Get Lucky in La Spezia

We have a friend that just opened an Inn/Rooms called "Il Quadrifoglio", which means four-leaf clover in Italian. It is less than a five minute walk from the La Spezia Centrale train station, which takes you to the Cinque Terre in less than 10  minutes and to Lerici and Portovenere by bus in under 30 minutes.  Her rooms are clean, colorful and brand-spanking new! The rooms are climate controlled, have flat screen TVs, mini-fridge and free Wi-Fi all included for an unbelievably low price! I have tried to tell her to charge more for such nice rooms, but she prefers to under-sell her competition.

Clean bathrooms are at the top of my list for staying somewhere and I can vouch for these sparkling new bathrooms (also because my husband helped build them).

Pretty nice, huh? With all the amenities, its fantastic location to the Cinque Terre, Lerici and Portovenere and prices from 60-80 Euros a night, there is no reason to stay elsewhere!

Giusi does not speak English, so for more information, or to make a reservation in English, contact me.

Il Quadrifoglio                                                                                       
Via Agostino Oldoini 45                                                            Tel: 346.2126.797
La Spezia                                                http://www.affittacamereilquadrifoglio.it/

Festa di San Guiseppe

 

Each year on March 19 is the Festa di San Giuseppe, the patron saint of La Spezia. For the weekend leading up to the day, a large part of the city is covered with tents selling everything imaginable. I took a stroll through festival to give you a glimpse of how Italians celebrate with festivals.

 Every festival always has stands representing the different regions' typical food fare. Above, there are the cheeses of Sardinia, known for their particularly strong ricotta salata. 

Below are the bounties from Puglia, known for their olives, terralini (cracker-like rings, often flavored with fennel seed), sun-dried tomatoes, and lots of pickled items like fava beans, onions and capers.

One particular specialty are olive dolce (sweet olives), which are large, green olives that are preserved without a salty brine, just many, many changes of plain water. The result is a very bright green, firm and delicious olive that is not salty in the least bit. I had never tried these "sweet olives" before, but I really enjoyed them. 

I do have to make a comment here about Italians' use of the word dolce, or sweet--even after speaking Italian for years, being offered "sweet" olives made me expect them to be "sweet". But, just as they use the term acqua dolce for 'fresh water' (or non-salty), they use olive dolce to describe non-salty olives--not that they are actually sweet. After being teased by my in-laws and laughed at for making such a silly error, I learned my lesson!

Here we have the most popular food at the San Giuseppe festival--La Porchetta, a Tuscan tradition of a stuffed whole pig, roasted on a pit over an open flame. There were more stand and trucks with whole roasted pigs than I have ever seen in my life! I have never tried it--I'm not against it--it just tends to gross me out a little seeing the shriveled cooked head. 

The Sicily truck was quite popular with all their fried foods and ricotta desserts. 

Here we have the stand from Umbria, known for their sausages, cheeses, il cinghiale (wild boar), and most of all:

Tartufo nero or black truffles!

  
The other very popular food, found on almost every corner were these amazingly fragrant sweet chips made with anise. The machine you see above was constantly stamping out these thin wafer chips into large piles that were then bagged up still hot, fresh for the taking.

There was a little bit of everything at this festival, all kinds of trinkets, all kinds of food, 

and all kinds of desserts!

 They even had the newest novelty--Caramelle Americane (American candies).

The Jelly Belly stand was extremely popular!

But there was a lot more than just food. They had everything

from the home linen outlet stand to clothes, to hats, to house pets for the kids.

Artiginal jewelry

Hand carved olive wood

This is the area that I refer to as "infomercial row" where they have slicers and dicers, steam cleaners, magic mops and microphoned demonstrators to show off the goods!

 And more of those divinely anise scented crispy cookies.

The festival took up a large portion of the city and it was still packed with people!

Be sure to check out the Festa di San Giuseppe in La Spezia, every year during the weekend leading up to March 19.

Bar Dell'Amore

Today was a joyous occasion in the Cinque Terre and another step in providing for the people of Vernazza. It was the opening of the Bar dell'Amore, located along the Via dell'Amore, or Walkway of Love (the hiking path linking Riomaggiore with Manarola). 

With breathtaking views from every table, you can now take a relaxing break from your journey with a glass of local wine and a plate of munchies for an afternoon apperetivo, or start out the day with fresh air, clear turquoise seas, beautiful vistas of the Cinque Terre, a freshly baked muffin and a creamy cappuccino.

Buy some fresh lemons from their tree-can't get more local than that!

You may have seen this bar if you been to the Cinque Terre recently, but it has been closed for nearly three years after problems with the park officials. But because the people of Vernazza have lost their businesses, their jobs and their livelihoods, the park has been working to provide new jobs and opportunities.

Run by four friends from Vernazza and one from Riomaggiore, the Bar dell'Amore is back in business. Stefano, Chilli, Silvia, Luca and Matteo have worked hard to clean the place up and make it new and they are happy to greet their new visitors!

They have it all in this little place, so whether you want to buy a bottle of water or beer; a postcard or a guidebook; a little something to nosh on or full sandwich; a locket to add to the Wall of Love, or to enjoy one of Stefano's cocktails, make sure you make a stop at Bar dell'Amore!

--------------UPDATE-----------------

Due to the rockslide in 2012, the closure of the Via del'Amore has closed the bar. It is accessible from the Manarola station, but the building is closed.

5 Terre Is Open for Business

Posted from Cultural Comments:

As we head towards the spring season, many are wondering if the Cinque Terre is open, if the hikes are hikeable and if it's even worth keeping the Cinque Terre in their travel plans. The answer is an overwhelming YES!!!

Before going into details, here is an overview: The trains are running on normal, regular schedules with stops to all five villages without interruption or access controls. Riomaggiore, Manarola and Corniglia had little to no damage from the floods and all shops, restaurants and hotels/rooms are open for business.

5 Terre: Leave a Lasting Mark

 Check out this great program in Monterosso for rebuilding the typical 'dry stone walls'. With a minimum donation of 150 euros, you can have your name "carved in stone" that will adorn a wall in downtown Monterosso. Visit Rebuild Monterosso for more information.