Attractions in Italy

Sometimes traveling isn't just about going to a destination; it's a state of mind. Physically, I've been trapped in South Carolina for seven months now while mentally I try and put myself back in my favorite European places. One of my very favorites is the Tuscany region of Italy. While the city in South Carolina is a blistering desert of concrete, Tuscany radiates a rejuvenating warmth that washes over you like the rolling green of the hills.

Since I'm currently unable to experience the area in person, I can only do what I can to substitute the experience. CDs full of pictures taken during my travels bring back stifled laughs and fond memories. The coffee table books I've collected over the years are so full of intense color and vivid landscape scenes that it makes my ache even worse. I even read "Under the Tuscan Sun" this week (which isn't done justice by the movie). Mayes is such a descriptive writer. She does such a perfect job bringing the area to life and I believe, deserves much credit for putting Cortona on the map. Her book stirs memories of my one day in this little town “hot chocolate and pastries at a little cafe in the morning, gelato under a patio umbrella in the pouring rain, and linen shopping after the sun triumphed over the stubborn clouds. It almost makes me forget that my 'gelato' is now Eddy's or something from Dairy Queen.

I also try to substitute with cooking “of course, I'm far from the authentic cuisine I once savored in the local family-owned restaurants. Tortellini al forno, penne al'arabiatta, even plain old spaghetti marinara is a work of art in Tuscany. I throw basil around like it's going out of style, get all giddy when I find a sweet gorgonzola or pecorino cheese at the grocery store, and keep Verdi on full volume while I create my own personal Italy in the kitchen. Fortunately, I've been able to bring back the very best extra virgin olive oil in the entire country  La Macchia.

The green, aromatic oil tastes so fresh and so light that you taste what you are meant to taste the fruit of the olive tree and not something reminiscent to wheel bearing grease. So even if my bruschetta is made from imported North Carolina tomatoes, South Carolina french bread, parmesan from Kraft, and dried basil from a lousy little plastic jar (out of fresh basil again), I still have my beautiful drizzling Tuscan olive oil.

Italians also understand and appreciate the concept of 'breaks' (and not the 15 minute kind). Time doesn't rule a Tuscan's day, rather it revolves around life at the moment. I rush from one end of my current hometown to the other, running errands and trying to make it to appointments on time in Italy, being late is 'normale.' And when it gets to lunchtime, there's no rushing through the meal and then jumping back into a schedule. Between the shining sun at its zenith and a full stomach that's pulling you into a food coma, the day calls for a siesta. This ingenious concept not only refreshes the body but it literally pulls your mind into another world. Why fret about the next two hours when everyone else's life has also come to a relaxing standstill?

Daydream, watch the tall grasses blow in the wind, or drink a cappuccino among friends with a vineyard as a backdrop. Until the notion of a daily siesta takes hold in America, I attempt to create my own with plastic patio furniture and a Coca-Cola that is, until the phone starts to ring with endless telemarketers anxious to sell me siding or refinance my mortgage.There are just some places that feed your soul and remain in your heart no matter where you go. The rise and fall of the graceful hills, the glittery silver-green leaves of the olive trees, the way the aged bricks glow in the last rays of the evening sun all call me back for more. In the meantime, though, I'll remain in a Tuscan state of mind.

When most people talk about pasta, they probably think of Italy as its birth place. Historians would disagree however, and give credit to our neighbors in the east for inventing the earliest form of this much loved food.It was around 1700 B.C. when the Chinese came up with a noodle made from rice flour. While not a popular theory with those who insist on giving credit to the Italians, the Chinese do get the vote from most historians.

That doesn’t mean that the Italians were not major players in the evolution of pasta as we know it. Around 400 B.C. the Etruscans, who live in an area in the western part of Italy, made a noodle similar to lasagna. This noodle was made from spelt, a grain from which wheat has evolved.Much later the Romans are credited with making a noodle similar to the one made by the Etruscans, out of flour and water. These noodles, like the earlier versions by the Chinese, were prepared by baking in an oven.

Boiled noodles came later and the Italians don’t get credit for inventing these either. Instead, we can thank Arab traders who would bring dried noodles along on their very long trips to the Orient. Who doesn’t want a hot meal while traveling? The Arabs did, and they realized that this dried pasta along with a little boiling water was a quick, hot and easy to carry meal.The Arabs brought this food with them to Sicily during the 8th century invasions. Before too long the Italian city of Palermo was producing huge quantities of dried pasta. So, can we give Italians the credit for mass producing pasta? Much to the delight of the Italians, most historians would say, yes.

Specifically, Naples gets the credit for the invention of techniques that allowed dried pasta to be produced en masse in 1600’s. This pasta, which could last long time, is credited with bringing Naples out of an economic depression. No wonder Italians love their pasta!This pasta was often sold by street vendors and was eaten with the bare hands. If you’re thinking the sauce must have made quite a mess then you’re jumping ahead in the story. Pasta at this time was eaten either plain or sprinkled with cheese. It’s not until a couple of centuries later that sauce is introduced.

The first written record of a tomato sauce recipe is 1839. Soon pasta was becoming popular all over the country of Italy, and pastas of various shapes were being introduced. Still, even with its popularity, pasta was being made by small family businesses. Spaghetti, macaroni and vermicelli were being handmade by those specially trained in the art of pasta making.The Agnese family changed all of that in 1824 when they opened the very first pasta factory in Northern Italy. It’s easy to see why Italians get the credit for this favorite food, and in the United States a wave of Italian immigration would help the cement the idea that pasta was an Italian food.

Even though Thomas Jefferson had brought pasta to America as early as the late 1700’s, the food didn’t become widely popular in the country until 1880-1900 when large numbers of Italian immigrants came to America, bringing pasta with them.The next several years would bring even more advances for pasta such as the addition of meatballs and later, thanks to the Franco-American company, canned pasta.

Pasta has a place in American history as well. In the 1920’s farmers used pasta as a marketing campaign for wheat. During the depression, the inexpensive and filling dish became a staple in many households.Today, pasta is as popular as ever. In tiny sidewalk cafes to the fanciest of gourmet restaurants, you are sure to find a few pasta dishes on the menu. Whether you choose to thank the Italians for this delicious food or their eastern neighbors, we can all agree that our dinner tables wouldn’t be the same without this fabulous food.