Delicious Italy

Savvy Venice - you must be joking!

We received an email from SavvyTravel based in London asking to swap links. 

A very precise request as the website wanted a link from a food tour related page in return for a link to their Venice shopping page.

All we can say is that when we read the SavvyTravel Venice comments on eating out in the lagoon city, we naturally declined.

Their page begins 'Venice is a great city - pity about the food'.

From their point of view the reference is strictly to the well beaten track around Saint Marks and there is some truth here.

But the overall tone is to suggest it's not even worth trying to discover the rich cuisine of the city because, in effect, it does not exist anymore.

And even if you do you'll be massively out of pocket.

According to SavvyTravel Venice, and the all too clear image in the left column of the page, you'd be better off at Burger King!

How ungenerous.

What is the scope of this website and on whose experience are these opinions based.

We want names.

www.travelsavvy-venice.com/eatingout

Lemon crush

Further to our first post about the new James Bond film being filmed by Lake Garda, it seems  not everything is going to plan.

Not only was a 250K Aston Martin DBS driven into the Lake on its way to the shoot location, but a couple of stunt men also escaped unhurt from another smash only yesterday.

Well, at least they do these things for real like in the old days. No CGI effects here, mate.

Also about this time of the year the annual stats come out telling us where the most dangerous roads in Italy are located. 

If even stuntmen are crashing high performance cars you may think the B roads around Lake Garda might be among them, but alas.

The most dangerous roads include the Pontina south of Rome and the Venice-Marghera by-pass.   

You will need one this spring near Lake Garda.

Croatia - land of truffles, fine wine and olive oil

'Croatia - land of white truffles, fine wine and olive oil'.

Not exactly, but the actual pay off line being used by the Croatian national tourism board is a lot more subtle in relation to their neighbour just over the Adriatic Sea.

That's Italy by the way.

The actual line is 'The Mediterranean As it Once Was' and it is a statement full of intent. 

But it is the Croatia Tourism Food ad which really sits up and looks you straight in the eyes

In particular the line our gastronomic friend in the spot relishes saying: 'the wine produced in Croatia was so good, it was considered the best in the Roman Empire'. 

http://press.croatia.hr/video%5Farhiva/

No April Fool

We thought this was an April Fool, but apparently not.

The Regione Lazio has decided to come out fighting against the recent buffalo mozzarella scare by distancing itself from its Campania cousins.         

The buffalo mozzarella produced south of Rome, typically in the province of Latina, is to be rebranded as 'Collosella' with obvious references to gladiators and lions.

Apparently, 10% of all buffalo mozzarella is made in Lazio.

If we can make a couple of observations.

Firstly, in our humble opinion, the Italian buffalo mozzarella industry should be closing ranks and putting together a concerted Pr and advertising campaign for the benefit of all.

Secondly, branding and marketing initiatives need to be treated with great care and not a little prior research. What is the image of buffalo mozzarella abroad today?  Does anyone care where buffalo mozzarella is made in Italy? Is 'Collosella' the right communication? 

Osella by the way is a famous brand of cheese from Piemonte distributed across Italy. What do they think?

www.fattorieosella.it