Tales of the Italian food and wine | Toscana – Lazio – Campania

The deep south of Italy, the ancient land of the sun, preserves unique traditions and flavours.

TOSCANA – LAZIO – CAMPANIA

THE TASTE OF CILENTO… IN OIL

Good land, lots of history, genuine flavours. This is how one could sum up Campania. But there is one area of this region capable of offering healthy, delicious products that exude tradition. We are in Cilento: the rolling hills overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea are dotted with olive trees and agriculture seems designed to make man happy, so generous is its land. It is here that Maida, a farm in the Cilento region, grows traditional Campanian vegetables, fruit and pulses in a way that respects both nature and man, transforming them into head-turning pickles, preserves or sauces. The company philosophy is simple: to obtain an excellent end product, the raw material must be the best. Hence the selection takes place first of all in the fields, hence the oil used in the recipes is only the highest quality oil from Campania, making it an essential ingredient. No chemical substances, no ingredient that does not come from the land of Cilento. And so sublime products are born, from the cream of grilled Montoro onion, to the tiny Cilento artichokes in oil, to the Slow Food Presidia such as the Papaccelle peppers used in sauces or the Cicerale chickpeas, as well as the ever-present Cilento sun-dried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil.

CHIANTI WINE:  BETWEEN INNOVATION AND TRADITION

The Chianti region is a legend in the wine world: probably even those who have never tasted a drop of Italian wine know or have at least heard of Chianti once in their lives. However, one of Italian most vocated terroirs, in terms of both territorial conformation and history and tradition, has in recent years often been the subject of paltry counterfeits or even the protagonist of senseless and improbable offers that saw one of Italy’s most renowned wines appear on supermarket shelves at the suspicious price of 2€ for a bottle. Among the Chianti hills there are still those who raise vines and make wine in completely natural conditions and sometimes even following the principles of biodynamics. This is the case of Alessandro Bandinelli, of the Podere Fornace Prima winery. His 5 hectares of vineyard, inherited from his father and grandfather, are cultivated following the phases of the moon and using green manure (a natural method of fertilising the soil), without the aid of chemistry or useless treatments that are harmful to the health of the plants. Even in the cellar, the philosophy remains the same: no barriques or wooden barrels, which would excessively influence the original taste of the wine, but only steel and above all cement containers. Thus were born ‘Tindilloro’, a pure Canaiolo Nero, ‘Il Cavaliere’, a Sangiovese di Toscana, ‘Harmonia’, the Chianti Riserva DOCG and ‘Perpetuo’, a Toscana Rosso IGT with surprising aromas and flavours. After all, when you think about it, nature already offers everything you need to make great wine grapes, why add unnecessary ingredients? This Alessandro learnt from his grandfather, and now he is ready to pass on this thought, which is more relevant today than ever, through his wines.

The August issue has a variety of landscapes and cultures in store for us: from the mountains of upper Lombardy, we will descend to the Ligurian coast and the hills of Emilia, discovering great alpine cheeses, traditional recipes and an incredible farm capable of self-producing everything it needs… even the traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena!