For Want of the Perfect Risotto

I have been craving a certain dish – risotto alla faraona - for exactly one year, ever since I returned from Italy last spring. Not just any risotto will do; it is the one from Gigi Trattoria in Lucca that I long for. It’s a straightforward dish with captivating flavor; tender short-grain rice cooked in a fragrant stock with little bits of guinea fowl throughout, served piping hot. Unlike so many risottos served in the United States it is not gummed up with cheese or overloaded with added ingredients. Forgive the oxymoron when I say it has a simple complexity of flavor. It is the perfect comfort food and there is nothing better on a cool or rainy spring day.

There are, however, two problems here. The first is distance - I live 5,702 miles from Lucca so I can’t exactly run out for dinner at Gigi Trattoria to indulge my craving. Second, Italian cooking is seasonal, which is only a problem in this case (otherwise it's one of the great strengths of food in Italy). Even though I’ve returned to Lucca twice since last spring, I have not found this dish on the menu. Imagine me, returning to my much-loved Gigi Trattoria in September after months away, all set to order my favorite risotto, only to find that it was simply not considered a fall dish and so not on the menu. Same story when I returned again in December – guinea fowl is an early spring food the trattoria owner told me; in winter one eats dark meats and heavier foods. Come back in spring!

A great pasta dish at Gigi Trattoria - but not my risotto!

The Torre Guinigi, topped with trees, as seen from the patio of Gigi Trattoria,

 

A craving that goes unfulfilled for so long grows and grows and becomes a monster. Is risotto addictive? I need this risotto, I dream about this risotto. I dare not try to recreate it as I know my attempts will simply not satisfy. I want the real deal, ideally eaten while dining fuori (outside) on the patio at Gigi Trattoria with a great view of the Torre Guinigi in Lucca. 

I have just arrived back in Lucca - will my craving finally be fulfilled?  Not yet as it turns out.  But I was told that come the first of April risotto alla faraona will be back on the menu.  Stay tuned.

-post by JB

Seduced by Italian

It was always the language. There are many things to love about Italy, but when people ask me what I first fell in love with, the answer is: the language. Before I ever set foot in the country, I fell in love with Italian.

The Pantheon in Rome

On my first trip to Italy, I visited what travel books call "The Big Three": Venice, Florence and Rome. Before I went, I wanted to learn a bit of the language. I bought the obligatory "traveler's Italian" tapes and a book from a bookstore (this was before you could download lessons on the Internet) and started studying one night after work. That night led to the next and the next and the next. Studying Italian became an obsession. For me, the full-bodied musicality of the Italian language is as seductive as the country's beautiful people, landscape and art.

The first city I visited in Italy was Venice. Staying at a small hotel near Piazza San Marco, I awoke the morning after my arrival and headed to the breakfast room. I greeted a young waiter with a hearty "Buon giorno. Com'e sta?" and actually saw the man's eyes light up when he heard me speak Italian - even though I only spoke four small words. I felt so proud, so worldly, so Italian. The waiter answered with a fast-paced string of several sentences that left me wide-eyed and stammering a somewhat embarrassed, "Oh, no, no, no, no - that's all I can say." Instead of being annoyed, he gave me a gracious smile and asked - in English - if I wanted a coffee or cappuccino. The conversation left me feeling a bit foolish. But it also gave me an idea of what a connection I would be able to make with people in Italy if I could speak their language.

Along with the architecture, history, music and food of Italy, the language seduces.

The next morning, I awoke, opened the windows in my room and listened to two Italian men talk on the street below. I had no idea what they were saying, yet I could have listened to the melodic conversation all day. On every trip to Italy, part of what I enjoy is the Italian language soundtrack I get to hear. And as my ability to speak the language has improved, I find that just having a brief conversation in Italian with a train station clerk or waiter brings me sheer joy.

Florence was among the cities I visited on my first trip to Italy.

I have studied Italian on my own and with wonderful Italian tutors in New Mexico. Last year, I studied Italian in Italy for the first time. I went to the Lucca Italian School. What fun! What wonderful teachers! What interesting fellow students! (Look for blog posts about the school by Joanne in a few weeks.) I'm heading back this year and non vedo l'ora (I can't wait).

-post by JG

Outside the Great Walls of Lucca

When I've been in Lucca before, I've only ventured outside the walls of the city to walk to the train station. So on my recent trip, I wanted to see what was beyond the imposing walls constructed in the 15th and 16th centuries - especially after I tasted a dessert from a pasticceria in the Borgo Giannotti neighborhood. (Pastry is a powerful motivator!)

Outside the walls of Lucca, January 2017.

The historic center of Lucca is within the walls, which were built to defend the city and remain intact today. The walls are essentially a 4-kilometer-long (almost 2.5-mile) park for residents and visitors alike. Biking, walking, jogging, sitting and watching other people bike, walk and jog - it all takes place on the walls.

Heading out the northern Porta Santa Maria exit from the historic center, there is an underground passageway to Borgo Giannotti, a typical Italian neighborhood with tiny restaurants, bakeries, a flower shop, butcher and other small businesses lining the main street.

Flowers brighten a winter day in Borgo Giannotti just outside the walls of Lucca, January 2017.

It's an easy and interesting walk along a road that is heavily trafficked by cars - something that does not happen inside the walls of Lucca because cars are only allowed in certain areas and often only for certain reasons such as loading and unloading. 

The destination on the walk Joanne and I took near the end of our December 2016/January 2017 trip to Lucca was Pasticceria Sandra, L'Angolo Dolce. Friends had brought us a cream-and-raspberry torta from there earlier in the week (read all about it in Joanne's earlier post, Pranzo con Amici).

Pasticceria Sandra, L'Angolo Dolce - culinary craftsmanship at its best.

The pasticceria is small. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in creativity and culinary craftsmanship. A glass display case in the center of the shop holds dozens of delectable delights, including cakes, cupcakes, miniature pastries, panini (sandwiches) and more. Each one has been created as a unique piece of edible art. At the back of the shop is a coffee bar. Joanne and I each ordered a mid-morning cornetto con crema and cappuccino. The cornetti (that's the plural of cornetto, which is like a croissant) were perfectly flaky and buttery and filled in the center with a soft cream that was not too rich but sufficiently sweet.

The River Serchio, January 2017.

Fortified by coffee and sugar, we hit the road again, following it through Borgo Giannotti to the River Serchio, which flows toward the Ligurian Sea. Walking/biking paths run alongside the river and on a clear day like we had, there is a nice view of the Tuscan hills in the distance. I love to explore, and this easy walk through Borgo Giannotti was a nice way to spend part of a day. I spied a church on a hill to the north of the river, and now I'm looking forward to exploring it on my next visit!

   -post by JG

Welcome to Two Parts Italy

Happy New Year from Lucca, Italy! Can you feel the excitement in our writing?

View fullsize

San Michele church in Lucca. spring 2016.

We are Joanne and Judy, friends, travel buddies, aspiring speakers of the Italian language, lovers of Italian food and wine, and daughters of Italian fathers. We met several years ago in an Italian language class in New Mexico and quickly learned that we shared a passion for Italian travel and culture. We hope you will join us as we explore Italy – its people, places, food, traditions– all the things that make Italy our favorite travel destination.

Trastevere, Rome.

Let’s start with a question: What is your recipe for happiness? Most would say health, love, family, friends, and meaningful work are essential ingredients. We would agree. But is there a magical addition, some special something that kicks it up a notch? A little of this and a pinch of that combined in such a way that the result has you smiling at strangers, dancing in your kitchen, singing out loud, totally in touch with joy? The perfect happiness recipe. For us, that magic ingredient is Italy. Just writing the word brings a smile. Trip planning leads to dancing. Actually being there is when the singing out loud begins. Italy.

Palermo, Sicily.

Neither one of us is Frances Mayes. We don’t have a restored house in Tuscany, nor the resources to believe we ever will. A small apartment there remains an elusive dream. Neither of us has quit a job, waved goodbye to family and friends, and moved full time to Italy. We aren’t wealthy; our travel style is budget-friendly. But spending time in Italy, exploring cities and countrysides, lakes and villas, vineyards and olive groves, volcanoes and towers, has become a passion and an important ingredient in each of our recipes for happiness. If you want to see me (Joanne) happy, give me a small apartment in Lucca, some time in the market buying picture-perfect produce, some freshly baked focaccia, and an hour to cook up a meal for friends. For Judy, just give her spaghetti con vongole and some music in a piazza anywhere in Italy.

In the end it comes down to this: Whatever the other ingredients, the recipe for a happy life always includes the addition of two parts Italy.                                                                                                             - post by JB

PS:  If you’d like to know more about us, you can read our profiles under the “About Us” tab.