Wine and Love

Wine and Love. 🙂 Vino e amore. 🙂 May you be always drunk on love. 🙂

We, the Bulgarians, are really very lucky on February 14. We have two celebrations which we respect equally. We celebrate both Saint Valentine’s Day and the Vine and Wine Day which is better known as Saint Trifon Zarezan. So, you yourselves see that ancient Greek Goddess Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology) and ancient Greek God Dionysus (Bacchus in Roman mythology) go hand in hand in Bulgaria on that day. One of my Italian friends found it very interesting and exclaimed once upon a time: “Great. Wine makes love easier”.

The Bulgarian Trace in Italia

There is one very peculiar fact related to the Protobulgarians and Italian towns bearing names Bulgaria and its derivatives. It’s believed that the Protobulgarians entered the Apennine Peninsula as helpers and an ally of the Lombard King – Alboin in English or Alboino in Italian, who was known as the King of the people with long curly beards, in 568.

A Blend of Painting, Love and Cooking

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso or simply known as Pablo Picasso is a Spanish all-around gifted artist who is mainly famous for his paintings and sculptures. He is among the most influential artists of last century as well as one of the co-founders of the Cubist movement.

It’s a well-known fact that he spent most of his conscious and adult life in France but for sure, it’s less known that he disappeared to the Provencal village of Juan-les-Pins on the French Riviera between the two world wars.

A Love Letter to Spain

There is one particular book which is like a love letter to Spain with regards to the Spaniards, their culture and wine. Its title is “The Winemaker” and the author is Noah Gordon. The novel retells the 19^th century story of a lad, Josep Alvarez by name, who passes through different stages in his life so that he finally becomes a winemaker and finds true love. How does this happen?

Everything starts in the village of Santa Eulália which is a small grape-growing place in Northern Spain.

The Wine Town of Puglia

Locorotondo is another pearl in the sea of white-houses in Puglia. Like Alberobello this paesino (extremely little town) has its own style of houses. Trulli disappear here and they are substituted for cummerse. These are narrow rectangular dwellings with pointed gable roofs.  Not the houses but the town’s plan gives the name to Locorotondo (i.e. “rotund”or “roundish”). The tiny settlement is a commune in the province of Bari. It’s situated on a hill which dominates the imposing valle d’Itria (the Itria Valley) in south-east Murgia.

On a Singles Holiday in Tuscany

They are Elle and Laurie – two British maidens who are in their thirties. Laurie wants to get married and settle down desperately while Elle enjoys her independent life, adores her work and resists giving her heart to anyone from the stronger sex. Their lives, especially Elle’s, change completely when they both go on a singles holiday to one of the numerous vineyards in beautiful Tuscany. You would probably ask how.  Well, “You Had Me at Merlot” by Lisa Dickenson would give you the reply to your question.

This vacation for singles in a vineyard, in a winery, in a cellar in Italy offers these British maidens plenty of things. Elle is absolutely sure from the very beginning that she only wants to indulge in Tuscan wine and sun.

Campania Felix

If you ask people from Rome where Southern Italy starts from, they would answer you: “To the South of the capital”. The residents of Florence would tell you that Southern Italy starts to the South of the Cradle of the Renaissance. But, actually, it starts from ….

New Life for More Than 1000 Days

I don’t know why but Italy is one of the countries where people come mainly for a self-discovery in novels and movies. Is it because of the fluids in the air, or its cuisine and wines, or maybe Italian men with these wet eyes, charming smiles and gentlemanly attitude towards women. 😉 Whatever the reason is, it’s true that middle-aged ladies, main characters from famous novels, do come to the sunny country and their new lives start namely here. One of them is Marlena de Blasi who has always been a famous food journalist and restaurant critic, a popular food and wine consultant, whose love story starts in Venice.