Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Italy Top 10 Anniversary Special (Part 1)

Episode Date: January 3, 2021

Hello, hello. I’m celebrating something very special in this episode — my 10-year anniversary of being an Italian citizen. If you haven’t heard this story, 10 years ago, I packed up my New York apartment and bought a one-way ticket to Italy to pursue my dream of being an Italian citizen and living in Europe — I’ve been here ever since.In a previous episode, I walk through the exact steps I took to become a duel citizen via Italian ancestry.In this two-part episode, I’ll be sharing my top 10 favorite things to eat, drink, and do in Italy.I didn’t want to take this trip down memory lane alone, so I called up my friend Toni Mazzaglia, founder of the food tour company Taste Florence — you’ve heard her on a few Postcard Academy episodes. In part 1, we talk about our favorite:PizzaPastaItalian customsToursMuseumsGet ready for some mouth-watering hidden gems!Visit sarahmikutel.com to get in touch about how we can work one-on-one together to help you achieve more peace, happiness, and positive transformation in your life.Looking for a guide to help you discover your Enneagram personality type? Book your Enneagram typing session by going to sarahmikutel.com/typingsessionWant to connect on Insta? Find me hereDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy, a show about travel, living abroad, and location independence for people seeking a more meaningful freedom-fueled life. I'm your host, Sarah Micatel, an American who first moved abroad on our own at age 18, and who has been permanently enjoying life in Europe since 2010. I am so glad you're here. My guests and I will share with you how we made our travel, living abroad, and location independent dreams come true, and how you can too, because you will never have this day again. Make it matter. Why, hello there, and thank you for joining me for this very special episode.

I am celebrating my 10-year anniversary of being an Italian citizen. And if you haven't heard this story, 10 years ago, I packed up my New York apartment and bought a one-way ticket to Italy to pursue my dream of becoming an Italian citizen and living in Europe. And I've been here ever since. And in a previous episode, I talked through the exact steps that I took to become a dual citizen via Italian ancestry. In this two-part episode, I will be sharing my top 10 favorite things to eat, drink, and do in Italy. And I didn't want to take this trip down memory lane alone. So I called up my friend Tony Matsalia, founder of the food tour company Taste Florence. And you have heard Tony on a few Postcard Academy episodes before.

In part one, Tony and I will talk about our favorite pizza, pasta, Italian customs, tours, and museums. Get ready for some mouthwatering hidden gems. All right, Tony, welcome back. I'm so glad to be talking to you today. You too. It's my 10-year anniversary of being an Italian citizen, and so I thought, who better to talk to about Italy than my friend Tony? And we can do our top 10 favorites of Italy. Congratulations on 10 years. Yeah, thank you so much.

And you got your citizenship in Reggio Emilia? I did indeed. Very cool. Yes. And did a podcast episode about that for anyone who is interested. So you can go back and listen to that one. But all right, Tony. So the very first top 10 thing I want to talk about is pizza.

Okay. So what is the best pizza that you've had in Italy? Okay. So I thought long and hard on this. And I was like, what is the one pizza that's still? haunts me. And it's actually not from a pizzeria, but it's from an at-home pizza experience. Actually, a friend called me and said, hey, do you want to go pick olives tomorrow? He had a Motorola, this is like 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and it was really loud. So while he was saying, do you want to go pick

olives tomorrow, I was like turning the volume down and I didn't hear him. And then when I put the phone back up to my ear and he said, and make pizza. So all I heard was, and make pizza. And I was like, okay, count me in. So I get out there and I realize, oh my gosh, I've got to. I got to go pick olives and I've brought the wrong attire. Like I did not have anything to wear to go picking olives. And so I ended up like not sleeping and getting all upset. And then fast forward after picking olives and ruining my favorite boots, totally worth it. Because we went to the olive press, which I'm going to bring you to a proper olive press next time you come.

We just have to plan it better. It changed again this year, though. They're already done. It keeps getting earlier and earlier. Anyway, we went to the olive press, brought. the new oil home. They had a wood burning oven. We made the pizza in the wood burning oven with the olive wood. And then we put the new olive oil on the pizza. And it was amazing. And to this day, that's the best pizza. Like, it's the pizza that I still think of when I think, what was the best

pizza I've had? So I've had good pizza in Naples and a few good pizzas in Florence. But like, that to me was the ultimate. What about you? Well, that sounds amazing, Tony. So most people won't be able to go to your friend's house to make pizza. I have to pick olives. But yeah, for the olive oil experience, is there something you can think of that might be accessible to people visiting Italy? Is there something in mind? As far as experiencing, like picking olives and going to the, it's all about timing because you've got to come, you know, it depends on what part of Italy, but if you're in Tuscany, you've got to come

theoretically late October to mid-November. But like when you came the last time, like two years ago, it had already happened. And this year, they're already done. So the same thing. So it's, you know, you got to have like plenty of time, like maybe come from the beginning of October to the end of November to play it safe and get a place in the countryside that has olive trees around it. And you'll see people picking olives. And you can be like, hey, can I help? And they'll be like, please do, because we're getting tired of this. It's really getting old. And then they might give you some oil. They might take you to the olive mill with you. So that's the most authentic experience. It's just getting wrangled in by somebody that's sucker.

you end up picking their olives, and then you'll get like a liter of oil. Is there any other way where we can make sure we can do it? Well, I've heard Broomer that Sting actually charges you for the experience of picking his olives. Really? Yes. So you can go pick olives at Sting's house? Yes.

All right. Yeah. So that's like if you want to say, I picked Stings olives, you know what I mean? For example, where I live, I live in a villa. It's kind of like vacation rentals, but I just happen to have a long-term apartment there. and their property is surrounded by olive trees. And because it's a cultural association, we were allowed to help.

Because that's another thing is there's all these legalities and insurance and all that stuff. So I helped them pick their olives this year because I'm insured theoretically. We'll get in touch with Tony. If you want an olive oil experience, you'll tell you what's up. Yeah, exactly.

All right. So my favorite pizza, I think, has sentimental reasons. But in Réju Amelia, where I became an Italian citizen, There is a pizza place called Pegasso, which means Pegasus in Italian, and really delicious Roman-style pizza, which is my favorite. So that is the thin kind, whereas the pizza from Naples is, I want to say the Italian word, I'm trying to think of the English word. It's just like a little bit thicker, chewier.

But I prefer the thin Roman style. So Pegasso, for sure, in Reggio Emilia. And then for a place in a more popular area, so Rome, Ivoa Trestevere is my favorite. I used to live near there. And again, really thin Roman-style pizza. So delicious and so reasonably priced in Italy. You really can't beat it. Yeah.

So how about pasta? Pasta. Okay, so do I have to have a single or can I do like a three or two? You can do it three. Okay. Twofer. Do a two per. I'll do a twofer.

So I'll do one in Florence first. There's a lot of great pasta to be had in Florence and all over Tuscany. But I would say if I had to pick one restaurant for pasta here, I would say Cocinardius. And they have seasonal menus. So it's not going to ever be the same exact menu. But they have one pasta that they do year round. It's they're called raviolotti. But they're actually in other places they call them fagotini.

They're like a little bag of pasta and they have pear and cheese inside. I think you tried that there, didn't you? Didn't we go there together? Or did I recommend Cookinadius to you? I feel like you loved it. Is it near the Duomo? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we did. A lot of good vegetarian food and stuff. That was an epic night. I felt like the food and wine did not stop coming. Yeah, yeah, because I think we had Nico as our waiter. Yes, and also what I remember about that restaurant was that the acoustics were fantastic. I don't really notice those things, I don't think, but there was, there was like a bunch of people there, but I could hear you very well. It was like a very comfortable space.

Totally. Yeah, the acoustics are great and the lighting. The lighting's horrible for taking photos of food, but it's not harsh. It's relaxing. So the lighting's relaxing. The acoustics are great. They always have good music playing. I love the decor.

The wait staff is like pretty chill. Sometimes a little too chill. Like a little, it can be a little slow sometimes, but it's worth the weight. And it's one of my favorite pastas they make on their summer menu. is there like a round raviolo that's filled with scallop. It's scallop and maybe some other kind of shellfish, but it's shredded up and it's inside. And then it's served on this velvety tomato sauce.

And then they sprinkle poppy seeds on it. So good. Poppy seeds. Well, what I love about cooking adios is that they don't do your everyday Tuscan stuff. They do, it's like half Tuscan stuff and half. like this is what I feel like doing. Because a lot of people in the kitchen are actually Sicilian. Okay.

And then another place I love for pasta, going north, going to Lake Como, which everybody wants to go to, right? There's a little teeny tiny town called Salakomachina. And there's a restaurant that has a crazy name, La Tirlindana, La Tirlindana. And it's right on the water. And if you, it's a weird little town because if you pull up using the public boats, you get dropped off in this weird spot. But if you go on a private boat, you can have them bring you straight to the restaurant because there's a little bay right there.

And they do these ravioli that are filled with mascarpone, and they're in a lemon sauce. And anyone who knows me knows, I love some lemon. If you look this place up, everybody talks about these ravioli. They're just incredible. Where are we taking the boat from? Did you say Lake Como? Yeah, so you're in Lake Como. And there's, I can't remember the exact location of Salakomachina.

I think it's on the left hand, so the west side. So, you know, like Como kind of looks like if you're holding like a piece sign upside down. So it's like two legs. You know what I mean? So you're like on the left leg right around the knuckle of, or the knee, sorry. I'm doing my hand right now. The knee, right around the knee of the left leg. would be Salakomachina.

And there's a little teeny tiny island right in front of Salakomachina that has a little restaurant and a two. And I slept there like in July. I think it might have even been July 4th. And they happened to have fireworks that night, I think, because they just happen to have the patron saint the same day. It was really, it was a cool experience. Oh, that is a nice experience.

Horrible Airbnb, worst I've ever been to. Mold on the wall. But it was working for the ravioli. My favorite pasta, so I actually didn't write down a specific restaurant, but I love some cacho pepe, which is like really simple, like light cheese and pepper pasta. When there was an earthquake a few years ago, there was actually like, yeah, they made that like the national dish to raise money for the people who, because it was a lot of people who are hit in that region that make the cheese. So it became like a sort of special fundraising activity. So I love Cacho and Pepe and when I was in Florence and I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was in Santo Spirito in Florence, I had this noki with truffle oil and it was so amazing. And so one of my favorite things to do when I'm in Florence is to go to the Boboli Gardens and maybe check out the Medici Palace if you want to.

But I think even just going to the gardens is a really nice afternoon and then you just walk right into Santo Spirito, which is right now. next door and hang out there, have some drinks, have some food, and I think it is the perfect afternoon. That is a great afternoon. And you actually reminded me of one more pasta with truffle in Florence, which is appropriate. So there's a place called rooster, not the greatest name, but keep in mind that it's in English. But the reason it's called roosters is because of the black rooster of the kianti. So there's a reason for it. And they do this ravioli that's filled with burrata, and then it's served in the truffle sauce. And it sounds. It sounds like it's going to be really rich and just too much and like everybody, enough with the barata already.

But it's so good. It is so good. And I've sent several people there and they've all been like, oh my gosh, where has this been my whole life? We are definitely going the next time. It's really good. And I love the waiters are super nice. I brought my cousin there last year because she just happened to get a hotel right above the restaurant. That's why we went there.

And the waiters all were in love with my cousins, my cousin and her friends. So they treat me very well when I go in there. I'd show the photo of my cousin who looks like a good. like a really cute Barbie doll, basically. And they're like, oh, it's Daniela. Here, have a glass of wine. Ben, ben, ben, ben, ben. All right.

What's your favorite Italian custom? I wanted to ask you to kick this one off because there's so many directions we could go. Of course, I've always on the food. So I was hoping I would get some other ideas. We're going to stay on food because of my favorite. Italian custom, at least the one that I'm thinking of now is appetivo. It's my favorite thing ever. And for anybody who doesn't know, it's like the custom where in the early evening, maybe between, you know, seven and eight around there, you go to your favorite bar or maybe even restaurant and you pay for a drink.

And then there's a little buffet. And sometimes it's just like crisps and some olives. and then sometimes it's just super abundant. And so my favorite ones are the abundant ones. And in Italy, there's a lot of vegetarian options at a lot of these places. And I really appreciate that Italy, it's a very pro-vegetarian and even vegan sometimes. When I tell Italians this, they're kind of like, what? Really? But for real, I mean, compared to a lot of places in the U.S., I think you can eat quite well if you're a veg in Italy.

So my favorite, my favorite vegetarian aperitivo is called Ketembal. Not very Italian sounding and I don't really remember what it means, but K-E-T-U-M-B-A-R. And it's in Testacho, which is my favorite neighborhood in Rome these days. Yeah, I love testosterone. Yeah, yeah. And so I would recommend going there. So get a glass of wine, really abundant. Gritivo.

there's another place that I really like, even though it's gotten super touristy over the years, called Frenia fritioni. They've been doing a parativo for years and years. And I think it starts around seven and it's in Tristevere. So, for me, I like it during the day and the evening. It's way too crowded, way too crowded. But it's still a good place for aperitivo and in summertime, like everybody's hanging out there. And so you could go there and then in the summer when there's not a pandemic, there you'd have all of the bancarele. So all the little stalls selling jewelry, restaurants, bars.

I love walking along the river in the summer when they've got all of that stuff going on. So appetivo, my favorite thing. I will continue the meal, actually, because what I was going to say is I love that everything's served separately. I love that, you know, you take your time and you have your antipasto and then you have your Primo, which would be like pasta or soup, and then you have your secondo. And everything is on separate plates like nature intended. That's how I feel. I don't like all my stuff squished on one plate.

Like for me as a child, Thanksgiving was very scary unless I got to serve myself and make little walls with carrots and things because I just don't like all my stuff in one plate. Don't like it. So when I came here and saw all the separate food, I was like, like, these are my people. That's so interesting. It was like your Italian heritage, like hanging with you. I have to say I completely disagree in my way in the eating.

Not that I disagree with your way. You do you, Tony. But I love having everything on my plate. And in fact, if I'm at an Italian's house, I will actually ask, will I offend you if I put everything on my plate? And how do they reply? I think it's, I think they usually think it's funny. I mean, they think it's weird, but they've gotten used to me. I like mixing things up sometimes. Well, for me, if it's the kind of food that mixes well, like, for example, if I'm having Indian food or Thai food or, you know, Middle Eastern food, then I'm okay with everything being on one plate because a lot of the stuff goes together. But like, I don't want my cold salad touching my hot pasta, that kind of stuff freaks me out. And then also, or if there's, that's got a lot of sauce on it, and then the sauce is getting on something that should not have the sauce. And also, I like the taking the time and eating it and paying attention to the flavor.

All right. Really interesting. That was a cool custom. I'm glad you brought that up. Thanks. I think it's fun to talk about, yeah, different cultural experiences on how people, how people live. I also think it's kind of nice when people walk into somebody's house and they say, Permiso, like may I come in and then you say yes, of course, come in. And then usually you take off your shoes and they'll offer you some slippers because heaven forbid you walk with bare feet on the floor. This episode is sponsored by me or rather by my online course, podcast launch academy. You are a podcast lover and thank you so much for being here. But I was wondering, have you ever thought about creating a podcast yourself? Well, visit sarahmicatel.com to learn how we

can work together and to take the podcast personality quiz. Tour, I have to say that Taze Florence is my favorite tour in Italy. And that's how I met you. Well, I think I interviewed you first. Yeah, you interviewed me first. I interviewed you. I think something happened to the tape. And so, but then I took your tour, got to meet you.

And then I think I interviewed you again after there. Yeah, which was good because then I felt like I knew you and we had a fun interview. So it worked out great. I loved how you set up the tour because we're going around and meeting like the local people. And I can tell you've known these people for years. There's such like affection there. And they're all just really sweet. And I felt so happy to support the locals and learn more about Florence as we're eating our way around.

Yeah. How about you? It's weird because I know I've taken a lot of tours and I couldn't remember all of them when I was thinking of this question. But the first thing I've popped in my head, of course, is, you know, I love balsamic vinegar. And I love going on tours of balsamic vinegar makers. Like, it's up in the attic of a house. And it's like going on a wine tour, but you're in a family's attic. And they're showing you their family barrels. And I actually would say, as a good starting point, instead of going to a family, go to the museum in Spilamberto, which is, I just love saying that word,

Spilamberto. And it's the museum of balsamic vinegar. And the woman's name is Christina, and she is passionate about the balsamic. And she takes you up in the attic. So it's a museum of balsamic vinegar, the history balsamic vinegar. But then it's also an achitaia, which is a place that makes the balsamic. So it's a perfect combo for a tour because you're half museum and then half hands on seeing it smelling and tasting it. And the person that's there explaining stuff is amazing. And then from there, I would go to one or two families places also. Where is the museum? Which town is it in? Spilamberto. Oh, it is. I thought Modena had like the lac, um, the balsamic. Spilumberto is part of Modena. It's like, you know what I mean? Like

Fiazoli is part of Florence, that kind of thing. Okay. So like kind of a neighborhood in Modena? Yeah, it's like a smaller, smaller town. Yeah. I want to give another plug to Regia. because I love it so much. But Reggio Emilia is right next door to Modena. And so I think if you want to have a really unique Italian experience and you want to sort of stay off the beaten path, stay in Regiomilia because you'll get the flavor of a real Italian town. But they've got such a cute historic center. And it's pretty cosmopolitan. The brand Maksumara was founded there. It's like a lot going on. It's very efficient. It's super clean. Italian flag is in the little museum there. Great piazzles for a peritivo. And then also, if you are like into food, you can hop around. So stay in Reggio Emilia, but then one day you can go to Parma, which is like very close. Then you can go to Modena, Bologna, Bologna, which, you know, they say is the stomach of Italy. Bologna is another city that we were talking earlier about

things that took us a while to get used to, I have been to Bologna a number of times and only recently it started to like, I like it now, but it took me a while. It's very punkabesque, yeah. Molto punkabes, yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of students that are very political, a lot of graffiti, a lot of angry students rolling their cigarettes, wearing like military shirts and, you know, yeah, definitely gritty. But the food and the accent, it's my favorite accent. Like all that, Emilio Romagna, so Moldona Reggio Amelia, all of that. Yeah.

Just like love the accents there. Yeah, one more quick thing about the balsamic. Yeah. I think when you go on tours and you visit, especially like the family estates, you get so much more of an appreciation of what goes into this product and what quality product tastes like. Because I think when you see in this gross. restore like a $4 bottle of balsamic or something. And then you're like, why is this bottle 25 pounds or 50 pounds or something like that? And it's like, oh, because it takes decades

for the process. Like if you want a really rich balsamic that you can put on parmesan cheese or something like thick chunks of real parmesan is how I've had it before. And it's so amazing. Yeah. The real balsamical is. nothing like the stuff we get in the grocery store. And I mean, if you taste it without even knowing how it's made, you can appreciate it. But when you see how it's made, it's just like this magic. Everything about it is, it's like history and science and family and tradition and magic all mixed together. It's like I get a totally geek out when it comes to balsamic vinegar. And since you mentioned Regio Amelia, I want to mention poor Reggie, I call him Reggie,

because moldina is really famous, but right across the river for moldena is reggio amygia. And they are equally important for making balsamic vinegar. They have their own DOP balsamic vinegar. And essentially the two have been making balsamics for over a thousand years. But little reggie there, his name is not that catchy. So reggio amelia. Like nobody can even say mold enough properly. So figuriamochi, if they're going to say reggio amelia.

And so as a result, like not that many people outside of Italy know about the balsamic of Reggio amelia, but it's just as important. Also, just as important for the cheese. Like you've heard of Parmigiano, Reggiano, Reggiano, Reggio Emilia. And so Karma is the one that's famous for the cheese, but also don't overlook Reggio Amelia. So anyway, just another plug for Reggio Amelia. If you want to be super cool and be in the know and go off the beaten path, Reggio Amelia is your town. I second that opinion. All right, Tony. Favorite Museum. Okay, so I thought it would be fun to give some wacky ones because obviously I'm here in Florence and I could say the Ophi Itzi and all these other things.

So I will give my favorite Florence Museum, but it's not my favorite all-time museum. But my favorite Florence Museum is the Stroltzi. And it's basically the curator just has a really good job. They do exhibits that are not just Renaissance, which is refreshing because after you see Renaissance is as amazing as it is. After you see Renaissance, Madonna and child paintings for 20 years, you kind of want to see something else. And so the curator at the Struzzi, whose name is slipping my mind right now, does a really good job. They get you into context of whatever the topic is and really do a fantastic job on that. Outside of Florence, there is a museum in the Barolo area up in the Pia Monte.

It's called Wimu. It's the Y Museum. And it's just, it's like, you got to Google it to see all the information because it's intense. But the guy that did it has done, he's curated stuff all over the world, Paris, Los Angeles. And it's kind of like you're walking into something that maybe it would be like a Salvadori Dali dream, but it's a wine museum. There's like, I can't even remember. I went there like 10 years ago, but in my mind, I just remember it was very trippy. How do you spell WEMU?

W-I-M-U I mean double-check that Yeah W-I-M-U which I think is short for a wine museum Okay so he used the English Wemu Museo del Vino Abrolo Very cool What's your favorite museum? Okay, I put down a few of them

So my favorite traditional museum is the Borgese Museum in Rome And so this like I love, and I probably have already mentioned this on a different podcast, but I love it because you book an appointment for like two hours and then they give you this audio guide that lasts about like that time, but it's the best audio guide I've ever had. Like it really tells you interesting stories about the pieces that are in the museum and they've got everything. So like

Caravaggio and Bernini. And it just walks you through everything. So I really like it. And it's just a beautiful building. And it's also the park is right outside. So that's also really beautiful to walk around. So for traditional, I like, yeah, Villa Burgese. And you need to book in advance.

So if you're planning to go there, make sure you get tickets in advance. And then for some off the beaten ones or lesser known ones, I think Rome has done, and maybe other places of Italy, has done a cool job of incorporating some technology into their museum. So I like traditional museums where you don't have to get too high tech. But there's one in Rome called Les Domes Romane. And I think not many people know about it. And it's small.

So that's another one you should get tickets in advance. But up top, you know, they've got a villa that's a few centuries old. But then that's on top of an old. Roman sort of well-to-do house. And you have like sort of, they have like kind of a light show that will show you how it looked back in the day. And then there's this area where before they had like a proper trash system, the rich people would just like throw out their plates and they didn't want them anymore. So you have like a big trash bile over the centuries of like really, really nice stuff like China and everything where they're just like I'm done with this and just

throw it up the window. It's crazy. So there's so many little treasures buried in Italy and I guess everywhere. So that place is really cool and there's a really nice wine bar right downstairs from it or like right around. I think they might even own it. So and then it's right next to the forum and all of that. So a really cool experience. And then one of my friends took me to the baths of of Karakala, and I don't know anyone who goes there, but it's so cool. So we walked there, and they've got kind of like a virtual reality experience where you have this visor. And you can like whatever direction you're looking in, you can see how it would be if there were like marble. Oh, wow. And it was where like the really well to do went for the bath. So you could

see how fantastic it used to be. And it wasn't just a baths. They also had places for reading. It was like a very well-to-do leisure center, you know, practically 2,000 years ago. Places for exercise, different things like that. So 100% I would recommend that you try that. That sounds really neat. I'm going to go there when it's possible. Baths of Caracalla. Thank you for listening to Part 1 of this anniversary. special and in part two, Tony and I will talk about outdoor activities in Italy, wine pastry, more hidden gems, and less touristy Italian cities. Meanwhile, check out my new personal transformation

podcast, part of something greater. And this is a show for globally minded citizens like yourself, who are ready for more peace, happiness, and connection in their life. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you to Blue Dot Sessions for some of the lovely music that you heard in this episode. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.