Food tourism and kitchen fun

Part of the fun of travelling is the food. My very first trip out of the country was to Italy when I was 19 and I had octopus for the first time. It felt daring and tasted delicious.

Restaurants in Italy are a reliable way to have positive food adventures. I agree with my wife when she says "there is no bad food in Italy". However, Italian fresh markets, bakeries, and grocery stores can also be a feast for the eyes.

Pizza Margherita in Naples and 
"crescione", a sandwich made with flatbread in San Gimignano.

One of my favourite things to do in Italy is to walk into a new bar or bakery to look for new variations on bread, pizza, and focaccia. There's almost always something beautiful and delicious looking and there's often something new (to me). Recalling these food memories and experimenting in my kitchen when I'm home help me enjoy a trip long after it's over.

At a bar in Sicily, some ready-to-eat pizza caught my attention because it was folded over like a sandwich. Such a simple but different presentation gave it quite a different look. I filed that memory away and by the time I got home I had an idea for what I now call "stuffed pizza". It's really just a variation on pizza and calzone but it creates a very different finished product.

Pat's Stuffed Pizza

(This would never be called "pizza" in Italy!)

I place about twice the normal amount of filling on a pizza dough, top it with another pizza dough, crimp the edges and score the top so that it doesn't inflate. I bake it at 500 F on a pizza screen in my gas oven for about 10 minutes. This is a good way to make a big meal because each round is equivalent to two "pizze". It's also easy to reheat on a skillet or griddle because with crust on both sides, you can flip it over.

Making stuffed pizza has inspired me to experiment with toppings (actually fillings). This one has smoked mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, Crimini mushrooms, and olives.

Filling before adding top dough

Stuffed Pizza out of the oven

The crust is crispier after reheating on a steel griddle or over coals

Now that I'm thinking about food tourism and kitchen experiments, I'll probably make some more posts on that theme.

A walk to Monteriggioni

On November 5th, we walked from our apartment in Colle Val d'Elsa to Monteriggioni and took a bus home. The round trip took 6.5 hours which included 2 hours in Monteriggioni.

6:30 - woke up to alarm. Made coffee in our stovetop espresso maker. Breakfast of toast, ricotta cheese, dried fruit and yogurt.

Packed sandwiches of ricotta cheese, prosciutto, lettuce, and Gran Cereale cookies. Transferred our route, which I'd created in Google Earth, to my GPS receiver.

9:00 to 9:40 - Walking south from Colle, we were on pleasant urban and suburban sidewalks with light traffic.

Starting at the northwest end of the green line, we had urban and suburban sidewalks from 9:00 to 9:40

9:40 to 11:00 - Our route along country roads with almost no traffic also happens to be the "via Francigena" (Franciscan Way), a pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome. When the sun broke through the clouds we were in short sleeves.

The via Francigena is quite well marked.

This guy rode by during our late morning sandwich break

11:30 - we came to a sign that describes a "Gran Fondo" bike race to be held on this route in the spring of 2016. The sign on the bottom is just a marker for the via Francigena. It was easy to stay on this route once we were on it but we got on an off it at various points.

Most of our route on this day was in open farmland but we passed through a small, dense stand of mixed deciduous trees.

The trail passed through a dense and dark little forest

Where we emerged from the forest  

12:00 - We came upon this little chapel that was built by a secular society dedicated to "Our Lady of the Snow". An August snowfall in Rome during the 4th century apparently created quite a stir. The building has pentagonal plan and was a private residence after it was a chapel.

"Oratorio della Madonna delle Nevi"

Our route took us through a group of buildings that was originally conceived as a family monastery in the year 1001, partly as a stopping place on the via Francigena.

Passing through Abbadia a Isola 

Monteriggioni was built on a small hill in the 13th century by the republic of Siena as a defence against Florence. Our final approach after 4 hours of walking and resting, was steep but short and beautiful.

Final approach to Monteriggioni

One of the rewards of an 18 km walk is enjoying a second lunch! We were comfortable sitting in the shade on this mild November day. The Piazza Roma was almost deserted.

Pizza at a pizzeria on the piazza 

You can go up to the top of the castle walls for a good view.

We already had bus tickets for our return to Colle but the hardest part of the whole day was finding the Monteriggioni bus stop. It was down the hill, outside the castle, a few hundred metres away. We caught our bus and were back in Colle in 20 minutes!

"Andiamo per Colle?",  "Si!"

Our customized walks in Tuscany

When we're on holiday, Jane and I like to walk and eat. Eating well in Italy is easy but how do you find the good walks?

We've tried using a few walking guidebooks but none have met our expectations. We've also considered supported walking tours and some of them sound good but they are pretty expensive. For this trip we selected two towns as "base camps" and planned our own walks. It has worked even better than we hoped!

The first thing was to pick towns big enough to be interesting and to have an apartment for rent but small enough to have country roads accessible without a long walk (we didn't rent a car). We knew Greve in Chianti was perfect because we'd been there before. Our second town, Colle Val d'Elsa seemed good based on how it looked in Google Earth. Another good indicator for Colle was that a search for "walking tours in Tuscany" brought up some commercial itineraries that included a walk from San Gimignano, through Colle, to Monteriggioni, both about 10 km away. The walking tour websites don't usually publish detailed maps but rough maps or verbal itineraries are sufficient to make educated guesses.

Here are Colle Val d'Elsa, Italy and Williams Lake, Canada in Google Earth at the same scale. It's interesting that Colle has 20,000 people versus Williams Lake's 10,000 and yet it's urban footprint appears much smaller. With thousands of little farms and country roads, it's much easier to plan a variety of walks around Colle than around Williams Lake!

If you pick an area (like Colle) where you want to walk, and zoom in with Google Earth, you can identify the minor roads and farm paths (good for walking). I did this on my laptop and transferred the tracks to a handheld GPS but you could also use a smartphone.  

Williams Lake, BC. Distance is about 10 km from left to right.

Colle Val d'Elsa (right of centre) at the same scale as above.
The yellow line is a 14.6 km walk that we did last Monday

 Here are a couple photos from that day.

Walking through the olive grove.

San Gimignano in the distance, between the olive trees

Another nice thing about Colle is that it just happens to be on the "Via Francigena" (Franciscan way) which is an old route that pilgrims travelled from Canterbury to Rome. It's now a well-used and marked route for walkers like the Camino De Santiago in Spain.

"Via Francigena" from Canterbury to Rome.
(Non-pilgrims are permitted ;-)

In Colle Val d'Elsa - walk to Poggibonsi on former rail grade

Our first impressions of Colle were very positive! Our little apartment is beautiful, we're right in the middle of the "centro storico", and the town is small enough that you can become familiar quickly.

At the tourist info office we learned of a bike and foot trail that connects this town with Poggibonsi, 8 km to the north, on the grade of a former railroad that operated from 1885 to 1987. We packed a lunch and set out on foot Sunday morning. The weather was beautiful and as soon as the sun hit us we were peeling layers off. We saw dozens of walkers and cyclists.

Percourso cicloturistico Colle - Poggibonsi

We relaxed for a while in Poggibonsi, eating sandwiches on a park bench followed by coffees in a bar before walking home. Our round trip was an "easy" 16.5 km, being a railroad grade.

Lunch in a piazza, Poggibonsi

Back in Colle, the late afternoon light on the old buildings was beautiful. We know we're lucky to be experiencing this weather, given how it is in the Cariboo this time of year.

Centro Storico, Colle Val d'Elsa

Centro Storico, Colle Val d'Elsa

In Colle Val d'Elsa (Fri, Sat, Sun)

This town is our second of two destinations where I had booked an apartment online for 11 nights. Why the long stay? It's a small town without famous sights, not written up in guidebooks. We had never been here but we knew the region had good country roads for walking. It was a bit of a gamble based on being in the middle of some recommended walking (more about that later) and the fact that I was able to find an apartment online in our price range and convenient without a rental car.

When we arrived on the train from Florence, I phoned the apartment manager (Gabrielle) from the Poggibonsi train station and he kindly came to pick us up, saving us 20 or 30 Euros for a taxi. We had a little mis-communication due to my Italian language skills but he was unfazed and happily drove us back to our apartment which is above his restaurant. We're in the centre of the oldest part of the "Centro Storico" of Colle Val d'Elsa. The name means Hill in the valley of the Elsa and the Historic Centre is on a small but sharply defined hill overlooking the larger and newer part of the city. This area was settled by the Etruscans around 4,000 B.C. and our part of the old town dates from 900 A.D. Our apartment overlooks the valley with beautiful views on two sides and we are less than a 10 minute walk from the main piazza.

The "centro storico" of Colle Val d'Elsa

One of the first things to do when you arrive in town and check into your apartment is go GROCERY shopping. Fortunately, that "chore" is more fun here than most places. We just missed the friday morning market but the Co-op Supermercato is FANTASTIC. It's easy to throw something together like this. The only thing we cooked was the porcini mushrooms fried in olive oil.

Salad of arugula, basil, cherry tomatoes, porcini mushrooms.
Plate of fava beans, olives, and grana padano cheese
Bruschetta given to us by our host. 

Walking and eating around Greve

For this trip, we picked two main destinations with long stays in each rather than going from town to town. The advantages are less time spent in train and bus stations, less time spend packing and unpacking, and lest time getting to know your way around. After 2 nights in Florence, our first destination was Greve in Chianti. We were here for a week in 2009 so we knew we would like it for its small size, great markets, and great walking in the countryside a few minutes from the main piazza.

A stone-paved country road between Greve and Panzano. We're not sure how old this type of road would have to be but there was an important route through here even in the third century B.C. 

Fresh funghi porcini at Greve's monthly Mercato Biologico (Organic Market)  

I found a Greve apartment on Booking.com that was cheaper than our typical hotel or B&B. The total for this one came to 310 Euros for 7 nights and we saved loads of money on restaurants. There's nothing more satisfying that buying and cooking fresh food in Tuscany! 

Wonderful market ingredients ... delicious, healthy, and cheap meals.

Our apartment for 7 nights in Greve, 5 minute walk from main piazza

 We had nice weather in Greve for all but one day. When you come home after walking with wet clothes it's really nice to have lots of space to spread things around. This place was well-lit, quiet and comfortable. Our host was also a really sweet man.

The downstairs of our Greve apartment

Our main activity around Greve was walking on country roads. We've used walking guidebooks in the past, without great success. This time I planned the routes in Google Earth the night before, transferred tracks to a little GPS unit and used it to navigate. It worked better than anything we've tried before but this is partly because the area west of Greve has beautiful country roads and farm tracks with almost no traffic in October.  

Montefioralle is a gorgeous little hill town a few km from Greve. Those are grape leaves turning colours.

Our longest walk was the day we took a bus to Radda and walked back to Greve. Our 7 day total was about 90 km.

Screen shot of our tracks around Greve 

Vancouver to Florence

Travel usually involves a lot of sitting and waiting but at least the Vancouver International Airport has one of the most beautiful public spaces of any terminal. Here, Jane is in the wake of Bill Reid's Legend of Sedna, one of my favourite sculptures in the world.  

At YVR Oct 20th 2015

We spent our first two nights in Florence giving us one full day to seek out our kinds of sights and activities, i.e., not the Uffizi or Academia.

Morning light on the Arno

Gypsum on sulphur from Italy, mineral collection of Adalberto Giazotti 

We bought three beautiful little water colours from Carlo Crolli on the street near the Piazza Pitti