Polenta: Italian Comfort Food

Polenta was not always prepared from ground corn. Italians came to know polenta in its present form only in the late 1700s, with introduction of maize to Italy from the New World. In the interim, since the 1550s polenta meant simply “crushed legumes or grain,” particularly barley. There are delicious modern polenta versions made from chickpea flour, native to the Italian Leguria Region.

The mashed grains or legumes were peasant food, and more often than not the grains, the only subsistence food impoverished people had, were moldy from lack of proper drying. When they had it, the peasants would add poor quality cheese or an onion to the mixture. This monotonous diet often led to sickness. Their food was filling, but not nutritious, because the human digestive system cannot extract the nutrients from the way the corn is processed, in contrast to the Amerindians who lived on corn [maize] but processed it differently. Italian peasants consuming nothing but polenta often contracted pellagra, caused by a nutritional deficiency in niacin and protein. The peasants had nothing else to eat, so they stuck with it.

Polenta has come a long way since then. As access to inexpensive protein and vegetables augment our modern, superbly tasty versions of polenta, the varieties of polenta preparations are astonishing, as are the ways it is served. Now it is usually attractive, with meat or fish on the side, sauced or simply with melted butter and or grated cheese, decorated with a colorful array of vegetables. Well-prepared polenta should be slightly creamy, with just a touch of “bite” left to the grain.

Each Italian housewife has her own favorite way of cooking polenta. The traditional way calls for stirring the dry grain into boiling water and keep stirring until the cooking process is finished. For those who want to try polenta but are daunted by the cooking process, ready-cooked polenta, often in the shape of a sausage, is available in larger grocery stores. It keeps well in the refrigerator until ready to be used. Simply follow the instructions on the package. Instant polenta that comes in a box is another option.

British Museum announces Italian Renaissance drawings exhibition

Delicate works by artists from Fra Angelico to Leonardo to include loans from the Uffizi in Florence.

The British Museum’s collection of Italian Renaissance drawings is so fragile that its masterpieces are exhibited only once in a generation.

Next summer a chance to see these delicate objects will finally come around, as the museum launches an exhibition, in partnership with the Uffizi in Florence, of works on paper by artists from Fra Angelico to Leonardo.

The 100 or so works will span the period 1400-1510 and artists including Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo and Raphael.

About half of the works will come from Florence, and some have never been shown in the UK before. Bringing the drawings from Florence together with those from London, said British Museum director Neil MacGregor, will “together allow a different reading of draughtsmanship from the period. It will allow a new engagement with this part of the Italian Renaissance.”

In typical British Museum style, the message is “only connect”; for the museum will at the same time mount an exhibition of West African sculpture of the same period. Works from the kingdom of Ife – a powerful, cosmopolitan city state in what is now Nigeria that flourished from the 12th to the 15th centuries – will form the focus of an exhibition for the first time outside Africa.

South Tyrol - Italian German Culture Clash

The close ties the region of the South Tyrol had with Germany was not something that went un-noticed by Mussolini and certainly did not meet his approval. Yet despite efforts by Mussolini to remove any trace of German origin, the Germanic traditions, culture and language have remained a part of this region to this day.

The lengths Mussolini went to to prevent this were extensive. The dictator Italianised not only the names of the towns, mountains and rivers but even went as far as to force the South Tyrolean people to adopt Italian family names. Schools were forbidden to teach in German and huge numbers of Italians were sent into the region to run both the government and industries as well as to tip the ethnic balance within the population.

The South Tyroleans, however insisted on clinging steadfastly to their cultural heritage, turning in the 1960’s to acts of terrorism in an attempt to gain more autonomy for the province. Today the atmosphere is once again peaceful as Italians and Germans live side by side accepting and even appreciating each other’s differences in a region which is now officially bilingual.

Italy - Places to see before you die - Vatican City

Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome.

At approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and with a population of around 900, it is the smallest country in the world by both population and area.

The Vatican City is a city-state that came into existence in 1929 and is thus clearly distinct from the central authority of the Roman Catholic Church, known as the Holy See, which existed long before 1929. Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian. Official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities even have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, only issues diplomatic and service passports; the state of Vatican City issues normal passports. In both cases the passports issued are very few.

The Lateran Treaty in 1929, which brought the city-state into existence, spoke of it as a new creation not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756-1870) that had previously encompassed central Italy. Most of this territory was absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, and the final portion, namely the city of Rome with a small area close to it, ten years later, in 1870.

Vatican City is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state, ruled by the Bishop of Rome — the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all clergymen of the Catholic Church. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See (Sancta Sedes) and the location of the Pope’s residence, referred to as the Apostolic Palace.

The Popes have resided in the area that in 1929 became the Vatican City since the return from Avignon in 1377. Previously, they resided in the Lateran Palace on the Caelian Hill on the opposite side of Rome, which was out of repair in 1377. The signing of the agreements that established the new state took place in the latter building, giving rise to the name of Lateran Pacts, by which they are known.