I often use the guides by the Italian magazine Gambero Rosso to choose wines and restaurants. Wines are awarded one, two, or three glasses (bicchieri), trattorias one, two, or three shrimp (gamberi), and restaurants one, two, or three forks (forchette). My sweet … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Pascucci al Porticciolo*
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the fifth and final day … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 5: Friuli Aquileia
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the fourth day of our … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 4: Friuli Colli Orientali
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the second day of our … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 2: Collio
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. Last year the trip to Campania was … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 1: Grave
Le Calandre is the restaurant of chef Max Alajmo, which has held 3 Michelin stars since 2002. The chef was only 28 years old back then, and thus became the youngest chef with three Michelin stars of all time. This … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Le Calandre*** (2025)
When planning our trip to Sicily, the first thing I decided was that I wanted to return to La Madia after the wonderful dinner we enjoyed there in 2013. Chef Pino Cuttaia still holds two Michelin stars. The restaurant looked … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Madia** (2024)
This is the second part of the tour that I organized as a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). After a day of getting to know the wines of Sannio, we continued our exploration of Campanian … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 2: Costa d’Amalfi
My posts are not completely in chronological order at the moment, because the wine tour of Campania has already finished, but I have two more installments to post about that trip. After the trip I took the ferry to the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Dani Maison**
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and after the great wine trips with the association to Piemonte, Lombardia, and Australia, I have now organized a trip to Campania in Italy as a member … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 1: Sannio
This is the second part of a short series about the wine trip I made with a group of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). The first part was about our tour of Oltrepò Pavese. After that we … Continue reading Wine trip to Lombardia: Franciacorta
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and after the great wine trip to Piemonte last year, I joined this year’s trip to Lombardia. Our guide for the trip was Fred Nijhuis, just like … Continue reading Wine trip to Lombardia: Oltrepò Pavese
This was our third meal at Ristorante Ispinigoli, after earlier visits in 2017 and 2019 that I did not blog about. The hotel and restaurant is located in the mountains on the east side of Sardinia, near the town of … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Ispinigoli
Fradis Minoris is a fish restaurant on the southern coast of Sardinia in the town of Pula that has just received its first Michelin star. It is located on the dam that separates the lagoon of Nora from the open … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Fradis Minoris*
Our last dinner in Campania for this trip was at Taverna Estia, where we wanted to return after our great experience there 4 years ago. In the meantime they added outdoor seating. It is a family business with Mario Sposito … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Taverna Estia** (2022)
Chef Peppe Guida has two restaurants: Antica Osteria Nonna Rossa with a Michelin star, and an agriturismo called Villa Rosa di Nonna Rosa. The produce used at both restaurants comes from the agriturismo, from farm to table. We had dinner … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Villa Rosa di Nonna Rosa
For our 5th dinner at Torre del Saracino (and some other restaurants in this area) we made a bit of a detour, because the primary destination of our vacation is Sardinia. We were seated at the table in the corner … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Torre del Saracino** (2022)
Lo Stuzzichino is just around the corner from Don Alfonso in Sant’Agata Sui Due Golfi. It is an osteria that has been recognized by many guides as one of the best trattorie in Italy, including tre gamberi by Gambero Rosso. … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Lo Stuzzichino
We really enjoyed our first dinner at Don Alfonso 1890 in 2018, so it was the perfect restaurant to start off this year’s culinary adventures in Italy. This is a family business, run by two brothers and their mother. Apart … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Don Alfonso 1890** (2022)
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and for the first time I went on a wine trip organized by them. Piemonte is a large region and we did not visit all of it, … Continue reading Wine trip to Piemonte: Dogliani, Roero, and Barbera d’Asti
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and for the first time I went on a wine trip organized by them. This is the second article in a short series, in which I describe … Continue reading Wine trip to Piemonte: Barolo
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and for the first time I went on a wine trip organized by them. Although I’ve been to Piemonte myself on a number of occasions, those were … Continue reading Wine Trip to Piemonte: Nizza and Barbaresco
D’O is the restaurant of chef Davide Oldani in the town of San Pietro all’Olmo, just outside of Milano. The restaurant does not only hold two regular Michelin stars, but also one green star for sustainability. There are three degustation … Continue reading Dining in Italy: D’O**
The Pretzhof is a farm with a restaurant in Alto Adige/Südtirol, near the border with Austria. It is 1000 km from home and we can sleep in the camper on the parking lot of the restaurant, so it is the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Pretzhof (2021)
This was our 4th visit to Laite, a restaurant in the ski resort town of Sappada in the North-East of Italy, close to the Austrian border. Just the way the restaurant looks tells you that Austria is not far away. … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Laite* (2021)
Four years ago we had a fantastic experience at Enoteca Pinchiorri, click here for my review of that dinner. Back then I already decided we would be back for an even better experience at “grand cru” rather than “premier cru” … Continue reading Enoteca Pinchiorri*** (2021)
Pepe Nero had attracted my attention as one of 24 restaurants in all of Italy that had been awarded “best value for money” in the 2021 edition of the Gambero Rosso Ristoranti d’Italia guide. And as the only one of … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Pepe Nero
Trattoria La Coccinella was one of the first restaurants I wanted to return to when I was thinking about what we were going to do this trip. We had only eaten there once before, in 2010, but I can still … Continue reading Dining in Italy: La Coccinella
Piazza Duomo is the restaurant with 3 Michelin stars of chef Enrico Crippa in the town of Alba in Piemonte. We haven’t visited this area for a while, and therefore our last visit was in 2014. This was our 4th … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Piazza Duomo*** (2021)
Le Casa della Saracacca is a winebar/restaurant (they also have rooms) in the old town of Monforte d’Alba in the Barolo area of Piemonte. It is housed in a medieval building with a modern construction of steel, cables, and glass … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Le Case della Saracca
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