Izumi Ristorante: We needed more pasta like we needed a hole in the head, so we headed to sushi. Like other European sushi places, it also served ‘Chinese food’ (read: noodles intended to resemble lo mein) and local food (read: risotto and spaghetti). We ordered a sushi sampler and one roll each, and the fish…
We were in Genoa for about half of a day, and we didn’t set out to see anything: we set out to have dinner. Along the way, we noticed: A million Vespas. This is the primary method of transportation here, and there are at least as many of them as there are cars. When we…
We were in Turin for two days. Eataly: This is definitely not a tourist attraction – unless you’re my sister, perhaps. It’s an indoor market with a big cafe in it, not unlike the Berkeley Bowl, or a very fancy Whole Foods. It is now a chain, with two stores in the US, but this…
13 A Tavola: There was quite the effort to find us a place to eat because (a) we set out at 2:30, as usual, and (b) it was August. Our hosts racked their brains for each possibly-open, non-ridiculous location, referencing a guide book and business cards, and making several phone calls. They finally sent us to…
We were in Milan for 3 days. The Duomo: This is a gorgeous church that seems as large as a village. The outside looks like a white fairy castle – or like a pre-melting Sagrada Familia. Then, there are statues all along the outside, so that even seeing all of one part of one side…
Taglio: We were trying to eat lunch at an unreasonably late hour (4:30), as usual, so we wandered in here. We held out hope for sustenance because there was a couple out front finishing up some food. Alas, we learned that the kitchen was closed until dinner. We learned this in Italian, because we must have…
Yesterday, we watched the World Championships of Ultimate Frisbee in Lecco, Italy. Lecco is a pretty town situated in ‘lake country’ and surrounded by blue-colored mountains rising out of fog and mist. The views are wonderful: whatever you’re watching has a backdrop that looks like a painting. There were three games, all of which we…
We spent 1 day in Lecco. The downtown: We ambled through the little town’s cobblestone streets, past small shops and cafes. We photographed street art, from the religious to the political and in between. We sat on benches at the lake’s edge, watching the lapping of the water and the mountains in the background, and…
On a Wednesday night in Milan, we strolled home after a filling dinner that began at 10:30 pm. The strolling was less an attempt to mirror the Italian tradition and more a necessity of the quantity of food we had consumed. When we had gone to dinner, the streets had been lively, filled with people…
We spent one day in Bergamo. Funicular: Charming, but nothing earth-shattering if you’ve been on other funiculars (tram/cable car that goes uphill, basically). Piazza Vecchia: We saw the Contarini fountain, saw the outside of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, saw the inside of the Cappella Colleoni, and sat in the square. There was actually another church not far from…