Arcadia Italy

Written by Gregory Smith, professor of Food studies in the Arcadia Italy Program

Food is an aesthetic system, rooted in nature and human practices, and there is no better way to experience it than going to one of the many Italian regions and discovering their culinary traditions. We chose to organize our private food festival at Bomarzo, a small town located a few kilometers northwest of Rome and the home of the artist Tommaso Cascella. Like many prominent Italian artists, Tommaso hosts more than artworks, including the three-day event which took Arcadia students on a tour of Italian historical and regional food traditions.

We started with a Renaissance feast, which included a banquet, wines, dance, flag throwers, and fire breathers. We spent our Saturday morning on a visit through the wine estate of Mara Olivieri, guided by the owners and their wine experts. A lunch composed of eight dishes and six wines was later prepared by the Arcadia students, under the direction of our chef, Claudia Venditti. That evening students were free to explore the chestnut festival in the neighboring town of Soriano. Sunday morning we visited the city of Orvieto, from which the Slow City movement derives from. There we took a tour of the town and its architectonic wealth, including the 16th century St. Patrick’s well which is as deep as the tower of Pisa, is tall.

After an arduous descent, we returned to our chef Claudia, who carried on our culinary explorations with another meal of eight dishes and six more wines drawn from Italy’s finest offer, including the "King of Wines"–a 2013 Barolo.