I { heart } San Francisco

SF AMATRICE Italy Earthquake Relief Fundraiser

I ♡ San Francisco. This pretty much sums up the experience of SF AMATRICE,  the Italy Earthquake Relief Fundraiser I was excited to support {with web & graphic design} for my dear friends Marcia Gagliardi, aka Ms. tablehopper, and Gianluca Legrottaglie of Montesacro & 54 Mint. 

Two weeks of string pulling, fund raising and ticket selling ended with an epic all-day event last Sunday - and we could not have asked for a more glorious Indian summer day or a more generous outpouring of support from community and friends!

A first class waiting room turned Gesamtkunstwerk {Intérieur No. 253}

Walking into Intérieur No. 253 makes for a striking first impression - from the museum elevator you step into a narrow hallway, opening on both ends to grand dining halls with tall arched windows, soaring ceilings, herringbone parquet and glamorous crystal chandeliers dangling from the raw stucco ceilings.

It turns out Interieur No. 253 is not only a stunning museum bistro, but also a walkable and usable "Gesamtkunstwerk", or total work of art. It is a comprehensive artwork by the Berlin artist Anton Henning who was commissioned to envision the interior of the bistro at the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, converting the historic banquet hall and first class waiting room of this former train station into striking visual interiors complimenting the culinary experience at Intérieur No. 253.

Old world glamour and pretty interiors at Bar Schmitz in Cologne

Before moving to San Francisco in the late 90s I lived in Cologne, in a classic apartment with tall ceilings overlooking Friesenplatz - and right across the street from "XX", pronounced Dos Equis {as the beer}, a tiny bar with the faded ambience of a opulent fin-de-siècle bordello - and in those days a favorite hangout of the local art crowd. 

Dos Equis closed years ago, but the gastronomic team behind this tiny bar is busier than ever. A few streets over, Dirk Mecky and his wife Trixi have taken over three adjacent storefronts, turning each into iconic destinations - Metzgerei Schmitz, a former butcher shop turned bakery and deli, Salon Schmitz, a grand café with Danish and German design classics from the 50s and 60s, Coco Schmitz, a glam subterranean club with a 70s discotheque vibe - and Bar Schmitz, a gorgeous old world brasserie, restaurant, glacier and cocktail bar decked out in glorious Belgian Art Nouveau details.

Pizza, cocktails and music in an enchanted olive grove

Finally a long overdue update on this blog, while still playing catch up with so many rolls of {digital} film after this year's #anItalianroadtrip ...

After exploring the Colline Lucchesi, scouting culinary destinations and hidden foodways for Viola's Italy, we returned to the Maremma, Tuscany's wild and beautiful coastal region, to revisit favorite haunts and catch up with friends old and new.

One of those friends is Katja Meier, author of the incredible MapItOut travel sites and overall woman-in-the-know on all things culinary, cultural and literary in the Maremma and beyond. Katja and Sergio had invited to a summer celebration in their olive grove, a magical evening of wood fired pizza, cocktails and music under the olive trees - all served with endless view of the surrounding Tuscan hills and Monte Amiata in the distance.

A summer lunch with friends in the Florentine hills

The impromptu invitation to a summer lunch in the Florentine hills arrived a day before, in the form of a private cooking class hosted by cookbook author and blogger Emiko Davies at the magical Villa Medicea di Lilliano, a historical hunting lodge of the Medici family turned wine estate high in the hills overlooking Florence.

The occasion was the launch of Emiko's beautiful first cookbook Florentine: The True Cuisine of Florence and she had invited food bloggers of the region to come together to cook some of the book's recipes in the villa's wonderfully rustic cucina - so together with Valeria Necchio {Life Love Food}, Irene Berni {Val di Rose}, Ilaria Gori {Tuscany Buzz}, Denya Pandolfi {Grazie A Te}and Nardia Plumridge {Lost In Florence} we explored the estate, its gardens and wine caves before joining forces in the beautiful kitchen to whip up a perfect summer menu ...

Everyday family life in a centuries-old villa { Tenuta di Valgiano }

Traveling in Italy, I often wondered what it might be like living in one of the centuries-old villas that dot the Italian countryside. This summer, while scouting the Colline Lucchesi region for Viola's Italy, I finally got a sneak peek into everyday villa life - when I met Laura di Collobiano, who with her two kids and dogs lives in an incredible 15th century villa perched high in the Lucca hills.

A lazy day under the cherry trees and impromptu market lunch in the Lucca hills

This year's Italy adventure started off with one of those experiences that make me love traveling with Airbnb: we had arrived in Florence two days prior, hopped into our tiny rental car and escaped the tourists throngs for the nature and quiet of the Colline Luchesi, the fertile green hills surrounding Lucca. After spending the first two nights at a charming olive farm {another Airbnb find}, we moved just one town over to this rustic farm house with endless views ...