Intensity of Flavors

When I have been away from Italy for more than a week or so, I am all the more struck by the differences on my return. It makes me think of all of you, and your own first impressions during that first day in Italy.

Returning to Rome this week after a 16 day absence, I was greeted by golden, limpid light, so different from the silver skies I left in Washington. 

What moved me most, though, as it always does, was the experience of profound, characterful flavors. For all the considered food shopping I did, and the restaurants I tried, I would have given up any Washington meal for just one of these. 

A cappuccino served in a thick ceramic cup, and, without my specifying anything, that arrives the right temperature, with a balance of coffee to milk to surface crema that makes you close your eyes to concentrate on the sweet balance. 

A thin-sliced orange that inside is red, orange, and raspberry, and with tangy, perfumed, long lasting aroma.

Spinach that tastes of the earth, rich, strong, with delicate leaf and sturdy stem. And eaten at room temperature. With a new season olive oil with bite and personality and elegance.

Gorgonzola that has been cared for : runny but not too much so, pungent and creamy, sweet milk integrated with earthy molds.

A chunk of bread where the crust is so bite-able and so crunchable, with a large poared, grayish interior tasting of sweet, perfumed wheats and fresh yeasts.

Water. My son says the thing the thing he missed most was Roman water. Cold, flavorful, with no off-flavors, a food in and of itself. 

All of these struck me within two hours of laying my suitcase down, because everything I mentioned was eaten for lunch on arrival. Four days home now, the experiences have begun to stack one upon the other and have settled into the normalcy of meals enjoyed during the Italian day. Each is simple, but each is a celebration.

We plan specialized trips for travelers who love to eat. Sometimes those travelers do not know until they come to Italy how much they love to eat. With our mindful guidance their taste buds awaken, and with each considered morsel they put into their mouths, they discover that the experience of eating here is central to the joy of travel in Italy. 

Please travel with us this year. Celebrate with every meal. Please visit us at www.insidersitaly.com

Sharing with you all of our discoveries — restaurants, trattorie, markets, food artisans, in-home cooking classes, food shops and much more — is our greatest joy.