Salve Ragazzi,
Here’s your Italian Word Of The Day:
IMPROVVISAMENTE (suddenly)
Ero via ( I was gone) , e poi, improvvisamente (and then, suddenly), sono tornata! (I’m back)!
It’s a fun word to say; give it a try:
But you are probably just waiting for me to tell you dov’ero. Where was I?
🤷♀️ It’s a long story, and I don’t end up looking very good in it. Let’s just say I got bored, lazy, and was going through a bit of an identity crisis.
I got back from Italy last week (I went to Venice the week after the film festival), and I started thinking about how there are so many other things to talk about besides film.
For instance,
BOLZANO!
Why did we go to Bolzano? Because we ❤️ Bolzano, and it’s an easy train ride from Venezia!
FUN FACTS ABOUT BOLZANO
- Bolzano is a South Tyrolean city about 250 miles from Austria.
- It’s known as “The Gateway to the Dolomites” and is breathtakingly beautiful.
- Bolzano is also known as Bozen because at least 25% of the population speak German as their primary language. This number can be as high as 90% in the more rural surrounding areas.
- Bolzano’s most famous resident is Ötzi, or “The Ice Man”. Ötzi is a natural mummy of a man who lived between 3350 and 3105 BC. After having been murdered high in the Dolomites and abandoned to the elements for thousands of years, Ötzi’s remains were discovered in 1991 by a couple of hikers. You can visit him at South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy, and if you visit Bolzano and don’t, what the heck is wrong with you?He’s cool! And his discovery changed everything we thought we knew about the Copper Age! There’s too much to talk about for this newsletter, but watch the following documentary to learn about the border dispute, the tug-of-war between Austria and Italy, and the critical scientific and historical impact Ötzi made on the world.
- The region has one more language, but you’ll probably have to head to the Alto Adige nether regions to find it. Ladin is a Rhaeto-Romanic language that contains some words and sounds similar to Italian and Latin. It is the oldest language in South Tyrol and is spoken farther into the mountains north and East of Bolzano.Example: Ladim, Italian, EnglishBun dé, Buongiorno, Good day.Buna sëra, Buona sera, Good evening.Buna nöt, Buona notte, Good night.Co vara pa? Come sta? How are you?BunFine, Male, Bad.Ula vaste pa? Dove va? Where are you going?A ciasa, A casa, Home.Giulan, Grazie, Thank youWhat did we eat and drink in Bolzano? What didn’t we? 😄Per usual, I was frequently found with a glass of their delicious Lagrein red wine, a native grape of Alto Adige. I’m not good at talking about wine, so I’ll let Loren Sonkin from Into Wine do it for me. This is from the website That Useful Winesite.“Lagrein wine is dense and dark purple/ruby in color. It has aromas of black raspberries and plums with spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. Yet, on the palate, it is a bit lighter than expected although it does come off as rustic, with a spry acidity that makes them great with food. The flavors are more of raspberries and cranberries and some leathery qualities. For many wine drinkers, especially those used to the Bordeaux varietals, Lagrein can be unsettling as the palate seems weak based on the visual expectations. Yet, this is a wine with fascinating complexities that goes great with food…Lagrein wines are usually labeled as DOC Alto Adige Lagrein. In addition, the word Suditrol may appear. This is the Austrian name for the area meaning South Tyrol. Under DOC rules, these wines have at least 95% Lagrein grapes but may have as much as 5% other local grapes added to it. Riservas are also produced which have a minimum ageing requirement of 24 months before being released…The leading white wine producers of Alto Adige also tend to make the best reds.”
Yum. It’s 10:30 am and I want some!
And here’s something you can pretty much only find in North-East Italy, Canederli. As yummy as these “Knödel” are, that’s what a bitch they are to pronounce.
I gave up a long time ago and just point to it on the menu now, but you try!
Canederli are dumplings and a great example of cucina povera (cuisine of the poor), made of simple and regionally available ingredients: stale bread moistened with milk and bound with eggs and a small amount of flour. You can add just about anything to them, like cheese or speck. SO GOOD.
And I know where you can find them in the USA! There’s a wonderful little restaurant in the NOHO neighborhood of Manhattan called Misirizzi.
It’s the coziest little place, serving super authentic Italian food by an exceptionally friendly staff. And the canederli? OUT OF THIS WORLD.
A post shared by @misirizzinyc
GO! 36 East 4th St, New York City, NY 10003, 212-375-0100
Back to Bolzano…
If you go (when you go), take the cable car up to Soprabolzano, one of the villages high above Bolzano on the Renon Plateau. The cable car station is not far from the train station and is an easy, BREATHTAKING ride.
From there you can take the little train and discover more little villages.
From the cable car, keep your eyes open for the “Earth Pyramids”! These spectacular (and a bit spooky) formations are called Erdpyramiden in German and Piramidi di terra in Italian. They are part of the boulder-studded moraine clay deposited by glaciers during the last ice age.
I wasn’t very good at taking pictures in the city, but my friend Maureen (Reenie) took some great ones! Thanks for sharing, Reenie Kuhn!
And here’s what I got a kick out of in Piazza Walther.
I hope you are all enjoying the fourth and final season of L’Amica Geniale, starring the darling Alba Rohrwacher, who has been our narrator all along. Let me know what you think! Who’d have thought little Lenù would have become such a badass!
And if you hadn’t already noticed, improvvisamente, we are now,
I LOVE ITALIAN EVERYTHING! 🇮🇹 🍝🎬✈️
So stay tuned! We’ll talk about cinema too!
Un bacione, 💋
Cheri
America’s favorite Italian wannabe!
I Love Italian Everything 