The Perfect Fig, a Short Story Collection for Summer Reading
Flavor of Italy podcast
If you’re in search of short story collections to dive into this summer, The Perfect Fig by S.M. Walker should top your list. In this week's episode of the Flavor of Italy podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Sharon Walker, the English-born, Italy-based author behind this charming and thoughtful work. With a cover featuring luscious figs—my favorite fruit and one I grow myself—this book caught my attention before I read a single page. It turns out that the stories inside are just as irresistible.
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PIWI Wines and Vines
Flavor of Italy podcast
How Fungus-Resistant Vines Are Shaping the Future of Italian Wine A few decades ago, “PIWI wines” sounded like something out of a laboratory experiment. Today they are front-and-center in sustainable viticulture conversations from Alto Adige to Lake Garda—and for good reason. PIWI is an acronym drawn from the German Pilzwiderstandsfähige, meaning “fungus-resistant” vines. These precision-bred crossings can fend off downy and powdery mildew with far fewer chemical treatments than classic Vitis vinifera varieties, offering a timely solution as climate change makes summers ever hotter...
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Cycling Tours in Italy
Flavor of Italy podcast
Why Italy Feels Made for Cycling Tours Italy’s compact geography offers an unmatched cycling playground: from winding olive-lined lanes to vineyard-cloaked hills, dramatic mountain passes, and coastal stretches with endless views. Unlike the vast and often segregated landscapes of Australia or the United States, Italy’s countryside roads wind directly through life—farmers in the fields, shepherds with their flocks, hill towns clinging to ridge-lines. As A’qto owner Nancy notes, Italian drivers are often courteous and welcoming to cyclists, sometimes even pulling over so riders can take...
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Broken Madonna debut novel & Marian Apparitions
Flavor of Italy podcast
In Atina, in the mountainous heart of Lazio, far from Rome's bustling piazzas and tourist crowds, a young girl claims to have seen the Madonna (a Marian Apparition). Her story, quiet yet profound, forms the core of Broken Madonna, the debut novel by Anna Lucia. The book explores one of the most mysterious and emotionally charged phenomena in Catholic tradition: the Marian apparition. A Marian apparition is said to occur when the Virgin Mary appears to an individual or group, often children, conveying messages of faith, hope, or warning. Some of the most famous include Lourdes in France and...
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Italian Documentary Photography
Flavor of Italy podcast
Italy’s Mother Trees, Fishery Valleys, Endangered Wildlife and Invasive Species When we think of Italy, our minds often turn to Renaissance art, Roman ruins, and unforgettable food and wine. But the soul of Italy is also found in its landscapes—its ancient trees, forgotten wetlands, and endangered species—and few people capture these overlooked treasures and environmental challenges better than documentary photographer Elisabetta Zavoli.
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The Blue Crab Crisis in Italy
Flavor of Italy podcast
The aggressive blue crab, a voracious predator, is devouring Italy's beloved clam population, now decimated by as much as 90% since 2023. This is a crisis you need to follow: listen today!!! Before we dive into this urgent environmental and culinary crisis affecting Italy today, I want to take a moment to celebrate something close to my heart: this is the 250th episode of the Flavor of Italy podcast! That’s 250 episodes dedicated to exploring Italian food, wine, culture, and the incredible people behind it all. If you’ve been listening since the beginning or have just recently joined the...
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Pope Leo and the People's Conclave: A New Era Begins
Flavor of Italy podcast
Rome was buzzing this past weekend as something monumental unfolded: the selection of a new pope. And not just any pope. For the first time in history, the Roman Catholic Church has elected an American pontiff: Pope Leo XIV. I chatted with journalist Eric Lyman, a seasoned veteran of three papal elections—to discuss what made this conclave so unique, what led to Cardinal Robert Prevost's surprise selection, and what kind of leadership Pope Leo might bring to a divided global Church. We touched on questions like "where will he live?", what REALLY went on in the Sistine Chapel leading up to...
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Bomarzo Monster Park
Flavor of Italy podcast
Tucked away in the lush forests of northern Lazio, just over an hour’s drive from Rome, lies one of Italy’s most unusual and intriguing destinations: Bomarzo Monster Park. Known in Italian as Parco dei Mostri (Park of the Monsters), this 16th-century garden is unlike any other—part dreamscape, part nightmare, and entirely unforgettable. This isn't your typical Renaissance garden filled with symmetry and order. Instead, it’s a chaotic, magical labyrinth of gigantic stone monsters, mythological creatures, dragons, ogres, leaning houses, and mysterious inscriptions carved into stone....
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Biblioteca Angelical, a Hidden Treasure of Knowledge and History in Central Rome
Flavor of Italy podcast
Tucked away just around the corner from the bustling Piazza Navona, in the heart of Rome, lies one of the city’s most magical and often overlooked gems: the Biblioteca Angelica. Founded in 1604, this remarkable library is one of Europe’s oldest public libraries, created with a revolutionary vision for its time—free and open access to books and knowledge, regardless of social standing or class. It was a bold idea, and one that continues to resonate today. Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of the Biblioteca Angelica is its collection of books that were once deemed heretical or...
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Blue Crab in Italy: From Ecological Crisis to Culinary Opportunity
Flavor of Italy podcast
If you've ever cracked open a sweet, succulent blue crab in the United States, you know how beloved this shellfish is across the East Coast. But in Italy, the story of the blue crab is far more complicated—and, until recently, largely untold. This invasive species, once a stranger to the Mediterranean, is now causing ecological upheaval and threatening Italy’s prized seafood industry. In this episode, I spoke with marine biologist and entrepreneur Carlotta Santolini, co-founder of BluEat and the all-women initiative Mariscadoras, to learn about the growing blue crab...
info_outlineHow Fungus-Resistant Vines Are Shaping the Future of Italian Wine
A few decades ago, “PIWI wines” sounded like something out of a laboratory experiment. Today they are front-and-center in sustainable viticulture conversations from Alto Adige to Lake Garda—and for good reason. PIWI is an acronym drawn from the German Pilzwiderstandsfähige, meaning “fungus-resistant” vines. These precision-bred crossings can fend off downy and powdery mildew with far fewer chemical treatments than classic Vitis vinifera varieties, offering a timely solution as climate change makes summers ever hotter and more humid in key wine regions.
Listen to this episode to understand what's going on in this sector, see some photos and links to explore even further!