Francesca Tosolini

Buon Anno Nuovo!

January 2, 2018

Photo by Francesca Tosolini

Auguro a tutti un Felice Anno Nuovo, spero che il 2018 sia davvero un anno dolcissimo per ciascuno di voi.

I wish you all a Happy New Year, I hope that 2018 is really going to be a very sweet year for each one of you.

The day after Christmas in Italy

December 26, 2017

Photo by Francesca Tosolini

Did you know that in Italy the day after Christmas, also known as giorno di Santo Stefano, is a national holiday? However, it wasn’t always like that. Up until 1948 the day after Christmas was a regular working day, then the government decided to make the Christmas holiday longer and added an extra day to the festivities of the 25th of December. In spite of that Santo Stefano is an important figure for the Catholic Church since he was the first Christian martyr.

Il cestino di Natale

December 19, 2017

Photo by Francesca Tosolini

This cestino di Natale all’italiana (the Italian Christmas basket), which I spotted today at Eataly, the high-end food store/restaurant chain that is becoming so popular in Italy, clearly shows which food represents the Italian tradition, especially when it comes to gift-giving.

That is pasta, balsamic vinegar, Parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, olive oil, dried mushrooms, gourmet chocolate, coffee, wine, pesto sauce, cotechino (a large pork sausage, typically served with lentils and eaten on New Year’s Eve), honey, orange marmalade, chestnut cream, spumante (sparkling wine), and so on.