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Caffè and Cannoli with a Sicilian Surrealist
una favola...My first trip to Italy was in 1971. I was a student on summer break and spent days in Rome, wandering the streets at all hours with my camera. One night I happened to be near the Spanish...
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Fettuccine and Forastera with a Sicilian Surrealist
Una favola continuavaIt was 7:00 PM and Giorgio’s residence was about 15 minutes away from the pensione I was staying in. But I wasn’t that familiar with Rome, and we didn’t have GPS in 1971. So, I...
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Affogato and Averna with a Sicilian Surrealist
Our time at the dinner table was over. Giorgio motioned to me and his wife that he was moving to the drawing room. His wife said she would prepare the affogato. Meanwhile Giorgio foraged in his liquor...
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The Guy Buys the Parrot
There’s this old joke going around. I heard Colin Quinn tell it recently. It goes like this:This guy goes into a pet shop looking to buy a parrot. The person at the counter says, “You don't want to...
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Learning to Trust Italian White Wines
While in my local Italian store the other day, a sales rep was doing a tasting of Italian wines. He had a bevy of whites and one red. It was over 100℉ outside. People were gravitating to the red wine....
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Taking a ride on the EU’s dime – a field guide to wine “press junkets” in the...
Although we’ve been told we’re in a post-Covid world now, we still might be suffering from the hangover that almost three years of isolation gave the collective world. However, you wouldn’t know it...
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Able Was I Ere I Saw Elba Rosso
Not long ago, an erstwhile colleague recounted a story they had while making an Italian wine presentation. The account was a tony Italian-styled eatery that had recently changed wine buyers, so a...
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A Journey Through the Early White Wines of Abruzzo ~ Or, Self-Investing in...
Recently I had a long conversation with a young wine professional. Currently they’re sommeliering in a very exclusive hotel which has a restaurant with a quasi – Italian flavor. This person believes in...
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What Is Your Cause?
It seems like everywhere you turn these days, someone is prosecuting their case for something that they deem purpose driven. We’re shouted out, poked, cajoled, interrupted, stopped mid-speech or worse,...
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Big (and little) Alc’s Fall From Favor
The large alcohol companies are sounding their alarms. People aren’t drinking as much as they used to. Their business is down. Their projections are also down for FY25, just to let their shareholders...
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“They’ve stolen our dreadlocks!” ~ Have American chefs culturally...
As an Italian food chronicler, by virtue of working through the past few decades and witnessing many iterations of Italian-divined restaurants, living where I live in 2024 can be a bit...
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“Climb Your Mountain!”
While scores of Italians and other Europeans flock to the beaches of Italy, Spain and Greece, suntanning their bums off, America is in the full throes of another push. Where are we going? What does it...
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The Milky Way and the Man Who Fell from Earth
Lately, when thinking about Italian wine and its place in the world, I’ve been pulling back the focus, way back, and envisioning it from a much-removed perspective. Is it really all that important in...
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“I can’t believe I ate (and drank) the whole thing” – Italy’s Odd Couplings
🎵 I got the poison, I got the remedy🎵As Americans, we can dream up some pretty goofy stuff. Foodwise, we’ve got a lock on weird. Just go to any state fair in America and you’ll see.Not to be outdone,...
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The Life and Death of Barbaresco
While shopping in my little Italian grocery store, the one with an oversized selection of Italian wine (only), I happened upon one of the Italian specialists who knows much more about the current...
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Gone Fission...
Stepping away from the big screens for a pause. See you next week.written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italywine blog + Italian wine blog + Italy W
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The Etna Report – 2024.1
It has been eight years since I last reported from Etna. In 2016 I was here as a blogger, but primarily as a photographer, covering for Eric Asimov and the New York Times. Eric’s articles were...
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“I fell into a burning ring of fire.” ~ The Etna Report 2024.2
When I was a young boy, I lived in the shadow of a great mountain. For hours, I would sit outside and stare up at it, mesmerized by the play of light and shadows as the day progressed. Known for...
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“Giuseppe Versus the Volcano” ~ The Etna Report 2024.3
For those who work in Nature, there are certain immutables. Fire and water are forces to be respected, not ignored. We can try and tame them with dams and forges and make them work for us. But there...
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Interview with a Centenarian ~ The Etna Report 2024.4
One of the advantages of having Sicilian blood and being raised in California in the latter half of the 20th century is the uncanny capacity to listen to life forms other than humans. I first found out...
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