Tutti De Sica

If you're in Rome between February 8 and April 28, I suggest you take a walk to the Ara Pacis Museum and spend a few hours at the Tutti De Sica exhibit. It's an affectionate collection of photos, personal belongings, clippings, film posters, objects, costumes, movie clips and television appearances of the life of one of Italy's film icons: Vittorio De Sica.

The show is the fruit of the work of 10+ years of laborious digging through archives, blowing up aged photos, and constructing a loving tribute to one of the greatest directors and actors of Italian and international cinema of the twentieth century

I was lucky enough to know him in the last years of his life, and he was a fantastic nonno.

It was very touching to see the detail and love that was put in the 360° lifespan exhibit. Nonno's grey pied-de-poule overcoat hanging at the entrance, hearing his voice playing through the crackling 78" vynil player; walking past a vanity with the wigs and makeup he wore in his early theater-days; the photos of his beginnings, and first film debuts as an actor first and director later; clippings of my mother's announced birth; the famous Oscar-winning bicycle, and next to it the 1946 Academy Award for Ladri di Biciclette, a film that changed the history of cinema.

The show is this and much much more, and through it's articulate visual timeline, it taught me a lot about the public figure, the filmmaker, the screenwriter. The man and grandfather I had down pat, it was the immense cultural heritage figure I sort of took for granted before seeing it all lovingly exhibited in the lower floor of the Augustan Altar of Peace built in 13 BCE and commissioned to celebrate the Pax Romana, the era of peace ushered by Emperor Augustus's military victories.

Stroll through the rooms, smile at the images of him gambling with a 6 year-old. Let Sophia's perfume waft from her vintage costumes. Fall in love with a black and white photo of my grandfather napping between takes, sheathed in a raincoat.

Tutti De Sica
Opening hours
8 February to 28 April 2013
Tuesday-Sunday: 9:00 - 19:00
Last admission 1 hour before closing time

Tickets
Adults: €11 Rome residents: €10 Concessions: €9
Information Tel. +39 060608 (daily 9.00 am – 9.00 pm)
Buy online www.omniticket.it
Additional booking fee: €1

World Nutella Day 2013!

If I had to choose between a piece of warm focaccia stuffed with homestyle salami, and a slice of cake, I'd probably go for the pork. That is if Nutella isn't part of the equation, because otherwise I'd seriously have a hard time deciding.

Today I'll be keeping my savory preferences to myself, and instead be a part of the celebrations in honor of the world-known hazelnut-chocolate spread because it's World Nutella Day.

Yes! A holiday that consecrates Nutella, founded six years ago by the genius minds of Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso. There's even an Unofficial Guide to Nutella, and you can get your copy or gift one on Amazon. What better occasion than today?

So, how do I celebrate World Nutella Day? Hosts Michelle and Sara suggest getting creative and eating lots of it, but also making recipes using Nutella, eating Nutella with a big spoon. Waxing poetic about Nutella. Even offering Nutella as a sacrifice.

Personally, I'll be baking. And for me this is a huge effort. I'm more of an improviser, so following precise instructions, being careful with measurements – which baking requires – is a not my thing. But on Feb 5th – World Nutella Day – I go by the book.

Remember the Nutella Pseudo Mousse recipe I submitted for my first ever World Nutella Day? Well think cupcakes frosted with THAT. My blood sugar spiked just thinking about it.

Ingredients for the easy-peasy cupcakes
1 cup Nutella
2 eggs
150gr (about 10 tbsp) all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the frosting
250gr (1 1/4 cups) whipping cream
2 tsp confectioner's sugar, sifted
3 tbsp Nutella

Preheat oven to 350°F

Whisk all the cupcake ingredients together until fluffy and completely blended.
Divvy up the blend evenly into muffin tins.
Pop in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the frosting.
Whip the cream with the confectioner's sugar until quite firm.
Add the Nutella to the whipped cream, blending it softly with a wooden spoon in round, repetitive, loving motions. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Cool cupcakes on an elevated rack, once completely cool, slather with the refrigerated Nutella mousse frosting. Decorate with sprinkles or chocolate chips.

Makes 8 cupcakes. You pour the milk while I set the table.

How do you indulge your Nutella?

Where to eat: the updated list

Many of you like to stop by here at Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino for recipes, or to hear the latest news on the sweet (and sometimes bittersweet) life in Italy. Some like to keep up with my freelance writing, and therefore are familiar with my column "In Cucina" I pen for The American Magazine in Italia, or my lifestyle correspondent-work for The Travel Belles, or the pieces I've done for other online press. In most of these, I like to share lists. I love lists, I'm a list maniac, I think I suffer from an acute form of list-fetish.

Over the years I have also shared lists of favorite restaurants and places to eat in Rome on this blog as well. And I've collected all these lists, divided by topic on a where to eat page. It has its own tab at the top of this blog, under the masthead.

If you trust my opinion, or are simply looking for a personal list of tried and tested, say– vegetarian restaurants, or gluten-free kitchens, or simply an inspirational index of favorite pastry shops, pizza joints, gelaterias, cafes and such, you can head over to the mother of all lists, and click on the various listed links to be redirected to the specific article.

If you have any suggestions for future lists you'd like to see here, please leave them in the comment box below, and I will take all requests into serious consideration. You know me and lists.

4 years of blogging

This blog's birthday is coming up. Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino turns 4 years old on January 24th!

Thanks to blogging, and all that has happened since – and perhaps thanks to – that fortunate night when I wrote my first post, a lot has changed in my life. Through blogging and my activity on the social media, I have

• changed careers, transforming my graphic design and showbiz past into a sweet memory. Now I'm relying on a steady income, and doing exactly what I love: writing about food and life in Italy
• I have published 370 posts to date on AO+P alone, which gain a good average of daily pageviews (despite long periods of laziness)
• positively improved my life pattern, which now includes plenty of playtime
• as recipe tester and restaurant reviewer, I have upped my weight by several hundred pounds (working on reducing those figures)
• as a food docent, I take foodies around Rome on delicious walking tours of my city
• I have written scores of articles, guest posts and features on other websites other than my own
• I have a column on a great online magazine
• I was hired to write 2 guide books, and a travel handbook
• I have written 2 manuscripts, working on a third
• launched the Roma Every Day photoblog, the Forchettine blog and the Rome City Guide for Kids blog
• garnered 2950 followers on Twitter
• connected with 1400+ Facebook friends, and 7300 following my public updates
• I recently purchased a second hand DSLR camera and a smartphone, through which I am learning the rudiments of photography
• received press mentions on, and was interviewed by, some of Italy's major newspapers and international web platforms
• starred in a web series in which I interview celebrity chefs
• above all, I have built wonderful connections with hundreds of fellow bloggers, readers, fans and followers

I think I deserve to take the day off to celebrate. 

This will probably happen in the company of my son, the inspiring muse behind all my food and lifestyle writing. Had it not been for his extraordinary eating requests, and his extensive naps, I never would have started blogging in the first place. 

Barring rain, I will be spending Jan. 24 outdoors and then seated at a table, eating spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino, as a tribute to the luck this long and unpronounceable recipe name has brought me. 

Although the best spaghetti AO+P are the ones made at home, in the old grubby frying pan with the good olive oil, young garlic and the chili peppers from Calabria, I won't be cooking it on this blog's birthday, though. When I say "day off" I mean it. I'll decide where to dine on perfectly slippery, spicy, garlicky spaghetti on the day, with only a lazy stroll between me and the eatery's doorstep.

There are good trattorie that occasionally make this dish, but since it is one of those homestyle fixes everyone knows how to prepare (even Italian men!), it's hardly ever a restaurant menu item. Good thing is no trattoria or other informal osteria will ever raise eyebrows if you ask for a plate of AO+P, they might not even charge you for it.

This is just a small list of places where I can usually score some good Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino in Rome. Feel free to add names.

• Da Lucia – Vicolo del Mattonato 2/B – Tel. 065803601 (Trasevere)  
• Da Giovanni – Via della Lungara, 41/A – Tel. 066861514 (Trastevere) 
• Da Francesco – Piazza del Fico, 29 – Tel. 066864009 (Navona) 
• Agustarello a Testaccio – Via G. Branca, 98/100 – Tel. 065746585 (Testaccio)
• Lo Scopettaro – Lungotevere Testaccio, 7 – Tel. 065757912 (Testaccio)  
• Da Roberto – Via della Magliana, 763 – Tel. 066550662 (Portuense)  
• Trattoria Ponte Mollo – Via Tor di Quinto, 11 – Tel. 063333608 (Flaminio)  
• Hostaria Da Edmondo – Circonvallazione Clodia, 90 – Tel. 063701272 (Prati)  
• Dar Pallaro – Largo del Pallaro, 13 – Tel. 0668801488 (Campo de' Fiori)  
• La Capanna – Piazza Dante, 23 – Tel. 06730369 (Esquilino)  
• Pommidoro – Piazza dei Sanniti, 44 – Tel. 064452692 (San Lorenzo)  
• Cul de Sac – Piazza Pasquino, 73 – Tel. 0668801094 (Navona)  
• Buccone – Via di Ripetta, 19 – Tel. 063612154 (Piazza del Popolo)  
• Armando al Pantheon – Salita dei Crescenzi, 31 – Tel. 0668803034 (Pantheon)
• Li Rioni a Santiquattro – Via Dei Santi Quattro, 24 – Tel. 0670450605 (Testaccio)
• Fontanella al 30 – Via del Pigneto, 30 – Tel. 0670613871 (Pigneto)
• Osteria La Quercia – Piazza della Quercia 23, – Tel. 068300932 (Campo de' Fiori)

Happy Birthday, Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino!

Vegetarian restaurants in Rome

Rome is a city of meat-eaters. But some top-notch vegetarian spots are beginning to make a mark.

Photo © Andrea Di Lorenzo

The average Italian is a carnivore, Romans in particular. Veal and beef are the norm as main courses and in pasta sauces. But the city also has plenty of vegetarian options, mainly because mainstream Italian cuisine, which hasn't changed much since the 19th century, leans heavily on vegetable, pasta and dairy products.

So vegetarians visiting Rome don't need to worry... Continue Reading >>>