Sustainability is a widely used word and perhaps also abused in certain contexts.

Often when we talk about sustainability, we think about the environment. Almost daily we hear increasingly heated debates about climate change, the careful use of natural resources such as renewable energies, and the precious preservation of water. Nature understood as the mother of everything, from which we cannot just take but we must also learn to respect and give back to through long-term sustainability ...

A delicious inland Tuscan dish… yes, inland because, in Tuscany, “baccalà” (salt cod) has always regarded as an inland ingredient, just like the herrings and anchovies sold in the most remote grocery stores, once considered peasant food but now hugely popular.

My childhood memories take me back to the grocery store in my town. On Wednesdays, the baccalà would be soaked in a marble tank just outside the door ahead of the popular ...

The word “bottega” conjures up the scent of wood and old memories. My grandmother’s wrinkled hand with which we’d cross a magical threshold. The smile of the shopkeeper, who’d ask, “Desidera?” (What would you like?) And the almost hypnotic dance between knives cutting prosciutto, hands touching cheeses, bread, and oily, crunchy schiacciate. Finally, the yellow paper that was wrapped around our purchases. “Anything else?” – “Yes, please.”

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“Rosa Fresca Aulentissima” is one of the most famous and quoted beginnings in Italian literature, drawn from the repertoire of thirteenth-century courtly poetry penned by the erudite and delicate Cielo d’Alcamo. Very few people are able to recite the rest of the verse, but many remember the suggestive double entendres whispered from one high school desk to another.

The rose is “the” flower: opulent, rich, seductive, highly perfumed, eliciting strong feelings and ...