Rapini is a vegetable with multiple identities. It’s a green, leafy vegetable with buds that resemble broccoli, but aren’t broccoli. In the United States it’s on produce shelves as both rapini and broccoli rabe. In Italy it varies by area of the country. In Rome it’s broccoletti and in Naples friarelli. If it’s a favorite of yours and you are in Puglia ask for cime di rape (direct translation: ”turnip tops”).
View of Lake Bracciano from Anguillara Sabazia
This Sunday is the 15th Broccoletti in Piazza at Anguillara Sabazia’s Piazza del Molo. A lakeside medieval town on Lago di Bracciano, Anguillara Sabazia is 19 miles northwest of Rome by car or 40 minutes by train. Named after the Anguillara family that ruled the area until 1488, the name was changed in 1872 to add Sabazia, after an ancient city located near current day Trevignano Romano.
The food stands will be serving broccoletti deliciously prepared by blanching then cooking in frying pans with some local sausage. Planted last fall, this feast is held on the first Sunday in March to capture the broccoletti at peak harvest time and promote it. Year-round agricultural production in the area includes: pumpkin, peppers, tomatoes, beans, peas and squash.
#broccoletti #anguillarasbazia #turismobracciano #lazioinfesta #anguillaraturismo #rapini
Broccoletti in Piazza Event Website
Anguillara Tourism Information
Bracciano Tourism Information Site
Spring has already sprung in Agrigento, Sicily. Originally founded as a Greek colony in 581 BC and called Akragas, Agrigento has been, at various times, ruled by Byzantines, Romans and Arabs. The Greek presence is perhaps most felt at the Valle dei Tempi, home to five temple ruins that draw visitors from around the globe.
If you didn’t make it to Mardi Gras in New Orleans to celebrate Fat Tuesday, hop over to the Tuscan Coast of Italy for one of four remaining carnival parades. Multiple carnival celebrations take place throughout Italy at this time each year. What makes the 143 year old #CarnevalediViareggio special is its size and artistic pageantry. Over 200,000 spectators attend the month-long series of events showcasing fabulous floats along 3 kilometers of the palm-tree lined promenade by the sea.
The Venice Carnival festivities begin this weekend. Over a period of two weeks there will be costumed parades, masquerade balls and costume contests. There are more than 50 related events in Venice and nearby providing entertainment, live music and theater. The 2016 Carnival theme is “Creatum -introducing Arts and Traditions”; honoring the craftspeople that have kept traditions alive. The amazing colorful costumes and elaborate masks are a feast for the eyes. Traces of the festivities we see today began as early as 1192. The modern-day Venice Carnival was instituted in 1979, after many periods of stop and start, including being banned by the fascist regime of Mussolini in the 1930s.
The mask-makers, called “mascherari”, traditionally had their own craftsmen guild and set of laws. One of the main highlights is the beautiful mask contest “la maschera più bella”. Held the last weekend of the carnival celebrations, entrants are judged by a panel of international fashion and costume designers. 
lisa loves to travel 