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Episode #103: Buon Natale – Tastes of an Italian Christmas

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Listen to “Buon Natale! Plus Favorite Christmas Dishes from Italy” on Spreaker.

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Buon Natale! Welcome to our annual Christmas episode of Untold Italy – one where we reflect on the year that’s just passed and give you some cheer and best wishes for the future.

Show notes
In this episode, we ask some of our podcast guests and friends in Italy what they will be eating at Christmas time, or Natale as it’s called in Italian. If you haven’t planned your Christmas menu, you may find some inspiration in our recipes which include a very decadent pasta recipe and cookies from Tuscany. 

To look forward to in 2022

  • Untold Italy Tours – Check out the upcoming itineraries and get notified when they are available to book

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Italian Christmas Recipes

La Pecorara from Abruzzo – Nikki Taylor

Nikki is an Australian expat and real estate expert, specialising in Italian property purchase for foreigners. A 3 x Amazon best-selling author, Nikki’s work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur and Millionaire magazines, and HGTV’s Mediterranean Life TV program. Nikki also writes the real estate section of Italy Magazine.
Residing in Puglia, you’ll find her enjoying “la dolce vita” with her husband and two italo-australiano bambinos. To find out more and join Nikki’s best-selling Italian property purchase program visit: www.italy-propertyconsulting.com.

Get Nikki’s La Pecorara recipe here.

Pandolce from Liguria – Enrica Monzani

Enrica is a born and bred Ligurian food writer, photographer and cook instructor. She is the lady behind the bilingual foodblog A Small Kitchen in Genoa where she tells recipes and food stories from the Italian Riviera. 

She organizes regional cooking classes for foreigners in her home kitchen in Genoa. Find out more about a typical Genoan Christmas menu and some Genoan’s Christmas traditions.

Get a Discount on Enrica’s Cooking classes and Food tours in person, to be booked privately: coupon “UNTOLDITALY” (5% discount until June 2022)

Get Enrica’s Pandolce recipe here.

La Nuvola Piemontese from Piedmont – Liv Windsor

Olivia is an Italophile who moved to Italy in May 2019 to indulge in her love for the land of la dolce vita, cooking, food & wine. What was meant to be just 12 months has quickly turned into a year and a half… and counting! She has explored the country south to north, working in agriturismi and organic wineries before settling in Turin, Piedmont for the last year after meeting a local Piemontese man. Olivia writes a blog called Livguine, named after her love for pasta and her nickname Liv and has just started offering virtual & in-person food, wine & travel experiences in Northern Italy.

La Nuvola is a very special type of pandoro. La Nuvola means ‘the cloud’ in English. The soft golden inside is sweet and airy and the outside is covered with buttercream before being dusted in so much icing sugar that the pandoro literally resembles a ‘little cloud’. This special treat which melts in your mouth, is quite pricey but that’s because it’s a unique, indulgent treat to be enjoyed at Christmas time. It also looks a bit like a snowball which makes it all the more Christmassy!

Find about more about ‘La Nuvola’ and Liv’s take on some of the Best Christmas food in Italy here

Ricciarelli Almond Cookies from Tuscany – Arianna Cini

Arianna was born and raised in the Chianti region of Tuscany, and is deeply connected and passionate about her beautiful countryside, its people, and its traditions.

Arianna is a qualified tour guide and she and her partner Alessio started KM Zero Tours – Slow Travel Tuscany, an innovative boutique travel business focused on creating slow and cultural travel experiences aimed at discovering Tuscany from a deeper, authentic, and personal perspective.

Find out more about Arianna and Allessio’s gift boxes to keep the dream of Chianti, Tuscany and Italy alive (and tasting good) while you can’t visit.

Get Arianna’s Ricciarelli recipe here.

Zeppole from Sorrento Pierpaolo Guida

Pierpaolo runs Joe Banana Limo & Travels with his brother Giovanni. They have more than two decades of experience in the toursim business. Year after year they have grown and have added private boat tours, private guided tours and other services, until the realization of their dream that was to become a travel agency. In this way, they feel they can meet all the needs of their guests.

Watch and cook along with Pierpaulo as he makes zeppole for you.

Future Podcasts

We have some amazing podcast episodes lined up already for 2022 but if you have any episode ideas, please do feel free to email them to us at ciao@untolditaly.com.

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