Accommodation at Palazzo Pizzo Guest Residence

Are you planning a holiday in Calabria ? Want to spend some days in Pizzo ? Or just a stop-over in our lovely village and trying the famous tartuffo before heading to Sicily or Aeolie Islands ?

We decided we want to open our house for guests.

 

 

From July 12 to August 21, 2013 we offer a special Summer Promotion: 
No minimum stay !

 

No minimum stay allows you to enjoy Palazzo Pizzo Residence while still having time to explore more of Calabria and the attactive neigbouring regions of Italy.

During our soft opening we want to personally take care of our guests.
We love to see you!

Please contact us at palazzopizzo-info@yahoo.com for availability check

or

book via holiday lettings (from tripadvisor)

   

 +++

Please find photos of the Palazzo Pizzo Guest Residence on Flickr
For more information visit our new  Guest Residence Page

Progress of Street Pavemement

progress June 2013 (photo via Pino Pitt)

Last November 2012, one of the new major's projects, the restoring of the old town center of Pizzo, started with street works (see the photos of my blog post in November 2012).

alley closed for road works in April 2013

It was promised years ago and many times to the inhabitants of Pizzo's centro storico that the pavement will be repaired. Beautiful large lava stones were once covered badly with cement. Over the years more and more potholes appeared everywhere. The project's aim was to restore the old stone pavement nicely. Other coastal towns like Tropea and Scilla always made me jaleous with their perfect pavements.

OK, it's not only pavement, it is also new piping (April 2013)

 

But the project turned out to be an ordeal for the residents. Especially in the rainy winter months... For a kind of "ring road" (a small one way alley) of about 500 meter it took them.... what can I say, after 8 months they have not finished yet!

pedestrian can pass (April 2013)

progress 1m/day in mid April 2013

It meets more or less my observation when we were there in April: the daily progress was about 1 meter ! Easy to calculate, it will take 500 days to complete ... this means we probably will still be schlepping our suitcases and grocery down the alley the whole summer ....

another project is a new piazetta that lies on that "ring road" (April 2013)

view from our balcony (April 2013):

these stones are prepared to be collected and placed in the right area

 

every day one meter better looking (April 2013)

 

The photos below show that the workers have finally arrived in front of our house - which means they did about another 30 meter since April? - Well, that is even less than 1 meter progress per day. BUT there was a reason for the delay. The day before we left in April, there was no noise or sign of street workers in the alley. They just had stopped working. People said the commune hadn't payed them.... Ah, a Calabrian Classic... 

 

finally arriving at our door step, June 2013 (photo via by Pino Pitt)

 

it's coming a long way! (photo via Pino Pitt)

 

 ----

But, the alley continues around the corner! The "ring road" goes up, passes by the new piazette (in progress) and the Piccolo Grand Hotel. (I don't think they have started yet from the other side.) That's why I see us schlepping, no car can pass .... The good thing about it: this exercise allows us one tartuffo ice cream a day, almost!!

photo via Alfonso Salutato (April 2013)

 



Signora Rosa: Our favorite stop for 'bottarga'

When you see the following sign driving on the Via Provinciale per Vibo Marina, between Pizzo and Vibo Marina, then STOP !
 

 Dalla Signora

Rosa

   Prodotti tipici

artigianali

Next to her home, Signora Rosa has a small store, the door is always open, a curtain protects from the sun. You will find a nice choice of local home made mouthwatering products. We love to stop here and buy black olives, sun dried tomatoes, paté of sun dried tomatoes with chili, spicy anchovies,  .... 

Signora Rosa in summer 2012

 

.... but what we love most is bottarga! Bottarga from Calabria is made of dried tuna roe cured in sea salt. It is also called the "caviar of the South" and it's sold in form of a stick, and you can grate it on top of your spaghetti aglio olio peperoncino! So yummy!

 

We always buy for us, for friends and for Italian chefs back home ... This bottarga is stronger in taste than the one from more Northern Mediterranean regions. I guess, it is also more salty since the sea down in the South is more salty. 

 

Bottarga di Tonno ! Our favorite product made in Calabria!

( 7 Euro / 100 gr ) 

 

Signora Rosa's little warehouse and shop from the street

  

Singora Rosa in her shop in April 2013, selling us due chili (2 kg)

 

When we passed by in April, her shelves were almost empty. But the shop was open and Signora Rosa came over from her house to sell us some bottarga sticks. For better transportation in our suitcases we changed the anchovies and sun dried tomatoes from glass jars to shrink-wrapped bags. Actually, I really like the simply styled product label:

 

Anchovies in chili oil

 

This small family business has no website, no email address, no colourful brochure. They just concentrate on their skills and on the product quality. They are happy with what they can sell. They live with the season. No need to expand.

 

However, what la signora has for you is a little paper of bottarga recipes (I usually wrap those around the product which makes the gift perfectly authentic):

 

(click to enlarge picture) 

(When we are grating a lot of bottarga on pasta, we usually do not add salt into the boiling water, since the bottarga itself is already very salty)

 

Spring in Pizzo

As time goes by, I realised, I have not posted much about our "spring break" in Pizzo last April.

I summarized our special April 

here

 though, but with only one photo - and even those entries from our 

Facebook page

seem not enough to cover our impressions.

You remember, how we arrived at the airport and drove to Pizzo, encountering goats on the way? If not, have a look

here

.

So here they come, more visual impressions from spring in Pizzo:

I like Calabria for its crystal clear sea. But during those April days, the sea appeared to be even more clear. So clear, that the fishing boat seemed floating in air.

Marina Beach empty in April

I hardly saw any Italian kids playing on the beach those days, even after school and on weekends.

Niente bambini

. Maybe it is when you have it in front of your door step that it is less interesting? Or maybe Italian kids don't want (should not) get dirty? A "

bella figura

" thing? Or is the beach only for swimming in summer? Anyway, our son couldn't be stopped to dig holes whenever we passed the beach.

digging sand holes

One day, I observed the clouds in a distance and I saw that they have a shadow on the water. I was pretty fascinated of that sight and took a dozen pictures. Not sure if you see what I mean. I like the reflections a lot. All kind of reflection on water I like a lot.

stunning reflections

There is not much else to observe from the balcony aside some fishermen passing by in rowing boats. I wonder if those two with their relatively large net just fish for their family dinner, or maybe for a restaurant?

fishermen at work

I think I was on the balcony all afternoon that day - just enjoying the beauty of nature - until the sun set above Stromboli, the volcano in the distance.

sunset above Stromboli

Another day, while reading on the sofa, I had to constantly look at our beautiful ceiling with its faded fresco. (I should say manually recovered fresco). I like it so much, I took those pictures below. And we finally ordered two ceiling fans for the empty spots (no lights, enough of those).

part of the living room

ceiling with recovered faded fresco

Beside sitting on the balcony and reading on the sofa, I have also been drawing a bit:

agrume

, pears and oranges

 And I played tennis!

When my friend asked me to join her playing tennis, I discovered that Pizzo has a "Center Court"! So funny, the door is seriously locked, no one has a key. But the fence's hole on the side is so big, that it seems now to me that there was no fence on the side... and they even have a grandstand! I promised to practice to join the match in summer (I have not been playing for over 20 years!) It will be fun! 

Pizzo's "Center Court"

This time, we often had lunch in piazza. It was just too beautiful - warm sunshine and very few tourists. The church bells ringing at noon and the organ play (I posted a few seconds of this sneak peek into

paradise on Facebook

). I can't describe in words this special moment of the day. Absolutely peaceful. - We saw the school bus coming, parents picking up their kids. We met the locals and really felt like

Pizzitani

our self. So, instead of having a tomato salad and a pasta at home, we had a salad, or a pizza, or a pasta or

cozze

at one of the small restaurants in piazza.

And yes, we also - sometimes - indulged in tarfuffo ice cream as well.

invented in Pizzo:

il tartuffo nero

The scent of oranges was in the air, everywhere. It smells sweet like jasmine. Very intense.

sweet scent of oranges from the neighbour's garden

The neighbour's garden seen from our guestroom (photo below). A red and white band from the street construction was blown into the trees. The commune of Pizzo is restoring the old street pavement in the historic town center. But this will be another post.

neighbour's garden and street work in progress

--- 

I found too many photos to post. 

I have to split them up into more stories, like street work progress, prima communione, Signora Rosa, Catanzaro. Stay in touch! 

Until soon.

Saluti!

What Italians and Thai have in common - Food

Do Italians and Thai have anything in common? Well, you will be surprised how much!

When we first came to the land of smile in 1998, we realized, that Thai people love food as much as Italians do. And then, with time, we found more and more common ground.

We always say, when Singapore is considered to be the Switzerland of Asia, then Thailand is the Italy of Asia.

pad thai, spaghetti al pomodoro, kao soi soup

Let's start with Food:

Eating well, choosing good and healthy food, and having regular meals at a set time, is important to both, Italians and Thai. Both nations always have a variety of dishes to chose from for each meal.  Eating alone is not fun. Especially Thai would go in a group to enjoy together the pleasure of eating. Eating with friends, and with the whole family on weekends, is very common for both nations. Thai people eat even more than three times a day. Sometimes it seems they are always eating. But it is probably five times a day, and mainly small portions, which is very healthy. Also they tent to eat early, lunch around noon and dinner around 7pm.

Talking about food at any time of the day, is what Italians do, and, well, Thai too. Asking what you ate (when not having eaten together) is a popular topic. Sometimes it is almost like a greeting: "Did you ate yet?". And "Buon Appetito" is what you might hear around lunch time in the streets of an Italian village. However, talking about recipes, knowing where to buy the best ingredients, is maybe slightly more Italian, since working middle class Thai often don't cook themselves. But every Thai is able to tell you where to find their best favorite dish.

And what is on the menu? Loving all kind of noodle dishes, is typical Italian - and typical Thai. Thai have at least as many different types of noodles as Italians. Egg noodles, rice noodles, short, thin, wide versus spaghetti, linguine, penne, farfalle, orecchiette ... OK, Italians have more shapes. Although Thai love it more spicy than Italians, the most loved foreign food by Thai is the Italian cuisine! That is why Italian restaurants are very popular in the land of smile. And you will see many Italian chefs with a big smile on their face.

But, when it comes to cooking, there is another slight difference. In Italy, la donno di casa cooks herself. In Thailand, you usually have domestic help and a Thai puying (wife) would have one or even two helpers to prepare a dinner for guests. In Thailand it is also popular to buy ready cooked food in the supermarkets, restaurants or even in street stalls, since it is so cheap - and always yummy. Young, working middle class people who often do not have domestic help would rather go to a restaurant or buy food to take home.

When it comes to eating food with others, especially eating in restaurants, there is another small difference. Thai would put all the dishes in the middle of the table and everyone can try everything. Even a plate of pasta would be shared. While Italians would only share a mixed appetizer plate, and then everyone orders its own dish(es).

If you think all Asians eat with chopsticks, you are wrong. Thai eat with spoon and fork. There is no knife. All veggies and meats are cut bite-size in the kitchen. With the fork you would shuffle the food onto the spoon and eat from the spoon. (Since many Chinese have immigrated into Thailand in the past, there are of course dishes and regions where chopsticks are used.)

This reminds me of a funny observation I made at one of the finest Italian restaurants in Bangkok: There was this very elegant, elderly Thai lady, with a bulky hair style. She was sitting well-mannered and slowly eating a fish. She carefully shuffled with her fork the food onto the fish knife - which, well, had a bit of a spoon shape - and then ate from the fish knife!

But what the Thai lady has in common with Italians is the love for good (Italian) food!


+++ this post belongs to the new "Life in Asia" label where I will write about observations on life in Asia +++ we spend time in spring and summer in our house in Italy +++ the rest of the year we live in Thailand +++