you must have understood by now that I travel a lot around the world. thanks to my experience I would like to focus my attention on a specific topic, the italian tourists.

first of all, an astonishing and incomprehensible fact: they are absolutely everywhere. new york? all italians. London? all italians. Bali? all italians. brazil? all italians. and so on… any place you go, in the furthest corner of the earth you will find a group of italian tourists. And how are these italian tourists!? as follows:

–  about their clothing: only super labels. “may these brazilians not think that we are poor!” so they wear hogan shoes, big chanel sunglasses, vuitton/gucci bags, moncler jacket and so on…

–  they always have a backpack, little backpacks, huge backpacks: I wonder what is inside. maybe one more jersey because you never know…

–  besides the backpack, with who knows what is inside, they are the only ones in the world with a magnificent leftover of the eighties: the fanny pack.   in there they keep the passport, the house keys, some dollars hidden extremely well (but everyone knows where they are) and all those other things they do not dare leaving in the hotel room (“I think the black maid is a thief, you can read it on her face”).

–  they are always and exclusively seeking italian food. italian pasta. italian espresso. everything that is local simply does not exist. they inevitably end up talking about their mother’s cooking.

–  on this italocentricity they only buy the same identical things they would buy in italy: for example, they go all the way to new york to buy calvin klein.

–  they inevitably speak aloud. actually, they shout: “HEY!!! COME OVER HERE, WAIT FOR AMBRI AND COMBRI!!!!”

–  children: it is rare that they bring them to that extremely dangerous place… london. if they do everything I said so far gets multiplied: these young thugs go unpunished with names like (kevin, jessica…) they are dressed as if they are going to the north pole with big labels, hovering angrily shouting at their parents: “ASSHOLES!!! THE APPLE STORE IS THIS WAY!!!!”

–  they do not speak a word of english. at most they dare (SHOUTING, obviously) the classic “NOIO VOLUVAN SAPER…”

–  as soon as they get off the plane they get on their cellphones and they call home reassuring that the extremely dangerous flight went very well and that they have landed safe and sound. ok, it was milan-paris, but one never knows of the dangers that lurk over the alps…

–  they do not mix: italians are always with italians. the others, even though they are from london and not from borneo, they are always wild, dirty and drunk.

–  no matter where they are they always compare it to some place to italy: maldivian beach!?? they know of a little beach in sardinia that is worth much more! a castle in the loire?!? have you ever seen the palace in caserta, it’s worth a thousand! they will end up saying “italy is the most beautiful country in the world, but we don’t know how to promote it!”

–  they travel, travel, travel (I wonder why!) but in the end they only want one thing: to go back home. in fact the secret is all there: italians do not travel for the pleasure of travelling, but for the pleasure of coming back home and especially to be able to tell their friends: “this summer? I went to the mauritius!”

there is great beauty here in south africa:

Often closed and fenced with barb wire, gates and even electricity.

bizarre metaphor for a common human condition: beauty is to be free, but amazingly no one wants to be really, preferring an empty beauty rather than concious freedom. freedom and beauty? freedom is beauty!

take off with panache

meditative and relaxed flight

and finally landing to a new rhythm

unfortunately I won’t be there, and I am very sorry because there are some really beautiful pieces.

for example there is a portrait by oliviero toscani of man ray (I never knew he did it, and the fact makes me very envious…), or the famous steam boat by gianni berengo gardin, or a massimo vitali, or even a nino migliori…

all of this tomorrow at the auction that will take place at 18:30 by the prestigious sotheby’s of milan.

I will also participate, with a photograph that seemed suitable, the one I took a few months ago in santo domingo in a plantation of sugar cane harvesters, evidently inspired by the  fourth state of pellizza volpedo.

AGGIORNAMENTO:

rain?!?

cold?!?

autumn?!?

winter is getting closer?!?

have no fear, this year we start early: we are already at the starting line of sportweek dreams 2013…

to follow the adventures, the backstages and whatever else make your way to the official facebook page.

…and this is the new image that we have created for the promotion of the whole project:

saturday at 18 there will be an auction here in milan and its proceeds will go to charity. Many interesting personalities will be involved.

water being the theme, how could I have not participated, especially not partecipate with this image?

I’d say it is worth going, even if only to watch the great mr. Luigi Salvioli at work hitting the hammer! 

simone, I promise: by the end of this week I will have written the other five rules…

for me cooking is very important. It’s not simply feeding, for me food is important as a cultural fact: the food talks about who we are, our traditions, our land, our culture.

to be interested in the food culture of a community (and in italy more than any other place in the world…) means to go deep into who we are, in what we come from, in what tells about us intimately what belongs to us.

I will be drastic, as usual, but I am convinced that people who eat badly (without conscience and aware of what they eat) is a poor fool.

I will be drastic, as usual, but I  am convinced that who goes to eat at mcdonalds is not simply someone who goes and eats badly, but above all is a poor fool.

I am therefore proud that SETTE, the weekly of the CORRIERE DELLA SERA,  asked me to write about my three favourite restaurants.

I chose three places from the heart: a restaurant in milan, not very milanese, simple but very good and inexpensive, a trattoria in the province, a bastion of the old trattorie of the past, and a three star michelin, simply the best restaurant in the world.

today on SETTE: