My Italian permaculture garden is wild

For all of you who have visited us for an Italian cooking class, cooking holiday or wine tour or olive tour,  you know that I have a passion for foraging and for my permaculture garden. Over the years, I have had to battle snails, slugs, porcupines, wild boar and badgers, a broken drip irrigation system, plus soil that is filled with rocks and clay.....but finally, talking to the local farmers and getting everyone's advice on how to 'conquer' and work in harmony nature.....this year my permaculture garden  is going wild! It is producing more tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini than I know what to do with.

What a great sense of satisfaction, to have my permaculture garden producing so much that I can share my produce with neighbours and friends.

We use our own produce and source our ingredients locally for our Italian cooking classes. So you could not get more local and fresh than this. As I say to our guests "my permaculture garden does not look pretty...but it sure produces the BEST tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchinis, plus zucchini flowers ( or whatever is in season at the time) I have ever tasted!"

We also offer a selection of local produce: including meats, pecorino cheeses, local breads, olives and salad made of our own tomatoes and cucumbers straight from our garden, during the last stop of our Rome Olive Tours and Rome Wine Tours.  Just to give you an idea that it is not just us appreciating the quality of my organic homegrown produce.....I want to tell you a story of 'J'.. I hope 'J', one of our guests on a recent Rome Olive Tour, does not mind me telling you, ....but he said that he hated tomatoes, all tomatoes......that is until he tried some of my tomatoes, fresh from our garden..... and guess what, he LOVED them so much that he said he did not want to leave Italy, and if he had to leave to return home....that he would be back to visit us! Wonderful, we look forward to his return!

For more information about our Italian Cooking Holidays, Italian Cooking Classes, Rome Olive Tours and Rome Wine Tours, please contact me on info@conviviorome.com

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Hot Italian Mulled Wine - Vin Brulé for the Festive Season

Image courtesy of giallozafferano.it

Italian hot mulled wine or vin brulé (the Italians use the French word) is very popular in winter time, especially at Christmas markets and during the Festive Season and New Year's Eve. We will be making vin brulé when we get together with friends to celebrate the Winter Solstice solstizio d'inverno. The Winter Solstice in Italy and for the northern hemisphere, will be on the 21st December, this year.

Being in the countryside, therefore more aware of the rhythms of the seasons, I now understand why the shortest day of the year and the longest night of the year, should be celebrated. It signals a powerful transition point between seasons and a great reason to get together with friends to celebrate that the days, from now on, will become longer.

To help you celebrate the forthcoming Festive Season and New Year with good cheer.... here is our recipe for Vin Brulé. Enjoy! 

Vin Brulé
Serves approx. 50 glasses 
Ingredients: 
5 litres of dry red wine ( we used the local red grape called 'Sangiovese')
1/2 litre of orange juice
125 g sugar (according to taste)
8 cloves
15g cinnamon sticks (about 5)
1 teaspoon nutmeg powder
2  or 3 large oranges, peeled and sliced

Method:
1. Pour wine and orange juice into a large saucepan. Add the sugar and mix well.
2. Add the cloves, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg powder  and thinly sliced oranges to the wine. Stir.
3. Heat gently for about 15 to 20 minutes without allowing the mixture to boil. Stir occasionally and taste for sweetness. Add more sugar if desired.
4. Serve vin brulé warm or hot  (in heat-resistant glasses).
Enjoy!

Auguri di Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

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Toffia Summer Festival. Discover this medieval hilltop village, near Rome in Italy

Toffia dates back to 930AD. When you wander around the cobbled streets you see it's amazing history come alive. Nowadays Toffia is the home to just over 1,000 residents and is one of the most active and well kept medieval hilltop villages in the Sabine Hills, near Rome. This video, taken during the Toffia Summer Festival this year, gives you a taste of our beautiful and authentic village.

You stay in the heart of these ancient walls during your 3 and 5 night Italian Cooking Holidays and Culinary Vacations with Convivio Rome. 
For our 2018 and 2019 Cooking Holiday dates can be found here.
More information can also be found on our Convivio Rome website.

Enjoy the video.

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A stroll in the Sabine Hills, from one medieval town to another

The Sabine Hills, just north of Rome, is a great place to get away from all the 'hustle and bustle' of day-to-day life. Come for a morning, for a full day or take a vacation here. It is amazingly untouched here. The air is fresh, you are surrounded by rolling hills, olive groves, sheep, medieval hilltop villages, monasteries and winding country roads. It is a perfect place to rest, relax, unwind and learn something new, in a fun and family home environment.

Here are a few photos I just wanted to share with you, when I took a stroll with our daughter Gemma and puppy dog, 'Rocky', from our home in Castelnuovo di Farfa (near a very the beautiful hilltop medieval village, of the same name) to the monastic village of Farfa (called locally, Abbazia di Farfa).  The weather is changing from Summer to Autumn, and the slight breeze and shade as we walked made it very pleasant.

I live here, and this short stroll reminded me of how beautiful our immediate area, between 3 medieval villages: Castelnuovo di Farfa, Farfa and Toffia. I hope you agree.

Local farmhouse with free range chickens and flocks of sheep for the local pecorino cheese.

On the final leg of the walk, between olive groves, and onto Abbazia di Farfa

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Medieval villages, Lakes, Mountains and more: north of Rome, Italy

To find out more about this amazing region, read an article written by Guido Santi, for About.com


http://goitaly.about.com/od/lazio/ss/Rieti-Province-Lazio-North-of-Rome.htm

Photo of Toffia, one of the many medieval villages in the Rieti province, just north of Rome, Italy.

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