Buon Primo Maggio

and hello from Abruzzo

Illustration by Daniela Bracco

A note about this week’s art: Daniela’s illustration captures a common sight in Penne and other towns around here, where potted plants and flowers are artfully arranged in clusters around front doors. It’s a welcoming gesture, and I love walking around town and seeing the houses adorned in this way.

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Greetings from Penne, Abruzzo…

where I arrived yesterday. It’s Labor Day in Italy, a national holiday, and I’m spending the morning in the kitchen of a restaurant called La Bilancia, where in spite of (or because of) the holiday about half a dozen people are working harder than ever to pull off a traditional May 1 pranzo to serve to 250 guests in a few hours. The star of the meal is a rich vegetable and legume soup known as Le Virtù that contains 40+ ingredients (including about a dozen types of pasta) and takes at least two days to make.

I’ll be telling you all about it in next week’s newsletter. For now, it’s back to the kitchen for me, pen in notebook in hand. Happy Sunday!

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Alla prossima,
Domenica