Italy offers the cultured visitor so much in one small package--an
amazing artistic heritage, delicious cuisine, wonderful wines, fabulous
fashion, and spectacular scenery.
The most important early settlers of this peninsula were the enigmatic
Etruscans, but by the third century BC their culture had been displaced
by the mighty city state of Rome. At its greatest extent, the Roman
Empire stretched from Egypt to England and for several centuries
conferred on its inhabitants the benefits of the Pax Romana: culture,
law, relative peace and comparative prosperity. This sophisticated
society left a rich architectural legacy - Rome is still dominated
by buildings like the mighty Colosseum. The middle ages were a new
chapter in Italian history. Beneath the rule of the Vatican, Rome
carved out its identity as an innocuous rural town. But the rest
of Italy was still besieged with warfare, and the peoples of the
area fragmented into haphazard city-states. Some of these families
had attained formidable power under such signori as the Este family
in Ferrara, the Medici in Florence and the Sforza in Milan. The
northern port towns such as Genoa, Pisa and Venice prospered, growing
strong on two important pillars of finance - trade and banking.
The southern area of Italy was not so lucky - bloody warfare continued
until the Normans invaded Sicily and much of the southern principalities.
In the 15th century, Italy was at the heart of the Renaissance,
an extraordinary flowering of art and culture. It produced artists
such as Fra Angelico, Raphael, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo
da Vinci, whose works take pride of place in Italy's galleries.
During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the fortunes of Rome
rose and fell with the general political and economic situation
of the rest of Italy. The post-Napoleon shake-up led to the drive
for unification which was led by Garibaldi, Cavour and Mazzini.
The Kingdom of Italy was declared in 1861, although Venice was not
pried away from Austria until 1866 and papal claims remained an
issue until 1870, when Rome officially joined the young nation.
Despite the unification of Italy, regional tradition still dominates
the various kitchens, from Rome to Lombardy, from the Valle d'Aosta
to Sicily.
Historically
rich, Italy is a cornerstone of today's western culture. Agriculturally
rich, the Italian countryside is a prolific producer of fruit, vegetables,
and livestock. Culturally rich, Italy has produced some of the world's
finest art, architecture, music and literature. Venice has its canals,
Rome its Coliseum, Florence its heritage of art, but of all the
beautiful and historic sights Italy has to offer, the best treat
a visitor will find here are the colorful Italian people who welcome
the opportunity to share their nation’s bounty.
Italy is a country of great diversity nearly in every facet of
life and food is no exception. The long Mediterranean coastline
of Italy encloses a picturesque landscape of fertile plains, arid
rocks and forest-covered mountains. In the south we find a large
variety of crops such as; tomatoes, lemon, garlic and olives, and
further north we find rice and corn, and a variety of vegetables.
This rich diversity of ingredients which are locally available,
has naturally affected the famous recipes of Italian cuisine as
never seen on any other cuisine.
Food
has always been one of life's great pleasures for the Italians.
Bear in mind that the Slow Food Movement began in Italy in 1986,
so you will not be surprised at the leisurely pace with which Italians
savour their meals. The main characteristic of Italian cooking is
its healthy balance, the excellent basic ingredients being simply
cooked and retaining their original goodness and freshness. Simple
and yet with such a variety of flavors and rich inventiveness in
preparation, that even the most demanding gourmet is delighted.
Italy’s climate, soil and very old traditions of viticulture
make it a natural wine growing nation. The wines are as personal
as a name, as different as the colors of the rainbow and as much
a part of Italian life as almost 3,000 years of tradition can make
them. The Etruscans of North-Central Italy, who created one of the
peninsula's earliest civilizations, left evidence of how to make
wine. The Greeks who soon after established themselves in the South
gave Italy the name Enotria (the land of wine). Roman wine-growing
was prolific and well-organised, pioneering large-scale production
and storage techniques like barrel-making and bottling. Two thousand
years later, Italy remains one of the world's foremost producers,
responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production.
To put this into some sort of scale – Sicily alone as a wine
region produces more than all of the wine regions of Australia put
together.
Wine
is central to the experience of eating and is served as an aperitif,
with a main meal, and between courses. Guests are often offered
wine as a matter of courtesy upon entering a house. It has been
said in the past that the Italians love of wine has led them to
keep the best home produce to themselves and to export the rest!
Whilst this may have been true, advances in wine making technology
in Italy have improved quality across the board; hence the world
is now appreciating Italian wines like never before.
There is no other country on earth with a wine culture like that
of Italy. There are over 2000 indigenous varieties (native grapes)
spread throughout this beautiful country. Each of Italy's 20 regions
is home to a unique viticultural industry, from the cool climates
in the northeast such as Alto Adige and Friuli to the warm, sunny
zones of the south such as Campania, Puglia and Sicily. Italy's
glowing reputation with wine is due not only to the fact that it
produces and exports more than any other country but that it offers
the greatest variety of types, ranging through nearly every color,
flavor and style imaginable. Experts increasingly rate Italy's premier
wines among the worlds finest.
The natural beauty of the Italian wine regions, the top quality
wines (Barolos, Brunellos and Pinot Grigios, just to name a few),
the vibrant cuisine and the beautiful medieval villages, all make
an Italian food and wine experience unforgettable.
Exclusive Travels is proud to recommend two exceptional travel
itineraries that allow you to discover the treasures of this great
land:
Tours: A
TASTE OF ITALY
TASTING
TUSCANY
The
itineraries require the FREE
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