It may seem to you that it’s been a while since I’ve done any productive work around here. Well, I’m here right now to prove you wrong.
It’s just that there’s a new site on the horizon, one I’ve been busily building so that hopefully others with a passion for good food can contribute to it—something that might take us back to our roots, or at least get us back into the kitchen and away from the fast food nightmare that has descended upon us like vomit.
It’s La Cucina Povera and it’s not just about the food of Italy, but inspired by my time in the boot. It’s in its infant stage right now, but if you have anything to do with cooking local, traditional food from low off the hog (or anything, including low off the zucchini vine), let me know. We need collaborators on this thing.
I’ve also uploaded a small gallery of Soave Pictures to go with our Soave Map
And this afternoon I’ve written on just about the easiest archaeology ever in Rome, in which “Archaeologists find 500 cases of artifacts from ancient Rome already excavated for them” which I wrote for the Tuscany Now blog, now sadly defunct. But here is the article:
Archaeologists always fight the idea that they are mere treasure hunters. Archaeology, they want to believe, is a science. Yet you know more about the elite of any country’s past than you do about the working class; you know more about the grand temples and wide streets than you do of the houses and kitchens of the people.
So it wasn’t surprising that 500 wooden cases (some marked as cases of matches) came to light from excavations in Rome that took place in 1939. Much of the haul was of “instrumentum domesticum”, or objects from the domestic life of Romans, things they used daily. You can see what I’m talking about in a picture gallery from la Repubblica.
I always recommend folks go to Ostia Antica. Unlike Pompeii or Herculaneum, Ostia was a port city and the excavations reveal apartments, a fire station, and other architecture of folks that toiled for a living. Ostia is also more lightly touristed, You can get there by taking the Metro at Piramide. Look for Roma-Lido. Get out at the Ostia Antica stop.
Lots of stuff happening as Italians clog the Autostrade on their way to the beaches. Good luck with that.