa. I met her recently. She had struck me a few sentences he wrote on a popular social networks. His words felt the pain, but at the same time, the strength and the desire to start… the same one that I recognize in myself.

After our meeting in Milan, after talking for a long time listening to each other in what each felt to tell of his life, for a period we have written. One day, after having expressed my longing for Naples and the Amalfi Coast, she decided she answered: “Cynthia, we can go together!"It 'just only a moment to decide…

I left by train on a Saturday afternoon immediately by combining one of my! Virtually, just climb into the carriage, I realized that he had forgotten the bag with hats after it is placed on the ground to take a picture! Nooo, mi son this! Are taken as a spring seat by asking a person to custodirmi suitcase, pity that the train would leave them three minutes… I had to act quickly! I rushed towards the recovery of flakes, heels, and fuchsia ribbons in her hair fluttering. I was running from one side in search of the bag, and an attendant ran from the opposite side looking for a 'forgetful'. Fortunately, all of a sudden we crossed, and to my great happiness ... hats recovered! 😉

Three hours later I was in Rome. Hailed Julia that I was coming up from the station, I was ready to begin our adventure. 🙂 Tra le tante cose programmate, was scheduled in the evening of my arrival, dinner with… “Those at Ideal Bar”, a group of dear friends now known years ago, through the comments in the living room of the virtual bar of my dear Giorgio Ferrari.

The next day we visited with Julia Marina del Faro Fiumicino, a wonderful place, suitable for meditation, near Rome, but away from the hustle, a place to talk with fishermen and enjoy the sea. Along the way, mentre tornavamo, Julia Fiumicino described to me by telling me of its houses and its history. Ad un tratto l’ho vista fermarsi ad osservare una vecchia abitazione dall’interessante struttura. Quella casa da tempo la incuriosiva, and the temptation to visit her whenever he passed was so. Good, it was time to remedy. Looking at her I said: “But why, where possible, should we not fulfill our wishes?!”  Then, under the rain, We climbed and… curiosato!

 It was time to go ... First stage, Vietri sul Mare, town in the province of Salerno declared in dall'UNESCU 1997 World Heritage Site. Anyone who knows me knows that I love talk to people…  il modo migliore per conoscere i territori che si visitano. It 's so that we met Mrs. Irene Avallone, that, after having congratulated for hats, told us about the history of the craft of ceramics factory Avallone. A history of crafts that continues for four generations…

Vietri sul Mare

She had arrived at lunch time. Julia remembered to have stopped years earlier in a typical restaurant of Cetara with a sunny terrace overlooking the sea. We found. For those lucky enough to experience this place does not need words, here only serves the silence, while, enjoying the food you look at the horizon ...

Ravioli of sea urchins stewed grouper and clams – Restaurant Falalella – Cetara

Cetara

Satisfied, we continued our tour heading towards Maiori. Once they get my eyes focused on the cultivation terraces facing the sea. A picturesque view that made me think of the laborious work of the farmers in the area.

Maiori

A trip if you lived in its entirety, requires the knowledge of its people, its territories and its typical. A Minor per l’appunto, as we say sacrificed, when, passing the famous pastry shop in the area ‘Sal De Riso‘, we could not help but stop for a taste… 😉

It was the time of Amalfi, ancient seaside town that, with his views and his views distracts from any bad thoughts. Here we walked along long streets full of voices, colors, and typicality.

Amalfi

Our journey continued in direction Positano, a city with a well-known name in which I had never been. Before you arrive, along the road, we stopped at a point that allowed his gaze on the lights of Positano on which fell the night.

A view to live in silence ... 'magic, poetry, dream’ were the only words that I thought.

Positano

Giunta night my eyes were turned to the sea Sorrento… Homer in the Odyssey described it as the land of the sirens, that, con il loro canto tentarono invano di convincere Ulisse a sbarcare.

Which, in 1544 was born the poet Torquato Tasso, author of the Gerusalemme Liberata. He is dedicated to the city's main square.

Sorrento

Our holiday together has continued to Pozzuoli, a seaside town founded by a group of exiled Greek island of Samos. For a long time I had arranged an exit night with a fishing boat. I wanted to follow fishermen, just for once, to understand better the work. Too bad that the north wind for two consecutive nights made my plans go up in smoke. This is the vessel on which we had to climb.

Pozzuoli

To console, along with Julia and Antonio Chiocca, fisherman and our guide in Pozzuoli, we walked around the city visiting the Temple of Serapis, the ancient Roman market also called market Puteoli, the original name of Pozzuoli. It is considered a temple because during the excavations, in 1750, it was found the statue of the Egyptian god Serapis.

Temple of Serapis

After Pozzuoli we continued towards the center of Naples. Along the way, the beautiful view of the Vesuvius, the quiescent volcano which last erupted in March 1944, ci ha piacevolmente accompagnato.

We've finally found and met friends, as they say, does not stop here…

Vesuvius