Vee mag issuu new by Asterios Kokkinis

ISSUE No. 1 NOV 2013

The official Vespa magazine

C O N T E N T S Editorial

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Restaurants

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Arts & Crafts

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Cinema

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Graffiti

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Biennale

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Music

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Coffee

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Travel

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Catalog

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EDITORIAL LETTER All beginnings are always exciting and inspiring. Creating this magazine was a way that Piaggio found to bring closer the Vespaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s users and lovers even more. The Vee Magazine is a magazine that talks about subjects relating to the lives of those who experience and enjoy their Vespa but also for those who have a connection with the Vespa way of life. In all our issues we will always bring at least one interview, and articles about art, music, film, lifestyle, food and travel, for example. In this issue, our interviews are with Pantelis Kotakis, prestigious Greek DJ, with vast experience all over the world; and Penelope Kokkini, crafter by hobby, speaking of her experience producing amazing small figures, full of details (Vespas included!).

By the way, the little gift of this Vee issue was produced by her.The experience of enjoying the region Valdera aboard a Vespa, the details of the Film Festival in Firenze and the Wynwood Walls in Miami, the Veneziaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bienalle, the most amazing restaurants and cafeterias all around the world... All this covered in a single magazine. Ok, now just get inside this pleasurable adventure with us! Hugs, TEAM

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Top

Restaurants of all time By Restaurant Magazine

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stnaruatseR EL CELLER DE CAN ROCA

The Spanish favourite entered the World’s 50 Best list eight years ago and has somewhat stealthily climbed the rankings since. Its relatively low-key rise is reflective of the Rocas’ evolutionary approach and modest outlook. The Rocas grew up steeped in their mother’s restaurant in Girona’s working-class suburb of Taiala. In 1986, elder brothers Joan and Josep opened El Celler de Can Roca alongside the original. In 2007 – with younger sibling Jordi on board – they moved just up the road to the striking purpose-built space that remains their home.

Tradition and modernity collide in spectacular fashion at Osteria Francescana with chef-patron Massimo Bottura’s sense of fun and headline-grabbing cooking. A new dish for this year is ‘camouflage’ – a thin layer of foie gras decorated with powders (hare blood, chestnut, various herbs), arranged to look like army woodland camo – but this is tempered by more traditional fare. Brilliant yet eccentric, Bottura’s artistic, show-stopping food has secured him a fervent following.

OSTERIA FRANCESCANA

NOMA

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Three-time number one Noma continues to take an innovative and inventive approach to both its cooking and its strictly local sourcing and foraging. Chef-patron René Redzepi’s food can at times be shocking visceral even but it strives to reflect the Danish landscape and culture. Through its menu of numerous small appetisers and courses to its stunning array of ‘treats’ that round off the meal, there’s always at least one dish that makes you feel glad to be alive.

At Mugaritz diners are treated to a multiple-course tasting menu of intricate yet small dishes developed through a creative process and an attention to detail that borders . Chef-patron Andoni Luis Aduriz aims to play with guests and reflect on the different ways a restaurant can have an impact, rather than just filling people up and sending them on their way. From that point of view there is no other place like Mugaritz in the world.

MUGARITZ

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El Celler de Can Roca EL CELLER DE CAN ROCA GIRONA SPAIN

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Is there life without a water bath? For most modern top chefs, the answer would probably be a resounding “No”. Sous vide cooking has become totally “de rigueur” in the last decade and in the hands of a competent chef the results of cooking food in the Roner are usually quite wonderful. The Roner was developed by Joan Roca and Narcís Caner (hence the name Ro-Ner) in 1997 and it has caused nothing less than a revolution in modern haute cuisine. For this reason alone, a visit to El Celler de Can Roca in Girona (Spain) is a pilgrimage for anyone seriously interested in gastronomy. El Celler de Can Roca

is the legendary restaurant of Joan (executive chef), Josep (head sommelier) and Jordi (pâtissier) Roca. When their parents opened Can Roca bar and restaurant in Girona in 1967, two of the Roca brothers had already been born (Joan in 1964 and Josep in 1966) but Jordi Roca was still resting in the lap of the future; he wasn’t born until 1978. In 1986 Joan and Josep opened their own restaurant next to their parents’ bar and named it El Celler de Can Roca. The rest is history of course, but please allow me to mention some highlights anyway.

N NOMA COPENHAGEN DENNMARK

The first word of Danish I heard in Copenhagen was “kretiner”, which - perhaps unsurprisingly - is the Danish for “cretin”. This was directed at Oliver Peyton - again, unsurprisingly - as he had inadvertently stepped into a cycle lane outside the super-cool Nimb hotel on Bernstorffsgade (quite simply the best hotel in the city), and as I’d been wanting to say something similar to him since wehad arrived at Heathrow some three hours earlier, I felt my day was starting to look up. Oliver - the restaurateur and Great British Menu judge and I had planned a trip to the world’s finest restaurant ever since Noma had leapfrogged the Fat Duck in 2010 to become the best restaurant in the world, as ranked by the influential Restaurant magazine. Having been on food tourism trips to Las Vegas, Florence, Milan, Paris, Tokyo, New York and Chicago, we have become accustomed to devouring tasting menus and large bottles of stupidly expen-

sive wine, and felt that it was time we did some similar due diligence on the food and wine at Noma.Reviously, my most memorable restaurant experience with Oliver happened in Alinea, the three-Michelin-star eatery in Chicago. The food was exceptional, yet as anyone who has been can tell you, the atmosphere is decidedly anal, and the place felt a little like a library, as every “aah”, “mmm” and “ooh, that’s nice” was amplified around the room as if it were part of the menu. Which made the sudden appearance of what looked like a mobster with a “real-estate” girl on each arm even more alarming than it.

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Osteria Francescana OSTERIA FRANCESCANA MODENA ITALY

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This restaurant is in Modena, which these days is famous as the home of Ferrari, but also has a university dating back to 1175 (older than Cambridge, but a little younger than Oxford). The town is situated in the Po valley, just over 100km south of Verona. Chef/patron Massimo Botturo has worked in his past at both Louis XV and El Bulli, experiences reflected in his modern cooking style but also his grasp of classical cooking. His restaurant, which opened in Modena in 1995, gained two Michelin stars in 2006, and a third in the 2012 guide. The restaurant is tucked away in a quiet side street in Modena. You pass a waiting area with a well-stocked bookcase of cookery books on the way to the dining room, which is surprisingly small. Just six tables were set on the day of my visit, and at lunch one of these was unused, so there were just ten diners in total at this particular service. The carpeted room had framed black and white photos of movie

stars around the wall, some modern art on the far wall and a beautiful display of canna lilies. Tables were large and generously spaced, set with good quality white linen tablecloths. The area of Emilia Romagna is noted for several food products that involve ageing, such as its ham, Balsamic vinegar and Parmesan. Here a dish of Parmesan is prepared in five different ways. 24 month aged Parmesan is prepared as a mousse, 30 month aged as a foam, 36 month aged as a sauce, 40 month aged as a galette and the oldest, 50 month, as a Parmesan air. One version of the Parmesan had a sponge-like texture and was fridge.

Mugaritz MUGARITZ SAN SEBASTIÁN SPAIN

The meal began with an envelope placed on the table sealed with wax; inside was a thin card with the message “bread and olives”; the card turns out to be an edible cracker, olive paste is provided on the side. This was a foretaste of the very technical food in which Mugaritz specialises. A single strand of spinach was served warm and dusted with a powder made with chrysanthemum flowers, which had little inherent flavour. Harmless enough, but this was in the end just a little piece of spinach. Sea anenome mousse was encased in a cigar-shaped savoury tuile and served in a box of sand. This was not unpleasant, and was doubtless a good example of sea anenome mousse. This was followed by

bone marrow on toast, which I know some people love but does nothing for me. “Grapes” with dried tuna turned out to be warm melon, topped with hard pieces of dried tuna and spiced seeds; I didn’t find this an enjoyable combination ant enough.

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We l c o m e to Peny Red Creations store. My store offers you unique handmade creations using polymer clay. All creations are made with love and passion for a jewelry that you will not find in a regular shop. Small differences are natural to be as every item has its uniqueness. Creativity makes me looking for new challenges achieving the best and fashionable result just for you. I try to keep my prices in reasonable levels that reflect my talent,dedication and time for this result.

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Artsand Crafts with “Penny Red Creations” Store

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In a few words, who are you? I am Penelope! A Greek woman that loves to create. My passion became my hobby. I started creatingjewelerly using polymer clay and abit of imagination.

When and why did you decide to start working with…? When i was surfing on the net, i saw some food miniatures and i was intrigued to know how to make that. So i started searching and learning through online tutorials and of course after a lot of time of learning and creating i am on a good level of creation.

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Tell us more about your job: what is it, your routine, the market…? Actually thats my hobby! I do it very profesionally by being accurate in production and posting time. Im searching every day new ideas and how to upgrade my products and of course im always open to challenges. Im using my home page penyred.com ,pages from the social media to promote my products and some other pages like amazon and etsy. com. There is a market of handmake

In your opinion, does the social media nowadays make difference for someone that is starting a work? Why? Deffinitely! The social media are the key to make your first steps. Nowadays everybody are waking up and sleep using the social media. As a begining of your marketing plan on promotion social media are must! A lot of people can see your products at the same time with no cost and not hard work.

What were your first thoughts/ ideas when you started working in the Vespa keychain?

Tell us your projects for the future, professionally and personally speaking.

Actually a client asked from me to create the vespa keychain. That was a chalenge for me, because I never create any vespa chain before. I was excited by the result and very proud too.

I’m always creating new things and searching things that are reflecting the fashion trends. I would like to create jewerly using gold and silver clay. That will make them more precious and also could be worn by older people too. Also im searching new products to use on my creations and new creations with generally different materials.

Some close-ups pictures of Penelopeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production process

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Why not something like

a cornetto?

Tell us your projects for the future, professionally and personally speaking.

Im always creating new things and searching things that are reflecting thefashion trends. I would like to create jewerly using gold and silver clay. That will make them more precious and also could be worn by older people too. Also im searching new products to use on my creations and new creations with generally different materials.

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DA YS OF

50 DAYS OF CINEMA

A world of film comes to Florence each autumn, with hundreds of movies, shorts and documentaries from around the globe during the 50 Days of International Cinema festival. Most of the films are either in English or with English subtitles, so forget fresh air and exercise as the cold nights draw in staying indoors and staring at the big screen has never been so rewarding. Sitting comfortably? Let the show begin!

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A M CINE

Prevention of violence against women is the theme of this year’s festival, which will see a focus on the importance of respect for women, and spotlight films that bring out the positive and crucial role of women in society. In keeping with this theme, the events will kick off with the International Festival of Cinema and Women (October 24–30), which, entitled Volver, aims to look both to the past and the future, exploring the role of women in films and the sources of inspiration for female directors and artists.

The opening film, Wanda, tells of one woman’s struggle against violence, alcohol, men and crime. Other English language films include the short Girls who Smoke, in which two women with bad boyfriends and bad habits connect over a packet of cigarettes. Next up is France Odeon (October 31– November 3), a festival which brings to Florence the best of French cinema, from box office hits to little known gems. Among those with English subtitles is the romance Grand Central about a man who trades the dangers of working at a nuclear power plant for the money that comes with the job.

“WANDA”

Next up is France Odeon (October 31–November 3), a festival which brings to Florence the best of French cinema, from box office hits to little known gems. Among those with English subtitles is the romance Grand Central about a man who trades the dangers of working at a nuclear power plant for the money that comes with the job.

FRANCE ODEON

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FLORENCE LGBT cinema takes centre stage during the Florence Queer Festival (November 6–12), which will open with a burlesque show by the eccentric Sylvie Bovary, winner of the Fish&Whips Burlesque Contest in Berlin. Watch out for the European première of the short

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QUEER film Luca, the story of a gay man who, to his horror, wakes up from a coma to discover that he is straight, as well as international hit The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which follows the journey of two drag queens and a transsexual woman across the

Australian outback. Head to the European Institute of Design for The Pink Choice, an exhibit of photos on the love of homosexual couples, which will be presented by Vietnamese photographer Maika Elan in English on October 26 at 6pm.

FESTIVAL The multifaceted relationship between contemporary art and cinema is explored during Lo schermo dell’arte Film Festival (November 13–17). One of the highlights is the Italian premiere of Bride (in Italian with English subtitles), with the director Joël Curtz, which traces the tragic story of Italian artist Pippa Bacca, who, when travelling from Milan to Jerusalem in a wedding dress, aiming to spread a message of peace and love, was raped and strangled to death.

SH E WAS RAPED AND STRANGLED TO DEATH.

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The Vespa is one of Italyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most iconic designs.

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Audrey Hepburn is a royal princess out to see Rome on her own. Gregory Peck is a reporter who takes her on a tour of Rome. A trite and impossibly syrupy romance but probably the most famous of all appearances by a Vespa in a film.

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VESPA

VESPA A

GRAF FITI

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TOUR

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ART GALLERIES Art galleries abound and events are held here each December as part of the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair. Wynwood is also now home to one of the world’s largest installations of murals by multiple graffiti artists. “It’s gotten to be so pervasive and it really brightens up the neighborhood,” Kit Sullivan of Roam Rides said. “It’s so not what you would expect of Miami,” said Jesse Bull, an economics professor who took one of Roam Rides’ recent graffiti tours. “The graffiti has kind of added to that. It livens it up and makes it fresh and artsy and I think that’s a good thing.”

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Guides point out work by different local artists — such as Typoe and “Tribe Called Phresh” aka TCP — while explaining the evolution of graffiti from the days when artists plastered their names on vacant buildings and train cars as a way to gain street cred. These days, building owners give permission to artists to spray paint their designs, and these legal pieces share the walls of dozens of neighborhood art galleries and chic restaurants. They’re easy to distinguish from illegal graffiti, which is often done fast, in secret and at night, with a single color or very few colors. The sanctioned murals, in contrast, allow artists to take their time, use multiple colors and work in-depth in large spaces with elaborate details.

“It’s definitely a changing art form,” Sullivan said. “It’s gotten to the point where a lot of these guys don’t even use their names at all. They just have a certain distinctive style. You can recognize it when you see it.” For example, artist Chor Boogie’s signature work includes geometric elements and half-hidden faces, as well as an eye. Major paint companies are even helping graffiti artists make the transition to a legitimate art form by donating spray paint. “Graffiti has been a bad word in America for a long time. We are trying to change that,” said Jayson Moreira, co-owner of Montana Colors North America, a spray paint company based in San Francisco, which donated 8,000 cans of spray paint used to create many of the murals in.

“GRAFFITI is changing.”

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MIAMI DURING ART BASEL

He even helped paint a mural of Japanese girls on the side of a two-story building that was once an RC Cola. The world of graffiti has its own lingo. Artists “tag” their works with their names. A “throw up” is a quick piece. A “bomb” is usually illegal work that is “thrown up” fast, often at night, in a place that’s difficult to access. “Slashing” is when an artist disrespectfully “throws up” his names over a legal piece. A legally done mural or elaborate work that took days or weeks to complete is considered a “masterpiece.” Artists looking for a space to paint legally here may seek help from Primary Flight, an organization that has brought hundreds of artists to the streets of Wynwood.

“A lot of people don’t go to museums or aren’t art collectors or art-educated,” Primary Flight founder Books Bischof said. “If you can take the same exact image from a street and put it in the museum, it doesn’t speak as loudly as it would if it were illegally on the street corner or in a gritty part of the neighborhood.” Oscar Montes, 36, has been painting since he was a young teenager. Better known as Trek6, the artist wanted to pay tribute to his origins and the Puerto Rican community that once made up the Wynwood area, so he painted a legal mural that included a coqui, the island frog named for the ‘ko-kee’ sound it makes at night.

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GRAFFITI IS CHANGING Montes said he spent around $2,000 of his own money on paint — as well as hours of his time under Miami’s hot sun — creating the mural. Graffiti is changing, he said. “A purist would tell you it’s gotten really soft,” he said. “When I started, everything was illegal. There was (a) serious graffiti task force. They’re less aggressive now because so much of it is legit.” But while the artists are invited to do their work on buildings and sometimes get donated materials, for the most part they are not paid. Some predict that may change, and that the Miami graffiti community may eventually find fame and profit in their designs, the way artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat did in New York several decades ago. “That generation is going to bring it to another level where one day,” said Erni Vales, who runs a studio in the arts district, “it’s going to be like Pop Art.”

WYNWOOD STREET ART TOUR www.roamrides.com 888-760-7626 Two-hour tour on a Vespa, arranged upon request, by Roam Rides; $65, including entrance fees, road tolls and lunch at a happening restaurant in the Wynwood neighborhood www.wynwoodmiami.com. Each Vespa can hold two riders, or you can go solo. Participants must be 18 and must have a driver’s license. Tour guides can offer a quick Vespa-riding lesson before the tour begins. Roam Rides donates portions of proceeds from the graffiti tour to the Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter.

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LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

The 55th Venice Biennale, the world’s most prestigious art fair, features national pavilions from 88 countries, 10 presenting work for the first time including the Vatican. No official theme ties together the pavilions, but several ideas are emerging as favorites, including greed, collective actions and the boundaries of the physical world. The jury awarded the Golden Lion prize for “best national participation” to Angola, for an exhibition that focus on the African nation’s capital city, Luanda.

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VENEZIA Australian artist Lawrence Carroll was one of three artists invited to create work for the Vatican’s debut pavilion. While being tapped was an honor, he said, it’s all a far cry from the Vatican commissions given to masters such as Raphael and Michelangelo. “Commission is a funny word. Commission implies they are buying the paintings, and that is not the case. I am not sure what will happen to them after,” Carroll said. “This wasn’t commissioned for the Sistine Chapel. This is temporary.” Carroll’s work concludes the trilogy of themes decided by the Vatican: Creation, Un-Creation and Re-Creation. The artist, who until recently lived in Venice, said he could connect with the theme, as much of his work has dealt with giving new life to objects – a passion that goes back to his childhood when his thrifty immigrant parents would find ways to extend the use of everyday things. Four paintings hang in one room – all large monochromatic canvases in white. One he calls “generically a sleeping painting”; it has a square space cut in the canvas where a folded canvas has been stashed, like a blanket, to be brought out at some point when needed. Another painting is embedded in a block of ice, which melts and refreezes cyclically, a process that continually modifies it.

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UNITED STATES Step back and Sarah Sze’s “Triple Point” series of installations at the U.S. Pavilion is a vision of symmetry and scale, ambition and grandeur. Move in and there’s another way to see it, through countless tiny and more intimate scenes, much like a painting by the Dutch master Pieter Bruegel. Sze has gathered myriad objects – it’s no exaggeration to say from around the world – to create her Biennale commission, and she spent 2 1/2 months composing it on site, slogging through Venice’s rainiest winter in more than a century. Her sculptures are collections of everyday objects, from fans to screwdrivers to packs of sugar, connected by sticks and twigs and suspended by string and yarn, to suggest a larger system – a planetarium, observatory or pendulum. “In each of the rooms, I was really thinking about how we model that amount of information,” Sze said. “How do we make sense of it? The idea for each of the sculptures is based around a system of modeling information that is often beyond our ability to understand, like the cosmos or the weather.”

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BRITAIN There is little subtle about Jeremy Deller, neither the fluorescent pink pants he wore to previews nor his Biennale art for the British Council – work that takes bold aim at the whims of the rich and the powerful. The central piece is a painting of an oversized bird of prey called the hen harrier that has a Range Rover in its talons. The work references the 2007 shooting of a pair of hen harriers on the Sandringham Estate on a day when Prince Harry and a friend went shooting. As for the Range Rover, it is the object of the bird’s revenge, and Deller’s swipe at the haughty who ride them, particularly on London roads where he cycles. “It’s an opportunity to get something off your chest,” Deller said this week. “You know you are going to have an audience.” In the next room, a painting depicts the late Victorian designer and socialist William Morris, who appears as a giant throwing Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s 377-foot yacht into the Venetian lagoon. It’s Deller’s jab at Abramavoich for mooring the vessel on Venice’s Giardini quay, blocking the view.

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RUSSIA

ISRAEL

For Russian artist Vadim Zakharov, only women can save the world from corruption.

On the lower flower, Zakharov created a cave as a refuge for women only and which communicate with the level above through two holes Zakharov cut in the floor. Through one, gold coins are showered down.

Zakharov’s installation embraces the entire pavilion and is itself a metaphor for the Greek myth of Danae, who was locked in a room by her father the king, yet impregnated by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold. The main floor is man’s domain, where greed and corruption rule and where the masses can be dismissed as “peanuts,” a notion the artist conveys with irony and humor through a man dressed in a business suit who sits on cowboy saddle shucking peanuts and casting the shells into a pile.

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Through another, a man in a business suit hauls them up in a bucket and dumps them into a conveyor belt to feed the shower. In the cave, women visitors carry umbrellas as protection against the showers of gold coins, and are asked to deposit some back into the bucket. “It’s about how you can corrupt with money,” said Berlin curator Udo Kittelmann. “The hope for the future is women.”

Israeli Gilad Ratman’s multimedia installation follows the fictional journey of a group of people who tunnel from Israel to Venice – creating a hole in the floor as they dig their way in. A video shows them departing from a hillside, digging the tunnel and arriving at the pavilion, where they set to work sculpting busts from clay they have brought from Israel. “The journey is about nothing. It’s to create a narrative that does not have any purpose or causality. It’s the process of creating a work of art,” said Sergio Edelsztein who curated the pavilion. The pavilion reverberates with a guttural sound, a recording of all the sculpting, crawling and walking that have taken place along the journey.

VEE ART

VESPA Vespa is the colorful and original reinterpretation of the model of the Vespa Piaggio 50 , 1967, which for the first time the Venetian artist Luca Moretto is presented at the 54 th Venice Biennale - Italian Pavilion , which since last December 17, 2011 is hosted within its renovated spaces of the Palais des Expositions in Turin until 29th February.

After a long journey , made up of multiple exhibition stages , this finally gets worthy visibility , giving recognition to the work of this artist who has worked for years , diligently and tirelessly , with the ongoing trial of the yield of the color material for the return of a message one of life, emotion for it, to a public that is in-

creasingly impressed every time and urged by his works. Jets of colored acrylic , lines moved by sinuous curves , concentric waves that propagate from a living heart , fill the surface of the Vespa and make up , as in a â&#x20AC;&#x153; hydrography â&#x20AC;&#x153; of floating forms , the geological disposal of a thought, an emotion the face of life .

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Scan with

House and Music with DJ Pantelis

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You work as a professional DJ for over 20 years, probably started even before that. It’s a lot of time, why did you decide to start working with music? Yes, it’s a long time! First started working as a DJ like a hobby to some small clubs in my town Thessaloniki. Music was my passion from my early years, also my father was a musician. How was in the beginning? Did you face too much difficulties, as a rookie, to find places to play and also to be payed properly? The beginning was too hard for me I was just 15 years old, so the competition was huge for a young boy at this age.But with hard work. Every year I made big steps that at my 18 years I was a complete Pro DJ. What about your musical influences? Where do they come from? My music influences were mixed.First with soul and funk and then with house

music. The music scene always changed very often. So you have to be open minded to follow the audio wave. Where was your bigger show? Tell us how was that. Definitely my 2 biggest events was in Foam Fest Belgrade on 2012 and also this year 2013. This was an amazing experience to perform live for 20.000 fans at the biggest Arena in Serbia! How do you deal with your fans/audience, during the shows and also during your day-by-day life? Well I have a very nice relation with my fans both at concerts and in real life. I’m always finding the time to give them my best! Do you think that social media influences directly on your work /life? True, social media today is the Web PR, so even if you don’t like them, they are part of the web promotion.

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Scan with

Shakespeare

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Perform live for 20.000 fans at the biggest Arena in Serbiaâ&#x20AC;?

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UNFORGETTABLE

Cof fee Shops by Laura Pausini

Culture Espresso Bar

La Caféothèque

Identity Coffee Bar

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Confeitaria Colombo

Cafè Gilli

La Caféothèque La Caféothèque’s recent expansion, which must have (at a minimum) tripled its capacity, is all the evidence you need to conclude that they’ve been doing just about everything right since opening in 2005, well before any of the other speciality coﬀee shops in Paris. All of the beans are roasted on site, in three kilo batches, with a machine that sits just inside the original entrance on rue de l’Hôtel de Ville. You can of course buy them to take home and brew yourself, but with baristas like these, my own preference is to become acquainted with the wide

array of single origins as they rotate daily at the bar. I have just one minor complaint, which is the surcharge for sitting down at a table instead of at the bar. It is a common practice in this city, but then again the same can be said of burnt, stale beans, and UHT milk. Among the new wave of speciality coffee purveyors in Paris, only la Caféothèque maintains such a distinction.

For a small surcharge you can choose from the whole range of beans on offer instead of having to take the sélection du jour. Beans are roasted on site, and they have an excellent selection of single origins which they rotate daily. I had a fantastic latte using an Ethiopian bean. Good vibe to the place, nice music, people smiling, terrific atmosphere though you will pay a little extra to have your coffee on premises.

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Confeitaria Colombo Opened in 1894, Confeitaria Colombo tells of the elegance of Rio de Janeiro’s downtown at the turn of the 20th century. Inspired in the grand tearooms of Europe, Colombo was founded at first as a pastry shop by Portuguese immigrants Joaquim Borges de Meireles and Manuel José Lebrão. It has preserved the quality of its pastries and the sumptuous Art Nouveau architecture and design elements which brought a new edge of luxury to the elegant central area of RDJ.

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Details such as the ceiling dome in stained glass, the jacaranda furniture and the Belgian mirrors are all original. In 1983, Colombo was listed as Historic and Artistic Heritage. Stop by for a pastry and coffee at the counters or a table; among the highlights are sweets made from traditional Colombo recipes such as the gaufrettes, handcrafted cookies made in house since 1920, and Rivadávias (since 1930), angel cake discs filled with doce de leite and covered with fondant.

Stay longer for high tea (about $18 and up for one person, $33 and up for two), which includes tea, juice, and several kinds of mini sandwiches, pastries, breads, cheese, and jelly. The spacious central tearoom was opened as such in 1922, in celebration of the first anniversary of Brazil’s Proclamation of Independence. Colombo also has a firstrate restaurant: Cristóvão, on the second floor. Chef Renato Freire, who heads the three kitchens at Colombo, taps into Portuguese and Spanish .

The restaurant has a buffet with salads, dishes and desserts; you can also order a la carte. On Saturdays, there’s feijoada. Also on the second floor is Espaço Memória, the shop’s museum. Old menus, photos, tea services, containers of Colombo products, Portuguese sterling silver services and other items are on display in this elegant room which can be booked for events.

Cafè Gilli When I arrived in Florence, was excited to find that I was less than a block away from Gilli, a fairly famous Italian caﬀe. I was immediately drawn in by the shop’s windows, which were richly decorated with Easter treats for the upcoming holiday; the parade of chocolate rabbits and gigantic sugar eggs, decorated to the culinary equivalent of cloisonné, had attracted quite a crowd of camera-toting tourists. Before grabbing my seat on Gilli gilt terrace, I took a took a short tour of the shops interior. Classically decorated, the cafe boasted leaded glass accents and an impressively lavish coffee bar lined with a malachite green marble countertop. The espresso machine glittered temptingly behind a handful of dapper baristas, dressed to the nines and gliding effortlessly behind the counter. Around the corner from the coffee bar, a mile-long glass case displayed some of the most beautiful pastries I’ve seen in quite a while: Sicilian cannolis, brightly colored berry tarts, and cream-filled profiteroles drizzled.

After swooning over the decor, I took my seat. I made eye contact with the elderly waiter, who proceeded to ignore me over the next ten minutes. I finally got up and asked him for a menu, and my request was met with a curt question - lunch or café? Just café, I replied, and possibly a cioccolata caldo (thickly brewed sipping chocolate). As I sat and waited, I perused the menu’s history page. Opened by the Gilli family in 1733, the cafe had moved around the city square a few times before it settled in its current

location in Piazza della Repubblica, surrounded by small, chichi restaurants and leather vendors. Apparently the place has long been a hangout for Florence’s creative glitterati and some of the USA’s most beloved Hollywood stars, a fact that the menu mentions several times.

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Identity Coffee Bar If you’re in the mood for a good cup of coffee, check out “Identity Coffee” located in a tiny shop near Harajuku/ Meijijingumae. They carry beans from Intelligentsia Handsome Coffee etc. In case you’ve never heard of them, they are very popular coffee brands from the US which are a rare find in Japan. This coffee shop has funky but awesome chairs and artwork that make them very unique. The staff are friendly and were very happy to explain the different coffees to choose from. My friend and I both

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ordered the cappuccino for 580yen. At first I thought this was an expensive cup of coffee but the cup was huge and we loved our Cappuccino made with Intelligentsia beans so it was all worth it. The chairs were surprisingly comfortable and we ended up chit chatting for a few hours so they even brought out a free sample iced coffee for us! It’s a small shop so there’s not much seating but if you are looking for a good coffee in the area, I recommend it.

Chicago’s Intelligentsia coffee company was one of the pioneers of direct trade (or ‘seed to cup’, as they call it), taking their pursuit of top-quality beans right to the individual farmers who produce them. At Intelligentsia’s first Japanese shop, hidden on a back street in Harajuku, you can choose single origin coffees that are tagged not just by country, but by specific farm. The stock changes regularly according to what’s in season, meaning that it’s worth buying beans if you’re smitten by a particular variety: they may not have any left the next time you go. Single-origin coffees are prepared drip style, while espresso drinks are made with a fire engine-red La Marzocco machine, using a choice of two Intelligentsia blends. As you might expect for such a gourmet coffee shop, prices aren’t cheap (single-origin coffees start at ¥460), and while the Greg Fkeishman-designed furniture is cool to look at, we can’t imagine lounging on it for long.

Culture Espresso Bar The Empire State building dominates the the Manhattan Skyline, but a good cup of coﬀee in Midtown is a little harder to spot. In an area of town largely dominated by department stores, Culture Espresso is a little miracle on 38th Street.

I stopped by Culture on the way to CoffeeFest to compete in a latte art competition, so I didn’t want to over-caffeinate. (Pouring latte art for a panel of judges is unnerving enough without caffeine jitters.)

Although they recently switched to Heart Coffee Roasters, when I visited, Culture was serving Sightglass Coffee from San Francisco. I’ve been consistently impressed by Sightglass since I visited their roastery, and opportunities to enjoy their coffee on the East Coast are rare. Manhattan cafes are dominated by the Big Three (Intelligentsia, Stumptown, Counter Culture), so it’s nice to have some diversity.

But I also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try some of Sightglass’s filter offerings. Thankfully, my friend Kenny was game to split a V60 of the Rwanda, Tumba, Cocatu. It seemed like a good idea initially, but the coffee was so good it was hard to share. It was sweet and balanced with a really juicy body; the kind of flavor bomb that will convert some skeptics. It’s a shame that Budlight owns the copyright on “drinkability” because this beauty made for some easy sipping. I had a lot of great coffee in New York, this was my favorite cup of filter, hands down.

I kicked things off with a cappuccino, my go-to coffee beverage when I haven’t had breakfast. The milk was a little thin, but the Owl’s Howl espresso blend, brewed with a La Marzocco Strada, was tasting delicious. It took me all of four sips to finish.

Culture also has an assortment of fresh baked goods and a sensible selection of cozy seating, a rarity for Manhattan cafes. The combination of great coffee and an elegant space.

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Discover the tuscan area with a VESPA

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The “Valdera Country” itinerary continues towards the dunes of Villamagna and finally to the striking Teatro del Silenzio (Theatre of Silence) of Lajatico, a place wanted by the famous singer Andrea Bocelli (he was born and raised there). Imagine to lunch with homemade baked focaccia bread surrounded by nature and silence… a dream that comes true! Take your time to enjoy the view from the castle, stretching from the surroundings of Pisa to the steep hills of Volterra.

[Photo Credits: Lara Musa Tuscany Social Media Team]

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LAJATICO From Lajatico you can follow several itineraries: you can pass through Chianni and the thermal town ofCasciana Terme or pass through Terricciola, Peccioli and Capannoli. Anyway, the last step of this route is the town of Lari, inhabited since Etruscan times. In Lari there is a castle that dates back to the Medieval era and that dominates the Valdarno area. Furthermore, the castle is protected by a defensive wall with three entrances: the Porta Fiorentina, Pisana and Volterrana. After few other minutes the tour ends in Pontedera passing through about 100 kilometres of wonderful countryside, gentle hills and old, characteristic towns. Really suggested! This is not the only itinerary you can choose: you can have a tailor made one or follow the steps of Tuscany Arts’s “Villages and landscapes: it’s “Valdera”… in Vespa!“. Our itinerary

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VALDERA The Valdera area is an inner zone of Tuscany, south of Pisa, characterized by boroughs, manors, medieval parishes and Romanesque buildings, surrounded by a charming landscape, with lines of cypresses, olive groves, vineyards, clayey hills and fields, whose colours vary with the seasons. What we propose here is an itinerary that starts from Pontedera and takes you to visit the most beautiful villages, churches and castles in the area, while fully enjoying the panorama and having lots of fun, thanks to the means of transport that we suggest: the Vespa (a vintage Vespa, of course!).

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PONTEDERA This is in fact one of the itineraries worked out by Valdera in Vespa to blend landscapes, art, culture, traditions, food, fun… and the symbol of the territory, the Vespa! Don’t forget that here is where the most famous moped was born, as you can find out by visiting the amazing Museo Piaggio, in Pontedera. Departing from Pontedera, the first stop is Lari, a small Etruscan town with its massive Castello dei Vicari in the center. The castle was built in the early Middle Ages (but the structure that we can see today dates to the first half of the 17th century) and it’s always been a very important military stronghold, with its dominant position over the entire valley of the River Arno; now it is mainly used for conferences, weddings and events. Inside there are Medieval and Renaissance frescoes, the “Hall of torments”, prisons and dungeons, called “the hell”.

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PONTEDERA

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Visiting times:

Take your time to enjoy the view from the castle, stretching from the surroundings of Pisa to the steep hills of Volterra, from the coast of Livorno to Peccioli and beyond. And when you’re tired of it (if it’s possible to get tired of it!), take a walk among the narrow streets of Lari, full of charming hidden spots.

April-June – Monday-Friday 3.30-7pm, Saturday-Sunday 10.30am-12.30pm and 3.30-7pm July-September – Every day 10.15am-12.45pm and 3.30-7pm October – Monday-Friday 3-6pm, Saturday-Sunday 10.30am-12.30pm and 3-6pm November – March – Saturday-Sunday 10.30am-12.30pm and 3-6pm

Then, jump back onto the saddle of your vintage Vespa. The next stop is the beautiful Pieve di San Martino (1208) of Palaia, a brick building with Romanesque and Gothic elements, perhaps designed by Andrea Pisano, and now perfectly restored (here a great panoramic video of the inside).

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VESPA The quite medieval little village of Montefoscoli is where the tour will take you now. Take some time to visit the cellars, warehouses, tunnels, mills and everyday objects that make up the “Museum of Peasant Culture”, to relive the atmosphere of a lost world.

Visiting time: Sundays 9.30am12.30pm and 3.30-7.30pm (if you’re touring with Valdera in Vespa ask them if it’s possible to visit the museum on other days too). Then a stop at the unmissable and fascinating village of Villa Saletta with its castle, walls, narrow streets and clock-tower, perfectly preserved.

Now it’s time now to direct your lovely Vespa back to Pontedera, along with the smile that is surely on your face! A last suggestion: if you’re interested in a more “scenic” tour, have a look at the “Discover the Valdera area of Tuscany on a Vespa”, by Around Tuscany.

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