Something Italian you would recommend?

Question

a film, a drink, a song, an activity, - something simple and not expensive and fun which I could do/smell/try/taste/... to feel the true Italian spirit outside Italy?

Answer 1

Find an authentic Italian restaurant in your neighborhood and go order yourself a nice pasta dish, a bottle of sangiovese and a piece of tiramisu. Even if you don't feel transported to Italy, you will be sated. If you're lucky, there are also some cute Italian waiters.  ;)

Answer 2

- First of all to get into an Italian mood, it´s necessary to celebrate yourself in a certain way to represent/fulfill what the Italians call 'bella figura': = Look as great and passionate as possible! (e.g. wear red lipstick, a light but elegant black dress with spaghetti wearers and s**y high heel shoes for instance by Dolce & Gabbana or Prada…)

- Enjoy the 'dolce vita' and spend a warm summer night outside together with friends and family including sobbing babies, wisely smiling grannies and of course a hot-tempered dark eyed lover – best location would be a patio or a garden, between fragrant flowers and olive trees.

- Listen to Italian music: I love Nino Rota! (composer of most Fellini movie soundtracks, I recommend especially "Il Casanova" and "La strada"). Also recommendable: Lucio Battisti ("Ancora tu"), maybe Dean Martin ("That's Amore"), Domenico Modugno ("A mara terra mia") or Jovanotti ("Serenata Rap"). If you prefer classical music I´d suggest Antonio Vivaldi's light but tricky  opera "Orlando Furioso", really wonderful music…

- Surround yourself with sweet smelling lemon trees, delicious black and green olives, Pellegrino bottles, 'bruschetta pomodori', 'insalata mista' or 'caprese' (= slices of tomato and original buffalo mozzarella cheese, fresh basil leafs, an old 'aceto balsamico' and some good olive oil), 'sugo' = dip/sauce with tomatoes and basil, fresh and warm white bread ('pane bianco') and aioli.

As a main dish you should eat something simple but refined, spicy and – very important – with a lot of garlic: pasta is always a good choice, for example spaghetti aglio e olio e peperoncini with a little bit of fresh parmigiano cheese.

- drink dry Italian whine (' vino secco') – whatever you like: cold 'vino bianco' (e.g. Gavi, Pinot grigio, Verduzzo, Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOC, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo or Verdicchio dei  Castelli di Jesi DOC), sparkling: 'Prosecco spumante' or 'vino rosso' (Pinot nero superiore, Merlot vecchio, Cabernet riserva, Faro DOC, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or Bardolino DOC).

Finish your meal with grappa and espresso.

- Watch these Federico Fellini movies: "Amarcord", "Roma", "La Dolce Vita", "8 1/2".

- Enjoy some 'amore': Kiss the hot-tempered dark eyed lover mentioned above (if available).  HAVE FUN!!!

(Dear Olga: Whenever you really want to feel Asian, I'd rather pick up an Indian guy to study the kamasutra…)

Answer 3

bread

bread is the base of alimentation. Try italian bread solo first, and then with prosciutto and/or pecorino cheese

elegance and simplicity

sorry if i made mistakes

Answer 4

go to an Opera, featuring compositions by Corelli, Verdi, and other italian composers.

Answer 5

there is a great movie called a wonderful life about life in Italy during the war. it shows you how important family is in Italian culture.  you can also look for all the Italian festivals in the spring.  We have one in Philadelphia every year and its a good cheap way to taste lots of food

Answer 6

These are some of my favorite, Italian singers:

Antonello Venditti

Renato Zero

Paolo Conte

You could hunt for their stuff on Youtube.

Other than that, when I feel Italian, I also acquire Chianti, Spaghetti, Parmigiano cheese, balsamico, olive oil, enough stuff for a nice, mixed salad, and  a video or several. And then I cook long and lavishly with all the lights on and play Vivaldi at full blast.

Some good videos for an Italian evening may be:

Tea with Mussolini

Momo

Shakespeare's Midsommer Night's Dream

Theoretically, The English Patient, Captain Correlli's Mandolin, and Life is Beautiful are also set in Italy, but they are too melancholic for my taste when I'm in my Italian mood. When I feel that way, I want to have a good time, and let the evening end happily, maybe even in some silly way, so I can giggle myself to sleep at night.

Answer 7

I think that the best italian film ever is "La vita è bella" with Benigni (you won't find it in english, you can see it with subtitles). It's great!

Search for Tiziano Ferro's songs, this are some titles: Sere nere; Non me lo so spiegare; Perverso. They aren't that new but they are beautiful and he's really famous here.

Finding good Italian food out of Italy it's almost impossible, I suggest you try some good Italian wine, but don't search for food. Did you know that most of the Italian food eaten abroad doesn't even exist in Italy?

I hope I've helped you and I suggest that, when you can, you take a trip to Italy. Then you'll have a chance to smell, taste... Italy.