Italian Blog
Genoa Flash Flood : Stuck again!
Last night was quite a rough one here in Genoa. As you probably know I work as a consultant for a studio in Genoa which involves designing Cruise Ships since 1992. Back in 2011 on the day of my birthday a flash flood ran through the city creating havoc and blocking all transport in and out of the city. I was lucky enough to catch the last train to Milan but it took 6 hours to get back home (this usually is a 2 hour trip). Obviously it was a mess with my wife waiting to celebrate my birthday but having to delay stuff.
Here is a video that highlights the extent of what that was like:
Well now I am stuck again! Last night a flash flood covered the city again. To play it on the safe side I have taken the day off and laying low here in Camogli since they are expecting another huge storm to hit the city during the day.
On now on to some pretty impressive footage from last night:
Will try to re-enter Milan tomorrow by car! Let’s see how that goes!
Nazim
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Parma lunch break!
Last week we were in Parma visiting and preparing new material for Casa Chiesi (nice stuff I must add) and I must add that with the beauty of this great city…the food is to die for! Since we did not have much time to enjoy a nice restaurant I decided to hit the local cold cuts supplier! Check out this small video teaser….Food porn at it’s best!
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Camogli: How I love thee
If you ask any Italian from the north of Italy were Camogli is you’ll receive as an answer a languid sigh “ ah, Camogli !”. I was lucky enough to have a father that grew there and a mother that used to go on holiday in the same place back in the late forties.
Three are the highlights of this landscape piece of art: Panavision sunsets, irresistible focaccia’s and a fakir big stones beach that keep away the unmotivated visitors. I sometimes know tourists routes work like our synapses (preferring to follow known paths) and most of the American traveler tend to go to Le 5 Terre but make the effort to change the trend and have a look to this perfectly preserved Ligurian corner.
Betti
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Fall is here: Chestnut Harvest
As most of you know we have the fortune of having a small country retreat up in Val Tidone which provides us with an escape valve to run away to over the weekend. One of the marvels that occur each year around the month of October is the arrival of fresh chestnuts in the back woods close to the house. These tend to be relatively small in size but quite tasty, to say the least. As you can imagine Betti can get a bit aggressive when it comes to picking them!
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Old Fiat 500s-600s
Ever since I arrived in this country I have always had one dream: buying an original Fiat 500 from the 50’s era. Yes, I know that I am not a car buff but once I saw one of these jewels roaming the streets of Milan I just had to have one! Considering that now it is an object that will catapult you towards Hipster stardom (obviously they have become harder to find!) it is a challenge to tear one of these baby’s away from the so called “in crowd”
If you want to read up on the story behind these beautiful vehicles:
Wikipedia on Fiat 600’s
Wikipedia on Fiat 500’s
Maybe we can put a Casa Chiesi Logo on the side doors just like Herbie had!!!
Nazim
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A Chiesi Wedding
There is nothing better than a nice Italian wedding in my book Especially if it’s my sister-in-law the one that is getting married! Last Friday we had the pleasure of staying over at her closest friends beautiful house and partaking of such a great event! For the occasion she decided to simplify the process (a typical Italian wedding is a four to five course meal that goes on for hours with people just stuffing themselves like there is no tomorrow!) and provide a nice combined full platter buffet (one for cold cuts and the other one for diverse cheese: Parmigiano, gorgonzola, smoked buffalo mozzarella along with extra stuff to long to mention!).
To close out the evening we had a huge Paella (for about 150 guests so the size of the pan was huge! 1.5-meter diameter!) and a lovely cake with a couple of singers and bands!! Check out the video!
Obviously, it was a super exciting event considering that all sisters love our new brother-in-law and my mother-in-law approved (that’s amore!)
The Chiesi Clan: Elisabetta, Simone and Patty (the one that got married)
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Summer is over!!! Bye bye Ca Bazzari!
We just got back into Milan today after a wonderful 3-week break from all the hectic running around and left our wonderful summer house (small house but great none the less!). The strange thing is that this year we had a really strange summer: mostly cold, rainy and yucky to say the least! On the last day here as we woke up and looked outside our small cottage window the sun was bright, the sky was blue and a strange feeling of having been tricked settled into our hearts!
Maybe the best way to express this is in a video:
And to follow some wonderful memories of a great summer with our dear friends who came down to visit from London. Michael Corsar (the guy with the beard) worked with a major design studio in Milan, Italy for close to a decade before getting married with Susan (a wonderful chef who has worked at St. Johns in London) and moved back to the City (London). On a whim of the moment, they decided to book the tickets and spend the beginning of August in the countryside along with our other dear friends Carlo and Yvonne who also own a nice country house about 5 minutes from our place. At the end of the stay and before heading back to London, Michael looked over at me while we had one of many glasses of Gutturnio red and told me: you have no idea how I miss Italy and the Italian way of life….Can I say that I understood and felt a strong emotion for which words can never express…yes, my friend I can believe it!
Nazim
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Backstage Casa Chiesi Trailer video shooting
While on Holiday’s we prepared some fun stuff for our dear friend Jeff Sieh so that he can work on a super cool Casa Chiesi video intro for us.
Here is a bit of a backstage peek so you get the idea…Our daughter Zoe was involved in the photo shoot and she was quite severe with the models involved!
Photos:@Zoe Beltran
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A Val Tidone Summer
Most people marvel at the fact that Italians really enjoy and can afford the long summer holidays. When the month of July comes to the conversation in most Italian office’s centers around inquiries towards which beach is the best or how long are you taking off this year? (a typical Italian summer break can hover between two weeks to a whole month..)
When most of our friends come and visit us in August, they tend to marvel at the fact that everything is closed and wonder how can the economy of such a country withstand the full or partial closure for a whole month! We just tell them to sit back and relax as we pour another glass of wine over a wonderful summer dinner in a nice location.
This year we decided to take off the first three weeks of August and head to the Val Tidone area where we are lucky enough to have a small country house precisely in the location of Casa Bazzari which is up in the hills at around 700 meters above sea level.
The great thing about our location is that serene calm and quite govern Ca Bazzari (there are roughly 20 houses in this small locality with about 35 people living here). The not so great thing is the terrible internet connection which drives my husband crazy but at least gives me a chance to have him for myself during the break (although he managed to find a sliver of connection upstairs in the right corner by the old doll house!).
As I look out towards the beautiful Italian hills from our garden while trying to figure out how long my husband can survive without a decent connection I secretly feel the blessing that is an Italian summer! E viva!!
Photos:@Zoe Beltran
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Welcome to Casa Chiesi!
It is with love and affection that we would like to invite you to Casa Chiesi!
After some major fussing, brain storming and dwelling on Google+ along with the encouragement of dear friends such as Mia Voss,Chef Dennis Littley and Wayne Nix we have taken the plunge and decided to open Casa Chiesi.
We hope to be able to provide you with an insight to all things that make Italy wonderful in our eyes from the point of view of a couple that has been living here for the last 23 years.
Enjoy!! e che iniziano le danze! (and let the dance begin!!!)
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