Issue #2 "Italy Fever E-Notes" by Darlene Marwitz 12.22.00

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ITALYFEVER.COM: The Italy Lover's Pre- and Post-Travel Online Companion
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IN THIS ISSUE:

- - - LIVING LA DOLCE VITA
- - - FOOD AND DRINK
- - - HOME AND GARDEN
- - - BOOKS AND MOVIES
- - - MUSIC AND OPERA
- - - TRAVEL AND TIDBITS
- - - ITALYFEVER.COM UPDATES

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LIVING LA DOLCE VITA: "The Arrival of Hanna Vicenza Marwitz"

The newsletter is late this month because our new puppy, Hanna, arrived on December15th. All else was forgotten. Everything I'd already written for this section got tossed-so I could tell you about Hanna instead!

For those of you who don't know the story, my husband has wanted a dog for nearly twenty years and a couple of months ago I finally took the plunge, gifting my spouse with a "surprise puppy shower" for his forty-fifth birthday. Friends and family showed up to bring chew toys and eat bone-shaped cookies and celebrate Hanna Vicenza's pending birth. I'd spoken for a female pup, from a litter due close to David's birthday.

Day 1: THE puppy first walks through our door today-plump, happy, and eager to please at ten weeks of age. Now what do we do? Suddenly, like a vanishing vapor, all the volumes on "puppy parenting" we'd read, slipped mindlessly into never-never land-like we'd never read a single chapter.

Is this panic or indigestion I feel?

Because David last had a dog when he was in the first grade (and about the same for me), we're overwhelmed today, but grinning ear to ear. We are also thankful, thankful for a beautiful new puppy and thankful that only ONE of us has stepped in poop this first day. Already, I detect that that Hanna girl is laughing at us-for pre-picking her doggie
gabinetto, her toilet spot in the yard. She evidently wanted to do that herself!

Day 2: This morning I rubbed lavender lotion on Hanna's little paws, to keep her calm, and we were off to the veterinarian's office for her first visit. Our new little puppy was as happy as can be in the cradle of David's lap. And I was happy too, at least until during her examination when I spied in horror the figure of 167 at the top of the doctor's report. Immediately, I started zooming years ahead, thinking about how we were in for a HUGE financial commitment with Hanna, deeper than I'd realized. Then, silently to myself, I started pleading with the vet, "Could you PLEASE poke and examine her a little more-for the high cost of this visit? Is this all we get for our money? $167 and only one shot? No voodoo or massage, nothing more?" A few minutes later in the car, David was shaking his head about how Hanna's first exam could cost $167. He'd noticed the same number on the report, and confessed he'd been thinking the same thing, "Is this all we get?"

Finally, I released the good news-that the vet's bill had only been $30, not $167 as we'd thought. The 167 figure was Hanna's weight, sixteen pounds and seven ounces!

Day 3: Hanna sits or lies on my feet-all day long. If she's not playing, walking, eating, or pooping-she's sitting or sleeping ON my feet. David calls to check on Hanna throughout the day, plays with Hanna all evening. Exhausted, we fall into bed.

Day 4: Hanna sits or lies on my feet-all day long. If she's not playing, walking, eating, or pooping-she's sitting or sleeping ON my feet. David calls to check on Hanna throughout the day, plays with Hanna all evening. Exhausted, we fall into bed.

Day 5: Hanna sits or lies on my feet-all day long. If she's not playing, walking, eating, or pooping-she's sitting or sleeping ON my feet. David calls to check on Hanna throughout the day, plays with Hanna all evening. Exhausted, we fall into bed.

Day 6-7: Repeat same.

Childless couple adopts big-eyed puppy. Need I say more?

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FOOD AND DRINK:

Cookbook: To understand Italy is to understand her festivals-the foods of the feste and sagre. Italian Festival Food: Recipes and Traditions from Italy's Regional Country Food Fairs (1999) by Anne Bianchi is my special cookbook pick of the month. Bianchi explores each of Italy's eighteen regions to help us comprehend the fierce local pride involved in every location. Italians are not really Italians; instead, they are Tuscan, Calabrian, Piemontese, etc., an important distinction. Best of all, the essays of Italian Festival Food are personal, entertaining-a true, behind-the-scenes take on the festival experience. A Calendar of Festivals at the back of the cookbook is also useful for trip-planning purposes!

Bianchi is also the author of several previous cookbooks, especially of note (because I have soup on my mind these days) is Zuppa!: Soups from the Italian Countryside (1996).

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I've been reading in
The New York Times that Chef Mario Batali is premiering with a new program on January 8, 2001 at 9:00 PM ET/PT, called "Mario Eats Italy." Sounds like another delizioso production for the Food Network, but so far I've not been able to locate additional information on their Web site, http://www.foodtv.com.

HOME AND GARDEN:

Tip: Let a deep tub of hot water take you to Italy! Bathing is my "get-a-way" every night, my respite-a virtual escape via Italian bath oils and soaps, finished off by a dusting of Boro-Talco (the wonderful talc from Florence that's often used at beauty salons). While the resources for luxurious oils and bubble bath products from Italy are numerous, most recently I've discovered "Italian Country Olive Oil Soaps" for the kitchen (or bath!) by Bella Cucina Artful Food (http://www.bellacucinaartfulfood.com). Try the Lavender or the Lemon Polenta (a citrus scrub).

Tip: To remind you of the cypress-fringed roads of Italy, plant a row of Will Fleming Yaupons in your yard. This evergreen yaupon has a narrow columnar growth pattern and grows well in Texas (be sure to check your particular climate). A series planting works well as a screen or backdrop in the landscape and I've read this variety can grow up to 30 feet tall. Mine are about 8 or 9 feet in partial sunlight, used to hide electrical connections at the back of our house. Planting true Italian Cypress is more inspiring, but you certainly need more room in the landscape for they can grow as tall as 80 feet! Italian Cypress is also slow growing and the large container sizes are expensive.

Tip: Locate a special place in your home to install a beautiful pendant light fixture from Italy-one with a Murano glass shade or other Venetian glass. Recently, I installed a series of three pendants in our stairwell, each suspended at a different height. Now to my delight, not only am I inspired by the beautiful glass shades as I walk under them, but I can actually READ (without a flashlight!) the Italy maps that hang as art on our stairwell walls.

BOOKS AND MOVIES:

Fiction: Several years ago, I rented a video called Artemisia (see Movie: below) and was spellbound by the subject-an early-17th-century female artist by the name of Artemisia Gentileschi, daughter of the famous Roman artist, Orazio Gentileschi. I recall that the film was sexually explicit, and perhaps for that reason I failed to include it in Italy Fever's listings of favorite movies. Since the recent publication, however, of a novel titled Artemisia (written by Alexandra Lapierre and translated by Liz Heron, 2000), my interest returns to this artist.

This book should also be paired with an earlier novel of the same name that was written by Anna Banti (translated by Shirley D'Ardia Caracciolo, 1988); Banti's work was first published in Italy in 1947. Each volume has its merits and is worth reading to get a full understanding of Artemisia's life. At the age of seventeen, she was raped by her father's partner and friend, and the Gentileschi name was soon dragged though a scandal in Roman court. It's an incredible early story of women's rights and sexual prejudice.

Movie: Artemisia (1998), directed by Agnes Merlet, is a French film starring Italian actress, Valentina Cervi. Although widely criticized for historical inaccuracies, the movie roughly follows the explicit coming-of-age and rape of the young female artist, Artemisia Gentileschi, daughter of artist Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639). Both father and daughter were among "the most important Italian baroque painters who worked in Rome during the first decades of the 17th century," according to The Saint Louis Art Museum Web site (http://www.slam.org/gentil.html). The movie depicts early chauvinistic issues, in particularly revealing how early-17th-century women in Italy were forbidden to paint human nudes or enter the Academy of Arts; painting was a male occupation.

Non-Fiction: The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed (2000) is gripping. Sara Gay Forden has written the perfect Italian true-crime thriller. It has everything! Forden's story of the 1995 execution-style murder of a famous Gucci figure is complex, multi-layered, hard to put down. It may be more than you ever wanted to know about the Gucci dynasty, but it's impossible to deny that the reading entertains.

MUSIC AND OPERA:

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On stage from La Scala to The Metropolitan Opera, Gisuseppe Verdi's "Il Trovatore" is shining this month, officially opening the opera season by honoring the 100 year mark since the death of this famous Italian composer. Milanese fans are especially delighted with a FULL menu of Verdi before them-nothing but Verdi-all season!

TRAVEL AND TIDBITS:

Tip: Purchase postcards and use them as "mini-journals" while traveling. Then, send them to yourself at home. The images are instant and memorable and place names are often identified, printed on the cards-already spelled!

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This "new-to-me" Web site charms and entertains from every angle. What better way to experience virtual travel than to do so via virtualitalia.com (http://www.virtualitalia.com). How perfect! Aptly titled, it's billed as "The resource for Italian, Italian Americans and enthusiasts of Italian culture." Need I say more? I especially like the "enthusiasts of Italian culture" part. And what's even more amazing is the volunteer base of this organization! Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area, virtualitalia.com is an Italy lover's smorgasbord of delectable treats for Italy lovers everywhere: books, movies, travel, food, sports, forums, chats, a newsletter and layers more. I love this site!

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My Chicago book and jewelry event in November was windy and cold for this native Texan, but the trip was wonderful because, as always, I met fellow passionate Italophiles with interesting stories. Check out http://www.OmaraTours.com to learn about Karen Omara Voytas, a geographer specializing in walking tours in the Mediterranean. When I recognized on her site a photograph taken in Volterra, I knew she was walking in special places-one of my favorite places.

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Jay J. Pulli's fabulous Web site is filled with his beautiful photography-a wealth of images taken over the course of several years (http://www.italianimage.com). His grape and vineyard photographs are the best I've seen!

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Too hot in the kitchen for the Queen? A few months ago on a visit to Italy, Queen Elizabeth apparently rejected garlic, onions, long pastas, and messy tomato sauces-according to Newsweek magazine. Garlic-free dining in Rome? Impossible to contemplate!

ITALYFEVER.COM UPDATES:

Several new Web sites are now listed in RESOURCES & LINKS. In particular, be sure to check out http://www.virtualitalia.com!!!

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Parting Words: Following one's passion IS possible, even at home, one tiny "Italianized" step every day.

Ciao and Buon Natale,
Darlene Marwitz

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Questions, comments, suggestions, or corrections?
Please send e-mail to darlene@italyfever.com. I welcome ideas for making this a better newsletter for Italy lovers seeking la dolce vita all year long!
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ITALY FEVER E-NOTES
Copyright 2000, Darlene Marwitz. All rights reserved worldwide.
http://www.italyfever.com
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