Italy and Being Italian Through Cuisine

Italian cuisine is... first and foremost, quality. The best. Beauty. Richness and good-ness. Breeders, farmers, producers. Social responsibility. Our culture. History. Tradition. Art. Being together. Hospitality and well-being. Emotion. Love, sensitivity and memory.  Biodiversity. The symbol of Italy. Everything that makes you feel good. Sun, sea and Viva Italia. 

 
Like an impressionist painting, there are many ways to tell of the multiplicity of Italy and of being Italian through its cuisine. Only when they are put all together does it make up the whole picture.
 
 
If each of us were to tell stories through cooking, which is one of the most intimate aspects tied to our being Italian and a heritage recognized abroad as genuine and deeply attached to the beautiful country, it would definitely be hard to choose just one ingredient. 
In each plate there is a story with roots that go back centuries of culinary evolution, of cultural of traditions and routes that have crossed oceans, territories and borders. 
 
There are personal and family stories, habits and customs; there is the life in the towns, there are smells, childhood memories and affections, there are moments in each of our lives which bind us to a nicely set dinner table. 
Recipes, tastes and flavors that play a soundtrack in our heads, even before being tasted, savored and enjoyed. There are smells which fill up the kitchen and the steaming pots that transform the house into a cozy place, in a time of gathering and sharing. There are habits that bind us to foods, to people, to the way of being and living. And then there’s the variety. The thousand interpretations of the same dish that from north to south are reinvented with the same ingredients, transforming those same ingredients into entirely different dishes that color the local traditions. A colorful palette of flavors which over time has given Italy an extremely rich and varied menu . . . in Italian cooking there is heart, the essence of every Italian.

Next September Villas of Italy will explore the history, culture, foods, wines . . . the essence of Tuscany.
Life is short . . . Italy is waiting . . . when are you going? Join us!