Our 10th Year of hosting

We are always excited to welcome guests who have chosen to stay with us in Pizzo. We host guests from far and near. First time guests and returning guests. Guests who want to live among locals in a picturesque Italian village. Guests who want to enjoy the turquoise sea along the Coast of Gods. And guests who are curious to discover different angles of Calabria with a base in Pizzo. And guests who just want to relax at a hidden gem, between Naples and Sicily. Or guests who love all of this during their stay. Our mission is to make our guests happy and maybe return.

When our guests are happy, we are happy.

And just like this, we have accomplished 10 years in the hospitality business !

We started our 10th year with lots of rain. It still rained in May, when our lovely returning guests from Canada - with Calabrian roots and a love for Pizzo - taught me how to fix the best Negroni(s). We had some moistly and cheerful nights.

More lovely guests followed. Singles, couples, families, and group of friends. From Switzerland, New Zealand, United States, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, then more Canadians and of course lots of Italians! Among them pilots and painters, musicians and photographers, writers and journalists, actors of stage and screen, a director, a minister of state, birthday girls ‘n boys, honeymooners and ‘marriage applicants’. It never gets boring!

With great pleasure we learnt that Palazzo Pizzo’s terrace at sunset is the ideal spot to pop the question! So far all proposals we heard of got a “YES!”. Congratulations!

In mid July, we had the hottest day ever in Pizzo’s weather history with 41 °C (105,8 °F). I had to interrupt a welcome walk around the piazza and rescue myself with our very sweet guests from London with an almond granita inside(!) an air-conditioned gelateria. Luckily all our apartments feature aircon for a refreshing night.

And last but not least, late November early December, our 10th year of hosting was ‘crowned’ with a well known guest from California and an award winning Italian film director and screenwriter .…. We can now say, hosting a Hollywood star during a shoot in Pizzo with his entourage and daily instructions for our team was taking our hosting experience to the next level. A little earlier and more quietly, la regista, the film director of “la troupe” had checked-in at Palazzo Pizzo Residence, choosing this apartment for its private garden terrace. Our long due ‘railing painting project’ was finally rushed to an end and the blue paint wasn’t even dry when he arrived. The filming crew stood about a week to shoot at La Seggiola, the little bay below Palazzo Pizzo. (The movie is scheduled to be out in 2024).

Yes, this was a fun year! Of course every single year of hosting is special. And of course there are some more stories we remember along the way … But I think, this year, our 10th anniversary, the year of 2023 was among the best !

Thank you dear guests, thank you for choosing to stay with us! It is always exciting meeting you in person or being in contact from afar. Thank you for making hosting fun. We are looking forward to welcome you back and to many new guests to visit la bella Calabria in the future!

The biggest thank you must go to my team for being so very reliable, supportive, hard working, attentive, creative, always in good mood, always available and willing to go the extra mile.

Grazie mille! Without you “Palazzo Pizzo” wouldn’t be possible.

The blue railing of Palazzo pizzo Residence

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Torta Meringata di Nonna Lidia

It’s my son’s favourite cake - and my favourite recipe from nonna Lidia. It’s super fast, and no oven needed.

Ingredients:

200 gr dark chocolate

200 gr meringue

500 ml cream (panna)

Some dark chocolate powder for the top

The amount of the ingredients may vary a bit up to your stock, the packaging or taste. Use a large round plate or round cake form. Crumble by hand half of the meringue for the base layer. Chop the chocolate with a knife to very small pieces. Whip the cream until firm and add the chocolate. This mix will be the second layer. If you use only a plate and not a cake form, shape the torta with your hands. Loose meringue can make the border. The third and last layer is made of the remaining meringue which can be crumbled, some can be left in shape as it suits. At the end sieve dark chocolate powder on top for decoration. Store the cake in the fridge before serving. The cake tastes even better the next day when the merengue has soaked up the cream… enjoy!

crumbled meringue make the first layer - chocolate and cream the second - finish with crumbled mernegue and some chocolate powder on top

And if you replace the chocolate with strawberries you get a fresh and fruity ‘Meringata alle Fragole’ :-)

Torta Barozzi

La torta Barozzi was introduced to me by our friend Mauro from Modena. He had made the torta by himself and brought it over for dinner. We all loved it, even my son although the torta Barozzi contains coffee!

I learnt the recipe and made it one day for my mother-in-law and her friend from Southern Italy. They immediately stated that it's very similar to another cake - to the Torta Caprese - an almond-chocolate cake from Capri. Both cakes, la torta Barozzi and la torta Caprese contain no flour, and are therefore are both gluten-free. Both cakes contain chocolate (which determines the dark brown color and moist texture) and roasted peeled almonds. The quantities of the ingredients are slightly different and the Torta Caprese contains no coffee which is the main difference. 

And here comes the recipe for the Torta Barozzi a la Mauro:

ingredients; 

4 eggs

250 gr dark chocolate

80 gr butter

150 gr sugar

30-60 gr Italian coffee powder (1 table spoon = 30 gr)

120 gr Almonds (peeled, roasted)

1 small glass of rum (20 ml, 2 table spoon)

How to: 

Melt butter and chocolate in a bain-marie, let it cool down and add rum

In the meantime, toast peeled almonds in oven (160 degree 15 min)

- preheat oven to 180 degree -

Whisk egg whites until firm (add bit of salt) and store in fridge

Crush almonds (Mulinex mill) finely

Beat egg yolk with sugar, add finely crushed almonds, mix, then add coffee and melted chocolate mix;

Add stiff egg white by stirring gently by hand;

Use round baking form (diameter about 23-26 cm)

Bake about 30 min baking in the oven at 180 degree. Do not exceed 35 min as the cake should remain moist.

Top with icing sugar after cake cooled down.

 
For larger forms - of diameter of 27 cm - or for extra muffins adjust the ingredients:

5 eggs, 300 gr chocolate, 150 gr almonds, 80-100 gr butter, 150-160 gr sugar, rum and coffee can remain the same.

Coffee can be added or avoided up to your taste. Our friend Mauro adds generously 50-60 gr of dried used coffee powder.

Ristorante Lido La Rada

Pizzo has so many dining options around the piazza, in its alleys and along the Marina that dining out of town is rarely something that comes to our mind. But if you are up for a change and are looking for some more quiet yet stylish atmosphere, sun set views, sea breeze and a good chef all in one, than we recommend to check out “La Rada” in Vibo Marina. If you have your own car, it is just a 5 min drive (4 km) from Pizzo. Or ask an Ape taxi in the piazza to take you (and pick you up). You could even go for a beach walk before dinner.

La Rada is a “Lido” meaning they have a serviced beach where you can rent sunbeds and umbrellas, and have lunch and dinner. They have a small bar area and lunch tables where you can casually sit with your swimwear coming from the beach, and a restaurant for the evenings with an indoor area and outdoor terrace overlooking the beach and the sea. La Rada is located behind the industrial port of Vibo Marina and you would not think to find such a hidden gem in this area.

We recently went for a family dinner at 8 pm, sunset time, and we were very pleased with the dining experience. The photos below show what I loved: the food, the wine and the atmosphere! Linen table cloths and napkins, a good choice of wine and friendly staff accompanied by a light sea breeze and romantic lights. The perfect place in Corona times….

Gran Crudo Reale - for 2 persons to share

The outdoor terrace of Ristorante La Rada overlooking the beach, the coast and sea

wine & lights

more seafood

the bar during the day (summer 2018)

#greatshotbylovelyguest someday in May

sunbeds can be rented on a daily base or booked by week or entire month

one afternoon at La Rada in July

Indirizzo Ristorante

Ristorante Lido La Rada, Via Amerigo Vespucci, III Traversa Vibo Valentia Marina

Orari di apertura: Tutti i giorni 09.00-15.00 e 19.00-24.00

Numeri di telefono: +39 0963.577030 e +39 320.8881838

Indirizzo Email: info@ristorantelidolarada.com

website: La Rada

Italy Summer 2020 * Italia Estate 2020

Sun-downer and dinner by the sea at La Rada in Vibo Marina

Buongiorno !

2020, what a year! I hope you and your family and friends are all doing fine and have so far managed to live around Covid19 or survived the virus and whatever lockdown measurements your government had decided on. In Europe, Italy was hit first and hard. Although the worst hit regions were in Northern Italy, the strict lockdown was all over Italy for about 7 weeks (from March 9 to May 3rd, 2020). Calabria was one of the lucky South Italian regions that had very few Covid cases, so far. The virus traveled in little doses to the South with those escaping the North and returning home to their families in Calabria.

Although Italy has allowed travel within Italy - for all Italians and foreigners across all regions - starting June 3rd, it has been very quiet in June. Just when the first European countries like France, Germany and Austria opened their borders mid June (after the Pentecost holiday), Britain decided to send everyone coming to Britain in a 14 days’ quarantine. So most Brits decided to cancel their holidays in order to avoid quarantine when returning home.

Airlines were struggling and cashing in billions of support from their government - like Lufthansa -, then announcing and advertising they would fly again to Italy in July. And when people booked flights, they would contact them a few days before and say: oh sorry, we are not flying. Travelers from outside Italy had little chances to make it to the South of Italy. Almost no direct flights in July. Flights with layovers longer than the usual direct flight and changing departure times and departure airports (!). Also some of the smaller Italian airports were closed and offer now fewer flights than before. No airline wants to fly half full these days.

Visiting Calabria this summer is a challenge. You need to be patient when flying, or take your car and drive!

In January, we had as usual 50% of the bookings for the year. In February we had our first - and for long last - guests. In March when the lockdowns were in sight, cancellations started and continued throughout April and May. End of May the first new bookings came in - by Italians only - for July and August so far - re-discovering Calabria, returning to their roots or even for their first time as they are looking for a ‘virus safe’ region for a relaxed summer holiday by the sea.

Since mid-July we are welcoming guests again in Pizzo Calabro, at our Studio Bellavista, at the Dependance delle Grazie and at Palazzo Pizzo Residence.

Restaurants and bars are filling up, every night and day with more and more guests, mainly from Italy but among them also some brave foreigners who somehow made it to the South, often by car.

Most Calabrese are still very cautious with the virus by keeping distance, by elbow greeting, using disinfection a lot, having a mask around the neck ready to wear when too close or entering a shop.

There is no shortage of toilet paper in case someone wonders. Other things are missing, annoying, breaking down, going wrong or slow, but hey, this is Calabria, paradise with defects …

BTW there is this hashtag trending on social media #nonveniteinCalabria = do not come to Calabria … which started with the low cost airline Easyjet describing on their website their flight destination Calabria (Lamezia Terme SUF) as a territory unfortunately ‘suffering from mafia and earthquakes’. So the most lovely dreamy photos can be found on Instagram with this hashtag. Even some Pizzitani became quiet creative and made a fun little video clip saying #nonveniteaPizzo, no no. Well, regarding one of the above mentioned problems, we are happy to see our (now ex) mayor of Pizzo after seven months in jail, finally free and back home with his young family. All allegations dropped. But long before that, Easy Jet had already apologised and changed their advertisement for Calabria.

It looks like this summer 2020 has finally started! In a pleasant different pace.

Enjoy the sun and the sea if you are around!

Contact us directly if you are interested in booking an entire holiday home / vacation apartment for you and your partner or family. We still have availability in September and some in August.

Saluti cordiali

Susan

PS: The tartufo ice cream is the best ever this year!