In October, I had the privilege of attending a Fabric Art Retreat in Tuscany. My travels have taken me to Europe several times before but this was my first trip to Italy. We spent ten days at Il Baciarino in Vetulonia, attending an educational opportunity related to fabric eco-dying and the use of natural dyes, given by Chandra Rice. We also had the opportunity to learn Italian cooking from Chandra’s husband, Andrea and were coached on Italian customs as well as critical phrases to use while interacting with people outside of the retreat.
We learned how to make homemade pasta dishes, pizza, salad, and desserts. We made cocktails and had the opportunity to eat locally made buffalo yogurt and cheeses as well as jams, olive oil, and wines made on the property. Italian food turned out to be made with a few high-quality local ingredients. Sauces were sometimes simple and sometimes day-long affairs. The woodfired outdoor pizza oven baked the thin-crust pizza in two minutes because it was so hot. Here in Canada, we tend to pile many ingredients on our often thick-crusted pizza, but in Italy, pizza is much simpler with a very thin crust and is only topped with two or three ingredients. Olive oil is often drizzled over the pizza after it is baked. It was simply delicious.
On our outings to local towns, we visited a beach, a hot spring, local historic sights, a museum, and a market. Each outing presented opportunities to order Café con latte (coffee with milk), and Café Espresso (Espresso). We learned to say Grazie (thank you), Grazie Mille (thank you very much), Prego (you are welcome), Panino (Sandwich), etc. The people we talked to when ordering food didn’t always speak English and they really appreciated our efforts to use Italian. We also found pointing at the pastry or sandwich you wanted worked too. Chandra told us that Cappuccino and Café con latte were not served with dinner because the milk was considered too heavy to drink late in the day. Coffees that use milk are considered breakfast drinks. When asking for a Cappuccino in Florence at dinner, the waiter showed me the restaurant rules on his phone. The rules were:
1. No ice served in wine.
2. No cappuccino with dinner.
3. No Spritzers after dinner.
These are all things that are common in Canada but NOT done in Italy.
There are no tips given to wait staff in restaurants. Instead, there is a Coperto (cover charge) on the receipt to pay for being waited on. It was usually one to one and a half Euros per person which amounted to approximately a dollar and a half to two and a half dollars; a small price to pay to have a comfortable table and be waited on. Take-out orders didn’t have a cover charge.
The block print attached to this blog, I created at the workshop. It illustrates a Bar (Restaurant) front not to be confused with a Bar in Canada. If you visit Italy I hope this blog proves useful. Tuscany was amazing with beautiful scenery, mountain-top walled towns, history, and art everywhere. It was a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in paradise.
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