RUGGED ITALY AUTUMN IN LE MARCHE

by Elena Sofia Doria

Few tourists know that Italy is the most biodiverse country in Europe. Breathtaking scenery, rustic charm, and local autumnal fare were the order of the day as we enjoyed an out-ofseason jaunt in the Apennines.

Moving inland from the wild beaches of the Riviera del Conero national park on Le Marche’s Adriatic coast, you pass through alternating fields of sunflowers and olive groves. In the distance, four imposing peaks of the 40 km long limestone massif that forms the spine of the Sibillini National Park begin to dominate the horizon. Straddling the Central Italian Apennines between Umbria and Le Marche, this national park stands out among Italy’s natural wonders for its rugged beauty. One particularly beautiful approach to the park is a mountain pass between Amandola and the village of Montemonaco–where you can enjoy natural beauty with a side of fine local food and wine as you wind your way up into the mountains.

Sibillini National Park can be enjoyed yearround. Around the village of Castelluccio di Norcia between late May and early June, a springtime event of unmatched splendor unfolds as fields of flowering lentils stretching to the horizon burst into a riotous display of color. The flowering season is capped with a festival celebrated on the last Sunday in June in the charming village that becomes an island in a sea of color. This bucolic watercolor world gives way to natural beauty as you climb into the mountains, where secluded glades and meadows bloom with spring wildflowers.

Between the trekking season in summer and the start of the winter sports season, October and November offer a particularly gorgeous spectacle for photographers as the mountains are ablaze with the vibrant yellows and reds of autumn foliage. autumn is also perfect for visiting the many sanctuaries and churches perched on hilltops and hidden in the woods or the remote villages where the air is thick with the smell of cozy wood fires and roasted chestnuts.

The area’s biodiversity is thanks to the alternation between woods and pastures. The thickly wooded slopes of the foothills give way to sparse mountainous vegetation towards the heights of the park’s four main peaks–the Vettora, Priora, Bove and Sibilla mountains. This highland biome is rich in flowering plant species endemic to the Apennines, like Artemisia Petrosa and the rare Apennine Edelweiss. The mountains are also home to stable populations of roe deer, wolves, wild cats and birds of prey, including golden eagles, peregrine falcons, goshawks, and sparrow hawks. Traces and extremely rare sightings of the critically endangered Marsican brown bear have been noted sporadically over the last twenty years. These are believed to be individuals that wander north from parks further south in the Apennines, where more stable populations are present.

For food lovers, autumn in the Sibillini range offers a rich harvest of chestnuts, mushrooms, truffles, honey, and the famous Sibillini Pink Apple. Visiting a fruiting apple orchard and sampling this local heirloom variety is a seasonal highlight for visitors to the Sibillini mountains. Ciauscolo salame is another delicious speciality of the region. It differs from the classic versions of the cured sausage in that it is spreadable; rather than slicing it, you eat it like a paté. Smoked meats produced in the region are cured in smokehouses powered by wood harvested in the forests of the Sibillini, giving them a distinct aroma that can only be found here. Pecorino is the most common cheese in the Sibillini Mountains, and the local variety is well worth a try. Cow’s milk cheeses are less common, but some farms produce cheeses from cows that spend spring and summer grazing in the pastures of the valleys at the foot of Mount Sibilla, returning in the autumn to spend the winter in cow sheds. As autumn is the hunting season, you can also sample hearty wild boar dishes. But don’t worry; the hunt is carefully managed and necessary to keep these prolific mammals from overbreeding, disturbing the area’s delicate ecosystem, and destroying crops.

The food culture of the Sibillini Mountains has been strongly influenced by its history of playing host to hermit monks. The tradition of producing fragrant, floral mountain honey and beeswax candles to illuminate churches continues today. Another legacy of the monastic tradition in the area are the local liqueurs and distilled spirits flavored with the many medicinal herbs that grow in the park’s forests, meadows, and mountain slopes. After enjoying a harvest board of local cured meats, cheeses and honey and a stew of wild boar with polenta next to a roaring fire, why not try a dessert flavored with Mistrà, a distillate of green anise, apples, and wild fennel widely used to prepare sweets and biscuits, and cap your meal with a herbal digestive from the Varnelli distillery in Muccia founded in 1868.

There are a million ways to enjoy Italy as a visitor in every season. Traipsing around its historic cities in the middle of summer when their cobbled streets turn them into deadly heat traps and droves of tourists make sightseeing an unpleasant ordeal is probably the least appealing option of all, and yet that is what the vast majority of visitors to Italy choose to do. Why not break the mold and try a Segmento pick for an autumn getaway?

Andrea Tranchero And His Culinary Triumphs From Piedmont To The World

by Ambra Dalmasso | Images provided by Andrea Tranchero

From kitchens all over the world, the global ambassador of Italian cuisine Andrea Tranchero has tickled the tastebuds of the likes of Giorgio Armani, Roger Federer, Sir Richard Branson, Giorgio Napolitano. What secret recipe does he possess to have conquered the world? Simplicity.

Chef Andrea Tranchero was born in Cuneo, a city in Piedmont immersed in an area of immense wine and food heritage, the birthplace of many regional delicacies that are prized internationally, and the home of institutions and movements that have marked the history of Italian food culture such as Slow Food. We asked Andrea about the role played by his birthplace in his career as a chef:

Being born in Piedmont certainly gave me an appreciation for excellent raw materials and seasonal ingredients. Fruit, vegetables, and even cheeses all have their best season. At the beginning of my career, I worked in Piedmont, so I learned the tastes of northern cuisine rich in cheese, meat (including game), and fresh pasta, as well as flavorful risottos. After that, I had the chance to work in Calabria and Sardinia, and I was able to deepen my experience of seafood and the flavors and aromas of traditional southern cooking. After gaining experience in Italy, Andrea decided to embark on an overseas experience in Japan. He offered some recollections about his experiences working as a chef in Tokyo. We asked him what that first experience in large, international kitchens taught him:

My first experience abroad was in Japan in distant 1994. I was fascinated by their culture and by how organized they are. In Japan,

I started working for international hotel chains, and I learned that there are several facets to being a chef. There is, of course, the practical part–the cooking–but there is also the managerial aspect and handling local staff.

We were curious to know what challenges were involved in preparing Italian cuisine in Japan and serving it to Japanese diners: I think maintaining a high standard of Italian gastronomy abroad is very challenging because the raw ingredients available taste different and can be very expensive. The Japanese clientele is extremely discerning, especially in Tokyo. Very often, customers have been to Italy and have come to appreciate our simple, concise, and flavorful cuisine without, as some of my colleagues say, “too much fussiness.”

After working in Japan for some time, Andrea returned to Italy, where he worked for some highly-rated restaurants. However, he was enticed abroad again by attractive job offers and the excitement of living and working in different countries. His career then took off. He did a second Japanese stint at Giorgio Armani’s flagship Tokyo restaurant, the River Club in Beijing, and the Crown Casino in Perth, from where he crossed the country to become one of the stars of Casa Barilla in Sydney. He was even invited to open a pop-up restaurant at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Now he is based in Singapore as the executive chef and head of Barilla Asia, Africa, and Australia. We asked him, from the summit of this stellar career, to look back and reflect on what he had learned about himself and Italian food living for so long away from home:

Living outside of Italy, I have learned to appreciate our country differently, perhaps in a more attentive way. I also rediscovered the value of regional Italian cooking and its traditions. At the moment, part of my role at Barilla is to organize events and cooking lessons and to try and link Italian cuisine to the tastes and products available in the countries in our region–Asia, Africa, and Australia. I’ve lived abroad for 25 years, and I think the most important thing is curiosity about other cultures. With all the experience I have gained, I am proud to be considered a global ambassador for Italian cuisine.

Andrea has cooked for thousands of people all over the world, including figures like Giorgio Armani, Richard Branson, Roger Federer, and former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. As we closed the interview, we were curious to find out what it is like cooking for such famous and distinguished personalities. Andrea chuckled and replied:

It’s not what you might think. People like that often have quite simple tastes and appreciate simple, balanced cooking. Most of the time, they actually ask for a small portion of a simple pasta. Spaghetti cooked al dente with a tomato sauce and finished with a grating of parmigiano reggiano and a drizzle of olive oil. In the three years I managed Casa Barilla, during the Australian Open, before every match, we would prepare spaghetti for Roger Federer.

When he won the tournament in 2018, do you think maybe the chef had something to do with it?

Quality Of Life In A Piece Of Bread

by Jesper Storgaard Jensen

Recently, Italian bakeries have been on a mission to improve bread quality. Superb raw materials mix with tradition and innovation, and new tasty products are born. Segmento took a mouthwatering tour to five of Rome’s best forni.

In Italy, if someone tells you “sei buono come il pane” (you’re as good as bread), take it as a serious compliment because it means you’re a person with a heart of gold. This, along with around 15 other bread-related metaphors in the language, indicates the centrality of this most basic foodstuff in the Italian imagination. Basic it may be, but breadmaking is a complex and ancient art form with the subtleties of turning three ingredients, water, flour, and yeast, being honed over generations. One of the most enduring symbols of the daily life of ancient Romans is the carbonized loaves of bread baked but never eaten in Pompeii on that fateful day in 79AD. Modern Romans, like their ancestors, take bread very seriously.

Until recently, the panifici or forni of Rome only sold fresh bread to be taken home. However, a revolution is afoot, with many bakeries moving into on-site gastronomy. Some bakeries now have an adjoining café where their freshly baked delights are served all day to carbohydrate-craving customers eager to satisfy their hunger with tramezzini , panini , or pizza al taglio . Some bakeries have even started catering to nocturnal yeastheads by offering aperitivi.