Green valleys are dotted with yellow, pink, purple and white wildflowers. Towering over are awe-inspiring mountains of sheer rock. Charming wooden houses straight out of Hansel and Gretel peek out from behind trees. Each twist of the road brings an even more spectacular panorama into view. This is the Strada delle Dolomiti (the Great Dolomite…
Archives for December 2014
Cellar Tour: Hofstatter and its Alpine cowboys
Hofstätter is located in a 15th century building founded as an inn by Joseph Hofstatter in the town of Tramin (Termeno) in Alto Adige. This is the Germanic part of Italy and Tramin looks more like Austria. The inhabitants speak German first then Italian and Ladinish. Hofstätter wine was originally produced from the inn’s mountain-side…
Cellar Tour: Two friends and a dream – Pojer e Sandri
Stories of enduring friendship are always a Hollywood hit, quite possibly because they are quite rare. This is particularly true when coupled with business. Pojer e Sandri’s story is more like that of a Silicon Valley hi-tech start-up out of a student’s parent’s garage rather than a veritable Italian winery. In 1975 Pojer e Sandri…
The most maligned cuisine in the world
It’s all very confusing. I am in Italy but I am not. From one village in Trentino to the next in Alto Adige, no one speaks Italian anymore, at least not natively. They speak it halteringly, searching for the correct translation in their heads. Even the character of the people changes….suddenly rules and regulations take…
What do Italians eat for Christmas?
Italian holiday foods are often symbolic as well as delicious. Dishes served on the day before a religious festival such as Christmas Eve, known as La Vigilia, are meant to purify the body before the rich holiday foods. The Christmas season starts in Italy on 6 December with the birthday of Saint Nicola…