• About

Notes from Here

~ John Zillioux

Notes from Here

Category Archives: Florence

Firenze

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by john zillioux in Florence, Italy, Night Photography, Personal Work, Style Me Pretty, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Brodo di Giuggiole, Florence, Style Me Pretty

© John Zillioux 2012 All Rights ReservedJust returned from a great trip to Florence.  I love Florence. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. I’m always torn between declaring either Venice or Florence as my favorite. The photographer in me loves Venice – it’s so theatrical, has such great art, food and one can look anywhere and see beautiful images waiting to be taken (some of them can be seen here). It’s like a stage set, all velvet with gold leaf. But Florence is special. It’s masculine – marble, wood and leather.   I love the scale of the old city, the pace, the style, the sophistication …  the grace of the people.  I’ve been there many times and never tire of it.  Was married there. My daughter was just married there (here’s a link to a “Style Me Pretty” feature post of the wedding).

© John Zillioux 2012 All Rights Reserved© John Zillioux 2012 All Rights Reserved

I also love the Art: The Uffizi, Medicci Chapel, The Bargello, Bobili Gardens, Santa Croce, The Accademia, etc, etc, etc.  If that isn’t enough there’s the food – fried zucchini flowers, sage leaves with anchovies, Steak Florentine, Ribollita, the olives, Vino nobile di montepulciano, Brunello Di Montalcino … the flavors of Tuscany are spectacular. Florence was also were I first tasted Brodo di Giuggiole, an amazing digestivo made in Arquà Petrarca in the Padua region. This after dinner liqueur is made from the dried jujube fruit (the family Rhamnaceae), commonly known as the Chinese Date. A fruit tree which was originally imported from Syria 1000’s of years ago.  Most digestivos and Amari are some sort of bitter concoction made with multiple ingredients enjoyed at the end of a large meal in an effort to “settle the stomach”; a soothing period at the end of a culinary paragraph.  Brodo is similar,  but in contrast, it is sweet, very sweet.  Generally, I’m not a fan of sweet drinks, just doesn’t work for me. But there is something about Brodo di Giuggiole that is different.  I first tasted it at my wedding luncheon. A gastronomic celebration that lasted about 5 hours with an enormous multi-course meal at La Terrazza del Principe.

©John Zillioux All Rights Reserved

At the end, Nico brought out a stubby dark bottle and set it on the table. “No thanks”, I told him “I’ve had too much champagne, too much wine, too much great food – not to mention your mother’s Limoncello” He said “No, no, try it, this is different; and it will complete the meal”.  –  I gave in and 5 minutes after a few sips of the Brodo di Giuggiole, that overly full sensation had completely vanished. What a wonder drink!  Before we left Florence, I tried every spirit and wine store in search of a bottle to bring home, but failed miserably. Most had never even heard of the stuff. I also looked for it on our travels to northern Italy with similar results.  Finally, while wandering by an out-of-the-way spirits shop in Verona (that was being used as a movie set) I spotted a single bottle in a shop window, begged the shopkeeper to take my money.  After explaining my quest, he smiled, nodded and I brought it home. Success. Finally! “Andare in brodo di giuggiole!!” (This is an old Italian saying roughly translated to mean “to be in raptures”, “to swoon” or “be over the moon” with happiness or pleasure)

Fair warning  – you can’t get it in the States; jeez, you can’t get it in most of Italy. I tried to get a couple of Italian wine and spirit importers in New York City to get a case for me – without success. So on this trip to Florence I called Sabina, Nico’s wife and brought back four bottles very carefully packed in my checked luggage.  Perhaps it’s good that some things are only available where they are made, it makes them more precious when one experiences them … but, it certainly is nice to have a bottle or so in reserve. Ciao!

Advertisements

Share this Via:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Blogroll

  • Faith Cameron Semmes – Portrait Painter
  • John Zillioux Tumblr Image Site
  • www.JohnZillioux.com

Charities

  • Animal Welfare Institute
  • Breast Cancer Research Foundation
  • Cureblindness.org
  • Pet Helpers of Charleston

Instagram Feed

... sunset with a touch of early spring weather.
... Cotton’s hoping this ride develops into something more than just one to the gate. #adoptdontshop #labofinstagram #stoppuppymills #makepuppymillsillegal
... ... foggy morning run with Cotton - spent more time looking than running - 07:46 January 2, 2019. #charleston #lowcountry #landscape in #fog

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

  • December 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011

Categories

  • 60 Second Portraits
  • Africa
  • Barn Series
  • Cellphone Images
  • Charleston
  • Florence
  • Food
  • Foxes
  • Hilltopping
  • Italy
  • Keswick
  • Landscape
  • Lifestyle
  • Music
  • Night Photography
  • On the Creek
  • Personal Work
  • Photography
  • Portraits
  • Rome
  • Style Me Pretty
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Virginia
  • Wildlife
  • Work

Pages

  • About

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.com
Advertisements

Copyright John Zillioux – All Rights Reserved

All Content on this Blog is Copyright John Zillioux. All Rights Reserved. No Images or Copy are in the Public Domain.

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: