wareontheglobe italy

Fantastic Food in an Adorable Setting in Cinque Terre, Italia: L’ancora della Tortuga.

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Dan and I spent 10 days in Italy in late September/early October 2024 with Dan’s aunt and uncle, who had not really traveled extensively in Italy. Our first stop was the gorgeous Cinque Terre, and this post details our first dinner in Cinque Terre at L’ancora della tortuga!

Picture perfect Cinque Terre. This is the train from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza, looking at Vernazza.

L’ancora della tortuga, or the Turtle’s Anchor, is located inside the sea walls of old Monterosso. L’ancora della tortuga is well regarded in the Cinque Terre and specializes in the area’s famed seafood. The restaurant also offers great gluten free options, which was necessary for one member of our group. Access to the restaurant is by literally walking down a set of stairs build into the old fortifications of Monterosso.

This is the entrance to L’ancora della tortuga.

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A Winery Visit Near Touristy Assisi at SAIO!

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By the time this article has posted, I will be a real Italian citizen! YAY! This post clearly had to be about Italy in light of this major life accomplishment! As such, this post reviews our visit to the SAIO winery just outside of Assisi in Umbria, Italy, where we spent the first day of my 40th year in December. In sum, the wine could be better, but this is a fun stop near touristy Assisi.

SAIO decked out for the holidays (my birthday is December 26th).

SAIO winery is a small winery located only 800 meters from Assisi’s famous St. Francis church. That being said, St. Francis church is located on a hilltop and SAIO is located on the ground level, so its not exactly walking distance or that close in reality , but does offer fabulous views of Assisi. SAIO brands itself as the “winery of Assisi” and prides itself on its wines and olive oil. SAIO is run by the Mencarelli family and makes a small selection of reds and whites.

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Restaurant Review: Forneria 38, Pizza Napoletana (Bolzano, Italy)

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Forneria 38, Bolzano, Italy.

If you read this blog on the regular, you may recall that Dan and I visited Bolzano, Italy last September before continuing to Oktoberfest in Munich and Innsbruck, Austria. Bolzano, or “Bozen” in German, is the capital of the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige and the third largest city in the Alps. Due to its location and changing of hands at the end of World War I, Bolzano is half-Italian and half-German, making for a very interesting Italian food scene where the “Italian classics,” such as pizza, are not common. In any case, we were in Italy and we wanted Italian pizza. We walked by one restaurant our first night that was busy and claimed to serve Napoletana pizza and we decided to try it. A very good choice!

Bolzano, Italy.

Forneria 38 is the name of said restaurant and its located right off Piazza delle Erbe in the center of Bolzano. While small, Forneria 38 has indoor and outdoor seating, both of which were full on our visit. We sat very close to Forneria 38’s kitchen.

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Restaurant Review: Ratanà, Milano

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Dan and I found ourselves with one night in Milan, Italy last September after spending a week in Bolzano, (highly recommended Italian city!), Oktoberfest, and Innsbruck. Why Milan on that itinerary one may ask? Emirates flights from JFK to Milan, sole reason.

In any case, we have been to Milan a few times, and I always find eating in Milan a little odd. While Milan has excellent food and offerings from all over the world (similar to New York), I want what I think of as Italian food (i.e. Southern Italian food!) in Italy. And well, good southern Italian food is not super easy to find in Milan. As such, I branched out and scoured the internet for a good Milanese restaurant. I discovered Ratanà, which has apparently already been discovered by many, many people (LOL), and I made a dinner reservation. No pressure! In any case, our meal turned out to be really delicious and Ratanà even served a bottle of wine from the town where Dan’s great grandfather was born, Lessona!

Ratanà’s outside seating area. We ate indoors.

Ratanà is located on the edge of a park, BAM Tree Library Milan, close to Bosco Verticale. A trendy little area. But then again, all of Milan is pretty trendy.

Ratanà’s menu.

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Eating My Way Around Rome In A Golf Cart With My 80 Year Old Mother!

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One of my favorite things to do in Rome is a food tour, and I have previously been on great ones in Testaccio and Trastevere with Eating Europe, as well as one in the Centro Storico with another company (really good!). This holiday season we were traveling in Rome with my mother and decided to try Eating Europe’s food tour via golf cart, as it would have been difficult for her to do a full walking food tour in the December evenings. We all really loved this tour, as it was really fun and allowed us to explore several areas of Rome via an open air golf cart, from Prati, Gian, Trastevere, and Testaccio!  Our tour met at our first stop near the Vatican in Prati and then we legit drove around Rome on a golf cart until the tour ended! Be sure to bring a coat, but the experience in the golf cart was pleasant and I would absolutely recommend this tour. This post reviews our tour, including what and where we ate!

Our trusty golf cart for the evening!

STOP ONE: A TRAPIZZINO AT AL SORPASSO

The first stop of our tour was for a new Roman food (for Rome and me!), the Trapizzino! And by “new Roman,” our guide described the trapizzino as a Roman food created in recent Roman memory. A trapizzino is similar to a pizza pocket; a triangle of bread stuffed with your choice of pizza “toppings,” meant to be eaten on the go. I loathe “eating on the go” so I was very happy that were sitting down a table with cutlery for my first trapizzino. I was also super excited to try a trappizzino on this food tour, as I had never had one despite visiting Rome many times.

Your classic trapizzino.

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