I have always believed the most immediate way the intrepid traveler can experience the history of a city is to eat its food.
Venice is no exception. Among its many charming restaurants, imagine enjoying your repast sitting in a replica of an eighteenth century Venetian chair, fresh bouquets of flowers everywhere, wrought-iron chandeliers overhead and marble floors under your feet.
You can dine on scampi in a sauce of green peppercorns at such a ristorante, knowing that Thomas Mann or Ernest Hemingway supped there (Hemingway is said to have ordered a five-pound tin of Beluga caviar at Harry’s Bar).
Or enjoy the tempting smells of tomato and basil filling your senses, the bubbling cheeses, the perfect pillows of hand-made pasta.
Venice offers the traveler everything from the familiar (spaghetti with clams) to the exotic (pheasant), but after my speech and performance at La Biennale, I wanted pizza. No twenty toppings and gooey extra cheese for me. Real, authentic, perfect-crust pizza the way I remembered it from previous trips to Italy.
My Harlequin editor in Italy, Alessandra Bazardi, and I scoured the city’s narrow streets and canals, over bridges and through tiny squares, looking for pizza.
Darkness covered the city, making our search for pizza difficult, but I swear the gourmand ghosts of Venice’s past urged us on.
Somewhere, we knew, we’d find a pizza place open.
Around midnight, we spotted a lively outdoor restaurant ablaze with lights. And pizza. As you’ll see in my video, I enjoyed a fabulous pizza at Acqua Pazza on the Campo Sant’Angelo.
Delizioso!
Next week we'll wrap up my Venice Videos with the video of my adventure at La Biennale. You'll meet Alessandra from Harlequin and Lucia Da Re and Stefania Lora from La Biennale.
Here's the backstory:
I never dreamed when I wrote The Japanese Art of Sex: How to tease, seduce and pleasure the samurai in your bedroom, I would be speaking about geisha and performing Japanese dance at La Biennale in Venice, Italy, the oldest and most prestigious cultural arts festival in the world.
I also had the opportunity to sign copies of my Harlequin Spice novel, The Blonde Geisha, in Italian: Passioni di una Geisha.
Click on links below if you've missed previous posts re: Jina's Venice Videos:
Jina's Venice Videos: My Private Boat Taxi to Hotel Saturnia
Jina's Venice Videos: Hotel Saturnia: Jina’s room
Jina's Venice Videos: Jina takes you on a tour of Hotel Saturnia
Jina's Venice Videos: Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) and Gondolas
Jina's Venice Videos: Bookstores and Gelati Shops
Venice is no exception. Among its many charming restaurants, imagine enjoying your repast sitting in a replica of an eighteenth century Venetian chair, fresh bouquets of flowers everywhere, wrought-iron chandeliers overhead and marble floors under your feet.
You can dine on scampi in a sauce of green peppercorns at such a ristorante, knowing that Thomas Mann or Ernest Hemingway supped there (Hemingway is said to have ordered a five-pound tin of Beluga caviar at Harry’s Bar).
Or enjoy the tempting smells of tomato and basil filling your senses, the bubbling cheeses, the perfect pillows of hand-made pasta.
Venice offers the traveler everything from the familiar (spaghetti with clams) to the exotic (pheasant), but after my speech and performance at La Biennale, I wanted pizza. No twenty toppings and gooey extra cheese for me. Real, authentic, perfect-crust pizza the way I remembered it from previous trips to Italy.
Darkness covered the city, making our search for pizza difficult, but I swear the gourmand ghosts of Venice’s past urged us on.
Somewhere, we knew, we’d find a pizza place open.
Around midnight, we spotted a lively outdoor restaurant ablaze with lights. And pizza. As you’ll see in my video, I enjoyed a fabulous pizza at Acqua Pazza on the Campo Sant’Angelo.
Delizioso!
Next week we'll wrap up my Venice Videos with the video of my adventure at La Biennale. You'll meet Alessandra from Harlequin and Lucia Da Re and Stefania Lora from La Biennale.
Here's the backstory:
I never dreamed when I wrote The Japanese Art of Sex: How to tease, seduce and pleasure the samurai in your bedroom, I would be speaking about geisha and performing Japanese dance at La Biennale in Venice, Italy, the oldest and most prestigious cultural arts festival in the world.
I also had the opportunity to sign copies of my Harlequin Spice novel, The Blonde Geisha, in Italian: Passioni di una Geisha.
Click on links below if you've missed previous posts re: Jina's Venice Videos:
Jina's Venice Videos: My Private Boat Taxi to Hotel Saturnia
Jina's Venice Videos: Hotel Saturnia: Jina’s room
Jina's Venice Videos: Jina takes you on a tour of Hotel Saturnia
Jina's Venice Videos: Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) and Gondolas
Jina's Venice Videos: Bookstores and Gelati Shops
Jina's Venice Videos: Come with me on a walking tour of Venice
Jina's Venice Videos: Designer Boutiques
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12 comments:
You made me hungry this morning, Jina. As always Italy is wonderful. I'll be sad to see this series end.
I love this series, too. IMO, Italy is the most interesting country in all of Europe. Pizza looks good! We had it once there, but must not have been to the place you went. We found New York pizza much tastier.
I also had the opportunity to sign copies of my Harlequin Spice novel, The Blonde Geisha, in Italian: Passioni di una Geisha.
That's really cool, Jina!
I would love to go back to Italy one day.
I have a friend who toured Italy, & she's a foodie like me. She was blown away by the freshness of everything they ate. Even in the homes, shopping was done that day for that evening's meal.
Now my mouth is watering, Jina :) I'm loving your series on all things Italy!
Michelle,
Every time I look at that pizza, I get hungry, too, so I know what you mean!
I have one more video of Italy next week -- I'm so glad you've enjoyed the series!
As you indicated, Wynter, Italy has it all: food, history, music, architecture, beautiful flowers, sexy men...and pizza!
I love NY pizza, too! Biting into a cheesy pepperoni pizza is a NY moment not to be missed.
Victoria, how super to see you here! Thankz for stopping by.
Let me introduce Victoria to everyone: she is a fellow SPICE author with wonderful, sexy novels set in interesting time periods, including WWI.
Glad you enjoyed the video, Victoria.
Dalton, I lived in Tirrenia (near Livorno on the Italian Riviera) then Pisa for awhile--I would get up early and walk to the small shops and buy fresh produce, bread, etc. The big meal was always at lunch...
I remember once when my car battery was dead. It was around noontime so I walked to the mechanic shop down the street and asked for help.
"No problem, signorina," he told me. He'd be happy to help me--after he finished his meal, then he invited me to join him and his family! You gotta love Italy.
Savannah, thankz for your super comment about my Italian series. Next week I'll be wrapping up with a video about my appearance at La Biennale. An amazing experience to be sure.
OMG! I WANT PIZZA NOW! *grin* I'm drooling over that pizza margherita YUM!
I loved your comment, Anna, about drooling over the pizza. Me, too! Thankz for stopping by.
I always enjoy the story of how pizza margherita was named after a queen in 1889, the same year my novel, Naughty Paris, takes place! (thankz for allowing me to indulge in a little promo!)
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