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This is the blog of Steve Burkett of Italy, Our Italy

Transforming for Light Within

Kind of a mysterious title, isn’t it?

“Even with my iPhone, I crop the ‘keepers’ by clicking on that ‘Edit’ text”

It’s not some sort of Zen thingie, but one of my photo transformations…this one taking a daylight scene, converting it to night, but adding a bit of light spilling out into the night.

Enough said…let’s get started.

The Original Snapshot

As always, we start with the raw snapshot that I captured “in the field’…this ‘field’ being the charming Piemonte town of Barolo.

As I often do, I captured my subject as a panorama…this one being composed of these 3 shots.

And alas, the three photos combined into a panorama…but a very small panorama, I must admit.

Oh my, why did I bother?! But, I had something in mind at the time. So, trust me…and stick with me for just a couple of minutes to see where this is going.

Mailbox Removal, Please

Let’s remove that large, ugly mailbox from the door.

Done…no mailbox.

Crop It

Now I’ve cropped in to my satisfaction. I recommend cropping almost any photo one takes. It is not often that when we snap we get a desirable composition. Even with my iPhone, I crop the ‘keepers’ by clicking on that ‘Edit’ text to work on the crop of the photo. There is most always a significant improvement.

Cropped to an 8x10 format

Saturate It

Now it’s time to work on the color, contrast, and such. So, just below, you see a more colorful scene.

An increase in the color

Day to Night and Cast the Light

For the finished image, I wanted to darken the photo into an early evening timeframe. That means that I added a bit of blue to any part of the photo that would not be lit from within. And there is that mysterious light within that I mentioned earlier. And that light had to spill out in a warm way onto the brick pavers just outside the doors.

So, here you have the finished photo…going from that ugly panorama to today’s completed transformation.

The finished transformation

So that’s it for today. I took a blah scene and transformed it into the way that I would have wanted to find it in the quaint town of Barolo…and yes, that’s from whence ‘The King of Wines’ (Barolo) hails.

We’ll add this to the list of completed transformations that you saw just last week collected into one place.

Until next time…

Ciao for now,

Steve

Provinces, Comuni & Regions of Italy

Index of Articles

Until researching the nomenclature of the Italian political subdivisions, I was both ignorant of, and baffled by, the terms that I’d hear bandied about regarding Italian socio-political geography. I thought you might also be a bit baffled, so I decided that it’s high-time for all of us to know a bit more about these areas of Italy. It’s not too hard to understand.

There are 3 terms that you need to know: region, province, and comune. Think of a region as a state in the US. And think of a province as a county, or parish. And then think of every square inch of Italy as being located in one comune or another.

COMUNE (plural is Comuni)

We hear a lot about Italian towns like Roma, Venezia, Milano, Napoli, and the other big towns of Italy. In the US, we would call these ‘municipalities’ or ‘townships’, but in Italy the word ‘comune’ is used to describe these political units.

The comune is the smallest political subdivision within Italy. There are 7,918 of them and all of Italy is contained within some comune. This is in stark contrast to the US, where non-municipal land abounds. Just below is a map showing all of the comuni of Italy

The ‘comuni’ of Italy

In the map above, can you spot the very large comune of Roma, which is about half way down the Italian coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. That little speck of a dot in the middle of the comune of Roma is another country…that being Vatican City.

Now, with a bit of enlargement of northern Italy below, it gives you a better idea of how the 7,918 comuni are organized. I’ve circled (from left to right) Turino, Asti and Milano. As you can see, those municipalities are much larger than their surrounding counterparts, and they are like islands in a sea of the other comuni.

A comune is where you would get your birth certificate, or the death certificate of another (obviously not your own), get your deed registered, pick up a marriage license, etc.

You can see a complete list of the 7,918 comuni/municipalities here.

The comuni of northern Italy

The largest comune is Roma, which is about 25 miles in diameter, and has a population of 2,761,477 inhabitants. You undoubtedly (I have faith in you!) found the comune of Roma, earlier. The smallest comune is Atrani, which tips in at only 1,300 feet in diameter, has only 832 people.

Again, for a comune, think municipality/town/township/city, but with a bit of the flavor of a county.

PROVINCES

The next political subdivision is the ‘province’. Think of a province as being like a US county, or parish if you live in Louisiana. There are 107 provinces in Italy.

The smallest areas shown on this map are the provinces. For now, ignore the darker lines and the shading differences.

The ‘provinces’ of Italy

REGIONS

Then, we come to the largest of the institutional, geo-political bodies, the ‘region’. There are 20 regions, which you can see displayed in this map. Remember, these are like the states in the US.

On this map, you see the names of the regions, using the Italian nomenclature. For instance, we in the US call ‘Piemonte’ by the name ‘Piedmont’, and ‘Toscana’ by the name ‘Tuscany’, etc…don’t ask me why, and don’t get me started on that…Rome/Roma, Florence/Firenze, Venice/Venezia, etc.

The ‘regions’ of Italy, showing their Italian names

There you have it! The regions (states), provinces (counties/parishes), and comuni (municipalities) of Italy. Each region has its own special character…as well as characters. Some are influenced mostly by the sea. Others by their mountains. While others have lakes as their defining feature. And most have a good bit of wine in their makeup. And of course each region has their own, tasty foods, including the various locally-defined shapes of pasta…but that’s a subject for next week’s article!

Wouldn’t it be great to spend time in each of these regions?! I sure think so. Let’s plot out an all-inclusive route and get going!

Ciao for now,

Steve

An Evening in Barolo

If you are familiar with Italian wine, you know of Barolo wines (and I’m hoping that you have read my article on Renato Ratti winery here, where I described Barolo wines)…and you may be thinking that I mis-wrote above when I titled this article ‘An Evening IN Barolo’, as if I’m in a glass of Barolo wine. Though not a bad idea itself if one has a very large wine glass, I am referring to the town of Barolo, from which Barolo wines get their name.

The small town of Barolo is in the southern Langhe area, which is the area of the Nebbiolo grape vineyards that form the basis of Barolo wines…as well as Nebbiolo wines. And of course, we are in the Piemonte region of northern Italy.

This is the final article that concerns the Langhe vineyards and wine producing area of Piemonte. The previous articles are as follows:

This article is heavy on photos, and low on verbiage. You will see charming buildings and a nice, simple dinner — so here goes.

Yes, those are real grapes!

On Piazza Municipio

75 or 59?

Letterbox detail

And if you are a circus fan, don’t fret, as the Circo Peppino Medini comes to town in September for 10 days. And, as it says, ‘the show is suitable for all ages’.

Only 50 meters to Osteria la Canti Nella

Piazza Falletti

A Bit of Shopping

As Barolo is king here…in the town of Barolo…it is readily available in the wine stores.

Earlier in the day, we had learned to cook Italian in a wonderful cooking class, and tajarin pasta was one of the pasta types that we prepared…found here in a small market.

The local butcher shop, or macelleria, carried many of our favorite meet products.

Dinner Time with the Famiglia Brezza

As the evening approached our dinner time, we decided on the comfortable Brezza family restaurant at the Hotel Barolo. Note that the sign has both Italian and English information, so do not fear travel in Italy because of language issues, as explained in a previous article here.

OK, we are in the town of Barolo, in the heart of the Piemonte wine country, so one should expect to see a lot of wine. But, we didn’t expect to see so many bottles in one place. The ristorante Brezza proudly displays their wine in the midst of the diners who will be enjoying them. Though Craig looks calm in the photo below, he is actually feeling a bit of angst about which wine he will choose during our dinner…so many wines, and so little time!

We chose an Arneis as our starter white wine, and it was as delicious as we had hoped.

How about a 60-year old Barolo?! The bottle below would cost you only $300 here in Italy. Or, if you wish, you can purchase a 90-year old Barolo Riserva from the same vintner for only $500. You will NOT find these prices in the US.

Here are some more prices for the Barolo d’epoca, or vintage Barolo wines, as sold here in Ristorante Brezza. Next time I return to this restaurant, I think I’ll splurge for a wine that was produced in my birth year!

Another meal and another toast as we enjoy a bottle of Barolo.

Just in case you are interested in the price of a meal in a typical small northern-Italian town, here is the menu.

By the way, do you like truffles? This area is famous for its truffles. There are both black truffles and white truffles, so you have a choice. But beware, as the white truffles are much more expensive. Did you notice at the bottom-right of the menu that you can get one shaving of a white truffle for about $31? Ouch!

Below you can see our risotto made with Barolo wine, veal sausages, and wild boar…all delish, of course.

Well, it’s time to head back to our lodgings. And we are well satisfied with our visit to the small town of Barolo, as well as our wonderful meal at Ristorante Brezza. We will find ourselves strolling the night laden streets to linger just a bit longer.

Ristorante Familia Brezza

Thank you for joining us on our stroll through the very quaint, very charming, town of Barolo. And also, we’re glad you joined us for dinner. That last Barolo toast? it was for you!

Ciao for now,

Steve

p.s. Join me next time as we leave the Barolo wine are of the Piemonte for Lake Maggiore.

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