I was hoping to go to the south and islands. Next trip I hope. From what I have seen I could live there easily.motorbike guy wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 2:58 pmenframed wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:21 pm
I love Italy but have yet to visit the south or the islands. Next year...
Was so good to be someplace else.
I can highly recommend Sardinia. Ii want to go back quite badly.
Oh great, I'm pretty much underdressed everywhere but the rural US already. This should be interesting.Dave N. wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 11:15 am My band played some shows in Northern Italy a few years ago. I’ve never felt so underdressed in my life.
Not easy how? Money?AdamN wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 1:32 pm Reading all these posts about Northern Italy hurt me lol. I lived in Bolzano and Trento for about five years. It's not an easy life there, but well worth it.
Did not go to Maule. The importer I work for shares a lot with Doug Polaner. We are classic Italian, small producer (and a few co-ops) portfolio with low intervention, but we are not a "natural" portfolio. We visited all of our producers in the Tre Venezie. If you want a list I can PM you, most are in NY. All are organic minimum (as much as is possible by law, see flavescenza dorata, which no on wants to talk about). They all use a little sulfur.OrthodoxEaster wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:21 pm
Enframed, if you ever make it to Sicily, I have some recommendations. Also seconding Sardinia. Did you happen to drop in on Angiolino Maule (close to Vicenza, actually) in the Veneto? He and his sons are high on my list of vignerons. And by the way, I am totally the kind of fiend who needs four doppi to get going in the morning, and I've never once been bounced from a cafe!
I had a great time and ate well in Bergamo in Northern Italy. I hope the place has regained its spirit, having been hit so hard early in the pandemic. It's not exactly a huge metropolis.
That's the reason I left. Earning under €20k a year isn't fun.
Oh, I like a lot about the Polaner portfolio, even if all the natty wine kids are too cool (or too naive?) to appreciate it. See also: Rosenthal and Kermit Lynch. I cut my teeth on that stuff. In fact, I think Polaner brings in Calabretta, which was probably my favorite winery visit in Sicily.enframed wrote:Did not go to Maule. The importer I work for shares a lot with Doug Polaner. We are classic Italian, small producer (and a few co-ops) portfolio with low intervention, but we are not a "natural" portfolio. We visited all of our producers in the Tre Venezie. If you want a list I can PM you, most are in NY. All are organic minimum (as much as is possible by law, see flavescenza dorata, which no on wants to talk about). They all use a little sulfur.OrthodoxEaster wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:21 pm
Enframed, if you ever make it to Sicily, I have some recommendations. Also seconding Sardinia. Did you happen to drop in on Angiolino Maule (close to Vicenza, actually) in the Veneto? He and his sons are high on my list of vignerons. And by the way, I am totally the kind of fiend who needs four doppi to get going in the morning, and I've never once been bounced from a cafe!
I had a great time and ate well in Bergamo in Northern Italy. I hope the place has regained its spirit, having been hit so hard early in the pandemic. It's not exactly a huge metropolis.
Yes, flavescenza dorata is devastating vineyards in Piemonte, including to the east in Tortona; it's making its way up to Sudtirol, it is in Valtellina and Alta Piemonte. Treviso area has been hit hard as well.OrthodoxEaster wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 2:47 pm
Oh, I like a lot about the Polaner portfolio, even if all the natty wine kids are too cool (or too naive?) to appreciate it. See also: Rosenthal and Kermit Lynch. I cut my teeth on that stuff. In fact, I think Polaner brings in Calabretta, which was probably my favorite winery visit in Sicily.
For me, Maule is not so different. Ok, maybe a little freakier. But he was producing natural wine before that term was all over the place, and he claims to hate orange wine despite making an awfully great one (Pico).
Flavescenza dorata is one of several reasons why there is so little natural wine in Piemonte, right?
And I certainly don't mind a little SO2 when it's absolutely necessary to keep things civilized.
Yeah, like Andyman already alluded to, salaries are low there. I worked at a research center and made about 30,000 euros per year. Finding housing is a pain in the ass, especially when you're not fluent in Italian and/or German right when you move there. I lived with a couple, both coworkers, in their nice two bedroom apartment in the center of Bolzano right off the bat for three months. That was very nice and understanding of them to do this, they didn't need the extra money and could have been more like my American friends. After that, I was on my own. I had a single room with a shared bathroom with another single room in a quasi-dorm, an older guy who smoked in his room and the smell that filled our little vestibule and into the hallway. The research center and free university that were founded there in the 90s didn't result in additional housing being built, so there's a constant stream of hundreds of other people either employed at the research center or university looking for just a bedroom in an apartment. I ended up in Trento, because that's where my best Italian friend/coworker lived, and we got really lucky in finding a really nice apartment in central Trento, a block from the duomo. The old woman who owned it was moved into a facility for people with Alzheimer's. Her two children squabbled in court over who would get the apartment, and the judge ruled that it should be put up as a rental. Before that, we lived in a three bedroom rowhouse in Trento, where I shared a bathroom with a complete stranger to me and my friend (occurs when housing is restricted). The bathroom walls had quite the collection of black mold. Thankfully, that only lasted three months.