Happy New Year 2018

Happy New Year! Felice Capodanno!

The Duomo, Florence

The start of a new year is always a time of reflection – of looking back to the past year and ahead to the year just beginning. It’s also a time to catch your breath after the hubbub of the busy holiday season and to appreciate the lengthening daylight hours as we head toward spring.

This year, we at Two Parts Italy are doing our post-holiday rest and reflection at home in New Mexico. This is quite a change from last January when we launched this blog live from Italy as we celebrated the new year in Lucca. What an exciting way that was to start a new project and a new year!

In the past year we’ve written 75 or so posts, about Italian regions and cities, markets, foods, language, culture, music, travel and, of course, Lucca – one of our favorite places. And what adventures we had in 2017 – studying Italian in Italy, traveling to new places (Verona! Bologna! Pistoia!) and rediscovering others (Florence!).

Verona, Piazza Bra

Lambrusco Wine, Bologna

Pistoia, Market Day

We also traveled to (and wrote about) places in the U.S., and we've offered up recipes and general travel tips. We have enjoyed every minute of the adventures and the writing. All of the past year’s posts, organized by topic, can be found by clicking on the “Index” tab at the top of the page. We hope our older posts might provide you some distraction during the long days of January and February and inspire you to plan some travel. Here are a few of our favorite photos from our 2017 blog posts:

Villa Balbionello, Lake Como

Cinque Terre

Cloister, Santo Stefano, Bologna

Monreale Cathedral, Sicily

Temple of Concordia, near Agrigento

Tuscan views,Agriturismo Cretiaole

Looking ahead, we will start this year with a post about the beautiful city of Verona, a place we visited last fall. We also have new travel adventures planned - in 2018 Judy will travel to Hawaii, Italy, and Croatia. Joanne embarks on her first ocean cruise in February, which will take her to Barcelona, the French Riviera, and Tuscany. After that, she plans to spend almost half the year (spring and fall) in Lucca with a hope to see some of you there!

Lucca Italian School

Looking even further ahead to spring of 2019 – we hope you will join us on a Two Parts Italy travel experience. We will be taking a small group to Lucca for a week of language study and adventures in and around Lucca. Five mornings will be spent in small group classes at our favorite Italian language school. Afternoons will center around getting to know Lucca through cooking, wine, music, and culture, as well as exploring this marvelous medieval city. We'll leave some time for shopping too! If you've dreamed of studying Italian in Italy, or just want an introduction to the Italian language in the midst of a great trip, please join us! Individualized classes can accommodate all levels of Italian language learners, from beginning to fluent. Look for details and pricing for the 2019 trip this spring.

We want to thank all of you, our readers, for your support and encouragement throughout this year and for traveling with us through the blog. We appreciate your feedback, your reactions, and especially hearing that we’ve inspired you to travel to Italy. We also appreciate that so many of you have “liked” us on the Two Parts Italy Facebook page and that you share our Facebook posts! Best of all – we loved meeting so many of you in Italy this year, talking about your love of Italy, sharing a glass of wine, a caffe, or a meal, and comparing adventures. Italian travelers are the most interesting people! Here's to a 2018 full of good health, good friends and good travel!

Il Bernino Restaurant and Cafe

It seems as though with every stay in Lucca I discover a new restaurant to add to my list of favorites. On my most recent trip my discovery was Il Bernino, a small restaurant and cafe with a wide variety of delicious offerings. I wanted to try it because one of the new owners is a friend and also because I'd heard rave reviews from my Lucca Italian School classmates.

I kept returning to Il Bernino because the food is so good, the service friendly, and the prices reasonable. The setting is also beautiful. It's clear that the chef and owners care about the quality of the food - with an eye to using fresh local products and making seasonal changes to the menu.

The pretty counter is a perfect place to sip your espresso Italian style, standing at the bar.

An after lunch macchiato - these cups made me smile!

I first stopped in late one morning for a quick cappuccino, served Italian style, standing at the bar. It was a good espresso with just the right amount of steamed milk - a perfect mid-morning pick-me-up. An after lunch macchiato was also tasty on another day! 

The panini (sandwiches) in the display case looked so good that I grabbed one "da porta via" (to go) for an impromptu picnic on the city walls. It was simple but oh so tasty - a good prosciutto and a bit of cheese on a fabulous olive-studded filone (a long thin baguette). A great picnic lunch.

My next visit was for pranzo (lunch) with a friend (Judy, whom you know as the co-writer of this blog). We both ordered the same thing - spaghetti con vongole e limone (spaghetti with clams and lemon). This was a unique presentation in that the clams were chopped (as opposed to served in the shells) and the dish was topped with fragrant lemon zest. It was delicate and delicious - a dish I can't wait to have again and will certainly crave when I return home to New Mexico.

Next up (remember, I was in Lucca for almost two months) was another lunch, this time a Caesar salad with a juicy, perfectly grilled chicken breast on top. Grilled chicken is not a common dish here in Lucca, so finding this on the menu was a real treat. It was artfully arranged, with lettuce, radicchio, and small tomatoes  lightly topped with the chicken and a flavorful dressing. Another wonderful meal.

Il Bernino is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (closed Mondays). It's also a great spot for an aperitivo. There is a pretty outdoor seating area. For more formal dining, or on chilly days, head inside and up the stairs to the inviting dining room with it's attractive art and soft music.

Il Bernino is situated at the corner of Via Fillungo and Via Mordini. The outdoor seating is just a bit off busy Via Fillungo - close enough to watch the activity on what is Lucca's "Main Street" but at enough of a distance to feel quiet and relaxed.

Add this wonderful little place to my list of favorites in Lucca!

-post by JMB

The pretty upstairs dining room.

Contact information:  Il Bernino Via Filungo 86, Lucca.   

Arrivederci Lucca

Piazza Anfiteatro (the Roman Amphitheater) 

Last days in Lucca are always bittersweet. I look forward to returning home, to reconnecting with family and friends. I miss my kids and grandkids when I'm away; I'm sure the little ones have grown inches taller while I’ve been in Italy. And yet, I am terribly sad to say goodbye to Lucca, which feels as much like home to me as does New Mexico. Returning to Albuquerque for the late fall and the holidays means missing those wonderful seasons in Italy. Staying in Lucca would mean missing them in New Mexico. This is the challenge of a life divided by place - just where is home, and where is away? Which is "here" and which is "there"?

By necessity my last day was partially spent sorting through things I've accumulated in the last weeks, clearing out the refrigerator and kitchen in my apartment, and packing. But I also spent a lot of time wandering through Lucca and saying arrivederci to people and places. As I wandered, I tried to commit to memory my favorite views - rooftops, gardens, towers, statues, churches, medieval streetscapes, cafes, and squares. 

A favorite bar / cafe just off Piazza San Michele, Lucca

I stopped for a late morning cappuccino - an Italian ritual I will sorely miss at home. I tried to absorb the sounds and scents of the city and the magical sound of the Italian language (oh how I will miss my classes at Lucca Italian School).  And of course I took a long walk on Le Mura (the walls) and sat on "my" bench overlooking the back of the church and bell tower of San Frediano and the gardens of Palazzo Pfanner.  Of all the views of Lucca from Le Mura, this is my favorite.

A delicious farewell lunch at Gigi Trattoria.

I had a long, slow lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Gigi Trattoria. They served a fabulous autumn dish, risotto con zucca e salsiccia (pumpkin and sausage), alongside delicate verdure fritte (fried vegetables), a vino bianco frizzante (sparkling white wine)  and 2 little homemade cookies (Biscotti di Gigi). Knowing I would be gone for the next 4 months, they wished me not only Buon Viaggio but also Buone Feste (happy holidays), Buon Natale (Merry Christmas), and Buon Capodanno (Happy New Year ). We parted with the traditional Italian kisses and a "ci vediamo in Marzo" (see you in March). This welcoming friendliness, this willingness to embrace a straniera (foreigner) is one of the many reasons I love Lucca.

Late in the afternoon, because looking ahead makes leaving a bit easier, I walked past the apartment I have already rented for spring. It's right across from the Torre Guinigi (the tower with the trees on top) and around the corner from the Boccherini Music Institute. I know that I will hear music from the  student rehearsals drifting through my windows when I return in spring. Until then, I will be writing about my experiences in Italy this fall, daydreaming about Lucca, cooking Italian dishes at home, trying to build stronger language skills, and doing all I can to remain in an Italian frame of mind.            post by JMB

The Torre Guinigi, near the apartment I have rented for Spring 2018.

Autumn in Italy

It's difficult to pick a favorite season it Italy - who wouldn't enjoy a gentle rainy spring, a warm early summer, or the festive winter holiday season. But autumn - autumn is magic in Italy. So if I have to pick a favorite season, it would be autumn. 

Fall color along Le Mura (the walls) in Lucca, Italy

Colorful vines in Bellagio, Lago di Como, late September 2016.

October brings cooler temperatures, changing colors, along with the fall harvest and vendemmia (grape harvest). There are many sagras (food festivals) including sagras to celebrate castagne (chestnuts), porcini mushrooms, chocolate (is there a better place to celebrate chocolate than Perugia?) and wine. Fall is truffle season and the hill town of San Miniato, in Tuscany (along with a number of other Italian villages), hosts several weekends of truffle events. November is also the traditional month of the olive harvest and the time in which new olive oil is pressed. For foodies, fall in Italy offers a wide variety of gastronomic experiences including classes on olive oil and wine and even the opportunity for hands-on participation in the vendemmia and olive harvests.

Grape vines at Agriturismo Cretaiole, near Pienza, ready for the harvest in early October 2016.

This beautiful costume is from a photo shoot for a previous year's Lucca Comics and Games.

In addition to food celebrations there are many fall cultural events and festivals throughout Italy.

In Lucca, where I spend most of my time, the big event is Lucca Comics and Games, held each year in late October / early November (this year's dates were November 1 - 5). If you are a fan of comics or gaming, or dressing up in fantastic costumes, this is definitely the place to be in fall. Over 250,000 people attend (it's the largest comics event in Europe), most dressed in costumes to fit the year's theme.

There are other fall events as well, celebrating everything from Italian cinema to saint's days to medieval competitions. There is no shortage of things to do during an Italian autumn.

As for me, my favorite fall activity is walking along the walls in Lucca as the trees change from green to gold and red, hearing the crunch of leaves below my feet, feeling the autumn chill in the air, and just breathing it all in.                                                        post by JMB

The House of Dante

With all the amazing sites to see in Florence, it’s hard to find time to visit some of the lesser-known museums. During my spring trip to Italy, I took an hour or so to visit the Museo Casa di Dante (Museum House of Dante) because how could I pass up the chance to learn more about the man considered the father of the language I love so much?

A bust of Dante hangs on the outside wall of the Museo Casa di Dante.

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and the Museo Casa di Dante is said to be where he and his family lived. The museum is housed on three floors of a historic building in the heart of Florence. It was established in 1965 and offers a peek into the various aspects of Dante’s life. Dante, after all, wasn’t just the man credited with establishing the national language of Italy. He also was a politician and epic poet, whose “Divine Comedy” is one of world literature’s masterpieces.

Museo Casa di Dante in Florence

In addition to providing information about Dante, the museum looks at what was happening in Italy at different periods of Dante’s life. There’s a reproduction, for example, of what Italian soldiers wore way back when, as well as weapons from the Battle of Campaldino, in which Dante fought.

Reproductions such as this one of a soldier offer a glimpse into what life was like in Florence in the 14th century.

One of the most moving parts of the museum is the second floor, which includes information about Dante’s exile from Florence. One display case includes a reproduction of the “Libro del Chiodo,” or “Book of the Nail.” The book is a record of sentences handed down in Florence during the 14th century. It is called the “Book of the Nail” because it was bound in wooden covers and hung from a nail in the courtroom. Among the sentences in the book is Dante’s – if he ever returned to Florence, he was to be burned at the stake.

The "Libro del Chiodo," or "Book of the Nail"

The top floor of the museum is devoted to the “Divine Comedy” - a topic I could write about for days (but I won’t). It doesn’t take long to visit the Museo Casa di Dante, although most first-time visitors to Florence with limited time will no doubt choose to gaze at the David and try to conquer the Uffizi instead. But language and literature lovers should definitely stop by this small museum, which is located not far from the Duomo.                                                                             -post by JG

Museocasadidante.it