Semolina. In English, the coarsely-ground meal resembling polenta milled from triticum durum or durum wheat. In Italian supermarkets, often comes in convenient 250 gram-sized packets for making soups, gnocchi, puddings and Italian babies’ first primi….

We knew we wanted to go away, switch off and relax for a few days after the New Year. The ideal location would be Italian, filled with good food and wine, but not too far…

I got lots of lovely presents this Christmas. There was the gorgeous waxed canvas handbag with leather trimming that doubles as a camera bag from TP. Friends, colleagues and students gave me some handmade cards…

No matter what I do, Christmas always seems to arrive too quickly. And this year is no exception. At least this time, however, I can say I anticipated the onslaught of additional tasks and deadlines…

I came close to throwing in the towel with this one. I was going to contact my fellow Cucina Conversations bloggers and say, I’m sorry but I won’t be joining you with an olive oil-related…

That time of year is upon us again. It’s the season Giacomo Castelvetro, Inquisition refugee and author of the 1614 manuscript The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy, described as per la bocca (‘for tasting’)….

I had quite the epiphany a couple of years ago when I first read John Dickie’s highly readable account of Italian food and culinary history, Delizia. In the book’s second chapter, after describing Palermo’s totemic…

The almost eerie perfection of the Baroque reconstruction in Sicily’s Val di Noto. The twelfth century church three metres below street level in the same island’s port city of Messina. The ghost town of Romagnano…

In Italy, the month of August means three things: intense, unrelenting heat; putting chiuso per ferie (‘closed for holidays’) signs on the doors of shops and small businesses because it’s impossible to work; and, escaping to a…