Food, Wine, Cheese....The Tastes of Northern Italy in 5 Parts...Mangia!-Part 5

Part 5: Botanical Beauties- A collection of highlights from the gardens, palaces, and tiny little wonderful details.

One of my very favorite parts of my visits to Italy are all of the details that bombard my senses each and every day.  From the amazingly ornamented palaces, the terracotta pots filled with flowers that line the patios and streets, and the patterns that can be found in the cobblestones, these details are  seemingly infinite.  At every turn there is a new composition made up of line, color, and layers of complex space.

For my final post of this Italian series I would like to share a collection of some of my favorite moments and observations.

Observation 1: This serpentine downspout was perched on the roof of the Borgo San Donino.  He seemed to me to be quite interested in devouring some tasty figs from a neighboring fig tree...

Observation 2:...Oh the things that you can do with planters!

 

  

Observation 3: All of the colorful climbers and shrubs....

 

Observations 4 and 5:  And of course there are the vistas!

Observation 6:  And beautiful tablescapes in old Etruscan wine cellars...

Observation 7:  And the elaborate details that cover every square inch of grand Ducal Palaces. 

Below are just a few details of the Palazzo Ducale and Palazzo Te in Mantua.

The Palazzo Ducale had a garden room, covered with painted ivy, trellises, and mythological seasonal figures.  Each end of the hall had a faux grotto, made up of painted shells, rocks and sculpted figures.  This was such an amazing way of simulating nature and bringing the outside world inside.

Naturally, the door beyond the grotto led to an outside courtyard full of formal boxwood hedges.  It was framed by a long buttressed hall, adorned with vines and ivy.

Everything inside and out was connected by an imaginary thread, tying art, architecture, and nature together into one intertwined experience.   

Observation 8: The Gardens

To end this Tastes of Northern Italy Tour, I will close with a visit to the Parco Sigurta Giardino in Valeggio Sul Mincio.  We toured this expansive garden with the owner, and had the opportunity to see the amazing grounds and gardens.

The grand lawns were impressively manicured with rolling hills that were achieved by the original owner making the crucial decision to draw water from the nearby Mincio river.  There was a 10 foot tall labyrinth maze, rose alley, lotus reflecting pools, and a diverse collection of Japanese maples.  The garden was one of the most impressive that I have seen, and is not surprisingly, highly regarded around the world. 

This reflecting pool was built especially to bring the castle, which was outside of the garden property, inside of the garden.

To conclude.  This trip, demonstrated in 5 parts, was truly an amazing experience filled with food, art, and the amazing wonders of Northern Italy.  I feel so lucky to have visited such beautiful places, been welcomed into homes and businesses as if I were family, and experienced such delicious food and wine. I learned more than I could have ever imagined about this amazing region of Italy in all of its aspects, and realize how the importance of family, tradition, dedication, and hard work, make it everything that it is.  

These makers and producers are an inspiration, and I can only hope that I am able to take what I have learned from them and apply it to my own pursuits and endeavors.  

So finally, in the words of our tour leader Chiara...Ciao Ciao Goodbye! 

Food, Wine, Cheese....The Tastes of Northern Italy in 5 Parts...Mangia!-Part 4

Part 4: Trip of Cheese!  A trip to La Casara Caseificio

Just a short trip north of Verona near the town of Soave, stands a family owned cheese shop named La Casara Caseificio. It was my birthday, and I knew that this would be a birthday trip that I would always remember.

We entered the shop and gathered upstairs in the tasting room, where we were greeted by the owner Giovanni.  He instructed us to put on our blue surgical booties as we prepared to go downstairs to see the cheese making process.  We boarded the elevator and entered a hallway where the air was cool and everything was white and crisp.  There were cheese molds on the tables waiting to find their homes on the aging shelves down below in the cellar.

One of these cheeses, Giallo Blu, I learned, is a semi soft cheese made with saffron, and is made with a combination of cows and goats milk.   It has small blue cheese marbled streaks running through it, and is sent to another location to age to prevent the release of the spores that would negatively affect the other cheeses.  This was one of the cheeses that I took home with me, and it's flavor is remarkable.  The blue cheese and saffron are subtle, and the cheese is smooth and creamy, a perfect combination of so many interesting flavors. 

We passed through a set of steel doors, and immediately the temperature changed.  Hot water was draining all around us, traveling though channels in the floor, and the large steaming copper kettles were hard at work.  It reminded me of my printmaking studio, with the machines and people working with such focus and rhythm.  This process I have learned, is as much an artistic process as it is a culinary production.  We watched as the cheese makers worked on different cheeses simultaneously moving from one step to the next.

The family's cows graze up high in the mountains, and the milk is collected daily and brought down to the shop below.  The milk is stirred and heated until it begins to separate.

The curds are separated from the liquid, which is saved and used for other purposes.  Next the cheese maker adds herbs like chives, for the Erba Cipollina Cheese, and they are mixed in with the curds. 

He then fills the baskets and presses more water out of them.

La Casara is well known for their Monte Veronese cheese, which when aged, resembles a Grana Padano, or Parmaggiano Reggiano, though is much more subtle.

To produce this cheese, the milk is stirred with a large wisk revealing the curds as they rise to the surface.

Once the milk has cooked and separated, the copper kettle is tilted and the molds are wheeled over. 

The cheese maker mixes and cuts the curds that have gathered on the bottom of the very hot  kettle with a wire, and with his bare hands and carries each cube individually to the molds.  At this point the cheese resembles a soft mozzarella.

 

Once the molds are filled and the water is pressed out the cheeses are stamped and left to dry and then brine in a cold room.  Hundreds of cheeses could be seen floating in the salty liquid.

The cheeses are then brought down to the aging room where rows and rows of MonteVeronese cheeses sit patiently on the shelves in their various stages of aging.

Finally, we went into the tasting room where Giovanni presented us with four different cheeses to try. 

The cheese below Formaggio Ubriaco or "drunk cheese" has been aged in wine and covered in grape skins.

We sampled some homemade prosciutto and salami, and of course had some white wine, and apricot jam to pair with our cheeses. 

After our tasting we went down to the cheese shop to make some purchases.  I forgot where I was for a brief moment and started gathering all kinds of wonderful meats and cheeses.  The store was busy and had so many things to choose from.  These are the kinds of places that make me appreciate the longer amounts of time that I have been able to spend in Italy.

I contained my excitement, and purchased the Giallo Blue, and the Monte Veronese, the owner vacuum sealed them for me to ensure that they would make the trip safely.

What a wonderful experience this trip was!  And every time I taste the cheese that I brought home, a little part of me feels like I am back there again. 

For a great list and descriptions of their cheeses...