Monthly archive for September 2016

Another light-hearted quiz in our summer series. Answers at the bottom of the page but NO CHEATING!

The Cinque Terre villages are : Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and….?
a) Veneto al Mare
b) Riomaggiore
c) Pescatore Vila
d) Dimenticarsi

In the Cinque Terre, houses are painted in many colours. Why?
a) To make the neighbours jealous
b) To identify individual houses from the sea
c) To encourage foreign tourists
d) In poor years, there was only one paint colour available each year

In October 25, 2011, how many were killed in the famous floods?
a) Nobody
b) 9
c) 90
d) 900
e) Two dogs, sixty rats, seven cats, a three-legged mule and a budgerigar

The villages grew under the military and political supremacy of?
a) Amalfi
b) Genoa
c) Sorrento
d) Little Italy

The ‘Sentiero Azzurro’ is?
a) A brand of beer
b) A dirty old man
c) A footpath
d) A statue of St Mark

Monterosso has a local specialty designated with a Protected Designation of Origin status from the European Union for what?
a) Pecorino cheese
b) Goat’s milk butter
c) Anchovies
d) Razor clams
e) Tripe casserole

Grappa, a local liqueur, is made from?
a) Lark’s vomit
b) Lemon juice
c) A footpath
d) Worms that inhabit the wormwood bark
e) The ‘rubbish’ left after grape pressing

Cinque Terre is, from Turin?
a) North
b) South
c) East
d) West

“Miele di Corniglia,” is?
a) An ice-cream
b) A cake
c) A make of washing machine
d) A pastry cornet stuffed with anchovy cream

Pesto — a local sauce, is made from basil leaves, garlic, salt, olive oil, pecorino cheese and?
a) Tomato
b) Pine nuts
c) Rodents
d) Squash flowers

Possibly the prettiest group of villages in Europe, Cinque Terre needs to be on your ‘bucket list’. Have a look at: https://www.italytraveltours.biz/tuscany-and-cinque-terre-from-rome
Answers: Riomaggiore/ To identify individual houses from the sea/9/Genoa/ A footpath/Anchovies/ The ‘rubbish’ left after grape pressing/south and east/Honey ice-cream/Pine nuts

Some are easy, some a little more difficult but how many of the following well known Italian travel destinations can you identify? A clue is given with each picture. Answers at the bottom of the page but NO CHEATING!

Originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, capable of seating 50,000 spectators.

The oldest important building in the world with its original roof intact, albeit with a large hole!

Once the home of some rather ‘dodgy’ dukes……

Another in our series of lighthearted travel quizzes.

How well do you know Italy? Here are ten well known Italian palaces or castles. Can you identify them? A clue is given with each and the answers are at the bottom of the page.

Some ‘dodgy’ dukes lived here?

The Pope has an underground escape tunnel to this one?

 

Decorated by da Vinci, now a series of museums, the original owners never shopped in the local Prada or Armani?

 

….with a Spanish name and situated on a pretty island?

Goethe was arrested here, on Lake Garda, for ‘suspicious-sketching’…….?

The name of comes from a legend that Virgil put a magical egg into the castle’s foundations?

The symbol of the power of Florence?

 

The ‘wedding cake’, loved by tourists, hated by Romans!

 

Built for the Bourbons, the largest palace in Europe built in the 18th century?

 

It’s so well known, it stars on the reverse of the Italian one euro coin?

 

Castles and palaces in Italy?  Book an unlimited return ticket to see them all…… However if you want to see the best and you haven’t got years to spare, have a look at https://www.italytraveltours.biz./ for the very best choice and price on Italian tours and vacations.

 

Answers:

Doge’s Palaces, Venice/Castel Sant’ Angelo, Rome/Sforzesco Castle, Milan/Castello Aragonese, Ischia/Castello Scaligero, Sirmione/Castel dell’Ovo, Naples//Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, Rome/Royal Palace of Caserta/Castel del Monte, Puglia,

 

Is Pasta REALLY GOOD FOR YOU?

Staples of Italian cuisine, pasta dishes are favored by most of us due to their comforting and mind calming effect, their affordability and the variety of innovative ways to prepare them fast.

Most health and weight conscious people however, try to stay away from pastas due to their high glycemic index and gluten content with increasing number of people developing some kind of recognizable gluten sensitivity nowadays.

Surprisingly however, according to some of the latest research, pasta diet is actually good for you.

The IRCCS (Istituo Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed) analyzed more than 23 thousand people from different Italian regions. Their result established, (though hard to believe), that eating pasta on the regular basis is actually good for you. Men and women alike who enjoyed pasta as part of a regular Mediterranean diet with fresh vegetables like tomatoes and onions, legumes, seafood, and olive oil, had a lower body mass index, smaller waist circumference, and lower waist-to-hip ratio.

According to the research team: “Our analysis of data from two different Mediterranean populations supports that pasta intake is negatively associated with both indexes of obesity status and prevalence of overweight and obesity.”

So with that in mind you might be interested in learning the secrets of Italian cooking on customized cooking tours offered year round in Sicily or other parts of Italy.