Food as Art

A cold Aperol Spritz on an Italian Piazza is the perfect antidote to a too hot summer day. I will do this immediately when I return to Lucca this week.

It’s the second week of August and it’s hot, punishingly hot. 

Mother Nature seems to be very angry with us humans – sending not just heat but also drought and terrible fires our way in Europe, Canada, and the US.  Even an earthquake centered near Pisa last week! This has everyone seeming on edge, just a little grumpy, and ready for this summer to wind down, myself included. 

Much as I try to write, I keep getting distracted.  So this will be a very short blog post.

I am returning to Italy this week and bracing myself for not just heat, but humidity too. A double whammy of summer weather. It will be especially challenging because as soon as I get back to Lucca I will be moving to a new apartment. Moving in the August heat is a bit crazy.  Shouldn’t I be celebrating Ferragosto in the cooler mountains or on a beach somewhere?  Sounds like poor planning on my part!

Peppers from Puglia at the Bologna market.

My mind right now is half consumed with packing, double checking my flights, and closing up my New Mexico condo.  The other half is already in the new apartment, thinking about how I will decorate to make it a little cozier than its current “IKEA chic” style. No wonder I am too distracted to do much writing.

Instead, I’ve been searching through old photos, especially ones from markets, shops, farms, and restaurants.  In other words, photos of food.  I think prints of these photos will make good (and inexpensive) kitchen art in my new place.  Choosing the ones I will frame and use has been a good project this past week.

Pictured above: handmade pici at Agriturismo Cretaiole, bread from the big market in Avignon, eggs from a cooking class at Fattoria di Fubbiano.

Below: beets, asparagus & artichokes, all from spring-time markets in Lucca.

Colorful fruits, veggies, and local products are their own form of art, right? Better yet, each photo will remind me of an experience that I’ve had while living in Italy or traveling to other places in Europe.

Below: fruit from markets in Bologna, Lucca, and Rapallo

Included here are some of my favorites, soon to be found hanging as art in my new kitchen.  I hope they might provide a nice break from the summer heat for you too. 

I can almost smell the fragrance of this dish from Pietrasanta.

December Markets

Palazzo Sani’s Meraki Market

Lucca is a busy place in the weeks leading up to the winter holidays.  Along with the tree lightings, street music, holiday processions, and Christmas concerts, there are a number of temporary markets. On the first weekend of December I counted 5 different markets. It was a full day visiting all of them!

The first stop was in Palazzo Sani for the Meraki Market.  This annual market was filled with handcrafted goods by local artisans.  It was the perfect place to shop for ceramics, hand painted paper goods, beautiful knit or felted hats and scarfs, wooden objects, and pretty linens - all within a centuries old palazzo. 

 Next stop, Piazza Anfiteatro. This large outdoor space was once the site of a Roman Amphitheater.  These days it maintains the original oval shape but is ringed with shops, restaurants, and wine bars.  A large, modern Christmas tree sits in the center of the piazza and, on the first weekend of December, visitors to the chocolate market filled the piazza.

Chocolate in just about every form possible made an appearance.  There were several booths offering  cioccolata calda con panna  (hot chocolate with whipped cream).  Others offered chocolate bars, discs, truffles, and fruits dipped in chocolate.  There were special shapes and lollipops, even chocolate “salami”.  Not a chocolate lover?  Other options included ciambelle (Italian donuts rolled in sugar), crepes, and mulled wine.  A little something for every taste.

The third market was in Piazza San Frediano.  The small piazza was filled with wooden huts, very much a traditional Christmas market look. As always, the backdrop of the church with it’s wonderful mosaics, added to the scene.

For sale were a variety of foods (necci!), drinks, jewelry, and crafts. There was no shortage of Christmas decorations, including presepe figurines. Though small, this felt like the most authentic and local Christmas market - definitely my favorite!

The smallest market filled Piazza San Giusto.  Less a holiday market than an arts and crafts fair, this was a good place to shop for gifts - turned wood pens, colorful decorative pieces, art, and jewelry.

Piazza San Giusto craft market

The last market was the French Market which filled Lucca’s largest piazza, Piazza Napoleone.  This is the city’s largest Christmas Market and it will remain open throughout December.

A taste of a French Christmas in Lucca

The booths are all decorated for Christmas, but, as this is a French themed market, the signs say Joyeaux Noel (instead of the Italian Buon Natale) and the products are traditionally French.  It is like stepping into a neighborhood in Paris during the holidays.  The market has a little bit of everything, from French linens to lavender scented soaps and lotions. 

There was a definite emphasis on food at this market.  One booth is a French bakery with croissants, baguettes, quiches, and delicate French pastries.  Another is filled with French cheeses.  One sells just about every type of French cookie imaginable.  There is a booth filled with spices, teas, and coffee beans.  If you need some French jam or honey, that is here too.  It is impossible to go hungry at the December French Market, but totally possible to go home with a bag full of goodies.

Hats and scarfs?  There is a booth for that. Jewelry? Check. Hot chocolate or hot mulled wine? Of course.  And for a little time out, watch the Carousel in the piazza which is decorated for Christmas and filled with happy children.

Wandering the December markets in Lucca made for a fun weekend filled with holiday spirit.

A quick note: I recently realized that I had a lot of email from readers sent to a gmail account. That account was acquired in setting up the blog but it is not one I ever use, in fact I forgot it even existed. So, if I haven’t answered an email you sent me it is simply because I never saw it! I promise to respond if you use this email address - jobartram@comcast.net

Early Spring in Lucca

The first wisteria of 2025 in the Giardino degli Observant.

As March heads into April there are definite hints of spring in Lucca.  While the weather is still unpredictable, there have been some days just sunny enough to feel a touch of spring warmth on our faces.  I haven’t put away my warm coat and scarves (or my umbrella) just yet, but I can feel the day coming when I will be able to pack them away until next fall.

In my mind, two things mark the early spring season in Italy.  First is the appearance of blossoms. March’s Magnolias fade quickly but are soon replaced with Wisteria. The Wisteria are just beginning to bloom with the first sprays of flowers appearing last week. This past week also saw the first white rose along the path I walk when heading for my language lessons at Lucca Italian School. Soon the whole path will be lined with them. In the past few days I also came across a bed of white calla lilies, something I had not seen before in Lucca.  Gorgeous!

Calla Lilies in bloom at the entrance to the Casa di Cura Santa Zita

Flowers are also blooming in window boxes and on terraces throughout Lucca, spots that will become even more colorful after the spring Verde Mura which is scheduled for the first weekend in April. The annual garden show showcases flowers, herbs, fruit trees, and anything else needed for the garden. 

The second sign of early spring for me happens in the markets.  Agretti is the first to appear (sometimes as early as late January / early February).  This past week asparagus and artichokes were in abundance. Pots of herbs arrived at the Ortofrutta this week too.

There are also fresh spring peas, perfect raw in salads or added to a pasta primavera.  And zucchini flowers!  While they are wonderful stuffed and fried, I never actually go to the trouble to prepare them in that way (isn’t that what restaurants are for?).  But, chopped along with the zucchini itself they make a tasty addition to a frittata. Big bundles of Tropea Onions, available year round from southern Italy, add a splash of color to the Spring market.

From southern Italy come bright red, flavorful strawberries.  Topped with a whipped combination of cream and mascarpone they make a delicious yet simple dessert. Crumble a few amaretti cookies on top for an extra treat.

As early spring progresses to the warmth of late April and May, Lucca will provide an evolving parade of opportunities to enjoy the colors, blooms, and tastes of Tuscany.

The Gift of Figs

It’s fig season!   

Black figs at an Italian market

One of my strongest taste memories is of eating a ripe fig, straight from the tree and warm from the Italian sun.  It happened on a trip long before I moved to Italy. I could not tell you exactly where I was or who I was with, but I recall standing in the front yard of private home, speaking with the owner (an American who had moved to Italy), listening to his story and picking figs from his tree. I remember the taste of that fig with longing.  And its taste is interwoven with the beginnings of my dreams of moving to Italy. That was one important fig!

In Italian, a fig is a fico.  Two figs are fichi.  An albero di fichi is a fig tree.  But use these words with caution.  Substituting the wrong vowel at the end changes the meaning entirely and is quite vulgar.  Avoid that at all costs!   You may also hear the word fico used to mean “cool”.    If someone tells you “sei fico” that’s a compliment – you’re cool.

Both black and green figs grow throughout Italy, especially in the south.  There is even a wild fig tree growing beside a bridge over the Serchio river between Lucca and nearby Monte San Quirico.   Pretty tempting to pick one of those beauties.

Green and black figs at a market in Italy

 In Italy, figs are popular in both sweet and savory dishes.  They can be wrapped with prosciutto, added to a salad, baked in a crostata, or made into jam.  Figs and nuts are a popular combination, baked into a sweet roll they make a decadent but tasty prima colazione (breakfast) or dessert.

 In the US, figs are mostly grown in California and parts of the south, though they seem much less popular in the US than in Italy.   I don’t think I had ever tasted a fig before that fresh-from-the-tree one in Italy (Fig Newtons don’t count). Since I most often spend the summer months in New Mexico, where my kids and grandkids live, I usually miss out on much of the Italian fig season. 

 It was a real treat then, and a surprise, when a friend gifted me a mix of black and green figs grown in the small town of Tijeras, in the hills east of Albuquerque. I had no idea that figs grew here. The question became what to do with them.   One of the black ones, large and sweet, found its way into my morning yogurt.   But the others were saved for a late afternoon aperitivo that I was planning to host a few days later.

For the aperitivo, I cut each fig in half and topped it with mild goat cheese (softened at room temperature).  Next, a drizzle of honey.  It looked like it needed just a little something more, so the final touch was a sprinkle of chopped salted pistachios.  It could not have been more simple, yet the combination of flavors was anything but.  The black figs were larger and definitely sweeter than the green. But the green ones, firmer and a bit less sweet, were also delicious.   For a bit of added color, I added some apricots to the plate. The aperitivo was rounded out with a few other tidbits (hummus with carrots, some green olives, and a few salty pretzels).   All went well with a pitcher of Aperol Spritz. 

 My friend Julie, the giver of the gift of figs, made a variation using ricotta flavored with a little Amaretto in place of the goat cheese. She was happy with that combination and I am anxious to try it. And how pretty was her presentation?

I’ll return to Italy in August and fortunately figs will still be in season.  I am looking forward to Italian fichi con formaggio di capra (goat cheese) e pistacchio. 

Sunday Morning at Lucca’s Antiques Market

I am trying to imagine how this old wheel barrow would have been used.

The monthly antiques market in Lucca takes place the weekend of the 3rd Sunday of each month. If planning a visit pay careful attention to the calendar - count Sundays, not Saturdays, else you might miss it!

Strolling through the market, which spills across several large piazzas in town, is a once a month ritual for me. The small size of my apartment in Lucca doesn’t allow me to buy much, but I always have fun looking.

Some vendors show up every month with similar wares - glass demijohns, old cameras, silver serving wear, chandeliers, glassware, tea cups, old brass, vintage clothing. But I often find either something new and different or a particularly eye catching object. That’s what keeps the market interesting month after month !

Blue skies and mild temperatures enhance the experience of a market stroll.

At the June market, I was really taken by this vintage brass espresso machine. If only I had room for it in my tiny kitchen.

And this - is it a small Grappa press ? I imagine a home grape producer using it to press his leftover grape skins to make some excellent small batch grappa. A perfect hobby for a grape growing Nonno.

I’ve seen several metal chickens and other animal sculptures over the years, but this is the first cockatoo I have found. At least cockatoo is my best guess for this yellow plumed bird.

I would love to know his story.

The assortment of intriguing objects, and the artful way they are displayed, brings out my camera every time. These are just a few of the interesting finds from the June market.

As an added bonus last month, a brass band, complete with pompom girls, marched straight through the market. They stopped in front of Lucca’s Duomo to entertain a crowd of market goers. Just a little extra fun on market day !