LIFE: Someone to Watch Over Me

CHIAVARI, Italy – The heart of old Genova is an intricate maze of ancient narrow streets with houses so tall they seem to lean forward and want to touch each other. They close out the sky leaving only a mere ribbon on light, shrouding the streets in deep shadows. But if you look carefully you will seel hidden in those shadows, small shrines built into the corners and walls of many of the ancient buildings, shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Via del Campo, Genova, Italy  

The shrines are called edicole, a word which refers to the small enclosures that protect them from the weather. It’s the same word that is used for newsstands as they are also protected from the weather by small enclosures. 

The shrines are made from a variety of materials, slate, marble, ceramic and sometimes even simple plaster, and were all built, for the most part, in the 1600’s. You find them in cities like Genova and Rome where desperate people turned to religion for protection against the decades of disasters  they had suffered.

 Genova, Italy

It was a time of uncertainty, and while I can’t speak for all Italian cities, I know that Genova and Rome had survived wars and floods and perhaps the most damaging of all, epidemics of the bubonic plague, the Black Plague. Historians write of the plague starting in the interior of Asia around the year 1333, and slowly moving from the Crimea to Genova, and then on through to the rest of Italy. A tsumani of disease and certain death.

In the periods between the episodes of bubonic plague there were pandemics of scurvy, cholera and leprosy. With no logical explanations as to why these disasters were happening to them, the people looked to the Virgin Mother for relief.

Vico del Notari, Genova, Italy  

In Genova the edicole are concentrated in the historic center, which has remained pretty much the same for the past 2,000 years. In Rome, however, they are scattered throughout the city with only about 500 or so edicole still entact even even though at one time there were thousands. Various Roman urban renewal projects have eliminated neighborhoods and enlarged streets, and the renovations have take their toll on this particular cultural heritage.

The appearance of edicole in Rome goes back further in time than those in Genova, although the reason for their existence is basically the same. In Rome their popularity is based on a tale of a miracle that occurred in the year 590 AD. At that time the Roman population was being decimated by the Black plague, and in seeking divine intervention the Romans carried a Byzantine icon of the Virgin Mary – Salus Populi Romani – from the church of Santa Maria Maggiore to Saint Peter’s Basilica, praying along the way as an offering to the Virgin Mary and asking for an end to the epidemic.

Salus PopuIi Romani - Icon of the Virgin Mary  

When the procession reached the fortress called Hadrian’s Mausoleum, an angel carrying a sword appeared, and as a sign that the sickness had been stopped through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, he placed his drawn sword back into its sheath. From that day on the fortress was known as Castel’Sant’Angelo, the castle of the Holy Angel.

In celebration, reproductions of the icon the Romans were carrying to Saint Peter’s Basilica were placed on the front doors of the houses that the procession had passed. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance the custom of placing pictures or statues of Our Lady on the outer walls of buildings became more popular and spread throughout Italy along with the tales of miracles linked to them.

 Villa Sacchetti, Rome, Italy

Well into the nineteenth century, the only street-lighting in Rome was that of the lamps or candles set out on these shrines to Our Lady by the faithful as a sign of devotion and a light to guide the people. Romans believed that those who saw the face of the Blessed Virgin by this light was saved from getting lost either along the paths of life or along those dark Roman city streets.

In Genova the edicole have survived because the city's historic center is, for the most part, closed to traffic. In Rome the story is a little bit different, but now there is a renewed awareness of their historic and cultural value and some of that city's edicole are being restored. That can only be a good thing for everyone.  

 
 

AUNTIE PASTA: A Little Chocolate Story

CHIAVARI, Italy – This is a story about chocolate. A story about how it got to be the delicious confection we know today, for it wasn’t always quite as delicious as it is now, you know. It’s also a little bit about a chocolate master from Turin named Giuseppe Peyrano.

Nothing Says Christmas Like Chocolate

Peyrano is a family run chocolate factory in Turin, and its owner, Signor Peyrano, is one   of the few chocolate masters in Europe who still roasts and blends his own cacao beans. I had the privilege of interviewing him for an article I wrote on chocolate for the Milan based English language magazine, The Informer. During the interview he told me that his grandfather started the business in 1915, and that both he and his father grew up in the apartment above the factory.  

As Signor Peyrano walked me through the factory I couldn’t help but notice that not only did he know everyone’s name, but he knew their families as well, their parents, uncles and aunts, for they had all worked at the chocolate factory and he had grown up with them. 

Sig. Peyrano, Chocolate Master Extraordinaire

I felt like I knew him too for I had fallen in love with his chocolates long before I met him and seeing Peyrano chocolates in Chiavari last week was like running into an old friend on the street. So if you will indulge me in this reminiscent moment, I’d like to share this article on chocolate with you. It starts like this:

With a well-practiced eye, Signora Greni carefully selects chocolates from the vast assortment spread out in front of her. She works quickly, her delft hand slipping chocolate and hazelnut nuggets next to ebony colored seashells, and then she puts dark bitter chocolate truffles next to chocolate covered cognac creams. Row by row, layer by layer, the fragrant chocolates are settled into frilly paper cups. When the box is filled she covers it with embossed paper, pops on the lid and another assortment of amazing chocolates from the Peyrano chocolate factory in Turin is on its way to some happy chocoholic somewhere in the world.

It’s a Cinderella story. The smooth and silky chocolates in the fancy beribboned box start out as part of the thousands of pounds of cocoa beans delivered monthly to the many chocolate factories scattered throughout Turin. But once the beans are in the hands of the city’s master chocolatiers, the magic begins. 

 

Signora Greni 

Turin has been the center of traditional chocolate making since the 18th century, for this is where Europe’s billion dollar chocolate industry was born. To celebrate its love affair with chocolate, the city hosts an annual festival called CioccolaTO'. Every spring more than a hundred local chocolate shops and factories set up tents and kiosks around town transforming the city into a chocolate lover's paradise.

No doubt the thousands of dedicated chocoholics who turn up each year to munch their way from booth to booth, would be surprised to learn that before a clever Turinese discovered how to turn the bitter liquid into solid chocolate all you could do was drink it, although it is hard to imagine why anyone would have wanted to.

Chocolate in the 1700’s was not the smooth and silky seductive chocolate of today. It was gritty and bitter and needed massive doses of hot water, sugar and vanilla just to make it palatable. But the rich and noble found it irresistible and it wasn’t long before drinking hot chocolate became a daily ritual, le must of the elite, practiced in the royal courts and elegant cafes throughout Europe.

As chocolate grew in popularity so did the myths and mysteries. While some argued that chocolate prolonged life, cured ringworm and ulcers, piles and gout, monks were urged not to drink it as their Bishops thought it inflamed sexual ardor. And if the Bishops were right, well then all the more reason to imbibe.

It got people thinking. If such passion could be stirred by a simple chocolate drink, then surely more could be done with this wonder bean. Think of the money to be made. The question then became how to solidify the liquid, because by solidifying it the marketing and sales possibilities increased tenfold, a hundredfold - but who would be the first?

 When Only the Best Will Do

Chocolatiers from one end of Europe to the other tried everything they could think of. They took freshly processed cocoa beans and they baked them, they boiled them, they even tried adding olive oil to them, but nothing worked. It was as mysterious and futile a process as trying to spin straw into gold.

But then, just as the 18th century was coming to a close, a Turinese chocolate maker unlocked the secret. Tinkering with a pastry making machine, he figured out how to blend the right amount of bitter cocoa with sugar and vanilla and there it was – solid chocolate. A star was born. Turin was thrust into the spotlight as the European Capital of Chocolate.

It is hard to imagine the level of the city’s involvement with chocolate until you realize that while most cities offer museum and bus passes, only in Turin can you by a ChocoPass, a book of coupons to sample some of the best chocolate candies and chocolate specialties in town.

You’ll find homemade chocolates in just about every bar, café’ and bakery in Turin. And while it’s true that there are many highly qualified chocolate makers throughout Italy and Europe, a recent chocolate guide published by one of Italy’s premier food magazines listed more master chocolatiers in the city of Turin than in all of Belgium and France combined. Here are three of the city’s best.

Peyrano Fabbrica di Cioccolato

C.so Moncalieri, 47, Turin

www.peyrano.com

Like Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory, Peyrano is a non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, pro-confectionery factory of fun that turns out exquisite, handmade chocolates with a quality level that is off the charts. Peyrano has the reputation of being the best of the best, no small compliment in a city of chocolate connoisseurs.

Tourinto di Gobino

Via Cagliari 15/a, Turin

Tel. +39 (0)11 247 6245+39 (0)11 247 6245

Using a classic recipe from the 1860’s, this factory specializes in gold foil wrapped chocolate and hazelnut gianduiotto nuggets. They also produce tubs of creamy gianduiotto that Italians love. Giuseppe Peyrano considers Guido Gobino his only serious competitor and that alone qualifies Gobino for a gold star on the Chocolate Walk of Fame.

Stratta

P.zza San Carlo, 191, Turin

www.stratta1836.it

The swirls and curls that decorate the beautiful confections at this pastry slash chocolate shop – not to mention the gorgeous packaging - are enough to send you running back to the hotel for your camera. The shop, which has been around since 1836, is full of rococo gilt and sophisticated Murano chandeliers that illuminate the elaborately decorated boxes of handmade chocolates.

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LIFE: Christmas in Italy

CHIAVARI, Italy – The sign went up in the Chiavari Tourist Office last week announcing this year’s nativity competition. The idea is to give a prize to the store or business that has the best nativity scene. It’s a tradition you’ll find in many small towns throughout Italy. In Saronno the only rule was the shops and businesses had to use the products they produce to create their nativities. So that meant that the pasta shop’s nativity might be made from macaroni and sheets of lasagna dough, and the baker might glue together some breadcrumbs to make the roof of his flour bag stable. 

 Neapolitan Figurines

Since this is my first Christmas in Chiavari I’ll have to wait and see what the story is here. So far I have not seen a Christmas tree, which is a German tradition, but that may change as the Christmas season doesn’t officially start in Chiavari until the 7^th of December.  The only thing I am certain of is that there will be a nativity scene, also known here as a crèche, either in or in front of the Duomo, or perhaps both.

Nativity scenes, depicting the birth of Christ, have been around for more than 2,000 years. St. Francis is said to have created the first one in 1223 using real people and live animals so that the illiterate congregation could understand the idea of Christmas.  The idea then morphed into using figurines instead of real people.

In the beginning nativity figurines were simple, handmade wooden statues of Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus and the Wise Men presenting gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were placed against a painted background of a stable in Bethlehem. But as time passed the crèche became more and more sophisticated and the plain wooden figures gave way to elaborately dressed figurines made from terra-cotta.

 Creche at the Vatican, Rome Italy

Today In Rome In addition to the Holy Family, nativity scenes often include aqueducts and olive trees. The most popular nativities are the life-size figures in St. Peter's Square and the nativity set up at the top of the Spanish Steps. There is also an annual exhibit of more than 100 crèche in the city’s Piazza del Popolo.

In Lecce, the nativity figurines are made from papier-mâché; an art form that flourishes in this jewel of a Pugliese town. Also in Puglia, in the small town of Grottaglie which is known for its ceramics, the local museum has an extensive collection of sculpted nativity scenes. And in Sicily, almost every church and piazza has a nativity made of coral, alabaster and mother of pearl. But maybe the most spectacular nativity of all is the live re-enactment in the small town of Custonaci, near Trapani. In Custonaci, the entire town is set up to look like an ancient village and the local residents dress up as Jesus, Mary and Joseph, bringing to life the story of the first Christmas.

Nativity Scene by Piero della Francesca (1470-75)

There are a lot of workshops in Italy where nativity figurines are made, but it’s only in Naples that artisans still use the traditional methods developed there hundreds of years ago. When I was the editor of an English language magazine in Milan, I interviewed Signora Clementia Colella, one of the few women in Naples producing hand-made nativity figurines. I wanted to interview her again for this article but I couldn’t find her. She may have retired as she was not young the last time we talked.

But her age had nothing to do with the joy and satisfaction she got from creating incredible works of art. She explained that there are different types of figurines, and the ones she makes are the traditional type with terracotta heads, shoulders, arms and legs. She said she takes her terracotta pieces to be fired in a kiln near her workshop and ages them using an old technique of covering the pieces with wax and baking them in an extremely hot oven. It’s the unique baking process that produces the lovely aged patina that gives her figurines so much character.

 Detail from a Neapolitan Creche

If you are in going to be in New York City during the holidays, there is a Neapolitan Baroque crèche, flanked by 18th century Neapolitan angels and cherubs on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art from November 26, 2013, through January 6, 2014. It’s well worth seeing. If you are going to be in Italy for the holidays, just look around you, you’ll find nativity scenes everywhere, even in the train stations.