Back to Italy (6) – The Italian touch: aperitivo

Beyond expression lies the first hand impression of reality. The real is somehow hidden under this curtain of individual perception: hence, all the game is played between expression and retelling on one side, impression and emotion on the other. These two groups then collide inside the basket of memory. Or it is better to say, this is the way I feel our understanding works. The consideration I am about to articulate is then about the magic hidden beneath the Italian touch.

The Italian touch web-magazine: http://www.theitaliantouch.com/it/Home

How may one define this peculiar style, which springs out from our way of presenting things? Is it part of our Italian culture or it is something that might be adopted? Are there some embarrassing side effects? Normally, this Italian style is linked to fashion and clothes, gardens design and cars, a certain taste for aesthetics and different rhythm of living (that we are partially losing). Monica Bellucci tries - with enormous success, I must confess – to ride the wave of Italian splendour: her sensuality looks directly back to fairytales and she is opulent and beautiful as few divas have been. Unfortunately, the exhibited splendor of women is often the symptom of the decline of the society in which they live.

Her beauty is not only voluptuous - as the malignant one may object - but I think she is taken the breath away  because of the contemporary presence of several forms of perfections ( in a climax body, posture, face and grace): all the attributes of ancient queens. This beauty is al responding to the Italian aesthetic canon and here is emphasized by a D&G black dress and she was appeared brighter because of the Cartier platinum and diamond necklace.

Sophie Marceau is possibly one of the most charming French actresses, it is impressive though how Monica Bellucci in her red Valentino appears so uniquely Italian: the dress reproduces and accentuates her siren shape, especially in Cannes near the seaside.

«Being sexy is in an Italian woman’s DNA» 
- One of Monica Bellucci's famous quote...but I am
always suspicious of this easy stigmatization -

I think proper style is something deeply rooted in our perspective of «how to appear in front of others (which will finally judge…)», a sort of non-written protocol partially based on fear. However, when this attitude is too contingent, it becomes a hideous stereotype and several Italians end up behaving as fashionista: not just for those accessorises they choose, but for the lifestyle and mindsets they resolve to adopt. An approach of this kind appears vulgar to my taste. Vulgar is etymologically what belongs to the people, that is to say something the mass does robotically, without neither realizing nor thinking about the consequences of homologation: when the people acts like a flock of sheep, it loses spontaneity and originality. This situation reminds me of René Magritte's surrealism: all modern men are like rain, the society we are living makes us similar and conformist, but every single drop, as soon as it falls, is lost forever.

René Magritte, Pluie d'hommes (It's raining men), 1953,
Menil Collection, Huston, TX.

Elegance is instead the skill of choosing for the best according to one’s taste, keeping intact that quality of distinction that makes each person unique, as, for instance, Gianni l’Avvocato (The lawyer) Agnelli - former head of the FIAT group (including Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa and Lancia) - has been for decades in Italy. It is possible to reproduce his way of dressing, yet it is more essential essential to understand his very attitude:

Gianni Agenlli, nicknamed l'Avvocato (1921-2003) in his late fifties: he was famous - among the other gossips - for his watch, a Patek Philippe, he usually wore over his cuff, a sign of distinction from the mainstream, but also because it seems he was allergic to metals, so involuntary he launched a fashion.

The FIAT group Alfa, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati, 500 Abarth, Fiat, and now Chrysler and Dodge.

Gianni Agnelli's Patek Philippe World Time ref. 1415 HU Timepiece:

http://www.fratellowatches.com/gianni-agnelli-and-his-patek-philippe-world-time-ref1415hu-weve-found-one-for-sale/ 

Such a principle of measure in style applies to food as well: indispensable, unconventional, self-sufficient is the best adjective-trinty to delimitate the practice I am going to treat. This time I wish to take into account a relatively tiny aspect of the Italian touch etiquette, the so-called APERITIVO, a dynamic concept, easier to enjoy, more difficult to explain. It is more that beer and crisps at six-ish in the afternoon. It is a slow introduction to dinner and sometimes a true replacement. It combines the passion for wine tasting or light cocktails. It matches elaborated food that at the same time does not need a long-term preparation. It’s a custom that started from Veneto - the region of Venice, Verona and Padua - but now evolved, nourished by all the tributary specialities of each Italian town. Quite often the APERITIVO is linked to a cocktail called SPRITZ:

Recipe (basic version):  1/3 prosecco; 1/3 aperol; 1/3 ice or chilly sparking water; a slice of orange

Spritz with finger food tarts.

Here in Edinburgh, you can find a remarkable Prosecco (around 6.99£) quite paradoxically at Lidl (in Nicholson Street 60, EH8 9DT). My opinion is that Lidl has to be chosen uniquely for a smart line of products called Deluxe, which is praiseworthy, and precisely for the Prosecco of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, with the natural cork:

YET, if you wish to feel something made by professional catering people, Divino enoteca (or wine bar) is the finest in town (5 Merchant street, Edinburgh): they actually cultivate an ambitious and simple project, that of becoming the best wine-house in the UK. 

Divine for the name and for the experience

Divino is not just a physical place but a conceptual one, pretty much metaphysical. It is like stepping inside a space-machine that flings you to another dimension, in this case Italy: so, nothing as worrying as Stargate, one of the films that shaped my childhood:

A classic of the '90s (1994) that - as an 11 years old kid -
I appreciated a lot: the Divino effect is similar,
with less civilization clash, admittedly.

The term appetizing doesn’t cover the entire semantic range of stuzzicante: stuzzicare, in Italian, it also stays for to tease and poke but in a good acceptation. It is then also appealing and stimulating. It is a progressive form of the verb and the food that is appetizing for somebody is a sort of allure that keeps enriching its appeal. In the rules-of-attraction-of-food, I am then speaking of a well-crafted finger food that asks continuously for second helpings:

An assortment of delis (Parma ham, Salame Napoli), cheese (Pecorino & Gorgonzola) and antipasti (grilled courgettes and aubergines). I have to thank Roberta Carloni for these two amazing shots.

White wine (probably Ribolla) with some dark ravioli and risotto

It is a myth that food has to be incredibly elaborated: what is actually admirable is the thought below the dish, in other words how the preparation fits the moment. This way of approaching food has to be pondered carefully: to make an example, I was completely mesmerized by a picture of a friend of mine. He is called Gino, he has somehow espoused a sort of cynical approach to life and several of his jokes are caustic (often misunderstood), BUT under this shocking surface there is a gourmet, a kind friend and a true artist. Gino is benefits of a natural refined intelligence, and he's also THE drummer of a cover band called Falp, whose music is particularly entertaining and very well played. The name derives from the initial letters of the band components' names. This band appeared curious to my eyes because, like in The Paul Street boys, everyone is an unquestionable leader and there are no simple soldiers.

Gino having same "delicious" hand-kneaded bread with Sicilian extra-virgin oil:
as simple as you can imagine.
I was impressed by incredible wine effect captured by
his lovely girlfriend Loredana, whose kindness
allowed me to post this pic. I attempt a further recognition,
the whine is an Inzolia (a famous Sicilian wine company),
but it is only a blusterer's guess.

Yet, going back to the picture, which is a casual shot, which says more of who took it, rather than on the subject himself. I was captured by the perfect combination of simplicity and style, a sort of display of excellent taste, moderation and capability of enjoying the cosy moments of life: a young man, possibly a latin-lover, eating some bread with a tear of extra-virgin olive oil, shares the scene with two flutes of golden white wine. Loredana, the photographer, gave a romantic and intriguing angle to the scene! One is pushed to ask: who's the other mysterious drinker? Let's only reveal that the beauty she is able to capture is dramatically close to that impressed on the features of her visage. All the rest is pure magic and poetry: the white day-light in the street, the beaming effect of the beverage a sort of liquid Sun, the open shirt that matches the dish rim and the distant windows, and that peculiar spirit that merely a relaxed Aperitivo is able to convey...an Aperitivo enriched by the charm of affection.

The Falp band playing Beatle's A Ticket to ride, worth listening