Review By fred k. - GLENSIDE, PA - US (June 2025)
Italian culture
enlightening culture experience.
| Written By: | fred k. |
| Rating: | |
| Location: | GLENSIDE - PA - US |
| Review Source: | Website |
| Type of Traveler: | Couple |
| Itinerary: | Chianti Tuscany |
Full Review
wow, what can we say? we have been planning this trip since 2020 but Covid killed it for us, 2021 the world was still topsey turvey with Covid, 22,23,24 I had an opportunity to bicycle across America. 2025 was the year, no matter what, we were doing this; do it we did. Personally, I love having a cup of cappuccino at my favorite restaurant after dinner, you know what? Italian culture says cappuccino is for the morning, the restaurant's will serve it, but it's not really "Italian culture". we came back, went to our favorite restaurant and I did not order cappuccino after dinner. Kinda fun. Should we discus the beauty of the land, how about everyone there ( so it seems) has a vineyard AND olives. You think you like olive oil? the ones in Italy, privately produced are so flavorful. the first night we had olive oil for dipping bread there were no herbs or spices in it. Someone in our group mentioned that and our host Lorenzo stated "if it's good olive oil Italians don't add herbs." He was absolutely right. I haven't found olive oil that good in America, I'm glad I brought some containers of it home. Let's talk about the wine, yes, all Chianti's but many different flavors and tastes, depending on which winery, the soil, the fermentation, just so very festinating.
Now, the real reason we went, the cooking; what a blast, we had 3 days of cooking entire meals, everyone participated, everyone ate together and it was absolutely an amazing and wonderful experience. Some of my favorites were the prune appetizer, ( yeah, I know. If you invite guests to your house, tell them appetizer will be centered around a prune, chances are they won't show up. Well, what if they have an open mind, you stuff that prune with a toasted almond, then wrap it in prosciutto, then bake it at a high temp to crisp it up. Trust me, it's absolutely delicious) there was also the lasagna, the sausage and stracchino cheese Crostini. yum!! Oh, oh, oh, can't forget the Gnudi with butter and sage or the Gnocchi.......oh man!!!!
anyway, you get the gist. good food, good guides, good fun.
Ciao!!
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| Sample Photo from this Itinerary |