Flavor of Italy podcast

So you want to move to Italy? It's easy to fall in love with Italy on vacation, but what happens when you decide to make it your home? In this episode of Flavor of Italy, I'm joined by Caesar Sedek, creator of Caesar the Day and author of books designed to help you navigate a move to Italy. Drawing on Caesar's extensive research and my own 42 years of living here, we talk about everything from choosing the right town, Italian bureaucracy, learning the language, making friends, and becoming part of a local community. We also share some amusing stories about the realities of Italian life and why that charming hilltop village might look quite different on a rainy Tuesday in February. If you've ever dreamed of moving to Italy, this is a conversation you won't want to miss!

Discover the Amalfi Coast by Boat with Blue Star Positano There's something magical about seeing the Amalfi Coast from the water. The colorful villages clinging to the cliffs, hidden coves, sparkling Mediterranean waters, and breathtaking coastline are even more spectacular when explored by boat. This weekend I'm back in Positano, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to revisit my conversation with Elisabeth, who, together with her husband Pepe, owns and runs Blue Star Positano, a family-operated boat tour company right on Positano's beachfront. In this episode, Elisabeth shares a little about life in Positano and the boat excursions they offer, from small-group cruises where you can meet fellow travelers to private, custom-designed adventures along the coast. They also organize full-day excursions to Capri, but Elisabeth's real passion is sharing the extraordinary beauty of the Amalfi Coast, the place she and her family call home. Whether you're planning your first visit to Positano or returning to one of Italy's most enchanting destinations, this conversation offers a wonderful insider's perspective on exploring the coast by sea. Discover Blue Star Positano on their website and follow them on Instagram and Facebook to start planning your own Amalfi Coast adventure.

On October 16, the world celebrates World Food Day, an annual initiative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This year, one of its newest Food Heroes isn't an individual farmer, chef, or food entrepreneur. It's an entire community: Pollica, a small municipality in the Cilento area of southern Italy, where the Mediterranean Diet isn't simply a way of eating. It's a way of life. Pollica is a Mediterranean Diet UNESCO community, recognized for preserving the traditions and cultural practices that make the Mediterranean Diet so much more than a collection of healthy foods. Here, generations of fishermen, farmers, families, and local residents have maintained a close relationship with the land, the sea, and one another. Sustainable fishing, seasonal agriculture, shared meals, and the passing down of knowledge are woven into everyday life, and the community's FAO recognition is a celebration of the people who keep these traditions alive. I spoke with Sara Roversi, founder of the Future Food Institute, who has been working closely with the community of Pollica.

When I talked about Italian cheese with food and travel writer Eleonora Baldwin on the Flavor of Italy podcast, one of the things that struck me was just how much there is to know about a food most of us take completely for granted. Eleonora is a longtime cheese lover who has turned that fascination into part of her professional life. She created and hosted several seasons of AB Cheese for the Gambero Rosso television channel and has incorporated cheese tastings and cheese and wine pairings into her food and travel work.

The Joy of Salsas Across the Globe: When most of us hear the word salsa, we probably picture something red, tomato-based and perhaps fairly spicy, sitting alongside a bowl of tortilla chips. But salsa is a much bigger world than that. It can be fresh or cooked, red or green, fiery or mild, made with tomatoes, fruit, herbs, roasted vegetables or even ingredients you would never expect. Once you start thinking about fresh homemade salsas as simply combinations of good ingredients brought together to add flavor to a dish, the possibilities become almost endless.