Saturday 8 January 2011

Two stories

Rombo = Turbot
Spigola = sea bass.
Alici = Anchovy
cozze = mussel

These are the fish most commonly found in Italy in restaurants. The alici = anchovy is the other common fish, this is not the salty anchovy found in North America and so disliked, who has not heard the famous whine no anchovy on my pizza. This is a fresh fish bought at the market like any other fresh fish, it is often simply grilled or it is served in a lemon and fresh parsley dressing. The Alici is larger than a sardine same color. As for the Spigola or the Rombo, most often they are grilled or baked and served with roast potatoes with some rosemary, there is also a Sardinian recipe which comes with a sauce made of celery, black olives, fresh tomatoes. As for pasta very often and by far the most popular dish is spaghetti with fresh tomato and mussel = cozze sauce.
Spigola baked with roasted potatoes.

So last night we had a spigola baked and served with roasted potatoes, one spigola is enough for 2 adults. It's a very good fish, rich texture, a little fat, in a word delicious. Very easy to do at home and simply served with a bit of lemon juice. We had a rosé Emira from the Lazio, the province around Rome, Tenuta Tre Cancelli Vineyard.

Today we went to visit the newly renovated Braschi Palace which houses a branch of the Rome Museum. Because this year Italy is celebrating 150 years of Unity as a country, (1861-2011) with the victory of the Italian people and the forces of Garibaldi putting an end of the theocratic government of Pope Pius IX. The Holy See installed a theocratic government from the 4th century to 1860 and put down many revolts by the Italians who wanted a democratic government. Currently there is a special exhibit on the Risorgimento (re-birth). The exhibit shows the many battles, all very bloody opposing the Pope to the Italian people. The Pope called on Spain, France and Austria, 3 Catholic countries to suppress the Italians.
Triumphal return of the Pope to Rome, April 1850, escorted by French troops. Notice the lack of ordinary folk.


(from Wikipedia)
Palazzo Braschi is a large Neoclassical palace in Rome and is located between the Piazza Navona, the Campo de' Fiori, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Piazza di Pasquino. It presently houses the Museo di Roma, the civic museum of Rome.
The famous Bersagliere regiment breaking through Porta Pia 20 September 1860, thus liberating Rome.

It was built by the papal nephew Duke Luigi Braschi Onesti, to designs by Cosimo Morelli. The site was purchased in 1790 by Braschi, supported by funds from Pope Pius VI; Braschi demolished the 16th-century palace that Giuliano da Sangallo the Younger had built for Francesco Orsini in order to erect his own from the ground up. Construction was suspended in February 1798 during the Napoleonic occupation of the city, when the French temporarily took possession of it until 1802 and confiscated the recently-acquired collection of antiquities it contained (though Braschi was reimbursed for them). In 1809, when Rome was declared an Imperial city by Napoleon, Duke Luigi moved into the palace and was declared mayor.
The new King of Italy, Vittorio Emmanuelle II of Savoy, pointing to Rome City Hall, Campidoglio.

On his death in 1816 the palace remained unfinished and the family funds depleted. In 1871 the Braschi Onesti heirs sold the building to the Italian State. During the Italian fascist period, it was used as the political headquarters of Benito Mussolini. After the war, it housed 300 refugee families and many of the interior frescoes were seriously damaged by the fires they lit to keep warm. 
Piazza Navona, looking at the Palazzo of the Embassy of Brazil and the church of St-Agnes in Agony.

Afterwards we had lunch in Piazza Navona, something we never do because the prices are x2 what they would  be in any other restaurants in Rome, you pay for the view, but we did not feel like walking around. It was a very nice warm day today around 16 C not bad for winter in Rome.

2 comments:

  1. How is the Vatican responding to his event?
    Does Italy see itself still much/not at all connected to the Vatican?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Vatican or Holy See is not saying much so far. But since 1929 they have the Lateran Treaty with the Italian State, so the Vatican may just try to ignore the hole thing or try to reinterpret history and claim the fighting was all a big misunderstading. A bit like what the Holy See did with Galileo and his theories. The Holy See rejected his theories on the universe and threatened him with death. Today the Holy See claims it was all a big misunderstanding, no harm done. Most Italians I know and from what I read in the newspapers here show that Italians have learned to live with the meddling of the Vatican but resent it, they are two separate States so why does the Pope always meddle in Italy's affairs.

    ReplyDelete