Restaurant 3DC GRADI (thirteen degrees), VITERBO (Lazio) Italy

The first time I sat at a table of Tredici Gradi I said: "please just tell me if something is not fresh as I don't want to feel sick"; waiter said: "everything here is fresh, you can believe me. Just try it."

I am always a little sceptical when I go to a new place. So, since I know how to cook, I start with ordering the simplest of the dishes. Something I would know how to make. Something I would know what it should taste like.

So I did it. I've tried... and tried, and tried, and tried. Now that I have tried it many and many times I can honestly say this is one of my top favorite restaurants. One of the most genuine I know.

I have never met the chef, I have heard is a lady. She comes mid morning and sees what the shop owner was able to find, fresh, both at the market and from the nearby farms and fisherman. Then, she, the chef, makes what she feels like from what she has available.

Some of the dishes are among the most traditional within Italian homes. Nothing too fancy, but definitely authentic. I am thinking of the stuffed zucchini, the tomatoes stuffed with rise, the veal slice (fettina) dumped in egg and crummed bread and fried, the "gnocchi" served with pumpking sauce, the bean soup, the Summer dish made of old bread seasoned with tomatos, onions and olive oil called "panzanella"... and many other delicious and simple recipes. Not to mention the great selection of salami and cheeses! and the prosciutto, or the hot chili pepperes stuffed with tuna and capers! Or the traditional soup dishes of this area such as the "Acquacotta" or the soup of "ceci" beans & chustnuts! (ceci e castagne)

Maybe you have already an idea of the reason why this place has the name "Tredici Gradi" (Thirtheen Degrees). "Thirteen" seems to be the optimal content of alcohool in a wine, so the name reveals that wine plays a great role in here. Indeed, Tredici Gradi is a wine-restaurant! There is an absolutely great selection of wines here. And the nice thing is that you can ask for literally ANY wine without having to buy the bottle!! You can have your meal and drink the wines you prefer by buying them at the glass!

Differrently from other places that serve wines at the glass, here you can experience all the wines you want without necesarily having to choose among those that are already open and serving. So, you can combine the food and the wine/s as you like.

It is courtesy, however, to check what wine has already been opened so to limit the waste. But if among those that have been opened there is not the one you want, then just go ahead and enjoy your choice of wine, and food.

I would recommend this place to anyone wanting to experience Italian and local Viterbese traditional cuisine, fine wines, nice atmosphere, clean, friendly and professional people, and be charged very honestly and reasonably for it all.

Moreover, there is a younger lady who has a great passion for making cakes! She is an amazing baker! and make sure you try her cakes and mostly her cookies! She makes very delicious cookies. Try those at the end of your meal with a sweet wine or black coffee.

So, I say just what the waiter said to me the first time I was there: "Try it!"
And buon appetito!

3DC GRADI is located in Viterbo, Via Cardinal La Fontaine 28/corner Piazza Don Mario Gargiuli 11; tel. 0761.305596.

One day in Florence looking for the "real" city

Arriving in Florence by train. The EuroStar and the FrecciaRossa trains provide a fast and comfortable connection to Florence from Naples, Rome, Bologna and Venice. Approacing the train station, Santa Maria Novella, Brunelleschi's dome appears.
I am meeting with a friend for lunch and we have a nice visit, then he suggests we go visit the current exhibition on the History of Astronomy which has been set up to celebrate Galileo's observations into the Solar System. The exhibit is huge and the objects on show and the installations are very beautiful, interesting and illuminating! (indeed I finally understand the graphic of apparent movement of planets which has always been a mistery for me)

After wondering for a while in the most popular area (it's incredible the number of people that crowd the downtown during the day!) I am looking for presents to give to the children of a friend of mine who I'll be meeting in the evening.

That is when I realize how difficult it is to get away from the tourist area. Around me only souvenir's shops, leather shops, gelato shops, pizza shops, pottery shops. So I need to venture further away.

I finally make a "right" turn and I find myself on Via dei Servi. Finally the place I was looking for.

First of all, this is not too far from the center (it is actually still in the center of the city, a few blocks away from Piazza della Signoria!) You can see important landmarks at each end of the street: Brunelleschi's dome on one end, and at the other end Giambologna's equestrian bronze of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, on Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. So the perspective is unique!

[in the above picture the perspective of Via dei Servi from Piazza della Santissima Annunziata looking towards Brunelleschi's dome of St. Maria del Fiore]

Secondly, the variety of shops is Great! There is probably the most authentique ice-cream shop of Florence, definitely top quality gelato, a very nice Kebab restaurant, excellent Sushi-bar (also take away), book-shops, home tools and an art-store where I found very good quality sculpting tools (chesels and rasps) at very reasonable price! So I can finally put my hands on that piece of Italian Alabaster I was given a couple of years ago when visiting Volterra.

Lastly, on Via dei Servi you can find a permanent exhibition of wooden models of Leonardo's projects and machines! This exhibition is a great place to take your children to as they are allowed to play with and explore them!

I took some pictures of Florence yesterday, you can view them at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/scaggia.nerone.cc/Florence?feat=directlink
(copy and paste the above link in your browser)

Earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy

HOW TO HELP

NOT MONEY: for offers of other kind of help than donation of money you can call the PROTEZIONE CIVILE DI ROMA at the number: +39 06 68201

You can tell the operator the nature of the help you can offer and your name will be added to a specific list accordingly (lodging, professional assistance, provisions, etc...)

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DONATIONS: The Italian-American Museum is collecting donations to support the emerging relief effort in Italy. For information and donations call the museum at (212) 965-9000.

Also the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) has set up a relief fund. Contact them directly for details.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER NOTE: we did not check how the Italian-American Museum and the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) have organized the funds for help. We invite you to check directly with them how they intend to operate. Nerone Tours has no connections with these two organizations nor we are involved in any way with the collecting and managing of funds.

One "Shadow" of Wine (Un Ombra di Vino)

When in Rome do as the Romans do.. when in Venice, do as the Venetians do.
Just returned from a beautiful visit to Venice and, believe it or not, this time I did not had a chance to see the famous Piazza San Marco. I was there three days, staying at a little Pensione (Inn/Locanda) in one of the most charming areas of Venice: Castello. The Pensione (Locanda Santi Giovanni e Paolo) is located behind San Marco in a position that is between the popular Venice and the most quiet and typical Venice, where it's very rare to bump into a tourist.

I have been very busy visiting the city for three full days, walking every day for over eight hours, restless and always enchanted at the beauty of this City.

I was so busy discovering places that were new to me (I had been in Venice twice already) that by the end of my stay I have realized I did not get to see Piazza San Marco! I think I am probably one of the very few people who, visiting Venice as a tourist, missed that!

But what I did not miss at all this time were the many local hosterie, where it's possible to get a glass of wine at any time of the day, and eat bread, cheese, salami, or even a Lasagna in a charming, casual atmosphere, spending nothing more than 4 to 12 euros for a tasty lunch.

One of the things I have learned is that in Venice they call the glass of wine, measuring 100 milliliters (ten glasses of this kind full of wine make a liter), OMBRA. Ombra in Italian means "shade", so one OMBRA DI VINO literally translates "one shade of wine"!

Why one shade?

Well the story is well known but probably still worth been told again.. in the past, I assume until the early 1900, there were wine sellers in Piazza San Marco. Most people know that there is a tall belltower standing on this square. So, in the hot months of the year, the wine sellers in the square set their tables in the shade of the bell tower. As the shade moved around the square during the day, the wine sellers kept moving also, so they would always have their stand in the shade, keeping themselves (and the wine) cool.

That's why the name Shade, for a glass of wine.

At first, being an Italian, I did not feel too comfortable with asking for a shade of wine... but I quickly learned to do so, as I have had quite a few over these three days!

It is VERY hard to tell where to find the places I have visited, as in Venice it's hard to name a landmark in the maze of alleys that is one of the most confusing net of streets I have ever been into. And I got lost everyday! As someone says one thing one MUST do when in Venice is getting lost!

So, better than telling you where these places are, is to tell you how to find these places. To find these places you need to leave the flow of the crowd and venture alone in the side alleys. Don't need to be afraid of that, nor brave, just know that you can easily get lost but you can always find your way back! In other words, you need to make that extra effort and walk a little further off the beaten tracks :)

There are so many places of this kind that no way is the wrong way. It is typical to eat a half hard boiled egg with the wine. Some places make sandwiches with the arabic round type of bread, with cheese and different kind of typical Italian salami and prosciutto. Some places have one special dish for the day, like Lasagna. Some bars have the happy hour in the evening during which you can have one of Venice's most popular drink called the Spritzer (sp?) with a buffet.

Sitting at one of these places, relaxed, eating and drinking, it's one of Venice's best pleasures!

Want to use coaches? go COTRAL!

Do you want to venture in the heart of Italy by coach? Or even combine trains and coaches? Make sure you bookmark the following websites:
COTRAL (coaches in the Region of Lazio): http://www.cotralspa.it/ENG/linee_orari.asp
FERROVIE DELLO STATO (Italian railways): http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/

Italy: Train tickets: reservation and payments

The official website of Italian railways can be found at: http://www.ferroviedellostato.it. There you can browse route options and timetable as well as purchase your train ticket! However, payments by credit card are not always successful! You may find yourself struggling with registration, credit card processing and eventually failure.

A new payment option has been recently added to the site: now you can make your train ticket reservation without registering or using your credit card as you will be given the option (once in Italy) to make the payment cash at one of the many shops in Italy that are connected with the SISAL network! (most Tobacco shops)

You can also pay directly at train stations (cash or credit card), or at any ATM of UniCredit bank network (using your credit card)

To complete the payment (at the latest 24h prior time of departure of your train) you will only need the PNR code that is associated with your on-line reservation! At the moment this seems to be the easiest way to go!

A technology that would improve this system would be 2D barcodes that would be read by portable barcode-readers. After purchasing your ticket on-line you would receive the 2D bar-code as image on your cell phone. It would be enough to hand the cell phone to the employee on the train and have your payment verified. Check NeoMedia Technologies company (http://www.neom.com) as they are working on developing this technology that could be applyed to anything! From tickets for concerts, to bus tickets, to shopping and gift certificates... and anything else you can think of! In case you loose your cell phone it would be enough to call the operator to have all of your purchases and money blocked from being spent! The system would transfer your purchases and credit to another SIM card! No more woollett or cash! No more risk of carrying cash as you would be able organize your e-Woollett from a PC or from your smart phone!

MARCH 22ND 2009: THE MARATHON OF ROME

The Maratona di Roma (Marathon of Rome) is not only a race for athletes with a capital “A”. In fact, as is tradition, the party will be complete with the more than 60,000 protagonists of the Roma Fun Run, the non-competitive 4k (also known as "Stracittadina", as it was called until 2008). More than a race, it is a leisurely walk to which anyone can participate. Classmates, grandparents and grandchildren, parents and children, together with their favourite domestic animal, on skates… well, as every year, the emotion of being there is the main reason for which thousands of people won’t want to miss out. The Stracittadina Fun Run, one of the many races of its kind with one of the highest participation rates in the world, awaits all in the centre of Rome on March, 22nd 2009 (Colosseo, meeting point: 8:00am - start: 9:15am), immediately following the start of the 42,195k Marathon.

FREE transportation (buses, trams, underground) is provided to athletes on March the 22nd. Just wear your bib number! Underground for free from 6am to 8.30 am ("Colosseo" and "Cavour" stations can be used gratis also from 10am to 6pm).

Text from the official site of the Marathon of Rome (Maratona di Roma)

Italian Genius Now!

This is a great exhibit on Italian creativity that presents 50 years of Italian production in art and design and sees how this has changed in some cases the way of life worldwide (a classic example the Vespa GS 150 created by Corradino d'Ascanio in 1955 for Piaggio)


Italian Genius Now. Back to Rome
Open until April 13th 2009
Macro Future. Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4, Roma
Tuesday-Sunday 4PM-Midnight. Closed on Monday
Admission FREE
SEE ABOUT OUR "VESPA TOURS OF ROME!"

Giotto Exhibit at Victor Emmanuel Monument in Rome

''Giotto e il Trecento. Il più Sovrano Maestro stato in dipintura'' - Giotto and the 14th Century. The Sovraign Master of Painting
This exhibit is dedicated to the Italian painter Giotto who is considered the first of Italian artists. Over 150 works on show witness the influence of Giotto in Italian art of his time. There are 20 masterpieces from Giotto himself - which make this exhibit even more special as these works are seldom moved from their official location due to their delicacy.
Until June 29th
Open Monday to Thursday 9.30AM – 7.30PM
Friday and Saturday 9.30AM – 11.30PM
Sunday 9.30AM – 8.30PM
Admission: Euro 10.00
FOR PRIVATE TOURS OF THE EXHIBIT EMAIL US at nerone.cc@gmail.com

NO MORE LINES AT THE VATICAN!

It is finally possible to avoid standing in line to enter the Vatican Museums (but also the Colosseum, Uffizi and Accademia Galleries in Florence, and other major museums in Italy.) The cost of pre-purchased ticket it can be almost double of the regular price, but considering the long waits to enter these sites (sometime it can take even two hours!) it is definitely worth it.
If you are booking tours with NERONE TOURS ( http://www.nerone.cc ) and want to avoid standing in line, please let us know and we will do the booking for you! You will receive a voucher that you will need to present to the ticket office employee directly at the site, and will enter with no standing in line.
More information on request, please email to: nerone.cc@gmail.com