After breakfast we listened to a presentation by Professor Attilio Scienza on Sicilian wine, genetic varietal improvements, eco-compatible winemaking.  My favorite line of the morning: "The best way to know the future is to invent it." It was followed by an open tasting with producers and their wines. I bumped into the ...read more

Region: Sicilia

"Sicily.  It's a continent," a friend explained. It's a great approach to this vast, self-contained island, layered with more than 28 centuries of history and traditions, influenced by practically every civilization that passed through the Mediterranean.  I never tire of exploring.  

I'd been invited on a press trip, Sicilia en primeur, to ...read more

Region: Sicilia

It was an invitation I couldn't refuse, from my friend Ivan Bertelli, host and manic animator of Hosteria da Ivan outside Parma.  I was invited for a session of salumoterapia.  Think Italian spa meets cured pork, a re-tox program.   Ivan, like most Italians, is a spa veteran and pairs this knowledge with ...read more

Region: Emilia Romagna

What could be better for a trade fair junkie and out-of-the-cellar wine nerd like me?  Three wine fairs, two featuring natural wines held before and after the mammoth Vinitaly.   The Italian wine world mirrors the confusion of Italian politics.  There are many different factions-mainstream Vinitaly (lots of visiting Italian, regional, provincial delegations, ...read more

Region: Veneto