E’ Primavera !

At their dining tables, all over Italy, Italians are celebrating the coming of spring.

The superb asparagus of Bassano have arrived, and the wild strawberries from Nemi.  Sezze’s Romanesco artichokes are at their prime.  Genovese basil is at its sweetest and most delicate.  The peas of Miradolo are tiny and succulent. Vesuvius’s apricots are in bloom with divine fruits quick to follow.

The stash you see in our photo above is typical of what Italians nationwide are taking home from neighborhood markets to their kitchens, and what you will find yourselves during the last weeks of April.  If you have rented an Insider’s Italy villa you can cook any of these yourselves.  Or you watch it being cooked in one of the numerous cooking classes, with home cooks or semi-professional chefs, that it is our pleasure to coördinate.  Or let us plan visits for you to farms, some biodynamic and organic, where you can experience for yourself Italy’s spring bounty, and can sample it on the spot.   Eighteen regions of Italy celebrate “Primavera Bio” from now through May 16, throwing open their doors to visitors.  We arrange visits to wineries, cherry farms, honey estates, olive oil mills, buffalo mozzarella dairies and many more extraordinary organic farms, most of which offer country lunches. You are likely to be the only non Italians, and will be offered a Slow Food lunch that is a celebration of local, seasonal products.   This is the sort of real Italian experience that is central to Insider’s Italy travels.

Buona Primavera !