Sapori e Saperi Adventures Flavours and Knowledge of Italian Artisans
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Bread: To Salt or Not to Salt

15/2/2025

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No salt in this dough
During our Artisan Bread Course Tuscany we make one bread with no salt. There's a myth floating around the internet that bread won't rise without salt. If you've ever been to Florence and eaten their saltless bread, you know it can't be true. But we decided to test it in the lab with our master baker Stefano Gatti. You can see the excellent results in the photo above.
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The madia. A handy piece of furniture. You mixed your dough and left it to rise in the box with a hinged top. In the bottom cupboard you stored your flour and utensils.
But in the past did a woman living in Lucca Province add salt to her bread? Lucca was never part of the Florentine Republic. With a couple of short exceptions, it was only in 1799 that it fell prey to foreign powers. In 1859 it finally became part of Tuscany. We have our own customs, and one of those is to add salt to bread. I quizzed Eugenia who owns our village shop. When she was little, she used to climb up on a stool and watch her mother kneading the dough in the madia. She couldn't remember about the salt. At that point in my investigations her sister-in-law, who is in her late 80s, walked in. Yes, everyone added salt. No doubt at all. They knew that Florentine bread was sciocco (saltless). Totally different from their own, which needless to say, is much better. 
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Paolo Magazzini's 60-year-old madre lives in a pot in a cupboard in his bakery where he produces the potato bread of the Garfagnana.
The absence of lievito madre (sourdough starter) in bread made at home has also been a puzzlement to me. Every mamma who I've made bread with has used fresh cake yeast. Finally I found out. Eugenia, now in her 70s, remembers every evening standing on that stool watching her mother refresh her lievito madre. Proof at last that the tradition has been lost, at least around me, in the recent past. I'm happy to report that there's much greater interest recently in bread made with ancient grains, wholemeal flour and lievito madre.
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We learned much more than just about salt from Stefano's 40 years' experience of baking and his passion for sourdough.
In case you're wondering, like I did, where the salty myth came from, Stefano had the answer. Although salt kills some of the yeast, chemically it creates a stronger gluten matrix which in turn is able to hold more of the carbon dioxide produced by the remaining yeast. So, if you don't add salt, the dough still rises, but will be closer grained. Another baker who teaches our course told us that by law he is only allowed to add up to 1.2% salt to his bread, but that's enough to keep it from being sciocco​ and to keep us distinct from the Florentines.
If you want to learn more about bread (with and without salt), starter doughs from stiff to liquid, from biga to poolish, flat griddle breads and the Slow Food Presidium potato bread of the Garfagnana, sign up for our Artisan Bread Course Tuscany.
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Giants of Sardinia in Photos

19/10/2023

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It's always wonderful to travel to Sardinia, but during the recent tour Erica had a special guest—her cousin Jeff Blaine who had travelled with his wife Sue from Chicago to join the tour. Jeff & Sue also happen to have a talent for photography so we are delighted to be able to share what they captured during the tour. (Except where indicated, the photos are by Jeff.)
Our Italian adventure begins with food and family…
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Erica with Jeff and Sue (Photo: restaurant waiter)
Cagliari is the capital city of the Italian island of Sardinia…Bellisima!
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Mercato San Benedetto
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Visiting the Museo Archeologico Nazionale
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Explorations in the Sardinian Nuragic civilisation…
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Nuraghe Barumini, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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Lunch at Ristorante Sa Lolla, Barumini
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Museum Casa Zapata—The launeddas is a traditional musical instrument known at least from the Nuragic period around 900 BCE.
Olives, Bread and Wine with the Orro Family and sightseeing in Oristano…
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Olives we picked on the Orro farm
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Antonio Arca is Erica's co-leader. He lives in London where he imports artisan food from his native Sardinia.
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Davide Orro shows us how to cure olives in brine.
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A little something to take home
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Davide's sister Esta demonstrates how to make Sardinian festive bread.
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The duomo of Oristano
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Responsibly fished coral from around the coast of Sardinia
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Francesco Sanna makes jewellery from the coral.
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Rice and Cheese! Culinary adventures in Sardinia…
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A visit to Marcello Stara in the midst of the rice harvest to find out how it’s cultivated, harvested, polished and, best of all, eaten.
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Rossella makes risotto
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Marcello adds the pecorino
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Cheesemaker Peppino Sanna
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We’ve always wondered; now we know… how the sausage is made!
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Making Sardinian sausages under the guidance of Paolo Lilliu
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(Photo: Sue Blaine)
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On our way to Paolo's neighbours' farm Zafferano e Spezie di Sardegna
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Fields of peperoncino (Photo: Sue Blaine)
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Itria teaches us to make pardule seasoned with saffron.
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Food & Archeology… Culurgiones ogliastrini & Nuragic ruins…
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(Photo: another member of the group)
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Culurgiones at Agriturismo Archelao
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Antonio's family came from Alghero to join us for lunch.
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Remains of nuraghe at Santa Cristina
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Stairs down to the Nuragic sacred well of Santa Cristina (Photo: Sue Blaine)
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Astronomically oriented chute above sacred well of Santa Cristina (Photo: Sue Blaine)
Nuragic giant & farewell to Sardinia
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Musician Stefano Pinna and his friends
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'A week ago, strangers… tonight friends! What a great group! Thank you Erica and Antonio for being wonderful guides and teaching us so much about the delights of Sardinia!' (Photo: staff at Agriturismo l'Orto)
This was all part of the Giants of Sardinia tour which will be taking place again from 28 September –5 October 2024.
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Other blogs about Sardinia: Cross-Dressing in Sardinia, Sardinia and its Giants
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Artisan Bread Course Tuscany

15/9/2023

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Rhonda Gothberg, a goat farmer and cheesemaker from Washington State, USA, joined us on the Artisan Bread Course Tuscany this year. She shared wonderful commentary and photos online during the course and has allowed us to share them with you in this blog post. We have put together her comments and photo captions below. Enjoy!
First a note from us:
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We bought our aprons from the Real Bread Campaign. A proportion of the price goes to support the Campaign. You can help too. We encourage you to Google their website and join.
Rhonda had travelled around Italy before joining the course, which began in Hotel Park Regina, Bagni di Lucca. ​
PictureArrived at our hotel. It’s an old classic. Maybe not for everyone but I like it. Very friendly desk help to me, the newbie.

​Sourdough bread making today with Chef Damiano at Fattoria Sardi. We were also treated to lunch there. We go back tomorrow to bake the bread and another lunch. Oh my goodness...all around excellent.
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One of the first wait periods.
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Chef Damiano and Erica, founder and director of Sapori & Saperi Adventures and designer of our course.
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Chickpea bread with tomato and peppers.
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This was one of three good wines with lunch.
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We made these flatbreads with sourdough starter and some salt. Filled with a cod mousse concoction.
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White ragu with ‘barnyard choice’ for meat: chicken, rabbit, and I’m not really sure what else.
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This little potato crispy was fantastic. I said I’ve never met a potato I didn’t like.
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Zucchini and eggplant with a pepper sauce.
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After lunch before adding potato.
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A meringue dessert with a sorbet and amaretto syrup. We had this during a bread wait.
A highlight today is a visit with Carlo. He’s 85 years old. His family has been blacksmithing for over 500 years. Sadly, no one is coming up behind him. This place is fascinating! It is run completely on water power. Such a skilled master artisan. We were all mesmerized.
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Carlo at work
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Look at the centuries of hands worn on this water lever to operate the hammer.
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Cappuccino in the courtyard looking at a village on the hill. I love these little villages. So many lives and stories they hold.
​Today we worked with Chef Damiano again and got our bread baked from yesterday. We then had a tour of Fattoria Sardi vineyards and wine areas. We learned to make our own sourdough starter. Then another fabulous lunch. After that we visited a farmer who grows ancient varieties of wheat. A brief rest at the hotel then out to dinner for pizza and a beer.
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My own loaf awaiting baking.
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Starter making
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Biodynamic vines
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Wine making vessels
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The bread came out quite good.
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Funny story to this one. Chef with Irish class participant.
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We learned to cool the loaves on the side.
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Chef Damiano and our esteemed team we got to work with.
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Pizza and a beer to finish the day.
We learned to make these yeasted flat breads [Ed.--fogaccia leva di Gallicano] yesterday. These are made on traditional flat iron sort of griddles. Some call the pan testi but there are other names [Ed.--cotte in Gallicano] depending on the village tradition. Our hosts have been best friends since birth. What a duo! The ensuing lunch with this traditional food was really good. It is served with a local bean and sausage ‘soup’ [Ed.--fagioli all'uccelletto, a traditional Tuscan bean stew]. Then they taught us a version made with chestnut flour [Ed.--necci] and rolled around fresh ricotta. After this, we went to another village to learn the same technique for one with no yeast or rise, a mix of flour and cornmeal [Ed.--criscioletta of Cascio], with strips of pancetta cooked into it. Needless to say no one was hungry for dinner.
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Placed on edge to cool.
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Tools for the flatbreads
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All meals have cheeses.
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All meals have meats. [Ed.—This one is salame toscano.]
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Lunch with our mentors
A flour mill that is still driven by water. Note that the water wheels are horizontal. They made the flours for our flatbread class.
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They were milling while we were there.
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I think he said this is how they tension to control the grind consistency. [Ed.—This is how they control how many grains are fed onto the millstone. The fineness of the grind is controlled by raising or lowering the top stone.]
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The wheel working today is behind this one but is the same size.
Then on to more beautiful places.
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Cascio
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Barga
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The duomo of Barga
Rhonda was unable to take part in the final day of the Artisan Bread Course Tuscany. If she had she would have learned about the Slow Food Presidium Garfagnana potato bread with Paolo Magazzini. With a visit to Paolo's farro polishing machine and free range beef cattle during gaps in bread making. Topped off with a lunch cooked by Paolo's wife!

This was all part of the Artisan Bread Course Tuscany, which will be taking place again from 11–16 February. It used to be in July, but it's too hot now to do anything, much less bake bread. Find out more here. 
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Dining with Bandits

20/8/2023

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Our meal ticket for our dinner with the bandits
'The Bandits of Sillico in the Garfagnana of Ariosto ...at dinner time'. The translation into English of the title of this historical and gastronomic festival leaves most of the story untold. As you'll see below, the real joy is in the way this tiny mediaeval village works together to present a spectacular meal and show. But you'll need a bit of local history to get into the spirit.

​In the 1400s the Garfagnana (the mountainous region north of Lucca) wanted to free itself from the tyranny of the Republic of Lucca and asked for help from the Este family, the Dukes of Ferrara. The Dukes obliged and installed a governor at the region's capital, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. In 1522 they sent the poet Ludovico Ariosto to fill the post. He hated all three and a half years he spent there, especially his dealings with the local brigands whose chief was Moro of Sillico. When Ariosto arrived, they essentially ruled the Garfagnana. Being a poet, he wrote many letters to the Duke complaining about their activities and asking for more troops, and through his descriptions we have a lot of detail about the brigands.

To this day Castelnuovo vaunts its noble governor while Sillico brags about how Moro outwitted him. 
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Crowds gather outside the Porta del Ponte (Gate of the Bridge) waiting for the gates to open at 8 pm.
I know the back route to the upper gate where the queue is shorter. The entertainers are arriving too.
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The Sbandieratori (flag throwers) of Gallicano are renowned in the valley and further afield. We're in for a good show!
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Buying our meal ticket. Only 25 euros for a 4-course meal plus entertainment!
Here's Giulio, director of the Sbandieratori and teacher of our fogaccia di Gallicano lessons, another tradition he's helping to preserve.
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Giulio and his troop, dressed in linen and velvet, are definitely in Ariosto's camp.
Let me quickly brag a bit on Giulio's behalf. His troop has performed throughout Europe and is known for its fast, explosive and unpredictable style. It has won the national championships more often than any other group. Bravi!
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The brigands look more comfortable having a good natter before dinner.
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Not everyone is enjoying the party. Did his moll stand him up?
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The running order for the evening
 8.00 pm—Opening of the gates
 9.00 pm —Historical procession
 9.30 pm—Dance of the courtly damsels
10.00 pm—Play "Ariosto arrives in the Garfagnana" (spoiler, Moro wins the poetry competition improvising in ottava rima)
10.30 pm—Sbandieratori di Gallicano
11.00 pm— Show "The Muses of the Devil" (wish I had the stamina to have stayed for this)
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First Banquet: black bread with lardo and herbs, another with olive and onion paste, sweet-sour zucchini
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Second Banquet: Menestra (soup) of tajerini (pasta) with red beans and wild herbs
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It's delicious despite standing in the outdoor dining room of Via Belvedere. Wait till you see the view!
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The view from Via Belvedere of the Alpi Apuane is a good as the soup.
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One of the wine and water stations along route through the village
Now we climb the steep cobbled streets to arrive at the terrace where the main course is served.
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Third Banquet: porchetta and beans or chickpeas
This is Nadia. Her husband Bruno lights three metati (chestnut-drying huts) every October and I often take my salumi course participants to see how much work goes into producing the naturally sweet chestnut flour of the Garfagnana. Festivals are good places to meet old friends.
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Ariosto's drummers march through the 'dining room'.
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And here come his sbandieratori, flags unfurled.
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I spy Moro in his brown cape and hat.
The quickest route to the piazza where the shows take place is through Palazzo Carli where we are catapulted from the 16th century into the 19th.
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A collector of radios, gramophones and tape recorders left them—all in working order—to the village of Sillico.
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Another collector donated his cuckoo clocks, every one of them ticking.
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A beautiful example of a handwoven bedspread
We come out of the palazzo to a spectacular show in the piazza in front of the house where Moro was born.
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Breathtaking skill and precision
We climb to the top of the village to arrive at the fourth banquet: dessert.
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A brigand delicately fondles his piece of cake.
I'll leave you with the sound of the bagpipers.
Thank you to Klaus Falbe-Hansen for supplying most of the photos in this blog and to him, his wife and their friend for accompanying me for this thoroughly enjoyable evening.

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150 years of Carnival at Viareggio

25/2/2023

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​By Alison Goldberger
This year marked the 150th anniversary of the Carnival at Viareggio and Erica was there taking it all in…and of course taking some photographs too.
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Celebrating 150 years of Viareggio Carnival
​The Carnival has been taking place since 1873 and involves many highly decorated papier-mâché floats and masquerades traveling in a procession down the ‘passeggiata’, or promenade along the seafront in Viareggio.
​It sounds like fun and games, but it’s a serious business. The floats take part in four ‘classes’ and creators can move up and down classes depending on how many points they are awarded for their creations. Moving up or down a class can make or break the designers. The four classes dictate the size and budget of the float and the order in which they travel.
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Mars Attack!
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A British-inspired display
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A bright float
​As you can see from the photos, the floats are huge and take months and months to build.
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Io Sono Nessuno [I'm Nobody] by Roberto Vannucci
There are of course many light-hearted and fun floats, and this year some celebrated the 150th anniversary.
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Dancers pose in front of the giant gorilla representing the dominance and aggression of man over nature
However, they are often allegorical, and this year touched on the war in Ukraine. A huge gorilla adorned with military medals entitled 'The Evolution of the Species' represented war and misery. 
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'Armed Peace'
There was a stark juxtaposition between the jolly celebrations of the anniversary and heavy anguish about the future of the human race. The photo above shows ‘Armed Peace’ by Alessandro Avanzini – a young girl wearing a helmet and gas mask. Her coat opens out into a flag of peace, symbolising the hope for peace.
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Goodbye blue sky. L'amore vince su tutto by Massimo and Alessandro Breschi also touches on the subject of war
The final day of the Carnival (February 25) will also take on a political note with an 'Orangemob' - orange fireworks in protest against gender based violence. The announcement of the winning float follows! 

It is always a spectacular event. If you would like to read more about Carnival take a look at this previous blog post.

Carnival traditionally ends on 'Fat Tuesday' or Martedì Grasso, if you'd like to read more about that, check out this previous blog post. 

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Join us in 2023 - all you need to know

27/1/2023

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By Alison Goldberger
We hope you enjoyed our round-up of 2022. Perhaps it whetted your appetite for our tours and courses and you're thinking of joining us this year? We are already looking forward to meeting you! But first, let’s take a look at what’s in store in 2023…
FEBRUARY
Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma
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Aldo Brianti breaking down a side of Black Pig of Parma
​Our salumi courses are always the first of the year – winter is the best time to make salumi of course! Many of our artisans use traditional methods to air dry their products, so cool weather is a must.  If Prosciutto di Parma is your thing, you could take our last space on the Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma in February. This course also teaches Mortadella di Bologna as well as some niche products – nose to tail at its best. This will be the only time this course runs in 2023, the 2024 date is still to be announced.  
MARCH
Mozzarella & its Cousins
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Hands on at Tenuta Chirico
The Mozzarella & its Cousins course is a professional development course teaching cheesemakers how to make pasta filata cheeses – mozzarella, scamorza and burrata (just reading it makes your mouth water, right?). For those of you who don’t happen to have buffalo milk at hand, we also take a look at the differences when using cow’s milk. This course will run in March, and there are still a couple of spaces left. It might run again in July and October, so please get in touch if you can't come in March.
Art & Science of Gelato
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Mirko and course participant pastry chef Sorravee tasting her creation
​Create your own flavours, use professional machinery and get into the nitty gritty of sugar and fat content and how that translates into the perfect scoop during the Art & Science of Gelato course. Mirko Tognetti runs one of the top gelaterias in Italy and is passionate about natural gelato and sharing his knowledge. He also shares his insights into the business side of things. This course has availability in March, August and October. In October we also learn how to make panettone with a sourdough starter.
APRIL
Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese
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Vitalina has been making cheese her whole life, she is a wealth of knowledge
​Join us in April on this professional development course which gives artisan cheesemakers the chance to expand their knowledge through working with five Tuscan cheesemakers. The Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese course teaches various cheeses including lactic-coagulated goat’s milk cheese, rennet-coagulated cow, sheep and goat cheese and ricotta.
Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese Extension
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Coaxing parmigiano curd into its mould at Caseificio Santa Rita Bio
​The two-day extension introduces you Parmigiano Reggiano cheese at Caseificio Santa Rita Bio in Modena Province. They make parmigiano from the milk of the indigenous white Modenese cow. At the dairy we have the invaluable opportunity to see the whole process from milk to brining with all questions answered. And a tasting of their spectacular parmigiano of several ages from one year up to ten years.
Celebrating Sardinia
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We see Sardinians celebrating their patron saint during the tour. What a spectacle!
This wonderful tour is always popular and is fully booked for 2023, but there are places left for the April 2024 tour. During the Celebrating Sardinia tour our guests arrive during the Sardinian feast for their patron Saint Antioco and are thrown into the island’s colourful food and culture during  two days of street parties. After the party there are many more interesting things to discover – pecorino cheese, salt pans and a day on a fishing boat to name but a few. 
MAY
Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool 
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Emanuele Francione teaches how to block print with rust
​During this tour in the picturesque borders of Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche (a dream landscape!) you have the chance to dye with woad, block print with rust, visit the makers of Casentino wool and cook local specialities. The Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool tour allows guests to delve into living traditions and meet the makers who have been creating these very special crafts for generations. This tour will take place in May, and there are still some spaces available. 
JUNE
Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread
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86-year-old Sestilia shows us how she knits typical peasant socks.
​Join us in June as we visit the last of the textile artisans using methods handed down through generations. Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread 2023 also includes a new activity – making sandals with a luxury-market shoemaker. It goes without saying, there will be delicious food too, and various cooking lessons from our artisans who invite you into their homes. 
JULY
 Artisan Bread Course Tuscany
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Giulio Baldacci shows us how to make fogaccia leva of Gallicano.
​Real. Bread. Need we say more? Okay, maybe a little more then. Five artisan bakers share their knowledge through hands-on classes during the Artisan Bread Course Tuscany. Think sourdough, focaccia, pizza, heritage grains, wood-fired ovens and the very special Garfagnana potato bread. Travel back home inspired. This course will run in July.
AUGUST
Tuscan Heritage 
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During a visit to a tobacco farm we see the harvesting and drying of the leaves. (We don't promote smoking, but tobacco played a major part in Tuscan economy for four centuries, and we shouldn't ignore it.)
​August sees us hop aboard a time machine for a journey into Tuscany’s past. A few of the highlights of the Tuscan Heritage tour are hunting for truffles with an Etruscan dog, feasting on Palaeolithic beef and 14th-century pork, gazing at the countryside from a 16th-century fortress and tasting Chianti Classico wine from 17th-century terraces. Divine!
SEPTEMBER
Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For
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Tommaso Cecchi de’ Rossi shows us how he uses wine as a mordant to dye leather and fabric
This popular tour is full for September 2023, and we're now taking bookings for September 2024. During the Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For tour we visit Pistoia and Pescia and try our hand at weaving baskets with marsh reeds, making watermarked paper and using wine as a mordant to dye leather and fabric. 
Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia
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Weaving with Arianna Pintus
​This 5-night Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia tour takes us in search of the truth about byssus, or sea silk. The dark brown beard of the giant mollusc Pinna nobilis shimmers like gold thread when cleaned, treated with lemon juice and viewed in bright light. We visit the last remaining byssus weavers – a special experience. 
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER
Giants of Sardinia
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Making culurgiones, a ravioli that looks like an ear of wheat
​Off to Sardinia once more in October for the fully booked Giants of Sardinia tour. In 2024 this tour will run from September 28 – 5 October and is available to book. This tour encompasses  Bronze Age stone giants as well as the giants of Sardinian cuisine – what a combination!
NOVEMBER
Autumn in Tuscany
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Truffle hunter Riccardo
The delightful Autumn in Tuscany tour is fully booked for 2023, but available to book for November 2024. The sweet smell of roasting chestnuts, wood fires, new olive oil, truffles and new wine in the cellar. An indulgent dive into the traditions of the area and a culture seen through the eyes of local artisans. A season to remember. 
 Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany
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We learn from Gino Rocchi during the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany
​Just as the year begins with salumi, so it will end. In November we will once again visit the artisan norcini of Tuscany during the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany. We glean their knowledge of making sausages, salami, Lardo di Collonnata IGP, pancetta, prosciutto and sopressata as well as many other delectable items. It’s a practical course and you can come armed with your notepad and camera to return home ready to make these products yourself, or vastly improve on what you currently make. 

If you’re feeling inspired to join any of our tours and courses in 2023, or indeed to book a place in 2024 for some of this year's fully booked tours please get in touch with Erica. Find out all you need to know about each tour and course on the website. Our Facebook and Instagram pages will keep you updated with current tours and give you an insight into what to expect when you join us. We hope to see you soon!

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How Many Salamis?

31/12/2022

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I'm much more interested in quality than quantity. But since we have only two confirmed bookings on the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany in January 2023 and none on the March course, I've begun to wonder whether the market is saturated.
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Massimo Bacci's maturing room in November 2010
Has everyone on the planet who wants to make Italian salumi already done our courses?
How many courses have we actually run since the launch in November 2010?
​Should we be celebrating our 50th course or is it more or less?
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Our first group of salumi students in November 2010
I admit I got a bit obsessed with the numbers. And I'm surprised by the results.

Total number of Advanced Salumi Courses
Tuscany: 48 since launch in November 2010
Bologna-Parma: 7 since launch in January 2017

Total number of participants
Tuscany: 246
Bologna-Parma: 27
Pretty impressive, but what really surprised me were the number of nationalities represented by the participants. 
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37 countries represented on our salumi courses
Thirty-seven countries! You'll notice a little cheating: the four 'kingdoms' of the United Kingdom are tallied separately, but I was curious about how many people came from each. Now I wonder: have we contributed positively to international relations?
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On the course in January 2013 the score was: Ireland-3, England-2, USA-2
Purely in terms of numbers the US outdistances the rest, but as a percentage of the total population England must be the winner. When I first moved to Cambridge (England) in 1967, there were several dedicated pork butchers in the town. I don't know of any now. Perhaps today's butchers, pig farmers and chefs yearn to re-establish that tradition of curing pork but in a manner reflective of our more international outlook. In the realm of salumi, by which I mean dry cured pork as opposed to cooked dishes so common in France, no nationality merits emulating more than the Italians.
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How much superb salumi have we tasted on our courses? Like this from one of our instructors, Ismaele Turri, on our course in March 2013.
Returning to the question in the title: how many salamis? I don't have a record of how many salamis our participants have made over the years. Hundreds? Thousands?
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Salamis of March 2011 course at Ismaele Turri, not counting the ones we made with Massimo Bacci
So, is the market completely saturated? Or is this just the lull in the eye of the storm? Are bookings for February 2023 in Bologna and Parma and March in Tuscany about to come flooding in? These are questions for you, my readers. 
If you'd like to be on the mailing list for our salumi courses, click here: http://eepurl.com/hVwz6
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Some other salumi blogs from the early days of the course you might be interested in:
Moments of Glory
​From Pig to Salumi
Salumi Course in Tuscany
February—Learning the Art of Prosciutto in Emilia
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2022 at Sapori & Saperi

22/12/2022

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By Alison Goldberger

As 2022 comes to a close, we would love to share our adventures with you. We were delighted to welcome so many visitors back to Italy to share in the knowledge of our artisans and take part in our tours. We kicked the year off with a classic, the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany. Read on to find out what else the year had in store for Sapori & Saperi Adventures…
January
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Our wonderful group of salumi makers. Read on to find out why they're holding bags of bread...
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Making salami with Massimo Bacci
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Three different lardo cures
​The first course of the year still had an air of Covid around but regular testing meant we could carry on as normal. We visited Massimo Bacci and enjoyed the delicious Lardo di Colonnata by Fausto Guadagni. 
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Placing bread in wood-fired oven
Illness in the family of one of our artisans led to a last minute change…bread baking! After 18 years in Italy, Erica has learned the Italian art of improvisation. A quick phone call and we were off to Paolo Magazzini to learn how to make Slow Food Presidium Garfagnana potato bread in a wood-fired oven. 
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Gino Rocchi outside his scenic Salumificio
​The last artisan of the course never disappoints. Here’s Gino Rocchi air drying some pancetta outside his incredibly scenic Salumificio. During a visit to Gino we see the whole production run. It's a wonderful experience.  
February
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Annabel excels at making watermarked paper.
Annabel loves crafts, so we took her and her mother to the Museo della Carta (Paper Museum, Pescia) for a watermarked paper workshop. She caught on so quickly, that they offered her an apprenticeship. Too bad she had to go back to school in the States.
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That mozzarella plait needs a bit of help from the expert!
​February also brought with it the Mozzarella & its Cousins course. We had rethought the course, deciding it was too complicated, even for experienced cheesemakers, to learn both mozzarella traditions in Campania. We reluctantly abandoned the excellent dairy in Caserta and added a new one in Salerno Province. We were a bit jittery at first, but Tenuta Chirico turned out to be a joy to work with. We got to make our own pot of mozzarella. The best learning experience possible.
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Happy cheesemakers
We enjoyed meeting ​Rodolfo (pictured centre), whose dad and uncle were both cheesemakers. He thought he wanted to learn something different. However, summers spent in dairies inspired a love for cheesemaking and he’s now the head cheesemaker at Chirico. He’s a great teacher too…lucky for us!
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The creaminess of Mirko's lemon sorbetto recipe always surprises.
Of course the Art & Science of Gelato course saw us pay a visit to Mirko Tognetti, owner of Cremeria Opera in Lucca. Gary Mihalik was already an experienced gelato maker, but he wanted to do a private course with Mirko to find out what he didn't know. There was fast and furious conversation in the classroom and the lab!
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Just making dreams come true here at Sapori & Saperi
​Gary also got to try out the Cattabriga EFFE 6 – a vertical batch freezer, something he'd always wanted to do. Dreams really do come true…
March
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Salami prep...
​Another month, another Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany. Here we are at Agriturismo Venturo preparing the filling for salami. Ismaele Turri teaches on this part of the course—butchering the pig, the Modena cut, shaping the prosciutto and spalla, pancetta, salting whole pieces.
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Gathering under the flag of peace
​And the women on the course saluting all women on International Women’s Day under the flag of peace.
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A meal for Ukraine
​Peace was also on the minds of the locals in Erica’s village of Casabasciana. They gathered together to enjoy a dinner to raise money for Ukrainian refugees. They raised €600 to put towards helping refugees living in Bagni di Lucca. Bravi!
April
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Tasting peanut butter, chocolate and meringue gelato - a great combination!
There was a special half-day Art & Science of Gelato course in April, with one of our guests Barbara creating a genius flavour! Peanut butter, chocolate and meringue. So good it was on sale in Cremeria Opera.
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Roberta and Aurora welcoming us back to their hotel
​Then, after a two year break we were back in Sardinia! Our group received a very warm welcome from Roberta and Aurora at the Gallo Bianco, Erica's favourite hotel in Cagliari.
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Salute!
A very welcome first toast of the tour. It was good to be back!
May
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​Even Erica can find something new to enjoy on the tours. During the Celebrating Sardinia tour she noticed something she’d never taken in before. She has watched the decorated oxen yoked together pulling the traccas during the Sagra of Sant'Antioco several times. Yet she never noticed that the yoke isn't the usual type that rests on the beasts' necks. Instead it links their horns. Our guide at the Museo Etnografico told us that this type of yoke exists only in Sardinia (ruled by Spain for four centuries), Spain and a few other countries which were also under Spanish rule. Where did it come from? There's a Nuragic bronze statuette from around 800 BC of exactly the same yoke. Perhaps it originated right here in Sardinia.
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Enjoying the wonders of calendula
​The Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool tour followed Celebrating Sardinia. First we had a two-day workshop doing natural dyeing. First up, calendula. We heard about its many health benefits and also learned how to use the pigment from the petals as a dye. 
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Environmental guide and natural dyer Simona stirs the woad pot.
A Woad & Wood tour had to include woad. Woad was the blue dye before cheaper and easier-to-use indigo replaced it.
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Tadaa!
We have to show you at least one of the beautiful silk squares we created.
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Chris gets the thumbs up for the block printing on her apron.
We enjoyed learning how to print with rust dye from Emanuele Francione. He uses hand-carved wooden blocks he inherited from his grandfather.
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Wild vegetable tart
Not to forget that many wild plants are good to eat as well as dye with. We couldn't get enough of this tart made by our hostess, Federica Crocetta.
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Modern cooking at Baldo Vino (Pistoia)
On the final day of this whirlwind month Erica welcomed her group at the first meal of the Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For tour. She was in for a surprise. During Covid when tables had to be spaced out, Baldo Vino had decided to open a new osteria for the traditional cuisine and go 'cheffy' at the original restaurant Erica knew so well. Everything was well-cooked and delicious. But of course now Erica wants to go back to try the new place serving the old food! Review pending...
June
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Basket weaving
'The most amazing thing about today was that I made a basket!' said Lydia, tired but happy at the end of another brilliant day on the Wine to Dye For tour. Erica wrote about the day: 'We went into the Padule (Marshes) di Fucecchio where Alessandra told us about the raw materials used for centuries to make baskets and other everyday articles. Then back to the Research Centre to learn to plait (braid) the marsh reeds. Simple enough, but we had to plait at least 5 metres and it was difficult to make it tight enough and to keep the diameter even along the whole length. After our picnic lunch, we went into the classroom to stitch the plaits into baskets. Despite our patient instructors, at first everyone said they couldn't do it. The stitching was so hard on our fingers. But slowly, slowly the plaits got stitched into place and everyone made a basket!'
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On top of the world at Da Delfina
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Creative fish antipasti at Corradossi
The food on tours is always divine and in June it was no different. There were lots of special meals on the Wine To Dye For tour. Dinner with a view at Da Delfina (Artimino), an elegant seafood dinner at Corradossi (Pistoia), lunch prepared by our olive oil expert at Villa Magia (Quarrata), dinner in a garden at Agriristorante Cocò (Lamporecchio) and a mega-steak at Rafanelli (Pistoia).
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Everyone was overjoyed by the colours they had created.
The centrepiece of the tour is our two-day workshop with Tommaso Cecchi de' Rossi. Each person makes a handbag designed by Tommaso using leather and cloth they dye themselves. They think of a colour, and Tommaso helps them mix the dye, using wine as the basis. If you want to see how they came out, keep reading. We took some special photos on our repeat tour in September.
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The final touch—branding the bag
Some of our guests had chosen to go straight on to Sardinia for our 5-day Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia tour.
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Cleaning the beard of a mollusc before spinning and weaving with it
The favourite day is always the workshop with Arianna Pintus, learning about bissus, a fine fibre from the beard of a mollusc, surrounded in mystery and myth. Arianna also leads us in a creative weaving workshop.
July
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July was all about bread on our brand new Artisan Bread Course Tuscany. A glorious week working with five very different bakers. The first baker we met is Stefano Bechelli (pictured) who runs a family bakery called Pane del Gonzo. He makes his bread pretty much single handedly with the use of modern technology. His flour comes from Tuscany. 
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Next up was Damiano Donati a talented chef who taught all there is to know about sourdough bread. Of course a lunch prepared by the man himself couldn't be passed up.
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Dana masters the criscioletta.
Erica scours remote mountains and valleys for unique products for her courses. Crisciolette are found only at the village of Cascio in the Garfagnana. Alessandro Bertolini and his team taught us to make this tasty wheat flour and cornmeal griddle bread, flavoured with pancetta or wrapped around cheese. Another dream came true on this day. Dana wanted to go up to the top of the bell tower. Alessandro just happened to have the key...
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Our courses are hands on...what else!
The obligatory 'look what we made' photo featuring delicious Garfagnana potato bread which was baked in the wood-fired oven of ​Paolo Magazzini.
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Hard work!
July also brought the launch of the new standalone sourdough panettone course. It's run by a familiar face, Mirko Tognetti, who teaches our gelato courses. Three chefs from India were the first to take the course. 
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Success!
It's a very technical course but Mirko makes it seem easy, and our participants were delighted with their finished panettone!
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Onorato's signature topping of friarielli (broccoli rab), pancetta and smoked mozzarella
By popular demand we also launched a short sourdough pizza course with Neapolitan pizzaiolo Onorato Salvatore at his Pizzeria MaryFrank in Lucca. You can take it as a two-day stand-alone or add one or two days with Onorato onto any of our other courses. ​
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Chef Chris Stebbings found the hardest part to master was slapping the dough before stretching the pizza base.
As you can tell from this blog, Erica has been so busy running courses and tours, she hasn't had time to put the course on our website. Subito! which should mean soon, but as used by Italian plumbers, means maybe sometime later this month—or next.
August
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Creating Kesar Badham gelato
We kicked August off with an Art & Science of Gelato course. Day 5 is when our students get to create their own flavours. Arjun chose Kesar Badham, a popular milk, almond and saffron drink in his home country of India. Sublime!
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Rossella in her wine cellar at Fattoria di Bacchereto
Sometimes one day in a tour isn't quite perfect. Erica managed to squeeze in a research trip to fix it. It was on the Wine to Dye For tour. Naturally we had to taste wine as well as dyeing with it. The morning had started perfectly in the vineyards and tasting room of Fattoria di Bacchereto. The weakness was the time machine in the afternoon that didn't quite make it back to the Etruscan period and, although the view from the restaurant was magnificent, the cooking had become a bit pedestrian now that mamma had retired from the kitchen. 
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Tomb of wealthy Etruscan landowner (about 600 BCE)
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Erica & chef Graziella bonded instantly
The Tumulus of Montifortini vividly displays the impressive building skills of the Etruscans. Time machine reset. And at the Osteria dei Mercanti in Carignano, she found mamma still in the kitchen. Day solved.
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Tasting their gelato creations
We welcomed our first students from Puerto Rico on the Art & Science of Gelato course in mid-August. Naturally they had to make Piña Colada gelato. Yum!
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Hands on the pecorino during the Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese course
We were delighted to have some of our students from previous courses come back for the Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese course in the Garfagnana.
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How Parmigiano Reggiano is born
Parmigiano is produced just over the Apennine Mountains from the Garfagnana and several participants took advantage of the short hop over there to see how they do it. 
September
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Silk velvet being woven on an antique Jacquard loom at the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio (Art of Silk Foundation Lisio)
Another wonderful Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye for tour took place in September. Our tours are based in the countryside, but we couldn't miss out the Lisio Foundation in Florence, where we see their artisans in action weaving silk velvets and brocade.
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Francesco Gori, grandson of the founder, and our smiling group
Our other destination in Florence was the Scuola di Cuoio (Leather School) at Santa Croce. We learned how to tell the difference between real and faked leather of different animals. All their leather comes from certified sustainable farms. 
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Restoring and re-tinning copper pots
Copper pots are a dream to cook in, but they require maintenance. We got to watch the process at Antichi Mestieri (Ancient Crafts) where top restaurants send their pots and pans to be refurbished.
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We were treated to a rainbow over the lagoon.
Then it was off to Sant'Antioco again for Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia where we were trying a new hotel right on the lagoon. Perfect! This is where we'll stay for Celebrating Sardinia in April 2023.
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What the best-dressed bride used to wear (and some still do).
One of the highlights is the costume workshop where we can feel the fabric and see the beautiful embroidery and needlework up close.
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Wine-dyed bags at Nuraghe Cuccu. Will we make it into Vogue?
We decided that a 3500-year-old megalithic tower was the perfect setting to capture the elegance of the bags we had made with Tommaso Cecchi de' Rossi on the Wine to Dye For tour!
October
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Never mind the sorbetto, look at our new aprons!
Fanfare please for the debut of our new aprons at the final Art & Science of Gelato course of the year. They may not be as cheerful as our old ones, but I know for sure they're not made by slave labour, and the cloth is so nice to touch. They're designed and produced specially for us by Busatti of Anghiari, where we have a private tour during the Woad & Wool tour.
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The best olive oil is milled from olives picked by hand.
In a little break from longer tours and courses Erica took a family to pick olives and taste oil at Agriturismo Alle Camelie.
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Mozzarella filatura is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time! Head cheesemaker Nicola at Prime Querce helps Sofia from Colombia to get the hang of it.
The last day of October saw Erica back on the train to Salerno Province for another Mozzarella & its Cousins course. It confirmed we were right to base the course totally in Salerno. The other great improvement is that the last two days of the course take place during production runs at Prime Querce. No need now to stay an extra two days to witness the production.
November
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Students from around the world pictured with Massimo Bacci
The winter months brought the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany and students from all over the world. In November we welcomed guests from Finland, the Netherlands, USA, France and Romania.
December
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White truffle, what a treat!
What better way to end the year than with a nose full of white truffle? Here are two happy guests snuffing the truffle they uncovered on the new Truffle Course. Can you imagine anything better?

I hope you've enjoyed this mega run down of our 2022 tours and courses. We'd love to see you in 2023. Browse the website to find out what's on offer and don't hesitate to contact Erica with any questions.

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Fast Track to Mozzarella

13/12/2022

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Guest blog by Adam S. Thompson, Head Cheesemaker & Partner at OroBianco Italian Creamery (Texas, USA)
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The ideal Adam was aiming for
I've waited a long time to learn the art of pasta filata. After 15 years of making "mozzarella" or something in that genre, I can finally say I actually know how to make traditional pasta filata cheeses, using water buffalo milk, as it was intended to be produced.
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No need to run out and buy a buffalo. The course also teaches how to make mozzarella from cow's milk.
My name is Adam S. Thompson, and I'm the head cheesemaker and partner at OroBianco Italian Creamery — the one and only water buffalo dairy and creamery in Texas. I've been making cheese for over 15 years, with my first one being a quick method mozzarella, using citric acid and store bought milk.  Before the buffalo, I had a goat dairy and made an array of cheeses and yogurts from their milk. I've also made sheep and cow milk cheeses at a couple of other operations, and trained in Mexico City on Oaxaca cheese — a pasta filata cheese, but made in a completely different fashion.
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Despite all his experience, Adam wondered what was the correct size to aim at when you cut the curd.
I joined the team at OroBianco in September of 2021, however, I had been doing some testing of the milk as early as March of 2021.  For the past year, I've made a couple of decent products that somewhat resemble mozzarella, but never could get the texture and flavor of what we really wanted — an authentic buffalo mozzarella, that oozes the milky water out when you bite into it. Made and served fresh and meant to be eaten almost immediately. 
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While Covid restrictions were preventing me from taking this course, Erica Jarman of Sapori & Saperi helped me as much as possible from afar, even getting a Zoom class going with the former head cheesemaker at Prime Querce farm and dairy. She had also been telling me that I needed to see the process and experience it firsthand to really understand it. 
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Can anyone understand the filatura if they haven't seen it and tried under the guidance of pasta filata experts?
I’ve attempted the mozzarella at least 50 times over the last year, sometimes pushing into the morning sunrise, trying to accomplish this cheese making process. Time and time again, I would get a nice cheese, but not the mozzarella we were aiming for. Finally, in October 2022, I arrived in Campania, Italy, to take the course.
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Starting with the basics: the correct method for stirring in whey starter and rennet
The class was the most educational course I’ve ever received in such a short amount of time. I think it helped I had been trying and failing, as I had many questions to be answered and walls to get over. Any time I had a question, no matter how small or off-topic to the current stage, Erica would wait for the cheesemaker to finish what he was talking about, and field my questions to him. 
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Adam learns the correct movement of the spino when cutting the curd.
We trained at two different dairies, Chirico and Prime Querce. Each place had its own methods and variations for the different pasta filata cheeses, but the basics were more or less the same. The cheese making facilities were full of passionate people, who would move like ants at times, in a synchronized, and super-speed fashion at times. I was allowed to make a complete batch at one facility, then work on all of the different stages at another, in the midst of normal production. I had no question left unanswered after this course.
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Rodolfo (centre) & his team at Tenuta Chirico
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Nicola (right) & his team at Caseificio Prime Querce
The mozzarella and pasta filata training here was incredible, but there was much more to this course. We also had the pleasure of being accompanied by a very talented sommelier, and did nightly wine tasting, and went to dine at some of the finest establishments I’ve ever eaten at. Some were embellished with gold trim and crystals, serving high-grade steaks, and some were little hidden gems, with the morning’s fresh catch served in unique presentations. We even had a “dinner with friends” where one of the B and B owners invited some locals, and we dined family style in the living room. 
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Maria, wine sommelier & leader of the course
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Adam tasting white wines from Campania
The entire course was very organized and maintained on a sometimes very strict schedule, and this ensured we were always where we needed to be to learn, and visit the extracurricular, planned activities.  Everything was purposeful and useful to bring these skills back to Texas and incorporate into my cheesemaking, as well as bringing information about the water buffalo themselves back to the dairy.
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The course includes tasting as much mozzarella as possible so you'll be able to assess your own.
To anyone wanting to learn the art of pasta filata, this course is a must-take. You won’t call one of these places directly and get a class, and you won’t find these courses online, or marketed on some big cheese website. Most places are very secretive, or do not want to waste the time teaching other people how to make this classic cheese.
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How to make burrata and stracciatella is included too. We've found dairies who are willing to share all their secrets.
The food alone is worth the cost of the course, in my opinion. Of course my focus was always on the cheese making, but the course being completely submerged in the culture, and getting to taste different foods, and wines, from around the terroir left me with an elevated sense of inspiration. The people there were very welcoming, and passionate about their trade.  Not only have I finally locked down the mysteries of mozzarella, but found myself returning home and making my own tomato sauce, gnocchi, and other classic Italian dishes for my family.
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Acquasale means 'saltwater'. It's a simple peasant dish typical of Salerno Province: stale bread & tomatoes. Tenuta Chirico embellished it with their mozzarella.
If you’re “stretching” mozzarella at home or for a dairy/cheesemaking facility, you’re likely doing it wrong. True mozzarella only takes the perfect curd, and almost boiling water, and it “spins” together almost effortlessly. The mozzarella should make you take a step back when biting, so the beautiful, milky whey doesn't get all over you.
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Adam adds almost boiling water to the mature curd.
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Next step: practising the filatura (spinning)
So break out the pocket-book, book this course, and get a class that will give you all the tools you need to make mozzarella, as well as fill you with inspiration and the Italian culture that makes this cheese what it is.
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Gone Fishin’

19/11/2022

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Sant’Antioco is a small island off the southwest coast of the large island of Sardinia, an island squared you might say. Sant’Antioco is afflicted by two winds: the maestrale from the northwest and the levante from the east. One or the other blows nearly every day, but since they take turns, there’s always a calm sea for fishermen on the leeward side of the island.
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Blowing from the northwest
On a bright spring morning the fishing boats are tied up to the quay, squeezed in side by side. Too many fishermen chasing too few fish.
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A fisherman patiently removes fish from his net while waiting for customers to arrive and buy them.
Many of them augment their income by offering pescaturismo, fishing excursions for tourists. I’m excited. For years I’ve wanted to learn about fishing in the Mediterranean, but it took a long time to find the right place and fisherman.
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A fishing boat doubling as a tourist attraction.
We arrive at our boat the ‘Alessandro P.’ and the live Alessandro, son of fisherman Mauro Pintus with whom we’re going fishing. Soon Mauro, his wife Roberta and their 14-year-old daughter arrive all lugging groceries. We climb aboard from the stern onto the working deck.
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Mauro checks out the engine.
We proceed along a narrow corridor past the engine room and the galley and climb out onto the prow and onto the upper deck where lounge chairs await the non-fishermen in the group.
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With Mauro at the helm we chug out into the lagoon to find the nets Mauro and Alessandro set last night. This must be travel at its slowest, apart from crawling. The distance we covered by mini-van in five minutes takes at least thirty in the boat. I thought it might be boring, but at this speed there’s an infinite variety of detail to observe: birds overhead, features on the shore and especially the changing colour of the sea.
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Torre Cannai, built by the Pisans in the 18th-century
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Green, aquamarine, purple…
After a while we stop seemingly at a random spot in the sea, and the action begins on the working deck. We’ve reached one end of Mauro’s net which he laid the night before. He marks the end by tying an empty plastic container to it which floats on the surface of the sea. Now we learn what the strange wheel on the port side of the boat is for.
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Pulley to reel in the net
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Pulley to reel in the net
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Alessandro is still learning from his dad, who shouts instructions to stop or go, always following the line of the net.
The net isn’t anything like I’d imagined. I guess I’d been thinking about illustrations in children’s books of a large square net that gets filled with fish and you pull it up from the four corners. Instead this is a very long, narrow net, about a metre in width and a kilometre long with a thick rope running along each side.
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It takes a long time to reel in a kilometre of net.
At first there aren’t any fish. Then a couple of sea cucumbers. Not edible, says Mauro. He uses them as bait.
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Finally a seppia (cuttle fish) looking very cross at having got himself into this predicament
I feel sorry for this creature, but I’m also a carnivore and am sure our ecosystem wouldn’t work if we all lived as herbivores at the bottom of the food chain with no one at the top eating meat. But I also want to be aware of what is being killed and how.
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A pretty verdolino. He’s edible.
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A razza (ray), also good to eat
Mauro invites us to help take the fish from the net as he continues to reel it in.
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Claudia attempts to untangle a fish from the net.
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This fish is bigger than the holes in the net and its fins keep getting caught.
Even though we follow Mauro’s instructions to extract the fish head first, it’s not easy. If lunch relied on us, we might starve.
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Still reeling. It’s beginning to seem as if it’s an infinity net.
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Claudia still working on that fish.
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Roberta comes to see what fish she’ll have to cook for lunch. We’ve managed to free a couple of seppie.
Finally we come to the end of the net which is piled in a heap on the working deck. Mauro joins us at the task of untangling fish from the net. We soon tire and go look at the scenery from the upper deck.
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Isola della Vacca (Cow Island) and the tiny Isola del Tauro (Bull Island) in the distance. Surely too far away to have produced the rock called Vitello (calf).
​Good smells waft up from the galley.
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Roberta is working on several dishes at once. There’s no fishy smell from fish straight from the sea.
When we’re called to lunch, we find the working deck transformed into a cheerful dining room.
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Marilyn is wondering what’s on the menu?
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Tuna salad
I ask Mauro about tuna. We all believe that tuna is fished out. I’ve been avoiding eating tuna for several years, but will have to be polite. Mauro states that there are too many tuna. That’s why the catch is so small. Tuna are at the top of the food chain, and if there are too many, like the wolves eating my shepherd friends’ lambs, they decimate the populations of smaller fish. So why are we always hearing that there are no tuna left? He says it’s mainly due to the politics of fishing. Who’s allowed to fish where and how much. He presents it as a war between fishermen and politicians with marine scientists and environmentalists somewhere in between. Clearly some more research is in order.
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He and Roberta and two other fisher families have formed a cooperative to bottle tuna and two fish salads, octopus and mixed seafood. The men fish and the wives work in the bottling plant which we visit when we’re back in Sant’Antioco.
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Roberta explains how they do the processing.
Whatever the truth about tuna, this is the best tuna salad I’ve ever eaten
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Marilyn dishes up the next course which is a zuppetta.
The zuppetta is a rich tomatoey fish broth ladled over toasted bread.
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A stunning spaghetti in seppie ink with gamberi (prawns) comes next.
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Finally a frittura: deep-fried fish.
By now we were struggling, but the fried fish is light and not at all greasy. A joy to eat. But this isn’t the end after all.
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Some biscuits appear along with a bottle of mirto, the typical Sardinian digestivo.
Mauro disappears for a moment and returns with his guitar. We hadn’t been expecting entertainment. It turns out Neil Young is one of his favourites, and he’s delighted that Claudia knows a few songs.

Singing on the Alessandro B. from Sapori e Saperi Adventures on Vimeo.

We won’t win the Eurovision Song Contest, but it’s a lot of fun.
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With the sun setting we head back to Sant’Antioco.
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The end of a perfect day at sea.
If you'd like to go fishing with Mauro and indulge in Roberta's stunning lunch, there are still a couple of places left on our Celebrating Sardinia tour from 21 to 30 April 2023. 
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This blog was originally published on Slow Travel Tours on 21 May 2017.
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    Erica Jarman

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