

E
I
N
D

A
M
le
y

CO
M PI
L E D BY: Ju
lia
B
k
uc
IMAGE: 4CORNERS
Italy has long been home to artisans producing top-quality
foods and natural products, from olive oil and gelato to
chocolate and leatherwork. In their own words, seven regional
producers describe how they are preserving traditions
74 National Geographic Traveller | June 2015
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 75
ITALY
ITALY


SSIMO 
A
M
SPIGAROL
I

ANTICA CORTE PALLAVICINA,
PARMA, EMILIA ROMAGNA
‘Italian food’ doesn’t really exist — every region has a different
cuisine. Tomatoes, olive oil — things traditionally associated
with Italy — are actually from the South. In the North, we use
more butter and animal fat. And our pasta is made with egg.
Don’t forget, we’ve only been a nation for 150 years — every
region has its own food culture, and we work to preserve it.
The Emilia Romagna region produces the most DOC and
DOP (protected) foodstuffs in the country — think Parmesan,
prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and culatello, a very special
ham that I make and serve at my restaurant. We’re in the
middle of the country, here — everyone has passed through
Emilia Romagna, and they all brought their food with them,
influencing our cuisine.
Culatello di Zibello, the ham I make, is only made in
Parma Province, on the banks of the River Po. It’s a very
unique meat, and our microclimate is one of its main
ingredients: in autumn, the mists penetrate the cellars,
encouraging a special mould and giving the ham a special
scent. In medieval times, farmers would pay their land rent
with culatello. Today, it’s produced in exactly the same way
— made entirely by hand, in 700-year-old cellars, with just
pork, salt, garlic and wine as the ingredients. No chemicals,
no preservatives — it’s the highest expression of Italian
cured meat.
Food is crucial to us Italians — every kind of celebration
ends at the table. We don’t eat for nourishment; we eat to
taste, to feel the flavours. You don’t need a Michelin star,
either — whenever I’m travelling, I’ll eat at a random village
trattoria, and I’ll be floored by what they’re cooking.
Regional traditions — from pizza to spaghetti alla
carbonara — need to be kept alive, and you need artisans
producing the right ingredients to do that. I don’t think
there’s another country in the world with as many artisans
as Italy. And people come here for our food traditions. The
meats, the tomatoes, the vegetables, the sun that helps them
all along — that’s what they come for. It’s our history, and we
have to maintain it.
Antica Corte Pallavicina: Strada del Palazzo Due Torri 3,
Polesine Parmense. acpallavicina.com
From top: Salting Parma ham; Parma ham with DOP stamp; speck.
Opposite: Massimo Spigaroli serves friends, Antica Corte Pallavicina
76 National Geographic Traveller | June 2015
Typical dish: Broth
with stuffed pasta.
Unsung hero
ingredient: Gnocchi.
Best tortellini:
IMAGES: 4CORNERS; GETTY
How to do it: Black Tomato offers a seven-night, selfdrive trip around Emilia Romagna, including flights,
accommodation, car hire, food tours and a cooking lesson,
from £1,603 per person. blacktomato.com
MASSIMO’S
EMILIA ROMAGNA
Taverna del
Cacciatore.
ristorantetaverna
delcacciatore.it
Starter: Spaghetti
with tomato.
Tip: Stick to regional
specialities wherever
you are. And buy a
serious food guide.
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 77
ITALY
ITALY

EGLE 
ARMANI


ALBINO ARMANI WINERY,
DOLCÈ, VENETO
IMAGE: 4CORNERS
The Armani family has been making wine in this
area since 1607. Originally small landowners,
we now have vineyards in Friuli Venezia Giulia,
Valpolicella and Trentino, as well as Val d’Adige,
where we’re headquartered. We oversee our wine
from vine to bottle, which is quite rare.
Italy’s wine tradition goes back to the
Etruscans — they brought the vineyards to
Valpolicella, and there’s even a statuette of an
Etruscan wine deity in a Verona museum. Every
region has its own characteristics — there’s
no single thread pulling them together — but
a good wine should respect its place of origin,
even if it’s not perfect (for me, small defects
mean it’s real). If you’re looking to try new
varieties, my advice is to stick to the region
you’re in. Personally, I like the sparkling wines
from Trentino, which are produced traditionally.
Barolo is a fantastic red from Piedmont, and
Friuli Venezia Giulia produces really refreshing
wines, with a mineral feel.
The Val d’Adige is brilliant for white wine, as it
has a mild microclimate, similar to neighbouring
Lake Garda. It’s unspoiled — people live as
they did 50 years ago, and almost all the locals
help us with the harvest. But in the 1960s, the
native vines in the valley were uprooted and
international ones planted. Although most of our
business is in varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot
Grigio, we wanted to reinstitute the wines of the
area, so in 2004, we started the Conservatoria,
where we grow 13 indigenous varieties at risk of
extinction. Of those, we sell two, Nera di Baisi
and Foja Tonda, which has become the unofficial
symbol of our business. It took 15 years to
research it and have it officially recognised, and it
tastes very different to other wines. We’re the only
people in the world producing it, and it’ll never
be a commercial success. We sell it for €7 (£5) a
bottle, but we’re proud to produce it — we like to
think it’s preserving the heritage of the area.
Albino Armani: Località Ceradello, Dolcè.
albinoarmani.com
78 National Geographic Traveller | June 2015
Opposite:
Arco, Trentino
EGLE’S VENETO
Favourite restaurant:
Croce d’Oro.
albergocrocedoro.com
Best drive: Around
Lake Garda, stopping
off at Garda,
Bardolino, Sirmione
and Malcesine.
Romantic spot in
Verona: Giardino
Giusti, for an
unrivalled panorama
of the city.
Hidden treasure:
How to do it: Citalia offers a seven-night trip,
including accommodation with two nights in
Verona and five on Lake Garda, flights and car
hire, from £799 per person. citalia.com
Grotta di Fumane,
Valpolicella.
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 79
ITALY
ITALY

SIMONE


DE 
TAD I
TADDEI SIMONE,
FLORENCE
It takes 32 steps to make my leather boxes — it’s crazy. Each
takes two or three days to make, and that’s just the small ones
— it can take a couple of months if it’s bigger. I make them all
by hand using the tools and moulds handed down to me by my
father and grandfather, who started the business in 1937. My
buffing machine is more modern — it’s maybe 60 years old.
It took me 15 years to learn my trade, but to become a real
craftsman takes a lifetime. I still make mistakes. Since my
father died, I work alone. I have a helper, though — a 74-yearold relative who does a couple of hours every morning.
Italy, and Florence in particular, has a long artisan tradition
— leatherworking dates back to the medieval guilds. As for
these leather boxes — cuoietto artistico fiorentino — legend
has it that in the 19th century a pensioner studied the leather
craftsmen in Florence, then started making them as a hobby
— it’s almost a cross between leatherwork and bookbinding. I
still do everything as they did back then — I don’t use wood,
nails or stitches, and every step is done by hand.
I think Italians are more interested in craftsmanship
because in a city like Florence you breathe it every day, just
walking around. Even out in the sticks, you can wander
into a tiny church and find a Piero della Francesca painting.
And then, there’s the beautiful Tuscan landscape — it’s still
the same as when it was painted by Leonardo. There’s such
harmony in it, and perhaps that’s why Italians have more of
an aesthetic taste. You absorb it without even meaning to.
My father and grandfather were the kind of craftsmen
the world will never see again. There used to be around 100
workshops in Florence making these leather boxes, but now
there are only about three or four of us. There are still plenty
of leather factories, but today everything’s about quantity,
not quality. Someone working like this — tooling individual
objects, instead of mass-producing — is the real revolutionary.
Taddei Simone: Via Santa Margherita 11R, Florence.
How to do it: Classic Collection Holidays has three nights
at Il Salviatino, in the hills outside Florence, including flights,
from £899 per person. classic-collection.co.uk
From left: Taddei Simone in his workshop; Uffizi Gallery, Florence;
Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence
TADDEI’S FLORENCE
IMAGES: 4CORNERS; AWL IMAGES
Restaurant:
80 National Geographic Traveller | June 2015
Ristorante Il
Pennello. Via
Dante Alighieri 4R.
ristoranteilpennello.it
Church: Chiesa dei
Santi Apostoli and
the Brancacci Chapel
at Santa Maria del
Carmine.
Museum: Museo
Nazionale del
Bargello.
Tip: Don’t try to see
everything at the Uffizi
Gallery in one go — do
one section at a time,
and see it properly.
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 81

ITALY
ORINO 
M
A

RIGA

GELATERIA CHEZ-TOI,
PIZZO, CALABRIA
How to do it: Long Travel offers seven nights in
Calabria, including half-board accommodation
(split between the coast and inland), flights and
a week’s car hire, from £590 per person.
long-travel.co.uk
AMORINO’S
CALABRIA
Beach: Zambrone,
near Tropea.
Gelato flavour:
Lemon granita.
Local dish: Spaghetti
with tuna.
Tip: Calabria is famous
for its coast, but go
inland, too — places
like Serra San Bruno,
in the mountains,
are beautiful.
From left: Fisherman
repairing net, Calabria;
tartufo ice cream dessert
IMAGES: GETTY; GELATERIA CHEZ-TOI
‘Tartufo’ means ‘truffle’ in Italian, but it’s also
a famous dessert made from gelato that was
invented here in Pizzo in 1950. I’ve been making
it since 1973, when I took over this gelateria with
my brother, Raffaele. He’s now retired, and I
work with my son.
The traditional ‘tartufo moro’, or dark tartufo,
is chocolate and hazelnut ice cream moulded
together into the shape of an apple, filled with
chocolate sauce, and coated with cocoa powder.
Each tartufo contains around 700 calories and
is as filling as a full meal. We call it ‘the king of
gelato’ because it’s actually more nutritious than
a pizza.
I make tartufo four or five times a week, in
batches of 100, as it takes nearly the whole day.
They’re hard to make, if you want to do it well
— to make the sauce alone, you have to stir it
over heat for four hours. I do everything by hand
— if I used machines, I’d be a factory, not an
artisan. ‘Artisan’ means only the best.
You can’t eat tartufo all the time, so I’m always
inventing new ice cream combinations and
flavours. Last year, I made walnut gelato. In
summer, for breakfast we have almond granita
— you get a croissant and dip it in. We make
granita from kiwi, lemon and strawberry too
— they’re incredibly refreshing.
Why is Italy so good for gelato? Because we
invented it. Granita originated in Sicily, and the
Romans ate sorbet (snow mixed with juice) in
between courses at banquets. Gelato ‘proper’
was invented in Florence in the 16th century.
There are great maestros of gelato-making here
— we have proper schools to train them.
Everything we make here is done as it was 100
years ago — we use fresh fruit for flavouring, and
we only use Italian ingredients. There’s lots of
competition here, and everyone makes ice cream
slightly differently. How to choose a gelateria?
Don’t go by which looks the prettiest — find the
one that makes the best ice cream. And feel free
to eat it all year round — we do. With all that
protein, it’s a great source of nutrition.
Gelateria Chez-Toi: Piazza della Repubblica,
Pizzo, Calabria.
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 83
ITALY
ITALY

CARLA


SOZZAN
I

10 CORSO COMO,
MILAN
CARLA’S MILAN
Restaurant: Antica
IMAGES: GETTY; 10 CORSO COMO
Trattoria della Pesa,
Via Pasubio 10.
anticatrattoria
dellapesa.com
Secret spot: San
Maurizio al Monastero
Maggiore church
Gallery: Fondazione
Marconi.
fondazionemarconi.
org
View: The Belvedere
on the 31st floor of the
Pirelli Skyscraper.
Day trip: Villa
Visconti Borromeo
Arese Litta
84 National Geographic Traveller | June 2015
I suppose you could say that my interest in fashion started
with my interest in art. My father would take my sister and
me to the great churches in Milan to show us Italian heritage;
the styles of architecture and painting. I remember especially
the frescoes with sandals, much the same as we see them
on the runways now! So art and fashion for me have been
joined from the beginning. I think this speaks to the natural
elegance and style of Italian fashion now in the fashion world.
It’s comfortable enough with itself to be classic, but is always
adding new and surprising elements.
My career grew from this background. Working in editorial
at Vogue and Elle refined my eye; then I went into design, and
finally found my own personal expression with the Galleria
Carla Sozzani in 1990. Every opportunity I have had, I have
explored as a way to grow personally — first, with the opening
of the bookstore, the café, our small hotel Three Rooms, the
restaurant, and of course the fashion and lifestyle we present
in 10 Corso Como. It’s all an outgrowth of my curiosity in
people, places, and things.
I’m based in Milan because I find that the pace of life here
— a mix of fast and slow — is a very harmonious balance for
what I do. Fashion must always be inspired, and I find that
happens easily here. Italy of course is known for its wonderful
knitwear and leather goods, as well as the quality of its
design and craftsmanship in jewellery, fashion and the arts.
Ferragamo once brought their shoemaker to 10 Corso Como
to demonstrated the classic methods which are recognised
around the world. The new names in Italy now — Francesco
Russo, Paola Cademartori, Marco De Vincenzo, Fausto
Puglisi, Au Jour le Jour and Stella Jean — are expressing this
Italian tradition of elegant and personal detail in new and
exciting ways.
Of course the wonderful thing about Italy is that almost
any city — Mantua and Verona, Ravenna, Positano, Naples,
and, of course, Venice, which was an inspiration well before
the Renaissance — offers a beautiful way to meet Italian style.
But I will always call Milano my home.
10 Corso Como: Corso Como 10. 10corsocomo.com
How to do it: Railbookers has a three-night Milan city
break by rail, including B&B accommodation at Starhotels
Anderson, in Milan, and high-speed rail travel via Paris, from
£419 per person. railbookers.com
From top: Exterior, 10 Corso Como; shop window display, Via della
Spiga, Milan; 10 Corso Como.
Opposite: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 85


AND
ESS RO

AL
ITALY
BOC ARD
C
O

IMAGES: GETTY; ROMEO VIGANOTTI
ROMEO VIGANOTTI,
GENOA
Viganotti was founded in 1866 by Romeo
Viganotti, and then passed down through his
extended family. I started out as a pastry chef,
but loved working with chocolate, and joined
Viganotti in 1998, by which time there were two
brothers running the company. They wanted
to retire, but wanted to pass on the name
Viganotti, so in 1999, they entrusted me with the
business. It’s the job I always dreamed of.
Today, we work in Romeo Viganotti’s old
laboratory, and still use some of his original
equipment in the chocolate-making process. We
hand-make the chocolate using wooden moulds,
we cut our cremini pralines with a 150-year-old
knife, and we work from his hand-written recipes
for things like croccantini, boeri and ciliegie.
But we’ve expanded, too. I developed a range of
chocolates flavoured with spices, salts and teas
— the stranger the flavour, the more I enjoy
myself. Some of the new flavours — like red
salt, and salted vanilla chocolates — are now as
popular as the original pralines. But we also carry
traditional sweets like gocce di rosolio — roseflavoured liquid inside a hard sugar casing.
Genoa’s chocolate history goes back centuries
— although it was a food for the rich, the lower
classes enjoyed it too, and there were many
artisan chocolate-makers. By the late 19th
century, there were around 40 chocolatiers like
ours left.
Chocolate is a universal product, but I think
Italian artisans are more rooted in their own
regional traditions. We’ve developed entirely
Italian products by pairing chocolate with
hazelnuts from Piedmont, almonds from Puglia
and Bari cherries. Chocolate-covered citrus
fruits are also a strong point for us.
Romeo Viganotti: Vico dei Castagna 14R,
Genoa. romeoviganotti.it
How to do it: The Italian Connection has a
week in Liguria, including, flights, seven
nights’ accommodation in Genoa and Cinque
Terre, car hire and hiking passes for the
Cinque Terre National Park, from £975 per
person. italian-connection.co.uk
ALESSANDRO’S
LIGURIA:
Clockwise
from
top left:
Chocolate
mixing
machine,
Romeo
Viganotti;
Alessandro
making
chocolates;
Restaurant: Da
Rina, Via Mura delle
Grazie 3R, Genoa.
ristorantedarina.it
Snack shop: Trattoria
Sciamadda, Via
Ravecca 19R, Genoa.
Museum: Galata
Museo del Mare,
Calata de Mari 1,
Genoa.
galatamuseo
delmare.it
Top spot in Liguria:
San Fruttuoso.
Best Ligurian dish:
Trenette pasta
with pesto.
San
Fruttuoso
natgeotraveller.co.uk | National Geographic Traveller 87
ITALY
RO 
PIET

D ’A M I C O


IL FRANTOLIO,
CISTERNINO, PUGLIA
From top:
Restaurant,
Puglia;
Ostuni
My family started farming the Valle d’Itria in
1917. These days, I run the business with my son
and daughter. We have 123 acres of olive groves,
with many different species of olive trees. Some
of the trees are 30 years old, some are hundreds
of years old, even thousands. We produce around
60,000-80,000 bottles of oil a year.
The olive harvest is done almost entirely by
hand. We produce various types of oil, all very
different in taste and density. We also make
‘nectar’ — an oil from trees over 100 years old.
Being the highest, they get more sun, and so
it tastes very different. But our top product is
something that my grandfather invented, ‘La
Lacrima’, or ‘The Tear’. We take seven varieties
of olives, press them once over old millstones,
and wait 30 minutes for the oil to emerge by
itself from the olive paste. It’s really special.
Puglia produces more oil than any other Italian
region, partly because of the climate, but also
because we’ve so many centuries-old trees — you
can harvest 250kg of olives from one of those.
PIETRO’S PUGLIA
Beach: Lido Bizzarro,
Fasano.
Town: Lecce
and Ostuni, ‘the
White City’.
Hidden spot:
Lama d’Antico cave
village, Fasano.
Typical dish:
Orecchiette pasta with
broccoli tops.
How to do it: Real Holidays has seven nights in
Puglia from £595 per person, including flights, car
hire and accommodation at the Abate Masseria &
Resort in Noci. realholidays.co.uk
88 National Geographic Traveller | June 2015
IMAGES: 4CORNERS
Outsiders may think of Italian oil as a whole, but
every region has different trees, climates and
terrain, and all those factors change the taste.
Oil from Puglia is richer and denser and the
land tends to be multipurpose — you’ll often see
vegetables planted in olive groves, and livestock
grazing among it all, which makes the landscape
really beautiful and is really good for the earth.
October is when the first oil of the year is
produced — it’s quite bitter and spicy when it
first emerges, opens up a bit over the next 12
months, then slowly loses its flavour. Oil isn’t like
wine — after 18 months, it’s past its best. Always
check the label — it should be 100% olive, cold
pressed at controlled temperature.
Il Frantolio di D’Amico Pietro: Contrada
Tesoro 25, Strada Provinciale 17, Cisternino.
ilfrantolio.it