Well for those of you who do still take the trouble to rescue stained clothing here are a few words of advise on the removal of different types of stains taken from my little book:

Caffè: se la macchia è fresca, usare acqua minerale; se è vecchia, usare succo di limone e poi mettere in bucato.

Coffee: if the stain is fresh, use mineral water; if it’s old, use lemon juice and then wash it normally.

Cera: raschiare delicatamente la cera fredda con un coltellino; sistemare sopra e sotto la macchia due fogli di carta assorbente, quindi stirare. Se la cera è colorata e rimane traccia di colore, strofinare delicatamente con cotone imbevuto di etere.

Wax: delicately scrape the cold wax with a small knife; place two sheets of absorbent paper above and below the stain, then iron it. If the wax is coloured and leaves traces of colour behind, delicately rub the stain with cotton soaked in ether.

Cioccolato: se la macchia è fresca, usare acqua calda; se è vecchia, usare acqua e borace.

Chocolate: if the stain is fresh, use hot water; if it’s old, use water and borax.

Erba: usare acetone.

Grass: use acetone.

Frutta: usare acqua fredda con gocce di ammoniaca e di acqua ossigenata. Se si tratta di macchie scure, usare acqua fredda e bicarbonato, poi mettere in bucato.

Fruit: use cold water with drops of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. If the stains are dark, use cold water and bicarbonate, then wash it normally.

Pomodoro: per le macchie di pomodoro crudo, lavare subito con acqua fredda e coprire con talco. Per le macchie di pomodoro cotto o di salsa, smacchiare con acqua e ammoniaca.

Tomato: for raw tomato stains, wash immediately with cold water and cover with talcum powder. For cooked tomato stains or tomato sauce, remove the stain with water and ammonia.

Sudore: usare acqua (se possibile piovana) e ammoniaca.

Sweat: use water (if possible rain water) and ammonia.

Tè: usare acqua tiepida e succo di limone, quindi sciacquare con acqua tiepida.

Tea: use tepid water and lemon juice, then rinse with tepid water.

Vino: coprire subito la macchia con sale fino, quindi sfregare con succo di limone caldo.

Wine: immediately cover the stain with fine salt, then rub it with hot lemon juice.

Do you have any tips for stain removal? Feel free to leave a comment.

Detersivi (detergents) and ammorbidenti (fabric softeners) didn’t exist in those days, so people made their own soap using left over olio di oliva (olive oil), or grasso di maiale (pig fat) boiled in water with caustic soda, left to cool, and cut into small blocks. This soap was also used for personal hygiene.

Before washing la biancheria (the linen) with soap however,  it was first bleached and disinfected in the following way:

A large terracotta container, called la  conca, was filled with la biancheria. This was covered with un telo (a cloth) called il cenerone, on which was placed la cenere (ash) from the wood stove. Boiling water was poured over la cenere and allowed to filter through the linen inside la conca, exiting into a container from a spout at the base. This water was reheated and the process repeated until the the water that came out of the conca was the same temperature as that poured in. This indicated that all the linen had been properly soaked (see photo below).

La biancheria was then ready to be taken to the river or il lavatoio (the laundry). Il lavatoio in our village consisted of two large vasche (water troughs) under a stone arch, which were fed by una sorgente (a spring). This old lavatoio, where all the women once gathered to lavare i panni (wash the clothes), and exchange pettegolezzi (gossip), is now part of our property, and we mainly use it to store our supply of wood for the winter.

Above: Dina leads a cow down the street past the arch of the old lavatoio

Dina doesn’t, however, romanticize about the past in the way that many disillusioned city dwellers do. ‘Le cose sono molto meglio adesso poiché nel passato la vita era molto dura’ (things are much better now because in the past life was really hard), says Dina. In fact spending hours bent over the lavatoio washing clothes in the chilly spring water was just one of the hard physical tasks that women had to perform in the so called bei tempi andati (good old days).

Internally, the bridge consists of due stretti corridoi affiancati (two narrow parallel corridors), one of which leads to the Quarantia Criminale and the rooms of the tribunal, and the other to the Avogadoria (lawyers’ offices). It was traditionally believed that prisoners crossing the bridge to begin their incarceration would take what would probably be their last glimpse of the outside world and utter a sigh of sadness. Unfortunately this romantic notion is contradicted by the fact that the view from the stone grilled windows of the bridge is very restricted (see photo below), but it’s a lovely legend none the less, as is the local belief that due persone che si amano avranno la felicità eterna se si baciano al tramonto su una gondola sotto il Ponte dei Sospiri (two people that love each other will have eternal happiness if they kiss in a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs at sunset).

The bridge takes its name from the poet Lord Byron’s lengthy narrative Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, published between 1812 and 1818 and dedicated to “Ianthe”, the nickname of the poet’s intimate friend, Lady Charlotte Harley. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage describes the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man who, disillusioned with a life of pleasure and revelry, looks for distraction in foreign lands. The poem,  which is divided into four cantos, is believed to be a vehicle for Byron’s personal beliefs and ideas. It is in the fourth canto that Byron wrote the lines: “I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, a palace and prison on each hand”.

Le Prigioni Nuove, which were probably the first purpose built prisons in Europe, lists amongst their most illustrious ‘guests’ Giacomo Casanova, the famous Italian adventurer, author and womaniser, whose name is still synonymous with seduction. At the age of thirty Casanova was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment for the crime of blasphemy. He was incarcerated in i Piombi (The Leads), the name given to the infamous cells under the lead roof of the prisons which became an oven in the summer and a freezer in the winter. Casanova, however, had other ideas, and set about devising an escape plan. His first attempt was ruined by an unexpected change of accommodation, but Casanova regained his determination and eventually escaped through the lead roof with the help of another prisoner, a renegade priest called Father Balbi. Thirty years later, Casanova recounted the tale of his escape from the Prigioni Nuove in his book ‘Story of my Flight’.

Back in those days Italian vegetarians where very rare however, and we used to consider them as being linked to some kind of weird religious sect!

Today, according to the latest Rapporto Eurispes 2011 (a national survey), roughly 5 millions Italians, or about 9% of the population, are vegetariani. According to some studies this makes Italy the  leading vegetarian country in Europe, closely followed by Germany. However, this is a bit of a difficult and confusing subject which has many  possible variations.

Leonardo Pinelli, vice-president of the Società Scientifica di Nutrizione Vegetariana (Scientific Society of Vegetarian Nutrition), says that around half of vegetarians choose a vegetarian diet based on the belief that eating mainly fruit and vegetables benefits their health. A very high proportion (44%) of those that become vegetarian do so because they are opposed to the maltreatment of animals. It is also becoming more common for people to choose to become vegetarians per ragioni ambientaliste (for environmental reasons). The theory is that a vegetarian diet is less wasteful in terms of resources and causes less damage to the environment.

In general more women than men choose to be vegetarian, and the majority of non meat eaters fall within two main age bands: 13.5 % of those aged 18 to 24, and 9.3% of the over 65’s are vegetarian.

Personally, I used to think that I could never give up the pleasure of eating una fiorentina (a Florentine steak). However, I became a vegetarian 15 years ago when I met my husband Geoff, who has not eaten meat for nearly 35 years (for moral reasons, having spent a summer in his youth working on an industrialised pig farm). In the beginning I ate vegetarian meals just to keep Geoff company, but gradually I became a ‘full-time’ vegetarian because I realised that I felt healthier with this type of diet.

So, what do us Italian Vegetarians eat? Well, eating out in Italy when you’re vegetarian isn’t very difficult because Italian cuisine, unlike traditional English cuisine where everything is lumped together on one plate, is served as separate dishes. As a vegetarian therefore, you can stick to the primi piatti (first courses), which consist mainly of carbohydrates such as pasta and risotto, and the contorni (vegetable side dishes). These dishes are normally served separately from the meat. In particular, the old Italian “poor peasant’s food” is wonderful for vegetarians: pasta e fagioli, pasta e ceci, riso e lenticchie and so on. In the past, meat was a luxury for most people and carbohydrates and pulses, such as fagioli (beans), ceci (chick peas), and lenticchie (lentils), were the main staple diet.

When we go out to our favourite restaurant here in Pontremoli we like to eat either tagliatelle ai funghi porcini (egg pasta with porcini mushrooms), or tortelli di erbe ai funghi porcini (egg pasta stuffed with wild spinach and dressed with porcini mushrooms). You have to be wary of risotto, because it’s normally made with brodo di carne o di pollo (meat or chicken stock), and it’s always best to enquire about the ingredients of stuffed pasta. But nowadays if you say sono vegetariano (I’m vegetarian), waiters will be able to direct you to the ‘safe’ dishes, or even offer to make something especially for you.

Of course, if all else fails you can always have a nice pizza margherita.

Meanwhile here is another of the many traditional Italian recipes that doesn’t contain carne. This one is a nice warming nutritious meal for the winter:  Pasta e Ceci

Ceci (chick peas) are one of the most common legumi (pulses) in the world, and are particularly appreciated in the Middle East and India. In Italy they are mostly cultivated in the central regions. Ceci are associated with an important episode in the history of Sicily. In the 13th century Sicily was under the control of the French Angiò dynasty, but in 1282 a revolt known as “i Vespri siciliani” broke out in Palermo that led to the expulsion of the French. During this period the Sicilian rebels adopted an ingenious method of unmasking the French who tried to hide amongst the local population in order to escape. When someone was suspected of being French they were asked to pronounce the word ciceri (Sicilian dialect for ceci). If the suspect was unable to correctly pronounce the word, revealing a French accent, he was passato per le armi (shot!).

Ecco la ricetta (Here’s the recipe):

200 gr di ditali rigati = 200 grams of ‘ditali rigati’ (a small pasta used in soup)

300 gr di ceci secchi = 300 grams of dried chick peas

2 spicchi d’aglio = 2 cloves of garlic

2 rametti di rosmarino = 2 sprigs of rosemary

5 cl di olio extravergine d’oliva = 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil

sale e pepe = salt and pepper

Soak the chick peas in plenty of cold water for at least 12 hours, then put them in a large saucepan with the water used for soaking, adding a clove of finely chopped garlic and a sprig of rosemary. Gently boil the chick peas for about 40 minutes or until they are tender but not mushy. Puree a third of the cooked chick peas and return it to the saucepan. In a small frying pan fry the remaining garlic and rosemary in the olive oil until golden, then pour it over the chick peas. Bring everything to the boil, then add the pasta and salt. Cook the pasta for a few minutes until al dente. Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly ground pepper and, optionally, grated pecorino stagionato (mature sheep cheese).

Buon Appetito!